Zeeboe
05-31-2009, 08:15 PM
This is going to be a long post, so don't type that I didn't warn you. My whole purpose of posting this is to discuss the book with others who read it, and to try and convince others to check it out.
Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling by Bret Hart is bar none the best wrestling related book ever written, and is one of the greatest books....period. The Hitman's book takes you right into the world of professional wrestling, and doesn't look back. You see everything told from the perspective of Bret "The Hitman" Hart. It is an extremely detailed story, and is exactly what an autobiography should be.
Bret doesn't deny any bad thing he ever said and did, and is very honest, and shows just how real wrestling is. Like Bret once said when talking about wrestling: "It's far more real then people think." And I believe a person has to be very tough on many different levels to be a wrestler after reading Bret's book.
I think if anyone ever wants to become a wrestler, reading Bret Hart's book should be required reading in wrestling schools because if you still want to be in that business after reading about Bret's adventures then I think you've already passed the first test.
Some of Bret Hart's skeptics have told me that they think that most of the book is Bret complaining about Shawn Michaels, but that is not true at all. Bret doesn't take nearly as many digs towards Shawn Michaels that Shawn did to Bret in his book. Bret really only talks about Shawn Michaels and the screwjob when he reaches that chapter in the book.
Now in this review, I'll cover some of the topics that were brought up, and post my opinion for each of them.
Bret's childhood: I really enjoyed reading about his youth. Bret gives a great description of what life was liking growing up in the 60's as a child. Now I mean no disrespect, but I found the way Stu raised his children to be disturbing. I realize I wasn't there, so it's unfair to make my opinion too strong. I'm just stating my honest reaction. I would have been scared to death to have been raised by Stu Hart, but maybe that is what Stu would have wanted. Bret admits that his fear of Stu is what kept him in line. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to raise twelve children, and I realize that was how Stu was brought up, and just the way parents punished their children back then, but I can't imagine putting wrestling holds on a kid, and telling them that they breathed their last breath, and then leaving them to limp around for several days with blood-shot eyes. Just my honest opinion. Stu seemed like a decent man, and was just a product of his time.
The Hart Family: I was such a mark for so long that I actually believed in the wholesome image the WWF created for the Hart Family. Again, I mean no disrespect, but the stories about the Hart family are not pretty at all. They're not this Brady Bunch family that I honestly always believed they were.
Dynamite Kid: I never knew much about this guy. I remember watching him wrestle a long time ago, and I've heard and read various things about them through the years, but now that I've read Bret Hart's book, I think Dynamite Kid as a person is a big piece of trash, a scumbag, a degenerate, a racist, a bully, and a poster child for abortion. I think all one has to do is just look at pictures of him, and you can tell he's a jerk. I don't feel sorry for him. He deserved what he got, and I'm glad the Rougeau Brothers kicked his ass. He needed his ass kicked.
Ribbing: I've read a lot of crazy stories about ribs in the wrestling business, and I think some of the pranks the wrestlers pulled on one another or on others were just plan mean. Bret didn't pull a lot of ribs, but he seemed to enjoy the ones that did happen.
To give an example of what I mean, there's a story about a rib that Bret and his brother Smith pulled on Jim Neidhart because he had the hots for their sister Ellie. They were all at the Hart house, and Smith was being rough on the family cat, which Ellie, who was upstairs heard. She yelled at whoever was hurting the cat to stop, then when they wouldn't stop, Ellie went down to confront the person, and Smith threw the cat into the arms of Jim Neidhart which got him yelled at by Ellie. Might be funny to some, but I failed to see the humor in it. I realized they were doing it to mess with Neidhart, but they should have figured out another way to do so. I honestly don't care that much about what the wrestlers do to each other for the most part, but hurting a helpless animal was wrong.
There's another pretty mean rib that Bret talks about when the boys all pulled one on Karl Moffat. The wrestlers had convinced Moffat that Bad News Allen was going to kill him, which lead Moffat to crying. I've never heard of that wrestler, but I googled his name, and it's hard to believe a big, bald-headed biker like him could be reduced to tears, but that just shows how tough Bad News Allen was! And Moffat was only in his early twenties at the time too, and a rookie, so it makes some sense. But I think that's by just being cruel. I realize the wrestlers are all big boys, and it seems that most of them sometimes act like overgrown middle school boys, but still, these are human beings. I'm sure ribs are great for morale for the boys, but there should be lines that aren't crossed. I also figure that the ribs are all apart to see if a wrestler is tough enough to be in the business, but even so, there should be some limits.
