Review of WWE: Bret "Hitman Hart" - The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be

Introduction

In any sport, or any popular endeavour, there will always be those who are bestowed the title of "legend" way before they are due it. Understand that I would like to say this with the strongest possible accentuation: Bret "Hitman" Hart is a legend in the world of professional wrestling.

Bret Hart was born on 2nd July 1957, the 8th child of professional wrestler Stu Hart. By the time that Owen, the youngest child, was born in 1965, Bret had eleven siblings, all of whom would somehow be affiliated with the wrestling business. Despite this, however, in his youth Bret dreamt of becoming a film director, and it was only when he had the opportunity to wrestle as an amateur at school that he began on the career path that would make him a household name.

Almost inevitably, after working his way through the amateur ranks, Bret followed his father - a famous "shooter", a legitimate wrestler capable of incapacitating an opponent with a variety of holds - into the pro wrestling business. He began somewhat tentatively for Stampede Wrestling, which his father owned and promoted. Such was his clear potential, that his opponents never accused him of being there through nepotism.

After coming through some extremely hard-fought matches with England`s Dynamite Kid, and gaining much experience in the New Japan promotion, Hart found his career at a crossroads when Vince McMahon Jr. purchased Stampede Wrestling from Stu Hart in 1984. However, McMahon was suitably impressed with several wrestlers from the promotion, and instantly hired them to compete in the World Wrestling Federation. Four of these wrestlers in particular were to gain international fame, in Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, and Bret himself.

At first unhappy with being quite literally saddled with the gimmick of "Cowboy" Bret Hart, the 28 year old Bret soon established himself as "The Hitman" (a term that he "borrowed" from boxer Thomas Hearns), as part of the Hart Foundation tag team with Jim Neidhart. Despite being the most popular team of the time, and achieving two separate tag team title reigns, Hart was always keen to be part of the singles division, and in the summer of 1991 he defeated "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig for the Intercontinental title. Hart then had a string of excellent bouts against the likes of Shawn Michaels, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and the "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, to whom Hart lost the Intercontinental title in front of 83,000 people at Wembley Stadium in August 1992.

Rather than stunt his success though, Hart defeated WWF World champion Ric Flair for the title in October of the same year. In this post-steroid era, Hart was consistently involved in the world title scene up until 1997, during which time he battled the likes of his brother Owen, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Shawn Michaels and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

November 1997 bore witness to probably the most memorable moment of professional wrestling`s modern era and, unlike the bouts that make wrestling what it is, the incident was very, very real. As detailed in Paul Kay`s remarkable documentary "Wrestling with Shadows", WWF owner Vince McMahon contacted Bret one year after signing him to a 20-year contract, to state that the contract was putting the WWF in "financial peril". McMahon even went so far as to suggest that Hart seek to negotiate a contract with his bitter rival Ted Turner`s World Championship Wrestling promotion. Shocked by the news, Hart soon agreed a contract with WCW, and it was decided that he would debut for the company in December. In the meantime, Hart was given "creative control" over the direction of his final months in the WWF, an important stipulation considering that he was the WWF title holder at the time.

McMahon initially suggested that Bret lose the title to Shawn Michaels in Montreal, Canada at November`s Survivor Series pay-per-view. Using his creative control clause however, Hart nixed the idea, since Michaels had consistently refused to lose to Hart since their last contest (which Michaels won) at Wrestlemania XII. It was decided that the Survivor Series match would end in a disqualification, meaning that Hart would keep the title, before forfeiting it the following night on RAW. Unbeknownst to Hart, however, McMahon had instead concocted a plan with in-ring referee Earl Hebner, that Hebner would "screw" Hart out of the title by making it look as if Bret had submitted during the match. This would enable McMahon to humiliate Hart before he entered the rival WCW, and would also ensure that WCW could not announce that Bret Hart, the WWF champion, was joining their company in December. All went to plan for McMahon, and Hebner did indeed take the title from Hart, despite personally swearing on the lives of his children that he could be trusted. Rather than sue for breach of contract, Hart did what wrestling legend Dory Funk Jr. described as "the perfect thing to do", and knocked Vince unconscious with a single blow after a short dressing room tussle.

Following this "Montreal Screwjob", Bret`s career took a downturn in WCW, where despite the fact that he had been signed to an extremely lucrative contract, creative management had no ideas for him. Although he captured the WCW World title on two occasions, the highlight of his WCW stint was a match that he had on Monday Nitro with fellow Canadian Chris Benoit. Tragically, however, this bout was a tribute match dedicated to his brother Owen Hart, who had been killed during a WWF event in May 1999. He was 34.

