Wrestling / Bret Hart

The Hitman.

"I am the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be!"

*guitar screech*

Bret Sergeant Hart, A.K.A. "The Hitman" (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. One of the biggest Professional Wrestling super stars in The '90s, being simultaneously one of the most technically gifted performers to ever step into a wrestling ring and one of the most troubled and tortured personalities in the business' history by the last years of his career. Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, Bret was a member of a true wrestling dynasty, trained by his famous father Stu in their "Hart Dungeon" rising easily as the most successful member of his prestigious family.

After The Nasty Boys stripped him from his Tag Team title at WrestleMania VII, Bret launched a successful singles career. At SummerSlam 91, he defeated Mr. Perfect for his first singles title in the WWF. By Survivor Series 92, he had defeated Ric Flair for his first World Heavyweight Championship, this ended at the hands of Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, but in the ensuing craziness that was 1993's WWF, it quickly became apparent that Bret was the most popular wrestler in the promotion. By 1994, at WrestleMania X, he won the title back from Yoko and cemented himself as the promotion's top Face, spending the rest of the year in a bitter rivalry with his brother, Owen "The Rocket" Hart.

He was pushed into the background by 1995 even after he ended Diesel's financially disastrous year-long title reign at Survivor Series 95, it was already set that he would be dropping the title at WrestleMania XII. According to a variety of accounts (including his own), the backstage grudge between him and Shawn Michaels started around that time. Bret took then time off to contemplate his future, returning in November to kick off the feud that would make "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's career and transformed his forever. Bret rose victor at Survivor Series 96, but the feud continued, culminating in a submission match at WrestleMania XIII, which saw Austin become a huge face, and Bret was now the top heel. Bret recruited his brother Owen, his brothers-in-law (Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and The British Bulldog), with a family friend "The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman turning his former Tag Team into a Power Stable, denouncing America and speaking of Canada being better.

Following the controversial "Montreal Screwjob" in November 1997 he left for World Championship Wrestling where Bret was poorly used, never again attaining his levels of success in WWF. His stint would be marred by the death of his younger brother Owen. His career eventually ended in 2000 due to a severe concussion suffered in a match with Goldberg. A stroke two years later after a bicycle accident ensured he would never wrestle again.

The Hitman is a Double Triple Crown Champion. A 5x WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a 2x WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, a 2x WWE World Tag Team Champion (w/Neidhart), a 1x WWE United States Heavyweight Champion, a 2x WCW World Heavyweight Champion, a 4x WCW United States Heavyweight Champion and a 1x WCW World Tag Team Champion (w/Goldberg). In 2006, Bret resurfaced for his WWE Hall of Fame induction prior to WrestleMania 22, and in 2019, he became a two-time Hall of Famer as part of the induction of The Hart Foundation. Bret would make an official return to what is now WWE in 2010, making sporadic appearances in a (mostly) non-wrestling role at pay-per-views and Raw... but not before having one last feud with Vince McMahon leading up to WrestleMania XXVI.

On February 1st, 2016, Bret Hart revealed he was dealing with prostate cancer.

Bret Hart is the Trope Namer for:

• Five Moves of Doom: A fan commentary by Scott Keith on Bret's matches from the newsgroup rec.sport.pro-wrestling included this phrase. Hilariously, no one who has ever tried to mock Bret for this in their books (Flair for instance) has ever gotten them right. They were: Inverted Atomic Drop, Russian Legsweep, Pendulum Backbreaker, a second rope Pointed Elbow Drop, and The Sharpshooter. More importantly, as a fan, generally the second Bret hit the legsweep, you knew EXACTLY where he was headed in an excited "Oooooh here we go!" moment.
• Montreal Screwjob: Without any doubt, one of the events that changed wrestling forever, Bret was its unfortunate receiving end.
• Spanish Announcers' Table :The Hitman was the first wrestler to be thrown through it back in Survivor Series '95 by Diesel.

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"These tropes are the best there are, the best there were, and the best there ever will be!"

