Hitman: My Real Life In The Cartoon World of Wrestling

By Bret Hart
Grand Central Publishing, 571 pages

When Calgary’s most famous son named his 2007 autobiography Hitman: My Real Life In The Cartoon World of Wrestling, he summed up his story with all the precision and flash of his most fabled ring move. It was a “sharpshooter” of a title.

Except, perhaps, for the word real, because anybody who reads the book would have to agree that surreal is a better description for the life of Bret (Hitman) Hart. Growing up in the legendary Hart House and taking his knocks in the family Dungeon; following father Stu Hart into the weird world of pro wrestling, where the lines between sport and theatre collided like a head on a steel turnbuckle; learning the game in the family’s Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling promotion before hitting the big time in the WWE, the very juggernaut that put his dad out of business.

Hitman takes us through epic battles with the likes of (Stone Cold) Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels, and stinging betrayals such as the infamous “Screwjob in Montreal” where Hart feuded for real with his boss Vince McMahon Jr.

Then there are the tragedies, Hart’s tale is rife with them, most notably the death of his younger brother Owen during a 1999 pay-per-view match and the debilitating stroke Bret suffered in 2002.
Somehow Hart rises above it, emerging in Hitman as a true survivor, a title even more impressive than the many world championship belts he wore over the course of his iconic career.

— Heath McCoy

September/October 2011