Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling

[Hawk 34 0]

How sad is it that I remember Bret facing Shango for the WWF title on SNME from Nov. 1992? Did he carry Shango as well?

 

Shango was strung out on heroin and while o.d'ing, Bret took him to new level and gave the fans a trip they could never forget.

[pochorenella 0]

Shortly before the show was to start I was summoned to a meet and greet with a room full of fans, most of whom had been given British Bulldog ­T-­shirts as part of a promotional contest. There was one little boy wearing a Hitman ­T-­shirt confidently arguing to some of Davey's ­grown-­up supporters that I was going to win. As he held his dad's hand, he politely asked me whether I could give him my glasses when I came out. I tussled his hair and said, "If I can find you, they're yours."

 

While a thunderous "Bulldog" chant reverberated through the stadium, I unbuckled the belt, held it up to my lips and kissed it. I handed it to Joey, who held it up to the crowd, while I dropped out to the floor to give my sunglasses away. To our mutual surprise I was able to place them on the little boy I'd promised them to earlier. His dad smiled, impressed that I was a man of my ­word.

A while back I saw this Silvervision dvd from a Skysports TV special called "The Fab 4" where JR interviewd Taker, HBK, Bret and Davey Boy a few days before SummerSlam 97. I remember being impressed that the WWF for those interviews allowed people to mention the AWA, Stampede Wrestling, and even WCW by name! They also talked about guys like Hogan and Luger who weren't part of the WWF anymore at that time, and the didn't say any derogatory things towards any of them, but of course, they did say WCW was way behind in worldwide recognition and attendance. Anyway, I do remember Bret talking about this same kid who he gave his glasses to. The kid really seemed like the only kid in the entire Wembley Stadium to wear a Hitman T-shirt. Now I read this book excerpt all this years later. I just found it amusing.

[JJMc 0]

Shango was strung out on heroin and while o.d'ing, Bret took him to new level and gave the fans a trip they could never forget.

 

[JimmyHendricks 0]

I actually "imported" this from Amazon Canada and it arrived yesterday. I haven't officially starting reading it from the beginning yet, but I've been picking out passages here and there. Among other things:

 

--He was offered a ton of money to defect to WCW in the late 80's (around 89 I think) and was personally offered over 200 grand by Flair himself. Later, he "officially" was offered 157k (on par with what Vince was paying him) from Jim Herd and refused.

 

--He had a "top secret" photo shoot with Hogan right after WM IX where they stood nose to nose playing tug-of-war with the belt in an obvious build for SummerSlam. He says Hogan told him immediately after winning the belt from Yoko that he would return the favor, then backed off, refusing to put him over saying he wasn't in his league.

 

--He constantly speaks negatively about Vince, even when discussing the 80s and his time as champ in 93/94, how unhappy he was with booking decisions, how he was a hair's breath from jumping to WCW all the time, etc. I understand his hatred, but he goes a little overboard.

 

--As mentioned, he CONSTANTLY puts himself over as the best worker in whatever timeframe he's writing about, and always brings up people like Flair, Hogan, Taker, Austin, Shawn (especially him, numerous times), and just about everyone else constantly complementing him.

 

--Montreal and Owen's death yielded very little new info, but it was interesting to hear it directly from Bret. He did say himself and Vince sat on a park bench after Owen's funeral and Vince said that he regretted Montreal and wanted Bret to come back and finish his career in the WWF. He also said Shawn was crying hysterically in the corner during the Bret/Vince fight.

 

--Numerous "party" stories, including a doozy where all the guys (including Vince) went up to Flair's empty hotel suite and "used his bed as a urinal". Not out of hate or dislike for Flair himself, just because he had the best suite with the most booze

 

--Brings up numerous liaisons with numerous women, but always makes them low key. Constantly says he forgave himself every time because he was "sad, stressed and lonely" on the road.

 

All in all, it is the best pro-wrestling biography since Foley's first, and maybe even the best ever. What makes it great is he doesn't have Vince or his minions standing over him proofreading everything, which makes it much more revealing (especially the party stories, he goes into great detail about Koko's hotel rampage or Scott Steiner blowing a huge snot rocket on a hotel front desk, etc.)

 

However, it suffers from what everyone has already alluded to, and that's Bret's self-love/promotion and his bitterness towards Vince. I expected both, but after a while I was getting tired about hearing how Vince was an asshole or how he was able to carry the very green Razor Ramon/Diesel/Shawn/ANYONE to a good match.

 

But, you should DEFINITELY buy it. You can open it to almost any page and find an interesting story, and you can find a tidbit you had never read/heard before as well. I'd compare his highly descriptive writing style to Bill Clinton's autobiography. Not in content matter, obviously, but Bret seems to have a fantastic memory. It's superb, and I don't regret paying extra to import it down here. I'll post more thoughts after I officially finish reading it.