• The Ace: One of the most gifted, versatile and dedicated workers ever. Bret could do technical wrestling, fly, throw power moves, work a singles or tag-team match, and he mastered ring psychology, being able to take the worst worker on the roster to give an amazing match.
  Bret Hart: 'The company was really sinking fast. I took wrestling in a different direction, I think. When you look back today, they don’t wrestle like Hulk Hogan anymore. They wrestle like Bret Hart. Wrestling’s all about action and speed and telling a story and I think that’s where I came in".
• All Animals Are Dogs: The Hart house used to foster... what else? A freakin' wrestling bear as the family's pet!
• Arch-Enemy:
  • In Kayfabe:
    • In The Hart Foundation: The British Bulldogs, The Fabulous Rougeaus and Demolition.
    • In singles competition: his two greatest were Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, and respective matches with them at Wrestlemanias XII and XIII were arguably the two biggest matches of Bret's career ... outside the Montreal Screwjob.
    • Bret had a years-long feud with his little brother Owen, who even beat Bret at Wrestlemania X, but they ultimately reconciled to reform the Hart Foundation faction.
    • Jerry "The King" Lawler was one of his most frequent in-ring rivals. The feud started at King of the Ring '93 and was finally put to bed over two years later.
  • In Real Life:
    • Michaels again. Although they buried the hatchet on January 4, 2010's Raw. When Shawn retired after WrestleMania XXVI he thanked Bret for putting up with him backstage. By that point it was clear that they both were on speaking terms once again.
    • Of all people, Bad News Brown was possibly Bret's worst enemy ever. Brown and Hart shared some history from their Stampede days together, so the former commented in many interviews that The Hitman was the most difficult wrestler he ever worked with. Bret called Brown "His Nemesis"^note , being the only person he refers to as this in his book. Unlike Michaels, they never buried the hatchet because Bad News died in 2007.
    • Triple H, and this one's a mutual hate/hate relationship. Haitch was on the booking committee during the year lead up to Montreal, and Bret, while having helped a little on-screen with the beginning of the Attitude Era, didn't quite agree with the edgy shift in direction. This was back in the higher point of The Kliq's reign of terror backstage, which doesn't help matters. When Austin asked HHH about Bret on his podcast, HHH's lukewarm response was "He's a good technician". The animosity still continues to this day — while they can be civil with each other, it's very clear that Bret still nurses a grudge against him. It's generally agreed upon that you can trust Bret to give an unbiased view of something only if it is unattached to HHH completely.^note For example, in Royal Rumble '16 everyone regarded both the titular match and the PPV in general as a significant improvement over the last two years. Bret called this the worst Rumble of all time even though the last two ended with severe X-Pac Heat for its respective winners, and this one had the debut of AJ Styles. Considering precedent, you could easily conjecture that Bret regarded it as such because Haitch happened to win that year his fourteenth world title in the process. Fans weren't exactly happy about that either but they were willing to live with it since the rest of the PPV and the match were okay and the winner actually fit storyline purposes.
    • "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, and only because they just don't like each other. Bret was on Ric's podcast, and the latter spoke about he never had a beef with Bret apart from... just not liking him.
    • Hulk Hogan, for at least three reasons, beginning in one of his first matches in the States^note Hogan (as "The Super Destroyer") simply squashed Bret off, then for not giving him the opportunity to getting over for the WWF Championship because of his size, and to finish, the Hulkster could right any wrong in their match at WCW, but he just proceeded to wash, rinse and repeat what happened in their first match.
    • Goldberg, though this one's understandable. He ended Bret's career with a careless kick. Hart has wavered from the accident not being Bill's fault (for he was rushed through training and put in the ring before he was ready), but saying Bill was a good guy out of the ring; to full-on seething, loathing hatred of the man. From about 2015 on, he's spoken with more vitriol towards Goldberg than he has about the Screwjob, an event that defined his life for over 20 years. Though even then, his attacks are limited to Bill's ability and his track record of hurting people ("Everyone he ever worked with," though that's hyperbole). He was appalled when Goldberg was selected for the Hall of Fame in 2018 because of this. Bret prides himself on rarely, if ever, hurting an opponent for being careless, for the most valuable skill a wrestler can possess to him, is the ability to work safely.
