Original subtitles

[gentle music]

♪ ♪

- Ever since I was \h\ha little kid,

I loved drawing cartoons.

♪ ♪

If I couldn’t have the toys \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI wanted,

I’d draw them instead.

I sketched Snoopy and the Red Baron,

werewolves and Frankenstein.

But what I drew the most were \hthe wrestlers that I loved.

♪ ♪

Guys like Killer Kowalski,

Waldo Von Erich, Dr. Death,

Mr. X, and my favorite, \h\h\h\h\hthe Zebra Kid.

♪ ♪

I loved wrestling so much \hthat I even drew myself.

♪ ♪

And I dreamed that one day,

I’d be the champion \h\h\hof the world.

♪ ♪

[distant cheering]

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Dad, look, it’s Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

Bret.

♪ ♪

- We’re not looking \h\hat a character.

We are looking at a guy. \hHis name is Bret Hart.

- Go get them, champ.

\h\h\h\h- It wasn’t comic book writing.

It wasn’t storytelling. \h\h\hIt wasn’t fables.

It wasn’t make believe.

♪ ♪

- Wow.

- Bret was the first superstar

that you actually saw \h\ha human being in.

announcer: Bret Hart!

Quite a tremendous ovation \h\h\h\h\h\hfor the Hitman.

- We all wanted to be the kid \h\h\h\hthat got the glasses.

announcer: Yes, a nice gift

\hfor a youngster by the ring side

announcer: High fiver. A Hitman Bret Hart fan

if there ever was. \h\h\h\h\h[laughs]

- He had the it factor \h\h\h\h\h\hall along.

He was like magic.

They just were drawn to him \h\h\h\h\h\hlike a magnet.

♪ ♪

- As a kid, I would sit down \h\h\h\h\hin front of the TV

and pay attention to Bret’s matches

more than anything else, the same way I would do

if I was watching Disney \h\hor my favorite film

because his matches were

\h\h\h\hso captivating, they were so realistic.

- He just had a cool factor.

You know, he had the shades, \h\h\h\h\hthe leather jacket.

He made pink and black cool.

♪ ♪

- If I got pulled over \h\h\h\h\hfor speeding

\h\h\h\h\h\hand name dropped that Bret Hart was my uncle,

\h\h\h\h\h\hI’d get out of the speeding ticket.

It definitely helped make me \h\h\ha cooler kid in school.

\h\h\hAnd he was just kind of the it thing.

- And I’m sure a pro wrestler such as yourself

will appreciate all the closet space, Hitman.

\h\h\h\h\h\h- Ew, this place has got old man stink.

\h\h- He took every aspect of being champion to heart.

- Straightforward, honest, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hcharismatic,

that was a real champion.

- The best there is, \hthe best there was,

\h\h\hand the best there ever will be.

The excellence of execution.

I’ve lived for wrestling.

♪ ♪

And my family has lived \h\h\h\hfor wrestling.

♪ ♪

And we’ve died for wrestling.

♪ ♪

\h- We both collapsed in each other’s arms,

just hugging each other, \h\h\h\h\h\hjust crying.

\hWe still grieve. We still miss him.

♪ ♪

- It’s not a sad story.

♪ ♪

He faced adversity \h\hin real life,

and he battled through it.

♪ ♪

\hAnd he came out on the other side

with his head held high,

\h\h\h\h\h\hwith his pride, his respect, still intact.

♪ ♪

- I’m not getting into it to be an average wrestler

\h\h\h\h\h\hor make a living. I wanna be the best wrestler

that ever put on a pair of boots.

I want everyone to go, \h\h\h"He’s the best."

♪ ♪

- The whole mechanisms of a family of 12 kids

is hard for anyone \h\hto understand.

♪ ♪

And we’ve always been \h\h\hreally grateful

for how my dad raised \h\h\h\h\h\hall of us.

He was a very hardworking guy.

\h\h\hEvery single day, he got up in the morning

and made breakfast \h\hfor everybody.

He’d make 12 dishes.

Six dishes would be \hfor the big ones,

\h\h\h\hand then he’d make six slightly smaller ones.

And you were not allowed \h\h\hto leave the table

till you ate everything \h\h\h\h\h’cause my dad

\h\h\hhad grew up in such a tough life growing up.

♪ ♪

He was born in Saskatoon, \h\hSaskatchewan, in 1915.

