Is Bret Hart the Best There Is, the Best There Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be?
Calgary’s own Bret “The Hitman” Hart is one of the most influential and legendary wrestlers of all-time. In just the WWF alone, he was a two-time Tag Team Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, and five-time World Heavyweight Champion. From 1984-1997 this man gave it his all every time he went ringside. Hart would always make some little boy or girl’s hopes and dreams by giving them an autographed pair of the Hitman’s shades. Bret went out on a sour note with the WWF and Vince McMahon, but his five championships by 1997 were tied with Hulk Hogan, another notable WWF figure. With the amount of influence “The Hitman” has passed down on the wrestling industry, is he still the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be?
Hart made his WWF television debut on August 29th, 1984, where he was in a tag team match with the Dynamite Kid. He was given the nickname “The Hitman” by 1985 and became managed by Jimmy Hart. This is when the remarkable Hart Foundation was formed, and Bret would start to work more frequently with his brother-in-law Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Hart’s moniker “The Excellence of Execution” was coined by then commentator Gorilla Monsoon. In 1986, while still working as a tag-team with “The Anvil”, Hart started his first singles matches. He faced Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Ray Rougeau, and at Wrestlemania II, he participated in a 20-man Royal Rumble which was won by Andre the Giant. Although he and Neidhart were heels at the time, the face turn would soon occur in 1988.
The Hart Foundation won their first WWF Tag Team Championship by defeating The British Bulldogs on an episode of Superstars of Wrestling on February 7th, 1987. By this time, Bret dubbed himself “the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be” this quote was derived from the 1984 film The Natural and since his retirement has three claims to justify his cause for being the best. He’s never injured an opponent through any fault of his own, he’s only missed one show throughout his whole career due to flight difficulties, and that he’s only ever once refused to lose a match - that we’ll explain later.
At the 1990 SummerSlam, The Hart Foundation won their second and final Tag Team Championship when they defeated Demolition in a two out of three falls match. During the match, Hart and Neidhart received help from The Legion of Doom, who gave them a huge advantage to win the belts. They held the titles for a few months before losing them to The Rockers on October 30th. At Wrestlemania VII, The Hart Foundation split up after a loss to The Nasty Boys, but in later years, Bret Hart, and Jim “The Anvil” brought back this legendary tag team, with two additions of Bret’s brother Owen, and their other brother-in-law The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith.
A year later at the 1991 SummerSlam, “The Hitman” used his most well-known submission move the Sharpshooter on Mr. Perfect to win the Intercontinental Championship.Hart held the title until January when he lost the title to The Mountie. Jimmy Hart, who was the manager for The Mountie threw water in Bret’s face while The Mountie hit Bret repeatedly with a cattle prod. Two days later, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper defeated The Mountie with a sleeper hold at the 1992 Royal Rumble to win the belt. At Wrestlemania VII, “The Hitman” pinned Piper to win his second Intercontinental Championship. Hart became the first wrestler in the WWF, and one of the few guys to ever pin Piper’s shoulders to the mat. Going forward to the 1992 SummerSlam, Hart lost the title in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium to his brother-in-law The British Bulldog.
In a match that was not aired on television, Bret “The Hitman” Hart won his first WWF Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair in Saskatoon. He dislocated one of his fingers on his left hand during the match but popped it back in himself so it would not affect the rest of the match. At Wrestlemania IX, after manager Mr. Fuji interfered, Yokozuna went on to defeat Bret to win his first WWF Championship. Yokozuna held the title for only a few moments before losing it to Hulk Hogan. Yokozuna would win the title back from Hogan at the first ever King of the Ring pay-per-view. “The Hitman” went on to become the first televised “King of the Ring” after defeating Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow. Both Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Lex Luger were declared co-winners at the 1994 Royal Rumble, this gave each of them an opportunity to win the title from Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X. During the first title defense, Yokozuna defeated Luger, but later on Hart would beat the 600-pound sumo wrestler to win his second WWF Heavyweight Championship.
During the 1994 Survivor Series, Hart was in a submissions match with Bob Backlund, where the manager for either competitor would have to “throw in the towel” for the wrestler they were representing. The British Bulldog was dubbed Bret’s manager for the match, and The Hitman’s brother Owen represented Backlund. At one point during the match, Owen clotheslined his brother from behind, this caused Davey Boy Smith to chase after him. Smith chased Owen around the ring but fell and was “knocked unconscious” for the rest of the match. This caused Owen to make his mother Helen throw in the towel for Bret “The Hitman” Hart, when Backlund was performing his famous submission move, the crossface chickenwing. Backlund became a champion for the second time in his career, but it wouldn’t last long as three days later Diesel defeated Backlund in eight seconds.
After a few attempts to win the title back from Diesel, Bret “The Hitman” Hart would win his third WWF Championship at In Your House 6 on February 18th, 1996, when he defeated the near seven-foot giant in a steel cage match. Two months later at Wrestlemania XII, WWF’s Commissioner “Rowdy” Roddy Piper declared that Hart and Shawn Michaels must face each other in a 60-minute Iron Man match, which meant whoever had the most decisions during the 60-minute time period would be declared the WWF Champion. The score would be 0-0 after the time limit, and then president Gorilla Monsoon made the decision to make the match go into sudden death. Michaels would hit Bret with some “sweet chin music” to win his first WWF Heavyweight Championship.
By February 1997, Michaels who was now a two-time champion vacated the belt. At In Your House 13: Final Four on February 16th, 1997, Bret “The Hitman” Hart competed against Vader, The Undertaker, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in a Fatal Four-Way match. Bret eliminated “Stone Cold” first, with Vader being eliminated quickly after by The Undertaker. Only a few moments later, “The Hitman” would clothesline The Undertaker out of the ring to win his fourth WWF Heavyweight Championship. Not even 24 hours later, Bret would lose the title to Sycho Sid.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart would win his fifth and final WWF Heavyweight Championship to The Undertaker at the 1997 SummerSlam. He would notoriously lose the title to Shawn Michaels a few months later at the Survivor Series. This matchup with Michaels is infamously known as “The Montreal Screwjob”. Hart was leaving the WWF to join rival company WCW. Bret wanted to vacate the belt and did not want to hand the title to Michaels because both loathed one another in real life. Shawn would use the sharpshooter on Bret, even though Bret did not submit, referee Earl Hepner on Vince McMahon’s orders made the call to award the match to Shawn Michaels. Hart would be irate, cursing, breaking tv equipment, spitting on McMahon on live television, and even punching Vince in the face backstage. This moment would conjure “The Attitude Era”, giving the WWF a newfound level of growth, and popularity. Even with all the animosity they once shared, Bret is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, being inducted as “The Hitman” in 2006, and The Hart Foundation being inducted in 2019. So, I ask you, if you remember or watched Bret Hart’s matches, is he the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be?