    • His big sister Ellie (Nattie's mother). According to Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, they never got along. She's the only one of his eleven siblings whom he never seems to say anything good about in his book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling. At least this hatred hasn't passed on to Nat, who is very close to Bret.
    • Martha, Owen Hart's widow. Bret accuses her of being the sole reason why Owen isn't present in the WWE Hall of Fame.
• As Himself:
  • On The Simpsons. Bonus points for being the only pro wrestler ever appearing on the show. According to Hart, he was originally hired to play a fictional wrestler called the Mad Russian, and director Mark Kirkland had no idea how famous Hart was until he saw him inundated by autograph-seeking fans while he was waiting for his limousine outside the studio. Kirkland then told Hart he'd switch the character to the Hitman even though Hart had read the lines as a wholly different character. This is why Hart sounds nothing like actually does in the episode.
  • On the talk show Later, along with "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels in 1998.
  • Made an appearance on MADtv (1995) in a sketch as Jesse Ventura's (Played by Will Sasso) new lieutenant governor. In the sketch, reporters would ask questions of Ventura, only for Hart to intimidate or injure the reporter in question. Turns into a Worked Shoot when Hart allegedly goes off script and starts injuring the cast members. Then he hit Sasso with a chair, grabbed a mic and cut a heel promo, and put Sasso in the Sharpshooter. The event received some media coverage, and even fooled some news outlets and fans of the show. (One of the writers even alleged that the incident was real.) This ultimately led to Sasso and Hart having a match on the 2-15-99 edition of Monday Nitro.
• Ascended Meme: On Bret's Twitter, he referenced the Five Moves of Doom and linked to the El Dandy interview on YouTube, labeling it his favorite moment from his time in WCW.
• Bash Brothers: With The Anvil, Goldberg and his brother.
• Break the Cutie: The Montreal Screwjob and especially Owen's death seems to have sucked out any enthusiasm he's had for the business, admitting that he spent his WCW days on "auto pilot" and that he didn't care as much about the politicking going on as he would have done in the WWF.
• Captain Ersatz
  • Fire Pro Wrestling began including Bret Hart ersatz types after he debuted in WCW.
  • According to Bret's autobiography, there was an Indian brand of jeans called Hitman, where the man on the billboard posing as Bret had "long hair, a big nose, and a fat gut."
• Career-Ending Injury: Bret officially retired in 2000, but was planning a (limited) comeback in the coming years. A bicycle accident resulting in a stroke put an end to that.
• Catchphrase: The page-topping quote, doubling up as Badass Boast.
• Chest Insignia: A hot pink heart emblasoned by a winged skull.
• Chick Magnet: Bret had been always favored by women just as much as his dad was back in his day. Jade (Bret's eldest daughter) stated on an entreview that one of the wierdest moments of her life was the time she told a friend of hers she could ask her anything she wanted as a birthday gift, and what the girl wanted more than anything? A poster of Jade's dad!
• Cluster F-Bomb: Bret Hart's promo on the Raw before WrestleMania 13, after losing a steel cage match to Sycho Sid.
  Bret Hart: Frustrated isn't the goddamn word for it! This is bullshit!
• Cool House: The Hart's house used to be a Red Cross' post, hosting medics required for the people of Saskatoon in a time the town was one of the more merciless, coldest places on God's green earth!
• Cool Shades: Wore teashades during his 90s heel turn, and would hand these out to kids. A good pair of sunglasses can last a lifetime, making it one of the best remembered "cheap pops".
• Cue the Flying Pigs: Bret's appearance as the guest host of Raw pretty much incited this reaction (with a hefty dose of Squee) from both the fans and himself, stating that hell had probably frozen over.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His WrestleMania XXVI match against Vinny Mack. It wasn't so much a match as it was an extended beatdown.
• Decoy Protagonist: He was prominently featured in the promo that announced the beginning of Attitude Era... which aired right before his match with Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in 1997. He was gone less than half an hour later.
• Determinator: Bret once wrestled a match against Dino Bravo, which saw Bret get bumped a little too hard to the outside, where he broke his sternum on the steel guard rail. Despite Bret's nonverbal cues that something was wrong (i.e. he couldn't even breathe) the match kept going. Bret was supposed to win, but ended up losing by countout.
