BRET HART: AN APPRECIATION OF WRESTLING’S GREATEST CHAMPION
Foundations
Hulk Hogan was the reason I started watching wrestling. Bret Hart was the reason I stayed.
With Hulkamania, I was caught up in the wonderful spectacle of professional wrestling, but through Bret, I grew to appreciate the craft.
That’s the thing about spectacle, it’s not an art form, it’s a marketing tool to bring eyes to the true content.(1)
Make no mistake, Hulk Hogan is a great artist, and it is silly to argue otherwise. He understood his craft and excelled at it, eclipsing even Gorgeous George as the industry’s touchstone. He’s Elvis.
The difference between the two champions is that if Hulk is Elvis, Bret is Beethoven. Both are timeless, but one represents an era, a style, while the other will always be contemporary.
An example of this is WrestleMania 10. My favorite match was the first on the card, a twenty-minute nail-biter between Bret and his younger brother, Owen Hart. Hall of fame broadcaster Jim Ross said the encounter “stole the show.” (2)
On that same card, I also greatly enjoyed the ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. Though I remembered the encounter fondly, I tried rewatching it in later years, and didn’t feel it held up. Subsequent ladder matches had diluted it. The torch of spectacle had been passed.
Bret versus Owen, however, would not be out of place on a “Raw” from 1996, this Friday’s “Smackdown,” or WrestleMania 50. Hall of fame commentator Gordon Solie famously dubbed wrestling “the human chess game,” and Bret versus Owen exemplified that maxim with counter after counter, providing visceral thrills, but also the mental engagement of guessing what-are-they-going-to-do-next.
The two would follow that classic with a steel cage match at SummerSlam 1994. In his 2005 WWE Home Video DVD, Bret expressed how he and Owen approached the confrontation with a desire to offer the fans something more than just a gore fest, which is what they felt cage matches had devolved into.(3)
Two years prior to that DVD, WWE Home Video published “Bloodbath: Wrestling’s Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches.” Bret and Owen’s Summer Slam match was included, and stands apart in the best way.
For me, up until that SummerSlam, the gold standards of steel cage matches were Bob Backlund versus Pat Patterson (September 24, 1979), and Magnum T.A. versus Tully Blanchard (Starrcade 1985).
Consider how all of these upper echelon performers uniquely employed the cage as prop: for Backlund and Patterson, the top of the cage was the third act “set piece” — the place of their epic, final show down; for Magnum and Tully, the cage was both weapon and trap in their brutal “I Quit” story of revenge.
For Bret and Owen, the cage was the obstacle, the thing to break out from in a thrilling contest that saw the brothers racing and lunging and climbing to stop the other’s escape. It was also the manner by which evil Owen, who had insisted on the stipulation, was poetically defeated, his leg ensnared in the big, blue bars.
Hits
The absolute best match I’ve ever seen is Bret versus “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig. Do I mean their encounter at SummerSlam 1991 or King of the Ring 1993? Either. Pick one, they’re that good.
It took a lot of brush strokes to get to those masterpieces, as Bret recounted in his 2013 WWE Home Video release.(4) Apparently, Randy Savage was as thrilled as any fan to finally see his fellow second-generation colleagues lock up… only to express bitter disappointment when the pair bombed at a house show. Hart and Hennig had something to prove.
By the time they got to SummerSlam, Hart and Hennig’s match had the fans at MSG, as well as the commentary team of Roddy Piper, Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon, breathless with excitement. The announcers were so enthralled, they nearly broke kayfabe. Heel Heenan intoned it was one of the greatest matches he’d seen. Midway through, Monsoon proudly proclaimed, “What a match up! What a tribute to the athletes of the World Wrestling Federation to have two guys of this caliber, doing what they’re doing, here in Madison Square Garden.”(5)
The bar was set high, but the duo surpassed all expectation with their King of the Ring encounter. That time, Randy Savage was on commentary, and was so caught up in the action, he was compelled to race into the ring and raise Bret’s hand once the bell sounded. He finally saw the match he had hoped to see.
That King of the Ring performance by Bret is probably my favorite night of wrestling. When discussing the matches for the 2005 WWE Home Video interview, Bret remarked that he had three opponents that night (Razor Ramon, Hennig and Bam Bam Bigelow), and gave the fans three unique matches.
Like all performers, Bret has his move set.(6) What makes Hart a master of his craft is that he never allowed “his spots” to dictate a match.
By contrast, consider the late-career matches of Ric Flair (a crowd pleasing “greatest hits” showcase of turnbuckle flip, faceplant and figure-four), or no-sell lucha libre spot fests: spectacle at the expense of storytelling.
The furious brilliance of any Bret Hart and Steve Austin encounter has a different psychology, rhythm and physicality than a Bret match against an agile big man, such as Bam Bam, a high-flier like the 1–2–3 Kid, a strong man like Dino Bravo, or a brawler like Roddy Piper.
This may seem obvious, that different body types, that wrestlers at different stages in their careers, might produce different matches. But some wrestlers are too selfish to make that happen.
Whether the opponent was Hakushi or Diesel, the common denominator was that Bret cared enough about the psychology, rhythm and physicality to make those matches different, to look at match ups from the audience’s perspective and weigh which actions would be believable.(7) Bret had respect for himself, his opponent, and the audience. He made his adversaries shine, and made sure crowds got their money’s worth.
