REVIEW:Bret Hart's "My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling"

Bret “The Hitman” Hart, one of the greatest Canadian icons ever to set foot in a professional wrestling ring, came out with a biography/personal memoir that delivers what die-hard wrestling fans have wanted since he retired in 2000.

Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling is a 573-page (with a name index for wrestlers included at the end) emotional ride beginning with Hart’s tough time growing up in a poor family with 11 siblings and ending with Hart trying to come to terms with his near-fatal stroke and the death of his brother Owen.

Hart writes on his childhood dealing with an abusive father, schoolyard bullies and the pain of having multiple siblings. Hart is also open about the controversies of his wrestling career—his limited steroid use, his many sexual affairs while married and how his friendly relationship with wrestler Shawn Hickenbottom, aka Shawn Michaels, went sour when HBK’s clique decided they were going to kill the wrestling industry.

Wrestling fans who enjoyed the documentary Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows and  Bret Hart’s DVD (Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be.) set released by Hart and World Wrestling Entertainment will not have to worry about reading old, tired Hitman stories. If his early life, working for his dad’s Stampede wrestling federation and his time in Japan weren’t enough, Hart recounts, in great detail, the Survivor Series “screwjob” that happened 12 years ago in Montreal. Hart is still bitter in the book compared to how he felt recently on Monday Night Raw.  He also describes his entire WWE run and how he felt about each talent he worked with, how terribly the World Championship Wrestling management misused him and the time WCW wrestler Bill Goldberg kicked him so hard he had to retire.

At times it seems as though Hart should go into more detail, such as regarding his supposed affair with WWE diva Sunny or his thoughts on Extreme Championship Wrestling talent besides Sabu and a lot of his WCW run. However, Hart leaves nothing out about his bizarre relationship with WWE promoter Vince McMahon, his dislike for Ric Flair’s nonstop non-use of psychology and telling the immortal Hulk Hogan “you can go fuck yourself” after he refused to lose to Hart at SummerSlam 1993.

Non-wrestling fans too will be intrigued by the wild stories of Hart’s trips to wrestling shows and their aftermaths. Getting stoned regularly at strip clubs, his brother Smith’s reckless driving, a near fatal adventure in Puerto Rico and the shenanigans Owen was famous for keeps the humour alive in a book filled with tragedies.

By the end of the book, most of the people he talks about have either died or are no longer a part of his life. The wrestling business has taken much more from Hart than just his pride.

Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling