To say I was really excited about reviewing this book would be an understatement. As a longtime fan of sports entertainment I grew up watching The Hart Foundation as the reigning (and possibly best ever) world tag team champions. I cheered when Bret Hart became the world heavyweight champion. And I was breathless the first time he appeared in WCW. While he was never my favorite wrestler, I have always understood his importance to that world.
Understandably, it ’s a lot harder these days to write a great wrestling autobiography. Chris Jericho and Mick Foley have raised the bar significantly as they are every bit as a good of writers as they are at their chosen profession. Bret Hart, unfortunately, is not as charismatic and is overly exhaustive in his massive autobiography, Hitman. Hart relates tales from in and outside of the ring with little enthusiasm. While the trivia is interesting it seems to be a mere side note to the greater agenda of establishing himself as the “good guy” who did almost everything right and still got screwed at every turn. From his parents near bankruptcy, to his brothers misuse of their names, to the British Bulldogs, Hulk Hogan, the WWF, WCW, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels, to even more, Bret Hart honestly believes that the world is out to get him, or at least has been at some point and by midway through the book it gets fairly annoying to read about. Especially from someone who has made millions throughout his career and had his name and likeness plastered everywhere whether people liked it or not. He seems like a really bitter and paranoid guy to be frank.
I really wanted to love this book but found myself disinterested fairly quickly because of the striking negativity. I believe this book, truthful or not, does a lot of damage to Hart’s good stock, but most importantly I hope that someday the man behind the wrestling character can separate the two and work out some of his obviously deep-seeded issues. If you really love Bret Hart or wrestling autobiographies, you’ll likely read this no matter what I write here, and you should. Be forewarned though, this not a tale of perseverance and overcoming the odds like many other books in this genre.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