Heart
At WrestleMania 30, Daniel Bryan defied all the odds against the kayfabe and actual WWE powers that be, to win the championship in the main event. Tellingly, seated at ringside were three of WWE’s greatest champions, Bob Backlund, Bret Hart, and Bruno Sammartino.(10)
It was the company acknowledging that Bryan embodied what those men exemplified — storytellers whose medium was the wrestling match, who are champions inside and, more importantly, outside the ring.
While I believe Bret truly is the finest performer to ever lace up a pair of boots, I admire who he is outside of the Hitman character all the more. It’s that combination, in my opinion, that makes Bret Hart “the best there ever will be.”
The entertainment industry, as a whole, is cutthroat. Contracts don’t get honored, creators get screwed. The subset of wrestling is every bit as ruthless on the individual and company levels. Bret has felt the ire of both.(11)
And yet, in a “me first” industry where seemingly everyone tries to protect their spot, Bret has consistently shared the spotlight. In interviews, Bret always credited Konnan as the wrestler who showed him how to perform the “scorpion death lock,” the submission hold Hart would adopt as his finisher, the “sharpshooter,” which is what the move remains known as today.
In his acclaimed autobiography, Bret credits the Canadian wrestler who invented the ladder match, and details where he first saw the ending sequence he knew he wanted to save for a special match — and later used in his loss to Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam 1992.
Bret Hart survived cancer, strokes and the wrestling industry. He earned his fame and his fans by never having to tear anyone else down. When talking about the proudest accomplishment of his career, Bret never mentions the acclaim or the money, or even his legendary matches.
The thing he’s most proud of? Never injuring an opponent.
You see? The best.
About the Author
Stephen Sonneveld is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in Bleacher Report, MAD and ProWrestling Illustrated. Stephen currently writes and performs audio dramas for the Chicago-based radio program “The Don’t Call Me Sweetheart! Show,” while his 5-issue comic series “Hollywood Trash” debuted in October from Mad Cave Studios.
Footnotes
(1) As Andre Roussimoff learned in his career, spectators will pay to see a giant once, but audiences will pay to see what they’re emotionally invested in again and again.
Even the ancient Romans realized audiences quickly get bored with spectacle, and they had to dangerously raise the stakes to keep crowds interested — not unlike wrestling promotions in the 90’s into the millennium, forgoing story and instead escalating unprotected chair shots, gore, and garbage matches. It was only when John Cena’s era-defining popularity brought children back to wrestling viewership that WWE withdraw from the blood and guts content.
(2) “Dark Side of the Ring,” broadcast May 19, 2020.
(3) “Bret Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be,” November 15, 2005.
(4) “Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection,” March 5, 2013.
(5) Wrestler, promoter and commentator Gorilla Monsoon always held a special affinity for Hart, obvious to this viewer. Even when Bret was a tag-team heel with the Hart Foundation, baby face announcer Monsoon delighted in coining the phrase, “the excellence of execution,” about Bret’s abilities.
The genuine affection and admiration Monsoon held for Bret was evident in an exclusive WWE Home Video interview, in a segment which also featured the untelevised match of Bret winning his first WWE Heavyweight title from Ric Flair. Monsoon was a one-time owner of WWF with Vince McMahon, Sr., and one got the sense Monsoon was proud Hart was the industry’s new standard.
(6) Wrestlers have their move sets, notably their finishers to pop the crowd. Comedians and TV characters have catch phrases. This is a Western entertainment tradition going as far back as commedia dell’arte, where performers such as the legendary Scaramouche had a lazzi (usually a physical trick, sometimes a turn of phrase) that audiences, like now, anticipated and cheered for.
(7) A gimmick WWE was never going to elevate, like Skinner (Steve Keirn), looks like a championship contender against Bret. Even with top shelf talent: I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it was Roddy Piper’s incredible persona made him a household name, not his wrestling. And yet, against Bret at WrestleMania 8, they told a memorable story through the wrestling match; the best of the card, the best of Piper’s career.
(8) “Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows,” 1998.
(9) “Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling,” October 16, 2007.
(10) The late Bruno Sammartino went from being WWE’s longest-reigning champion to the company’s most vocal critic, disgusted at the then-rampant steroid use, and the poor state of wrestlers’ health. Nearly thirty years had passed before Sammartino accepted an invention to personally review the WWE’s wellness program in 2013. Satisfied it protected the talent, he allowed himself to appear at WWE events again.
WWE’s second longest-reigning champion, 70-year-old Bob Backlund continues as a goodwill ambassador for WWE, devoting his time to speaking engagements and charity work, such as developing exercise programs for war veterans. His wife Corrine was a physical education teacher, and being a positive role model (especially for children) through sports has always been at the core of Backlund’s giving back. Other wrestlers may have preached clean living, but Backlund embodied it, breaking records to this day.
(11) At the infamous 1997 Survivor Series, a paranoid Vince McMahon refused to honor the contract he signed with Hart, where Bret, like Hogan before him, had creative control over his character. McMahon then refused to honor the verbal contract made that day, agreeing to the match ending. Leading up to this, Hart had repeatedly expressed his desire to stay at his “home,” WWE (which had purchased Stampede Wrestling from Bret’s father Stu in 1984), but McMahon was the one who told Hart to sign with the competition!
After the match — which, again speaking to Hart’s professionalism, was better than it had any right to be, under the circumstances — Bret confronted McMahon behind closed doors and gave him a black eye.
Bret expressed regret about his actions… not that he knocked McMahon out, but that he did so in front of McMahon’s son Shane, feeling no son should see their old man laid out like that. Honestly, though: would capricious Vince McMahon have ever respected Hart again, if Bret hadn’t clocked him?