• Despair Event Horizon: In-character version: his 1997 heel turn and reformation of the Hart Foundation, complete with What the Hell, Hero? speech against America's failing family values.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: On the March 29, 1999 WCW Monday Nitro, which was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Bret called out Goldberg, who ran out full-speed and speared Bret, only to got knocked out. Bret took off his Toronto Maple Leafs jersey to reveal a steel torso protector.
• Distaff Counterpart: Unofficially, but CHIKARA's Princess Kimberlee^note WSU's Kimber Lee/WWE NXT's Abbey Laith is the Closest Thing We Got to Bret. She always hands a little girl in the crowd her tiara to wear before each match, and her five-month reign as the fourth, and first female, CHIKARA Grand Champion had some similarities to Bret's first WWE Title reign. Bret defended the title against, among others, Kamala and The Berzerker. Kimberlee defended her title against, among others, Jaka (billed from Chad) and Oleg The Usurper (a "Mad Viking Warrior", though billed from "Mount Pulpit Haven"). Nevertheless, the analogy isn't perfect, since Bret never had to defend a title against an anthropomorphic insect (Soldier Ant) or a woman (Heidi Lovelace, Nixon Newell) and never lost a title to an undead pumpkin demon under a spell (Hallowicked), and Kim never lost a title to a 500 lbs. ex-Sumo Wrestler (Yokozuna). Still, she is closer to being "The Hitgirl" than even Natalya Neidhart.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: The beginnings of his 1997 Face–Heel Turn, kicked into high gear when Stone Cold got an ill-begotten win at that year's Royal Rumble.
• Enemy Mine: Michael Cole was such a huge jerkass that Bret was more than happy to come to the aid of Lawler in putting him in his place.
• Even the Guys Want Him: In Hart's autobiography, there are several instances of gay men hitting on him.
• Evil Versus Evil: The Hart Foundation feuding with D-Generation X in 1997.
• Eye Beams: Not in real life, obviously, but whenever video games like WWF In Your House and WWE Immortals give their rosters superhuman elements, Bret's sunglasses always seem to be able to shoot lasers.
• Family Business: The Harts are virtually all in the wrestling business, including cousins and in-laws.
• Finishing Move:
  • At the start of his career, it was either a Texas Piledriver or an Abdominal Stretch.
  • As part of "The Hart Foundation", The Hart Attack (Neidhart would hold the opponent up in a Bear Hug while Bret would deliver a Lariat Takedown).
  • The Sharpshooter (Sasori-gatame) became his finisher for the rest of his career once he started using it. You can be damn sure that if someone uses the 'shooter, it is in some way related to either Bret or Owen, whether to taunt or show respect to them. Unless it's Sting or a tribute to Sting, or, less likely, Riki Chōshū, who pretty much originated and named it in Japan.
• Flanderization: The Montreal Screwjob has become pretty much the be-all and end-all of his entire career, as if everything he had ever accomplished before that didn't happen or doesn't matter. Botchamania once parodied Bret Hart for this.
  Maffew Gregg: ...something, something Montreal! ...something, something Bill Goldberg almost kicked my head off!
• Foreign Wrestling Heel: At least in the United States after his Face–Heel Turn in 1997. Overseas, he has always been more popular.
• Foreshadowing: During the build up to WrestleMania XII, one of the episodes of Monday Night Raw had an in ring promo of Hart and Shawn Michaels - who at this point at least respected each other - verbally sparring, only to have (kayfabe) acting commissioner Roddy Piper declare that their match would be the 60 minute Iron Man Match. Piper had the final word... if he only knew!
  Roddy Piper: Shake hands now, boys, cause you're gonna hate each other when it's over!
• Friend to All Children: Bret would always give his glasses to a lucky child sitting in the front row during his entrance.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Took an errant stiff kick from Goldberg, which led to all sorts of concussion-centric health issues (and possibly the stroke he suffered). It essentially brought his career to a grinding stop.
• Genre Savvy: At a very young age, Bret started to witness most of, if not every, aspect in the business, so it comes as no surprise he was one of the most gifted in-ring performers ever.
• The Grappler: Bar none! With maybe the exeption of Bob Backlund and Mr. Perfect, Bret has lived up to his most famous nickname "The best there is...etc" being the most solid and gifted technical perfomer in the last 45 years or so, to say the least.