On the other hand, one rib Bret pulled and told his book had me laughing to the point of tears, and even though it's border line mean, it wasn't that mean because no one got hurt. What happened was, Bret was in the locker room and came across a dirty, old, abandoned, pair of shit-stained white underwear. Bret decided to rib Murdoch when he noticed Murdoch's fresh, clean, white underwear hanging from a hook by his bag in his locker. He switched the underwear out with tweezers. When Murdoch came by later, and saw the underwear, he thought that one of the boys (as a rib) did a number two in his underwear, and put it back. The way Bret described the whole story was really funny. :lol: What I found hilarious is just that Murdoch actually thought someone would be sick enough to take a dump in his underwear, and put it back.
There's another funny story that Bret tells that again had me in tears from laughing so much.....the van that transported the wrestlers broke down, and Bret told the wrestlers to hide in a ditch while he flagged someone down. Then when Bret finally managed to get a car to stop, it was an elderly couple, and as he was explaining the problem, all the wrestlers came out of the ditch, and started running towards the car. Seeing all the strange looking wrestlers, from giants, to midgets, running straight towards them terrified this poor couple, and they drove off. :rofl:
Traveling: One of my favorite parts about this book is reading about all the traveling Bret did, and the places he saw, and the people he met. I loved all the stories about his adventures in Puerto Rico, Chicago, Hawaii, Japan, Germany, England and Israel. Bret has been lucky to have traveled all over the world, and meet all kinds of interesting people. He describes his experiences in other countries very well, and truly defies why I enjoy reading. If you have a good imagination, you can be right there with Bret in Japan.
Drugs and ring rats: If I didn't admit that I can't help but frown at some of the things Bret did, I'd be a hypocrite because I condemned Ric Flair and Jerry Lawler for their actions that they admitted to doing in their books, and I was hoping Bret would be better. He cheated on his wife with tons of groupies through the years, and he did all kinds of drugs from pot, to coke, to steroids.
I guess even after all these years, I'm still somewhat of a mark, because I actually believed that Bret was the kind of guy who he portrayed himself as on TV. And at first, as I read all these stories about Bret's ring rats, I thought Bret was just a young man being a young man, and before he was married, it didn't really bother me that Bret messed around. I was hoping and thinking that Bret would mature with age, but he continued to mess around well in his 40's.
Now I'm not some square here. I realize you only live once and there's nothing wrong with having fun, and I know being a wrestler is not easy, and it's not like Bret forced any of those women into his hotel room. And I know if you're a wrestler, you get lonely, and with all the traveling and the pain that goes on, I know you do what you have to do to keep morale up.
Bret was just a product of his environment. He grew up in a very rough house with lots of brothers, and a father who put deadly wrestling holds on him, and then he was apart of a very rough business, surrounded by tough guys, far away from his wife, and to have morals in the macho world of wrestling would be impossible.
Bret's fans: I believe he truly cared about them, and that he enjoyed being a hero. He mentions in his book how the Ultimate Warrior left some dying kid from the Make-A-Wish foundation alone with his parents all night backstage at one of the shows. This kid was a big fan of the Warrior, and it was his dying wish was to meet him, and the Warrior made him wait for hours. I thought that was sick. No matter what anyone thinks of guys like Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and or Bret Hart, no matter what they have ever said or done, you cannot deny that they did care about their fans, especially their younger fan base, and would have never just left some sick kid who wanted to meet them alone all night, and make them wait.
The WWF: Reading about his time in the WWF was something I enjoyed reading as well, and I learned a lot of inside things I never knew before. I especially liked reading about Bret Hart's feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, as well as his 1997 run with The Hart Foundation. That was by far the funniest time for me to be a wrestling fan, and even though I was American, I was still on Bret's side, and supported him through out the angle because I thought he was right, and it was great reading his thoughts during this period.
