Have Hart

Bret Hart's autobiography Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling has been released in Canada and is set to be published worldwide in the Spring of 2008. I couldn't wait that long - I ordered it on the Canadian Amazon website the week it came out.

The book follows the life and career of Canada's most famous wrestler. He kept written and taped journals throughout this career so this may very well be one of the most accurate wrestling books on the market.

The Hart family are hero worshipped in and around Calgary but Bret reveals the family was anything but the fully functioning unit they played out in public. Sibling rivalry plays out throughout this book and seems to show its worst during the aftermath of Owen Hart's death when certain family members attempted to disrupt the court proceedings because they felt doing so would harm their husband's attempt at employment in the WWF. It seems the death of their brother brought out the worst in certain family members.

The career of Hart in all the federations he worked in is very thorough. We see the green wrestler starting out in his Father's Stampede Wrestling circuit, making his way to the then WWF and eventually making the decision to join WCW. The highs of winning the WWF world championship as well as the low point of being 'screwed' of the title at Montreal are two parts of the book that are an interesting insight, especially seeing his reasoning to why he refused to lose to Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series in Montreal.

The concussion that led to Bret's retiring from the sport is also highlighted. It seems to share a warning to today's stars especially at a time when awareness of concussions in sport is in the mainstream.

Deaths in wrestling are also brushed upon. It's hard not to considering Hart worked with and against a lot of people who died before their time. The most symbolic death - other than that of his brother, Owen - is when Stu Hart dies. His Father's passing is seen by Hart as the day that professional wrestling died.

I enjoyed reading this book as it allowed me to relive some good moments in wrestling. For the first time ever I realised just how poor wrestling is without Bret Hart. And this is coming from a Shawn Michaels fan!