• He Who Fights Monsters: For much of 1996 Austin had been doing everything in his power to make Bret's life hell, and kept on targeting Bret no matter what. This led to Bret snapping at WrestleMania in their submission match and not holding anything back against Austin, which started Bret's run as a heel.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door:
  • Heel–Face Turn: Right after he was one of the four top stars saved from the Stampede's sell in '84, Bret spent the beginning of his carrer in the States as Heel, this including the formation of his famous Tag Team with Neidhart. By '88 his popularity grew so much that WWF's management gave him a huge push that ended in his 90's Breakup Breakout as one of the promotion's top Faces.
  • Face–Heel Turn: After WrestleMania 13 in a move that was seen as a nine years late one. You can see how on "Irony" below.
  • Following his move to WCW, Bret would switch back and forth between Face and Heel, until Goldberg's heel connected with Bret's face.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Famously wore a leather jacket with "Hitman" and his Chest Insignia on it.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Very much so in Canada, especially during the days of The Hart Foundation. This was taken advantage of when the Hart Foundation were jingoistic heels in the late 1990s.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Despite being acrimonious in-ring rivals, Curt Hennig was one of Bret's closest friend. He took Curt's untimely death rather hard.
• Hidden Depths: Few people know that Bret is quite a gifted cartoonist. You may find him often drawing funny depictions of his fellow performers.
• Irony:
  • Bad News Brown won the Battle Royal at WrestleMania IV by eliminating Bret, leading The Hitman to trash Brown's trophy, turning him into a Face. Had it happened nine years later, Bret would have been booed out of the arena and Brown would have become the #1 Babyface in the business.
  • One of more popular WWE Hitman t-shirts featured him standing proudly before an American Flag. Not only is Bret Canadian, but a defining aspect of Bret's character is his patriotism for his homeland of Canada.
• It Runs in the Family: Bret's father Stu was one of the most legendary Canadian wrestling performers and promoters ever.
• It's Personal: At King Of The Ring '93, Jerry "The King" Lawler objected to Bret being named "King" just by winning a tournament, and apparently stiffed Bret hard with a sceptre, and later again with the crutches. Lawler had shown up at SummerSlam in an attempt to get out of the match, introducing Doink the Clown as his replacement. Bret basically squashed Doink, and Lawler threw down the crutches revealing that his "injury" was faked, and attacked Bret, leading to the then President Jack Tunney forcing The King into the match. Bret claimed to have really cranked on The Sharpshooter in retaliation, though Lawler told him that he thought "that was how the Hart boys worked." They made up sometime later.
• Knight Templar: His heel persona in a nut. He started preying on "little degenerates" like Austin and Michaels.
• The Last of His Kind: A very sad Truth in Television case, for he's the only surviving member of The New Hart Foundation.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: Vince's retaliation to the aforementioned WrestleMania XXVI beatdown was to get back at Hart by...promoting him to General Manager so he could see if it was that easy to be the boss and be able to make important decisions and sacrifices not everyone would like. Bret did for the large part successfully pull off a Reasonable Authority Figure, though his integrity did inevitably provoke some bad blood from other superstars, including the Hart Dynasty. Vince quickly fired Bret following this, assured he had proved his point.
• Loophole Abuse: When a badly injured Batista demands yet another shot at John Cena, Bret obliges... by ordering him to compete in an immediate qualifying match against an also hurt Randy Orton. When Batista complains about that and threatens to quit, Bret takes it as a forfeit and names Orton the winner, infuriating an already angry Batista enough to follow through with quitting the company.
• Mistaken for Racist: Bret was targeted by Shinja, Hakushi and Bull Nakano after Jerry Lawler claimed Hart hated Japanese people in an interview.
• The Münchausen: A few of the claims in his autobiography range from dubious to demonstrably false. For example, the idea that Austin had never bladed prior to their Submission match, despite Steve bleeding in many matches in WCW, and a section in Austin's autobiography where his WCW-Era persona talks with Dustin Rhodes about 'getting some color tonight'.
• The New Adventures: "The New Hart Foundation" with The Anvil, The Rocket, The Bulldog and The Loose Cannon.