[Craig Th 0]

Great read and I'm pretty pumped to read it.

 

And this is nothing new with a wrestler being full of himself in their self-respected book. Hogan, Flair, Austin, Piper and Dynamite Kid's were pretty much them talking how fucking good they are.

[garfieldsnose 0]

--He constantly speaks negatively about Vince, even when discussing the 80s and his time as champ in 93/94, how unhappy he was with booking decisions, how he was a hair's breath from jumping to WCW all the time, etc. I understand his hatred, but he goes a little overboard.

 

Sounds like Bret doesn't appreciate the push Vince gave him. Without Vince, Bret wouldn't be as respected as he is today. Montreal aside, Vince did wonders for Bret's career. At least give him props for getting his career shot right to the top.

[Guest RyechnaiaSobaka]

You know, I think most people who followed Bret Hart's career would say one of the very best matches he ever had was with Curt Hennig at Summerslam. And yet under most circumstances, the heel would call the match - so Hennig probably called that one. Nevertheless on Hart's DVD he talks about how good the chemistry was between he and Hennig, and how they knew what each other wanted to do without speaking. How about giving some credit and saying that Hennig called a great match? I guess that sort of thing can't be done if you're Bret Hart and you actually believe your gimmick is really you.

[Guest]

For all the things people like about Bret, one thing that always shines poorly on him is that he'll never, NEVER give anyone else a larger portion of the credit for something than what he gives himself. Only Bret Hart can be responsible for more than half the good things that took place during a match, in his eyes.

 

That said, the guy has the right to be as full of himself as he wants. He hasn't had an easy life. Part of him being that way is likely the lack of positive attention he was given as a child. Somebody out there has to be his support system. For him, it's Bret Hart. But what does that matter?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I bought this today (along with Colbert's book). Man, Puerto Rico sounds f'ing scary. It's nice getting some insight on the Hart family and how Bret grew up poor.

 

As I was walking around the store holding the Bret book, an employee asks me if I'm finding everything ok then says the Bret book is great and she already read it, then says the other clerk had him walk right past her on Wednesday. A few minutes later the other clerk repeats this story and I said I had heard that, then they start talking about Rick Mercer in relation to the Colbert book. Maybe I'm just socially deranged when it comes to interaction with other people, and I do appreciate that they were just trying to be nice, but sometimes I wish store folk would say nothing at all and just let me buy my stuff.

[Guest RyechnaiaSobaka]

Man, Puerto Rico sounds f'ing scary.

 

You got that right.

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Smith Hart sounds like quite the character. "Satanic Ecstasy" sure is a classy name for a kid.

[Guest snortrumble]

Wow, I tell ya, it was lucky for Bret that Bret was there otherwise who would have helped Bret and Davey? Geez. Then to go on and wrestle a pimp in historic Germany.

 

 

I think I'll give this self-congratulatory tome a wide miss.

[majormayhem1 0]

You know, I think most people who followed Bret Hart's career would say one of the very best matches he ever had was with Curt Hennig at Summerslam. And yet under most circumstances, the heel would call the match - so Hennig probably called that one. Nevertheless on Hart's DVD he talks about how good the chemistry was between he and Hennig, and how they knew what each other wanted to do without speaking. How about giving some credit and saying that Hennig called a great match? I guess that sort of thing can't be done if you're Bret Hart and you actually believe your gimmick is really you.

 

 

There was a time when wrestlers weren't playing "characters", they were portraying twisted or rose colored versions of their true selves. It must be hard to break away from that mentality when you've been living it for so long. In Bret's case, the only life he has ever known. That's what made wrestling great. When you met Ric Fair, you were meeting Ric Flair, not some guy who played him on TV.

[CBright7831 0]

I call shenanigans on Bret claiming he invented the sharpshooter on his wife in the middle of the night. Konnan had seen some Japanese guys use that hold and showed it to Bret, both Konnan and Bret have said that in interviews before.

Konnan? Wow.

[Downhome 0]

What would the positives and negatives be of waiting for the US release of this book? I'm finally thinking about just buying the Canadian version from Amazon.

[Vigo 0]

What would the positives and negatives be of waiting for the US release of this book? I'm finally thinking about just buying the Canadian version from Amazon.

 

Positives

- You'll have it faster.

- It's probably cheaper. Right now on Amazon.ca the book is going for $13.99 down from $35.

 

Negatives

- You'll have to pay for shipping whereas in the US Amazon site you could do the whole buy $39 worth of stuff and qualify for free shipping.

 

 

[Downhome 0]

True.