The Montreal Screwjob: When it first happened, I was on Bret's side, then I saw things more clearly from Vince's point of view, and was on his side. It pains me to admit that. I knew Bret and HBK had heat, but I thought Bret should have just been the bigger man, and put Michaels over. Then for a very long time, I was undecided in regards of the screwjob. I don't see it as my fault though. I think a lot of people don't know the details of what happened, but now I do, because Bret gives extreme details as to what happened leading up to the Montreal Screwjob, and I can't blame him at all for refusing to job to Shawn Michaels.
I'm not just a bias Bret Hart fan either. Bret, Shawn, and Vince have all given their side of the story, and I've read and heard it all, and in the end, I side with Bret, because there were all kinds of other ways for them to handle the Survivor Series or to get the title off Bret, but because they didn't trust Bret and honor his word, they decided to treat Bret like a prop all so they could create the Mr. McMahon character, put Shawn Michaels over as a mega heel, and create WWF attitude.
Bret was lied to, plain and simple, and that was wrong to lie to someone like Bret, who gave the company everything he could. He deserved so much better then what he got when he left the company. Bret didn't even want to leave the WWF. I believe he was pushed out, and I think that is because of Shawn Michaels. They had major heat, and I think Shawn Michaels and Triple H got inside Vince McMahon's head, and did whatever they could to try and convince McMahon to let Bret go. I don't think it had anything to do with the money because Bret would have taken less cash to stay.
I find Vince and Shawn's heartless attitude towards Bret, as well as their lack of compassion towards him truly disgusting, and I hope Vince and Shawn get the "You screwed Bret" chants directed towards them for the rest of their careers.
Owen Hart: Owen was one of my favorite wrestlers, and there are some great stories about Owen through out the book, and the chapter on his death is as depressing as anyone can imagine, and brought the bad kinds of tears to my eyes.
In closing, no matter what any Bret Hart haters may think, Bret never cared more about cash, he never held anyone down in the business, he never injured anyone, his matches always looked realistic, he only refused to job once and for good reason, and he never screwed anyone over, and he didn't deserve to get screwed, or have his career ended the way it ended.
I will always be grateful to Bret for being my hero and inspiration. He provided many great memories for me, and whenever I think about the people and things that made my youth what it was, Bret will always be among them.
All and all, Bret's book is a great read that I think anyone, rather it be a Bret Hart fan, a former or current wrestling fan, wrestling hopefuls, and all lovers of reading, non-wrestling fan or not, will greatly enjoy the story about the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling by Bret Hart is bar none the best wrestling related book ever written, and is one of the greatest books....period. The Hitman's book takes you right into the world of professional wrestling, and doesn't look back. You see everything told from the perspective of Bret "The Hitman" Hart. It is an extremely detailed story, and is exactly what an autobiography should be.
Bret doesn't deny any bad thing he ever said and did, and is very honest, and shows just how real wrestling is. Like Bret once said when talking about wrestling: "It's far more real then people think." And I believe a person has to be very tough on many different levels to be a wrestler after reading Bret's book.
I think if anyone ever wants to become a wrestler, reading Bret Hart's book should be required reading in wrestling schools because if you still want to be in that business after reading about Bret's adventures then I think you've already passed the first test.
Some of Bret Hart's skeptics have told me that they think that most of the book is Bret complaining about Shawn Michaels, but that is not true at all. Bret doesn't take nearly as many digs towards Shawn Michaels that Shawn did to Bret in his book. Bret really only talks about Shawn Michaels and the screwjob when he reaches that chapter in the book.
Now in this review, I'll cover some of the topics that were brought up, and post my opinion for each of them.
Bret's childhood: I really enjoyed reading about his youth. Bret gives a great description of what life was liking growing up in the 60's as a child. Now I mean no disrespect, but I found the way Stu raised his children to be disturbing. I realize I wasn't there, so it's unfair to make my opinion too strong. I'm just stating my honest reaction. I would have been scared to death to have been raised by Stu Hart, but maybe that is what Stu would have wanted. Bret admits that his fear of Stu is what kept him in line. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to raise twelve children, and I realize that was how Stu was brought up, and just the way parents punished their children back then, but I can't imagine putting wrestling holds on a kid, and telling them that they breathed their last breath, and then leaving them to limp around for several days with blood-shot eyes. Just my honest opinion. Stu seemed like a decent man, and was just a product of his time.
The Hart Family: I was such a mark for so long that I actually believed in the wholesome image the WWF created for the Hart Family. Again, I mean no disrespect, but the stories about the Hart family are not pretty at all. They're not this Brady Bunch family that I honestly always believed they were.