He was dirt poor.

\h\hHis father got swindled in some kind of a land deal.

♪ ♪

He took up squatter’s rights \h\h\h\h\h\hon the property

until they got thrown \h\hoff the property,

and they end up with his father

and his two sisters

and his mom living in a tent

\h\hin the freezing Saskatchewan prairie

for two or three winters...

♪ ♪

Living off whatever \h\hhe could hunt,

rabbits and whatever birds \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand stuff

\h\hhe could shoot with a slingshot.

\h\h\h\hI sometimes wonder how he made it through those days.

♪ ♪

- My grandfather’s salvation, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhis refuge,

his shelter, was the YMCA,

where he ended up taking up \h\h\h\h\hamateur wrestling

really as just a way \h\h\h\hto stay warm.

\h\h\h- And he takes beating after beating after beating,

but he’s getting better and better and better.

\h\h\hAnd he had came from such a low place

that this was his way

of asserting himself \h\h\hin the world.

He winds up in New York, \h\hand it’s in New York

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat he meets the famous wrestling promoter

Toots Mondt.

He takes a look at Stu, \h\h\h\h\hat that time,

this chiseled Greek statue \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof a man.

- My grandfather was, \has we say, jacked.

♪ ♪

- My dad and a bunch \h\h\h\hof wrestlers

all went to Long Beach, \h\h\h\h\hLong Island.

They were all on the beach,

and they were all flirting \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith my mom,

\h\h\h\h\hand my mom was pretty hot stuff

back in those days.

My dad somehow caught \h\h\h\hmy mom’s eye,

and my mom took a shine to him.

- My mother and father \h\h\h\h\hgot married

December 31st, 1947,

in one of the worst snowstorms \h\h\h\h\hin New York history.

And my mother used to say,

"I’ve been snowed under \h\h\h\h\h\hever since."

- Stu was working \h\has a wrestler,

but he wanted to go home,

he wanted to go back to Alberta,

\h\h\h\h\hand he had dreams of being a promoter himself.

There was a Calgary promotion \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hat the time,

He bought their territory \h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor $50,000.

He’s got some grand ideas, \h\h\h\h\hStu, at the time.

- When we were growing up, \h\h\hit’s hard to imagine,

\h\h\h\h\h\hbut we lived in this 22-room mansion.

♪ ♪

- It was kind of like a cross

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hbetween a hotel where maybe all the staff quit

\hand a little bit like an orphanage.

♪ ♪

We were right on the edge \h\h\hof the city limits

back in those days.

\h\h\h\h- It was, at one time, a hospital for the Red Cross.

♪ ♪

Although it was very stately,

\h\h\h\hit was clearly a well lived-in house,

you know, as a lot of houses

\h\h\h\h\h\hwhen you have that number of children.

- Smith, Bruce, Keith, then came Wayne, Dean,

then we got our first girl, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hEllie,

and then there was Georgia, \h\h\hand then I came along

and then my sister Alison \h\h\h\h\h\h\hcame along.

And then my brother Ross \h\h\h\h\h\hcame along,

my sister Diana came along, \h\h\hand finally the last,

my youngest brother Owen.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI had a really vivid imagination.

I loved cowboys and Indians. \h\h\hI loved the Wild West.

Davy Crockett was a big hero. \hIt was always an adventure.

It was a guy that handled \h\h\hthe wrestling bear,

terrible Ted, up in Calgary and work in the territory.

And my dad had let him live \h\h\h\h\h\hon the property.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe lived under the back porch of the house,

\h\h\h\h\h\hand it was in a little mesh cage.

\h\hMy dad would always have fudgesicles in the freezer,

and you could take \hthe fudgesicles

\h\h\h\h\hand you could drip the ice cream on your toes,

and that bear would lick \h\h\h\hyour feet clean.

\h\h\h\h\hI remember, my feet were like black on the bottom.

I mean, they were so dirty.

\h\h\h\h\hMy mom going "Oh, you took a bath?"

\h\h\h\h\h\hIt’s like, "Yeah, I took a bath.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou know, the bear cleaned my feet."

♪ ♪

I never even thought \h\h\hmuch about it.

It’s like I thought, \h\hI kind of assumed

everybody had a bear \hunder their porch.

\h\h\h\h\h\h- Dad did a lot of the cooking,

the big stuff, you know,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hmaybe two or three huge turkeys.

\h\h\h\hStu had all of these connections with the grocers

\h\h\h\h\h\hwhere he would get the distressed food and stuff.

- They would give him \h\h\h\hall the fruit

that they were unable to sell.

So he would sometimes come home

with, like, 50 pounds \h\h\h\h\hof bananas.

- And we’d be having \h\hbananas and milk

\h\h\hfor breakfast for several months.

♪ ♪

- I spent every Friday night \hfrom the time I was 4 1/2

\h\hor 5 years old around wrestlers.

\h\h\h\hGene Kiniski and Killer Kowalski

and Pat O’Connor \h\hand Lou Fez.

I can even remember \h\hBruno Sammartino

\hcoming up from my father, and I earned my first money

in pro wrestling, selling programs,

and I made pretty good money \h\h\h\hfor a five-year-old.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI’d make 2 or 3 bucks a weekend

and buy stuff for myself.

And my dad had a feud going \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith a guy

named Archie the Stomper.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI can remember Archie the Stomper going on TV

\hand talking about he was gonna tear up

the Hart house down \h\hbrick by brick.

\h\h\h- Of everybody with the last name of H-A-R-T.

Every single one of them.

- Until he found my mom, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hand my dad,

he was gonna pile drive my mom \h\h\h\h\h\hon the interstate,

basically scared the hell out of me with his promo.

And then I watched him \h\hpull into the yard

in a yellow Corvette, knocked on the door,

and my mom came running down,

\hbut she opened the door a crack and "Oh, Archie,"

and she had the New York accent \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand all that.

She gave him a hug, gave him his check.

\h\hThey talked for about 20, 30 seconds, and he walked off

and got in his car \h\hand drove off.

♪ ♪

What’s going on here?

Why is my mom being nice \hto Archie the Stomper,

especially after last night, he was biting my dad’s head?

\h\hI started to understand how wrestling really works.

\h\h\h\h\h\hAt the same time, defending wrestling at school

all the time.

\h\h\h\h\h\hGrowing up in a wrestling family

the way we did,

six months, you might be \h\h\hdoing really good,

\h\hand then it’s six months where it drops off horribly,

and I always remember as a kid

it always reflected \h\hin my clothes,

my shoes and my shoelaces,

your knees are all torn out,

and kids would make fun of you for the clothes that you wore.

♪ ♪

\h- When your dad’s not a policeman or a doctor

or a lawyer,

\h\h\h\hwhen your dad’s a professional wrestler,

and there’s 12 of you

and you’re wearing \h\hhand-me-downs,

it had its challenges.

They called us Hart fart, \h\h\hand we hated that.

\h- I was always pretty defensive

about that stuff,

I think more so defensive \h\h\h\hof the wrestling.

\h\h\hWhen somebody came up and told me that wrestling

\h\h\h\hwas all bullshit and none of it was real

and your dad wasn’t really \h\h\h\h\h\h\ha tough guy

\h\h\h\h\hand "my dad can beat your dad up,"

that was time to throw down,

where I would beat a kid \h\h\hwith a full Nelson

or a sleeper hold

\h\h\h\h\hor a Boston crab on them right on the grass.

\h\hIt was a big deal to me to go out there

and defend the Hart name,

and I never lost a fight \h\h\h\hat school ever.

♪ ♪

- It didn’t matter if we dressed funny

or if we were different. We were the Hart family.

\h\h\hOr my dad would say, "The Hart boys are coming.

The Hart boys are coming."

♪ ♪

- I slept most of my life \h\h\h\hin this room here

with four of my brothers.

There’s five of us in the room \h\h\hthere most of the time,

if not more.

That’s where a lot of hijinks

and wrestling took place in.

\h\h\h\h\hIn the middle, between the two bedrooms,

is my mom’s office,

where all the calls came in.

[phone rings]

\h\h\h\h\h\hThe phones never stopped ringing

at the Hart house ever.

- Making... Hello.

♪ ♪

- It was a grassroots business

\h\h\hthat my mother and father started,

and it’s like the little \hpromotion that could.

- I have $1,000 here where the winner of it,

each boy has contributed $100,

and they’re going to have a wrestle royal in Great Falls

next Sunday.

- You’d go upstairs, \h\h\hand my mother

would be in the office, \hbooking plane flights,

managing the bank account \h\h\hand signing checks.

