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"Hitman" Hart better than history recalls
In an age when 300-pound hulking men yelled cliched catchphrases to get their point across, Bret "Hitman" Hart screamed normalcy.
The second-generation performer from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, quietly garnered success as a tag-team wrestler during the aforementioned time period, when "Hulkamania" was running wild and being fed faceless, one-dimensional giants called Akeem, The Big Boss Man and Earthquake.
Hart, along with his partner, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, dubbed themselves "The Hart Foundation," and reigned twice as tag-team champions.
Hart rarely raised his voice during his tag-team stint, opting to let his ringwork speak for him. Long-time WWF announcer, the late Gorilla Monsoon, first dubbed Hart the "Excellence of Execution," a nickname that followed Hart to singles stardom.
But success outside of "The Hart Foundation" didn't come easy. "The Anvil," tagged as the budding superstar of the two, fit nicely into the current mold of WWF superstars -- big, intimidating, loud and talentless. Vince McMahon's propensity for pushing bulk over ability almost prevented "The Hitman" from fulfilling his potential as a true industry superstar.
As the 1980s came to a close, Hart relished in his opportunity to be the "wrestler of the 1990s," the prototype for the next wave of singles competitors. "Hulkamania" was running out of momentum, and fans sought a change from the rudimentary wrestling style that Hulk Hogan made famous.
The "Hitman" won two Intercontinental titles, his first in 1991 at "SummerSlam" against the late Curt Hennig. The match, at least for WWF fans, went against the typical, high-profile pay-per-view encounter. It showcased athleticism and proved that wrestlers didn't necessarily need muscles to be considered meaningful.
Hogan first retired from the WWF in the spring of 1992 and took with him the "big-man" mentality that consumed the federation since he dropped his first leg on the Iron Shiek in 1984. That exodus opened McMahon's eyes and the door for Hart.
In late 1992, McMahon put the WWF title on Hart, who defeated Ric Flair. Hart's initial WWF title reign took the company in a completely uncharted direction. Gone were the burly challengers that rivaled Hogan, replaced with fresh challengers such as a budding Shawn Michaels.
Hart's repertoire and respect for the actual in-ring aspect of the business ushered in a new perception of professional wrestling. Hart shattered the WWF stereotype that a former tag-team wrestler couldn't carry the weight of a national company on his mere 230-pound back.
Two years later, Hart again found himself as world champion, and McMahon found himself in court. The czar of professional wrestling stood trial in 1994 for steroids in a courtroom battle that could have ripped McMahon from his cushy Stamford, Conn., estate and placed him in prison.
Hart toting the world title symbolically defended McMahon, who made his millions on guys nicknamed "Hulk," "The Giant" and "Hacksaw." Having Hart proudly displaying the company's world "heavyweight" title subtly proved to some that McMahon's livelihood didn't depend on a constant display of muscle-bound heroes. McMahon was subsequently acquitted.
Hart, essentially, reigned as the commonman's world champion, a guy fans could relate to as ordinary with extraordinary talent.
Before his WWF career abruptly ended in the fall of 1997, Hart won five WWF championships and always was considered a consistently profitable world champion. Business never really thrived with Hart at the helm, but it always remained steady.
When business bottomed out in late 1995 after a one-year world title run by Kevin Nash (Diesel), Hart again shouldered the burden of the company. Nash's reign, the most financially disastrous of any WWF champion, ended when Hart defeated him at "Survivor Series" that year.
The "Diesel experiment" failed, and McMahon went back to his failsafe.
Hart never had the opportunity to be a leader during his time in WCW. The politics that consumed the company feasted on Hart, whose first match with the company, against Ric Flair in February 1998, proved to be his best. A stray kick from Bill Goldberg blasted Hart squarely in the head and led to a serious concussion and subsequent retirement from active competition in early 2000.
Two years later, Hart suffered a mild stroke after a bicycling accident and resulted in limited control of the left side of his body. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Bret never really relished in pro wrestling's boom period in 1998, working at the time for a company (WCW) that treated him worse than McMahon ever did. That statistic, perhaps more than any other in Hart's storied career, is the saddest.
Hart achieved success during a time when no one was watching wrestling, leaving his legacy as one that deserved more recognition. Hart broke down barriers for smaller athletes and did so with poise, respect and unbridled passion for a profession he truly believed in.
A superstar who referred to himself as "The Best there is, was and ever will be" made everyone around him and the company he worked for better.