• No Sympathy: On his first night as Raw General Manager, he shows no concern towards Batista being in a wheelchair from the injuries suffered from his loss to Cena the night before by ordering him to compete in an immediate qualifying match against Randy Orton if he wants another shot against Cena and the WWE Championship only to name said opponent the winner via forfeit when Batista refuses citing his injuries, causing The Animal, who was already frustrated enough over suffering three straight PPV losses to Cena, to undergo Villainous Breakdown and quit the WWE afterwards.
• Off the Rails: The last two appearances he made in WCW (the first of which being the plate-under-the-hockey-jersey spot) started with him supposedly being the heel, coming out to riotous cheering. The fans didn't even try to boo him, and Bret didn't even try to act the heel.
• Only Sane Man: In a match on a late 1992 episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling when he teamed with THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR to defeat PAPA SHANGO and KAMALA THE UGANDAN GIANT! Bret obviously came as the most level-headed one.
• Perpetual Smiler: Thanks to his stroke, post-retirement Hart's mouth has "smirk" as its default setting.
• Pet the Dog: Would frequently give out his Cool Shades to young fans at ringside. This is lampshaded by R-Truth, who borrows the shades to give to a kid, with the reasoning that it'd make him more popular and thus more likely to get a championship match.
  Bobby Heenan: There he goes, buying fans again!
• Playing Possum: One of Bret's trademark tropes.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Obviously he didn't die, but Bret losing his final match with the company before leaving for almost a decade fits in terms of his departure from the plot. His treatment at the hands of Vince McMahon at Survivor Series '97 - where he was screwed out of the World Title before leaving for WCW - directly led to the beginning of the Attitude Era on the following episode of Raw, and the Mr. McMahon character not long after.
• Popularity Power: Bret is really, really popular in Canada. So much to the point that during an infamous promo by Shawn Michaels at Montreal in 2005, when Bret's music played and it seemed like he was going to come out and confront Shawn, the crowd erupted.
• Power Stable:
  • (in WWF):
    • Survivor Series '87 (as part of The Hart Foundation w/Neidhart, Tag Team match): w/Demolition, The Bolsheviks, The Islanders and The New Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo). Managed by Jimmy Hart.
    • Survivor Series '88 (again w/Neidhart, Tag Team match): w/The Bulldogs, The Rockers, The Powers of Pain and The Young Stallions (Jim Powers and Paul Roma).
    • Survivor Series '90: "The Dream Team" w/Neidhart, Dusty Rhodes and Koko B. Ware.
    • Survivor Series '91: w/The Bulldog, Piper and Virgil.
    • Survivor Series '93: "The Hart Family" w/his brothers Owen, Keith and Bruce. Managed by Stu Hart.
    • The New Hart Foundation.
  • (in WCW):
    • The nWo.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Hot pink was his signature color for his whole career. Bret stated that it was The Anvil's idea since when they started as a Tag Team, their attires didn't match.
  Bret Hart: I've always said that pink may not be my favorite color, but it's my lucky color.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As Raw General Manager, to the point where he won't even give preferential treatment to The Hart Dynasty.
• Red Baron: Several.
  • The Hart Foundation was occasionally referred to as "The Pink and Black Attack."
  • "The Hitman", of course.
  • Commentators (Gorilla Monsoon in particular) liked to refer to him as "The Excellence Of Execution".
  • When a heel, was occasionally called "greaseball" due to his perpetually wet-looking hair.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Let's face it, no one was surprised that the Harts sided with Bret against Vince at WrestleMania XXVI and eschewed Vince's bribe.
• Sexual Karma: Deconstructed. According to his book, he'd slept with many women during his first marriage, and despite his own self-justifications he knew it wasn't the ideal behavior. His biggest was that every wrestler needed to find ways to relieve the stress and boredom of spending 300 days a year on the road, and (for him) picking up women was far less harmful/destructive than using drugs and/or alcohol to cope with. (Honestly, considering how many wrestlers have died from overdoses compared with how many have gone Out with a Bang or died from STD's, he might have at least something of a point.) This has bitten him in the ass in later years, however, as his wife left him after she found out he cheated on her.
• Shout-Out: Bret Hart's four hearts on his wrestling tights represent his children: Jade, Dallas, Alexandra Sabina (a.k.a. Beans), and Blade.
  • On the February 17 (taped January 23), 1996 WWF Superstars, Vince McMahon interviewed Bret Hart about his cage match against Diesel the following night at in Your House #6. In the interview, Bret said in re Diesel, "despite all his rage, he is still just a rat in a cage", and commentator Gorilla Monsoon recognized the reference.