Dynamite Kid: I never knew much about this guy. I remember watching him wrestle a long time ago, and I've heard and read various things about them through the years, but now that I've read Bret Hart's book, I think Dynamite Kid as a person is a big piece of trash, a scumbag, a degenerate, a racist, a bully, and a poster child for abortion. I think all one has to do is just look at pictures of him, and you can tell he's a jerk. I don't feel sorry for him. He deserved what he got, and I'm glad the Rougeau Brothers kicked his ass. He needed his ass kicked.
Ribbing: I've read a lot of crazy stories about ribs in the wrestling business, and I think some of the pranks the wrestlers pulled on one another or on others were just plan mean. Bret didn't pull a lot of ribs, but he seemed to enjoy the ones that did happen.
To give an example of what I mean, there's a story about a rib that Bret and his brother Smith pulled on Jim Neidhart because he had the hots for their sister Ellie. They were all at the Hart house, and Smith was being rough on the family cat, which Ellie, who was upstairs heard. She yelled at whoever was hurting the cat to stop, then when they wouldn't stop, Ellie went down to confront the person, and Smith threw the cat into the arms of Jim Neidhart which got him yelled at by Ellie. Might be funny to some, but I failed to see the humor in it. I realized they were doing it to mess with Neidhart, but they should have figured out another way to do so. I honestly don't care that much about what the wrestlers do to each other for the most part, but hurting a helpless animal was wrong.
There's another pretty mean rib that Bret talks about when the boys all pulled one on Karl Moffat. The wrestlers had convinced Moffat that Bad News Allen was going to kill him, which lead Moffat to crying. I've never heard of that wrestler, but I googled his name, and it's hard to believe a big, bald-headed biker like him could be reduced to tears, but that just shows how tough Bad News Allen was! And Moffat was only in his early twenties at the time too, and a rookie, so it makes some sense. But I think that's by just being cruel. I realize the wrestlers are all big boys, and it seems that most of them sometimes act like overgrown middle school boys, but still, these are human beings. I'm sure ribs are great for morale for the boys, but there should be lines that aren't crossed. I also figure that the ribs are all apart to see if a wrestler is tough enough to be in the business, but even so, there should be some limits.
On the other hand, one rib Bret pulled and told his book had me laughing to the point of tears, and even though it's border line mean, it wasn't that mean because no one got hurt. What happened was, Bret was in the locker room and came across a dirty, old, abandoned, pair of shit-stained white underwear. Bret decided to rib Murdoch when he noticed Murdoch's fresh, clean, white underwear hanging from a hook by his bag in his locker. He switched the underwear out with tweezers. When Murdoch came by later, and saw the underwear, he thought that one of the boys (as a rib) did a number two in his underwear, and put it back. The way Bret described the whole story was really funny. :lol: What I found hilarious is just that Murdoch actually thought someone would be sick enough to take a dump in his underwear, and put it back.
There's another funny story that Bret tells that again had me in tears from laughing so much.....the van that transported the wrestlers broke down, and Bret told the wrestlers to hide in a ditch while he flagged someone down. Then when Bret finally managed to get a car to stop, it was an elderly couple, and as he was explaining the problem, all the wrestlers came out of the ditch, and started running towards the car. Seeing all the strange looking wrestlers, from giants, to midgets, running straight towards them terrified this poor couple, and they drove off. :rofl:
Traveling: One of my favorite parts about this book is reading about all the traveling Bret did, and the places he saw, and the people he met. I loved all the stories about his adventures in Puerto Rico, Chicago, Hawaii, Japan, Germany, England and Israel. Bret has been lucky to have traveled all over the world, and meet all kinds of interesting people. He describes his experiences in other countries very well, and truly defies why I enjoy reading. If you have a good imagination, you can be right there with Bret in Japan.
Drugs and ring rats: If I didn't admit that I can't help but frown at some of the things Bret did, I'd be a hypocrite because I condemned Ric Flair and Jerry Lawler for their actions that they admitted to doing in their books, and I was hoping Bret would be better. He cheated on his wife with tons of groupies through the years, and he did all kinds of drugs from pot, to coke, to steroids.