 

How about possible differences in the two versions? If WWE ends up distributing it, I'm a little worried that a few things would possibly be deleted or the such. On the other hand, more could be added I suppose. Eh, I dunno.

[cbacon 0]

WWE won't be distributing.

 

I finished the book about a month ago and it's definitely worth the read. Everything post Montreal is pretty depressing though.

[Fartsauce 0]

Finished this off about 20 minutes ago. Best real wrestling book i've ever read and it's just as good as Foley's, if not better. If Bret is telling the truth, Ellie and Bruce come across as the biggest douchebags in the entire world. No wonder Neidhart is crazy.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I was thinking of picking it up with a gift card I received. I'm sort of timid about it, I'm worried that one of my idols is little more than a sleazebag.

[theintensifier 0]

I can't help but feel Bret Hart is just completely full of himself.

 

 

But he is the greatest. You can ask him yourself.

 

 

Bret acts as if no one had ever carried somebody in a match before.

 

 

so Bret carries other wrestlers, carries companies and fucks lots of bitches? Does that pretty much cover his book?

All QFT.

 

And, to set the record straight, Nova created the sharpshooter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, it was Riki Choshu.

[Fartsauce 0]

I was thinking of picking it up with a gift card I received. I'm sort of timid about it, I'm worried that one of my idols is little more than a sleazebag.

 

Don't get the book then. Without spoiling anything for you, Bret admits to EVERYTHING.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Eeeeee. That might be sound advice. I know he cheated on his wife dozens of times, and my opinion of him did drop a fair amount so far. Considering the tat I have on my left shoulder, maybe I'll skip this one, as interested as I am in his side of the story on a few things.

 

Anyone read Jericho's yet?

[Fartsauce 0]

Jericho's book is solid and pretty funny at times. It covers his time in Canada, Mexico, Japan and WCW. The only thing about WWE is his meeting with Vince at his house. I'd pick it up.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

My baby's mama got me the book autographed by Bret Hart himself. Haven't started reading it yet, but most likely will soon.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I call shenanigans on Bret claiming he invented the sharpshooter on his wife in the middle of the night. Konnan had seen some Japanese guys use that hold and showed it to Bret, both Konnan and Bret have said that in interviews before.

 

Konnan? Wow.

 

Didn't Bret say Konnan taught him the Sharpshooter on his WWE DVD documentary? WTF?

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Bret states in the book that "Konan" taught him the sharpshooter.

 

--He constantly speaks negatively about Vince, even when discussing the 80s and his time as champ in 93/94, how unhappy he was with booking decisions, how he was a hair's breath from jumping to WCW all the time, etc. I understand his hatred, but he goes a little overboard.

 

Sounds like Bret doesn't appreciate the push Vince gave him. Without Vince, Bret wouldn't be as respected as he is today. Montreal aside, Vince did wonders for Bret's career. At least give him props for getting his career shot right to the top.

 

He does.

 

Here's an interesting concept, why don't you read the book before you make comments about it?

[theintensifier 0]

What's the point? Minus some "untold" road stories, this book will be the same as every other wrestling book ever written, and I do mean ever written.

 

Bret puts himself over, takes all the credit, whines about people not realizing his greatness, and makes himself look like a real piece of work in the process.

 

Just like every other wrestler whos decided to "write" a book. This trend will continue, until no one cares enough to buy a book that's like every other book. Seriously, all you'd have to do is change some dates, some pictures, and a few tweaks on stories.

 

I cannot wait until HHH or Taker put out a book.

[cabbageboy 0]

In all fairness to Foley's book I never felt like he did much of that stuff in terms of constantly putting himself over or carrying on grudges. There were people he had problems with as bookers (Ole, Flair, Randy Hales in Memphis) but he mostly made his points and moved on.

 

As far as the Bret/Konnan story Bret did in fact say that Konnan taught him the move. But the bit with Bret and his wife was a particular spot in a match where Bret was laying and caught a legdrop, then turned it into the Sharpshooter.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

What's the point? Minus some "untold" road stories, this book will be the same as every other wrestling book ever written, and I do mean ever written.

 

Bret puts himself over, takes all the credit, whines about people not realizing his greatness, and makes himself look like a real piece of work in the process.

 

Just like every other wrestler whos decided to "write" a book. This trend will continue, until no one cares enough to buy a book that's like every other book. Seriously, all you'd have to do is change some dates, some pictures, and a few tweaks on stories.

 

I cannot wait until HHH or Taker put out a book.

 

That's not accurate at all. Way to make yourself look like a complete moron (again).

 

It's very different from most of the books and the guy is brutally honest. There are negatives, but the positives greatly outweigh them. I'm not finished yet, but it's easily the best wrestling book I've read since Foley's first, and I think it might be better than that as well.

 

Was the last line of your post sarcasm?