• Signature Move: He had a few that he used almost every single match: Scoop Slam, Discus Punch, Close-range Dropkick, Eagle-spread Headbutt Drop and his full Five Moves of Doom set were on top of his list..
• The Spartan Way: The most famous and successful pupil from his dad's infamous Dungeon.
• Spiteful Spit: Gave one to the ringside Vince McMahon seconds after after the Montreal Screwjob.
• Squash Match:
  • At WrestleMania VI, the Hart Foundation squashed The Bolsheviks in 19 seconds flat.
  • The aforementioned WrestleMania XXVI match with Vince quickly degenerated into this.
• The Stoic: As a Face, befitting his reputation as one of the greatest technical wrestlers of his generation.
  • He is this in Real Life too, from 1999 to 2004 Bret's life turned into a a veritable living hell since every possible real fear you can possibly imagine had happened to him.
• Tag Team:
  • (in WWF):
    • "The Hart Foundation" w/ The Anvil, managed by Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart.
    • w/Owen, his brother.
  • (in WCW):
    • w/Goldberg.
• Technician Versus Performer: He was the technician to Shawn Michaels' performer. Bret's wrestling style was very technically sound, whereas Shawn's was always high-flying and flashy.
• Theatrics of Pain: Part of why Bret is one of the greatest workers of all time is his ability to realistically convey pain from every single move taken to him. Bret isn't an overzealous seller like some others but his gift at showing real emotion and anguish during a match is how he was able to make every single one his matches engaging to watch. Special mention should go the Royal Rumble 1993 a pay-per-view built entirely off of Bret's Kayfabe injured knee.
• Unrelated Brothers: Subverted; pretty much anyone who was said to be a member of the Hart family actually was, be it by marriage or blood.
• Ur-Example:
  • On July 21, 1992 (aired on the French version of WWF Superstars on September 2, 1992), WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart defeated Shawn Michaels in the first-ever ladder match in WWE history.
  • As noted above, he was the first wrestler to go through the Spanish announcers' table.
• Verbal Tic: Whenever referring to The Rocket, he would always do so as "My brother Owen", never just "Owen", even in the instances when they were standing three feet from each other and it would be obvious to everyone who he was referring to. To be fair, Owen did the same thing with Bret.
• Villain Respect: While the animosity is more than justified and has lasted for four and a half decades, The Hitman reluctantly admits that no matter his opinion of him as a person or performer, he has always respected the devotion and affection that The Hulkster shows to fans, not only to his fans, but with wrestling fans in general. And is deeply thankful for him showing in Owen's funeral.
• Who's Laughing Now?: His win against Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XXVI.
• Worf Had the Flu: A rather literal case: just prior to the 1992 Royal Rumble, Bret, at the time Intercontinental Champion, had a flu that ranged at nearly 104 degrees. He lost the belt the night before the event to The Mountie, who then set the record for the shortest IC title reign ever when he lost it to Piper one day later at the Rumble itself.^note That record would be broken in October 1995 at in Your House IV, when Shawn forfeited it to Dean Douglas (Shane Douglas), who would then lose it around 11 minutes later to Razor Ramon.
• "World's Best" Character: His gimmick, being "The Excellence of Execution/Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be" and living up to that fame.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • No matter how much he and Shawn hated each other, they had immense respect for each other's in-ring abilities.
  • Bret himself has stated that Hennig was his favorite opponent to work with.
• Wrestling Family: More like a Wrestling Dynasty, for sure!
  • Bret's father Stu was one of the most prestigious canadian catch-wrestlers and promoters, his mother Helen helped their business also as a part-time promoter besides rising and taking care of their 12 children. His siblings Smith, Bruce, Keith, Ross Lindsay and Owen were all wrestlers like him, his brothers Wayne and Dean were bookers and referees while Ellie, Georgia and Diana were all involved in several storylines during Bret and Owen's stints at WWF... and lets not forget about his also famous cousin!
• Wrestling Psychology: A true master of his craft, he knew every shortcut, catch, swerve and deception in the game, this added to his incredible technical chops made him a feared adversary.

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"And if you don't like it, tough shit!"