I just finished reading Bret Hart’s new book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling and I would say this is a must-have for any wrestling fan. What I appreciated the most from Bret’s book was the fact it wasn’t published by the WWE which, in my opinion, gives it more credibility as other books from other Superstars likely had to hold back on some truths in order to keep their jobs.

The book is fairly long, filled with quite a few road stories and is very much a complete diary of Bret’s life from his childhood days to his stroke recovery. There’s no doubt about it, Bret was one of the best technical wrestlers, not just of his time, but in history of wrestling. I’ve read other Superstar books like Ric Flair’s Ric Flair: To Be the Man and Hulk Hogan’s Hollywood Hulk Hogan to name a couple, and Bret’s definitely seemed to come from the heart by comparison.

I don’t think it’s a secret that professional wrestling is scripted and has evolved into entertainment over the years, and I agree with Bret’s sentiment that wrestling died the night of the Montreal screw-job. I think it started dying before that night.

It’s a shame Bret had to follow in the shoes of carrying a company brought to the masses from the horrible ability of Hulk Hogan.  Hulk was a great performer, knew how to work the crowd, but his gimmick got old really quick.  Bret was much more believable as a wrestler, and his matches were so much more interesting to watch.

Apparently Bret was supposed to have appeared on RAW’s anniversary special last month but negotiations fell through last minute.  I’m actually glad he wasn’t there.  Even though he didn’t get the chance to have  a public final match, I’d prefer to remember Bret at the height of his career and still get a good chuckle whenever the WWE comes back to Montreal and they STILL cheer “You screwed Bret! You screwed Bret!”

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