For those of you that don’t know me (Here I go deluded into believing I have readers again), I have been an avid pro wrestling fan for most of my life. I have seen the industry deflate, induce excitement, and go downhill over and over and over again. But this is not about my love of the business, this is related to the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
Bret “Hitman” Hart.
This man has had a long, storied career, from his roots in Stampede with his father, to ventures in Japan, to around the world with WWF, World Wrestling Federation. It is here he gained stardom. It took him many years, from being a glorified jobber, to a tag team specialist in the original Hart Foundation, to becoming the soundest technical wrestler in the business, and the World Heavyweight Champion of the company at Wrestlemania 10, a title arguably no man deserved more.
Hitman had the gift of being able to have a more-then-solid match with a tree. Mostly anyone who stepped in the ring with him could arguably leave having just wrestled the best match they ever had, just ask Kevin Nash, Yokozuna and Davey Boy Smith. He pulled **** matches out of his ass for fun. This was mainly down to his acute sense of ring psychology and grasp of storytelling, and he had what every wrestler should have, the knowledge to execute their best manouver from any position. In Bret’s case, this was the sharpshooter (scorpion hold).
I strongly recommend the WWE release Bret “Hit Man” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be. This match contains many of Hitmans’ greatest matches, as selected by the man himself.
Ever hear of the Montreal Screwjob? It’s the reason that a Hitman comeback to the WWE was nigh impossible. I’ll attempt to summarise it. Bret was the WWF champion towards the end of 1997, but planned on leaving to rival company WCW. That entire year, Bret had built a tremendous and ambitious heel gimmick of being anti-American. This resulted in him being wildly cheered in other countries, especially his home country, Canada. So when Bret, a proud man, was asked to drop the championship in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he was reluctant to acquiesce. He vouched to lose the belt before or after the event whilst still under contract, just not at the show, so as not to obliterate all the hard work gone into a gimmick he made work so well.
Come Survivor Series, 9th November 1997, the plan was for Bret to wrestle Shawn Michaels to a no-contest, which would result in Hart dropping the belt to Michaels on RAW the next night. Everyone is happy, right? Right?!
Unfortunately, Vince McMahon, owner of the WWF, was paranoid of Bret showing up on WCW with the WWF belt. So, conspiring with Paul Levesque (Triple H), Gerald Briscoe, and to lesser extent Pat Patterson, Earl Hebner and Shawn himself, they planned to screw Bret out of the title, by changing the predetermined finish without consulting Bret. The match was worked to reach a point where Shawn would place Bret in his own sharpshooter, Bret would reverse and the match would continue. Unbeknownst to Bret, when put in the sharpshooter, Vince McMahon, who was at ringside, instructed for the bell to be rung, despite Bret never tapping out, signifying Michaels winning the match and the title. The live crowd seemed to grasp it immediately, and wildly cheered for Bret when he spat at McMahon and motioned the letters WCW in the air, with live cameras still rolling.
Immediately following the programme end, Bret showered and changed, asking Shawn if he had any part in what had happened. Shawn denied this, and on the orders of McMahon, who would shoulder the blame in the beginning, would continue to deny it for years to come. Bret then confronted Vince, punching him before threatening him with his metal knee brace. Thankfully for Bret, no legal action resulted from this anger-fueled occurrence. Bret went on to WCW, while Vince actually milked the trauma for money, created the TV character Mr. McMahon, a dictatorial authority figure, an extremely shrewd idea in hindsight. Even still, it was taking advantage of a very raw situation.
So whose fault was it? Some say Vince, some say Bret. My opinion is both were in the wrong, but more so Vince. Bret didn’t need to be so proud of his gimmick and his accomplishments, but in fairness, wrestling is in his family, it is in his blood, and he gave Vince every opportunity for an alternative solution. Vince just seemed to want to make an example of Bret, that it was his way or the high way. In those respects, I believe the blame lies with Vince
Bret and Vince would speak over the years to come, slowly burying the hatchet, in which time Bret’s brother Owen died tragically in an accident, and Bret suffered a stroke which he has since healed well from, with the most progress being made in 2005. when Bret agreed to contribute to a WWE published DVD, in exchange for control over his own video history. It would be until very recently when Bret and Shawn would make peace, although the two had been at odds for most of 1997 before the screwjob occurrence.
All in all, a comeback to the WWE business in any role was extremely unlikely, given the history, and Bret’s strong dislike of Triple H and Shawn Michaels, but some way, somehow, at the end of 2009 it was announced by chronicler Dave Meltzer that Bret signed a 4 month contract for a Wrestlemania programme until April.
On January 4th, 2010, Bret made his return as the special guest general manager. In his segments, which I believe he had full creative control over (WWE creative team handles everything, including promos, leading to most wrestlers today sounding samey and unnatural, Bret showed how personality and realism of character (the Hitman gimmick was never far from Bret’s actual personality) makes for much better viewing then today’s cartooney caricatures.
Below is the return of Bret, where he publically made the truce with Shawn Michaels after 12 years. This was the most emotionally-charged, bone-chilling and memorable segments in the history of the WWF/E, and is why I still watch wrestling even now.
Ratbeard
