In this massive wrestling autobiography, Bret Hart took 7 years to
compose this 550+ page tome, chronicling his life and his role in
the wrestling business. I found this text could be broken into a
couple of attitude categories.
The first is the humble section in which Bret Hart tells of his
early life and growing up in the Hart household among a dozen
siblings, breaking into the business, and the struggling days of
Stampede Wrestling. He talks of his friendships with the regular
wrestlers from the territory such as Big Daddy Sika, Andre the
Giant, Abdullah the Butcher and into his fledgeling beginnings with
Tom 'Dynamite Kid' Billington, his brothers, Bad News Allen, Cuban
Assassin and others. It is very heartfelt and, shall I say,
realistic in that he quickly falls in love with the business and
its perks. He then gets picked up by the WWF as part of a deal Stu
Hart makes in selling Stampede.
The second phase is Hart's journey through the mediocre rise of his
character in the early days of his WWF career. Hart reminisces of
his world travels and his infidelities, early drug use, and the
beginnings of the Hart Foundation. We begin to get his opinions on
established wrestlers and the up-and-comers. He then makes a
statement about how the world champion belt holder tends to become
tyrannical, demanding, and power hungry, often stepping on or
ignoring the talent while never wanting to willingly relinquish his
hold. Bret Hart claims this never happened to him but through his
own words you can see the switch between Humble Bret and Arrogant
Bret. Now, in his opinion, he's one of the only few good workers in
the business and he always came up with great matches no matter who
he had to work with. Hart also gives big breaks to new guys and
claims to do whatever is right or good for the job and put anyone
over that needs to be. He portrays himself as a savior for the
business and without him, wrestling's popularity may not have
climbed so high or developed such stars. He speaks highly of many
incoming wrestlers like Shawn Michaels, Demolition, and Curt
Hennig, while beginning his down views of the likes of Ric Flair,
Hulk Hogan, and Ultimate Warrior whom he claims are non-workers and
power hungry players. This era starts pretty much after he is given
the title and runs through, you guessed it, the Montreal screwjob.
The third attitude portion of this book begins the transformation
from Arrogant Bret to Vengeful Angry Bret. It starts with Shawn
Michaels' rise to superstardom and becomes full force with the
Montreal screwjob. Enough has been written about that incident so I
won't speak of it. From here, Bret falls out with McMahon and his
now WWE. Hart heads to WCW to join former WWE employees and finds
life to be miserable, unprofessional, and the storylines fall to
the ridiculous as well as titles meaning nothing. He becomes
angrier about the business and his career of bumps is finally
starting to take its toll on his body. Then the news of Owen's
death arrives. Bret covers this in an emotional chapter which
coincides with his career ending Goldberg-kick-to-the-head. He
handles these events admirably although Angry Bret still vies for
contention in his dealings with the aftermath of Owen's death not
only with Vince & the WWE but moreso with the bickering amongst
his own siblings on who stands to cash in on this horrific event.
Finally we come to the end of Bret's career, marriage, and
ultra-fame. Bret has been seeing doctors about his
Goldberg-inflicted concussion and suffers his stroke which wraps up
his career. There's a final switch here back to the Humble Bret but
infused with it is a strong Days of Glory Bret in which he begins
to come to terms with so many things that didn't go so well in his
career and life. He becomes truly admirable not for his fame and
profession but rather how he begins to accept certain events that
not only altered his career but helped to develop the man he is
now. While not everything/one is forgiven, Bret has quit looking
back and now awaits the rest of his life, strong and reliant. Who
knows, we may even see him do a guest spot or two in the future.
Any fan of Bret Hart is going to love this book. This is definitely
one of the best wrestling books published so even through some
high-and-mighty, his bouts of infidelity, and some woe-is-me
moments, Bret Hitman Hart stands high amongst his peers and should
be proud of these memoirs that will bring further enjoyment to fans
and the general public alike. Absolutely worth reading even with a
higher price tag.