I guess even after all these years, I'm still somewhat of a mark, because I actually believed that Bret was the kind of guy who he portrayed himself as on TV. And at first, as I read all these stories about Bret's ring rats, I thought Bret was just a young man being a young man, and before he was married, it didn't really bother me that Bret messed around. I was hoping and thinking that Bret would mature with age, but he continued to mess around well in his 40's.
Now I'm not some square here. I realize you only live once and there's nothing wrong with having fun, and I know being a wrestler is not easy, and it's not like Bret forced any of those women into his hotel room. And I know if you're a wrestler, you get lonely, and with all the traveling and the pain that goes on, I know you do what you have to do to keep morale up.
Bret was just a product of his environment. He grew up in a very rough house with lots of brothers, and a father who put deadly wrestling holds on him, and then he was apart of a very rough business, surrounded by tough guys, far away from his wife, and to have morals in the macho world of wrestling would be impossible.
Bret's fans: I believe he truly cared about them, and that he enjoyed being a hero. He mentions in his book how the Ultimate Warrior left some dying kid from the Make-A-Wish foundation alone with his parents all night backstage at one of the shows. This kid was a big fan of the Warrior, and it was his dying wish was to meet him, and the Warrior made him wait for hours. I thought that was sick. No matter what anyone thinks of guys like Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and or Bret Hart, no matter what they have ever said or done, you cannot deny that they did care about their fans, especially their younger fan base, and would have never just left some sick kid who wanted to meet them alone all night, and make them wait.
The WWF: Reading about his time in the WWF was something I enjoyed reading as well, and I learned a lot of inside things I never knew before. I especially liked reading about Bret Hart's feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, as well as his 1997 run with The Hart Foundation. That was by far the funniest time for me to be a wrestling fan, and even though I was American, I was still on Bret's side, and supported him through out the angle because I thought he was right, and it was great reading his thoughts during this period.
The Montreal Screwjob: When it first happened, I was on Bret's side, then I saw things more clearly from Vince's point of view, and was on his side. It pains me to admit that. I knew Bret and HBK had heat, but I thought Bret should have just been the bigger man, and put Michaels over. Then for a very long time, I was undecided in regards of the screwjob. I don't see it as my fault though. I think a lot of people don't know the details of what happened, but now I do, because Bret gives extreme details as to what happened leading up to the Montreal Screwjob, and I can't blame him at all for refusing to job to Shawn Michaels.
I'm not just a bias Bret Hart fan either. Bret, Shawn, and Vince have all given their side of the story, and I've read and heard it all, and in the end, I side with Bret, because there were all kinds of other ways for them to handle the Survivor Series or to get the title off Bret, but because they didn't trust Bret and honor his word, they decided to treat Bret like a prop all so they could create the Mr. McMahon character, put Shawn Michaels over as a mega heel, and create WWF attitude.
Bret was lied to, plain and simple, and that was wrong to lie to someone like Bret, who gave the company everything he could. He deserved so much better then what he got when he left the company. Bret didn't even want to leave the WWF. I believe he was pushed out, and I think that is because of Shawn Michaels. They had major heat, and I think Shawn Michaels and Triple H got inside Vince McMahon's head, and did whatever they could to try and convince McMahon to let Bret go. I don't think it had anything to do with the money because Bret would have taken less cash to stay.
I find Vince and Shawn's heartless attitude towards Bret, as well as their lack of compassion towards him truly disgusting, and I hope Vince and Shawn get the "You screwed Bret" chants directed towards them for the rest of their careers.
Owen Hart: Owen was one of my favorite wrestlers, and there are some great stories about Owen through out the book, and the chapter on his death is as depressing as anyone can imagine, and brought the bad kinds of tears to my eyes.
In closing, no matter what any Bret Hart haters may think, Bret never cared more about cash, he never held anyone down in the business, he never injured anyone, his matches always looked realistic, he only refused to job once and for good reason, and he never screwed anyone over, and he didn't deserve to get screwed, or have his career ended the way it ended.
I will always be grateful to Bret for being my hero and inspiration. He provided many great memories for me, and whenever I think about the people and things that made my youth what it was, Bret will always be among them.
All and all, Bret's book is a great read that I think anyone, rather it be a Bret Hart fan, a former or current wrestling fan, wrestling hopefuls, and all lovers of reading, non-wrestling fan or not, will greatly enjoy the story about the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.