Despite contemplating retirement following the death of his brother, Hart did return to the ring, albeit only for a short time. He participated in the aforementioned bout with Benoit, and at the WCW Starrcade event that same year, he was booked in a match against Bill Goldberg. During the bout, however, Hart was struck with a side kick so forceful that it caused a major concussion. This, along with at least one other similar injury, caused Bret substantial memory loss for some time, and eventually caused his retirement. In 2002, in an incident with Hart believes is related to the career-ending concussions, he suffered a stroke when a pothole in the road threw from his motorcycle. The stroke initially caused some paralysis, although through physical therapy Hart is able to move freely and states that he feels lucky to be alive.

Despite regular invitations from Vince McMahon - with whom he had spoken during the recuperation from his stroke - to return to WWE (formerly WWF) television, Bret has yet to accept the offer. In what was a shock to many however, he posed with Vince McMahon for a photograph when he visited WWE offices to discuss his new WWE DVD "The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be" - the subject of this review.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is typical of a WWE DVD production. This is everything that one would expect from a digital television broadcast, and 4:3 productions do not get much better. As always, of particular note is the tremendous use of archive footage, in this case not just from the WWE vaults, but from Bret`s personal library, as he owns the footage from his father`s promotion, Stampede Wrestling. Naturally, due to the age and production values of some of the source material, there are minor issues with film artefacts, but I can categorically state that none of the footage here has ever looked better.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is very good for a DVD of this genre. I am certain that some of the early footage was originally recorded in mono, but this makes little difference to a very good audio transfer.

Features

This is a 3-disc set lasting around nine hours in total. With the documentary part lasting a little over two hours, that means that there is quite a lot to get through here!

On disc one we are treated to some deleted interview scenes with Bret, where he discusses various aspects of his career, and tells a wonderful story about his late brother Owen. There are also two Hart Foundation tag team matches present, against The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith) and the Killer Bees (B.Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell). Both of these matches begin excellently but have unsatisfactory finishes which cut the matches off just as they are hitting fourth gear.

Surprisingly, disc two begins in a similar vein, with the bouts featuring the Hart Foundation vs The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) and Hart in singles action against Ted DiBiase particularly guilty of inconclusive finishes. That said, the 1986 bout between Hart and Ricky Steamboat is excellent, and the same can be said for the two bouts featured against "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig, the Wrestlemania X match with Owen Hart, and the bout with "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith from Wembley Stadium, which is the greatest match ever held in a WWE ring. To conclude disc two, the Hart Foundation`s tag team title bout with the Nasty Boys, and the singles match from Barcelona against Bam Bam Bigelow, are both good matches and are worthy of their presence here.

On disc three we are treated to a good Wrestlemania re-match with Owen Hart, a very good bout with the criminally-underused Hakushi (which was never aired on SKY TV), a similarly good bout with Diesel from the 1995 Survivor Series, a fantastic re-match with a now-heelish Davey Boy Smith, and a bout from Birmingham against The Undertaker, which is one of the best matches ever held in the UK. The remaining bouts - along with the aforementioned Wembley Stadium match - are two of the best matches I have seen this side of Japan, in Hart vs "Stone Cold" Steve Austin from Wrestlemania XIII, and the Owen Hart tribute match from the 4th October edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

Although I may have substituted a match here and there on this compilation - please read my interview with Bret for more information - this is a stunning collection of matches which contain some excellent wrestling. For those who deride American wrestling for its punch/kick/chair shot banality, may I prescribe a dose of anything contained here.

Conclusion

Unsurprisingly, there is little more that I can say about this DVD set, or the man to whom it is a tribute. The fact of the matter is that, as fans grew tired of Hulk Hogan`s familiar routine, Bret Hart stepped into the void and almost single-handedly carried the WWF through the 1990s, at a time when it was at its most vulnerable. In doing so, Hart was not only tremendously popular, and not only contesting some of the greatest matches in American wrestling history, he was also a hero to millions who believed in the "Hitman" character.

The WWE has wanted to produce a Bret Hart tribute DVD for some time, and was hoping to have the man himself heavily involved in the process of creating it. With an excellent documentary on his career, and a stunning collection of matches here (selected by Hart himself), this is the best DVD set that the WWE has ever released.

And I really don`t think that it can be bettered.