And then, in the basement,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hmy dad would be training people.

So you would hear people \h\h\h\hoften screaming.

[men yelling]

♪ ♪

\h- In the basement, this is, of course,

the dungeon where Stu trains, you know, wannabe wrestlers,

trains people that wanna break \h\h\h\h\h\hinto the business.

♪ ♪

- [muted cry]

- My grandfather had \h\hthis deep passion

for submission wrestling,

\h\h\h\hwhere you basically put somebody in a real hold.

It’s meant to induce so much pain in them

that they scream or they tap out.

- He’d stretch you, and he’d \htwist you into a pretzel.

- [groaning]

\h- - Many of these fellas were looking at parts of their body

they have never seen before.

And to see guys actually vomit.

- Guys defecating and crying \h\h\h\h\h\hand begging him,

and blood vessels popping \h\h\h\h\h\hin their eyes,

passing out in his arms.

- Upstairs, you’d be \h\hin the kitchen,

sipping Red Rose tea,

and downstairs, somebody’s screaming their lights out

and, like, begging for mercy,

\hand my grandfather’s just having the time of his life.

- My brothers would go down \h\h\h\h\hin the basement,

and they would wrestle \h\h\h\h\hwith my dad,

and they would wrestle \h\h\h\h\h\heach other.

\h\hHe taught his sons how to make a living.

announcer: That’s Dan and Nick \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hcoming in,

and hit Hard Knocks dynamite \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hout of there.

- If that’s the way they wanna play it,

they’re gonna get double dose \h\h\hof their medicine next.

- My brothers were doing it.

\h\h\h\h\hBruce and Keith were wrestling full time.

\h\h- ...half as crazy as he makes out to be.

- My brother Wayne \h\hwas a referee.

announcer: Wayne Hart, \h\h\h\h\hthe referee.

- When I was in high school, \h\h\h\h\hif you’d asked me,

"What are you gonna be \h\hwhen you grow up?

You’re gonna be a pro wrestler?"

I would have told you never,

there’s not a chance \h\h\h\hin the hell.

♪ ♪

You know, when I went out \hfor the wrestling team,

and I had the long hair, \h\h\hI remember coaches

\h\h\h\h\h\h\halways saying, "You got to get a haircut,"

\h\h\h\h\hand I was like, "I’m not cutting my hair."

And then I would win.

\h\h\h\h\h\hMy last year of high school wrestling,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI was city and provincial champion.

Ah, that’s really funny.

Of course, things change when you get your first girlfriend

and drinking beer \hand loving life

and having a good time.

♪ ♪

Last thing I wanted to do \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas wrestle.

- Grab him, Dan!

- I was a huge Beatles fan. \h\h\hI was a big Doors fan.

I loved rock and roll music.

I always loved Jim Morrison \h\h\h\h\h\h\hand the Doors

\h\h\hbecause I like the way his hair was kind of like--

\h\h\h\h\h\hI like to think that my hair was like that.

♪ ♪

I went to the movie "Papillon"

with Steve McQueen.

It’s one of my favorite movies \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\has a kid.

\h\hAnd I remember going, "That’s what I wanna do.

I wanna make movies."

[projector whirring]

\hI did enroll in film school, with no real guidance or plan.

Here’s our star.

\h\h\h\h\hHe’s already behind my dad’s house,

and he couldn’t drive.

Me and a friend of mine bought

an eight-millimeter \h\h\hmovie camera.

\h\hDamn lizard, destroying the whole City of Calgary.

\h\hOur movie was gonna be called "The Lizard."

I went to a pet store, and I bought an iguana

\hthat we were gonna make the monster in our movie.

They looked so vicious \h\hand scary looking.

We bought a bunch \h\hof model cars

that looked like the cars

we were driving around \h\h\h\hin those days.

We had some of our friends pulling them on a string,

and we had them crash

\h\h\h\h\hand blow up and burst into flames.

- [screaming]

- Look at how bad \hhis acting is.

- [screams melodramatically]

- We didn’t really know \h\hwhat we were doing.

We were actually so excited about buying a movie camera

and just making movies that we started making the movie

\h\h\hwithout a script and without any plans.

\hAnd the big blow to us as a production company

was that our lizard died.

He croaked on us,

\h\h\h\h\hand it was like, he’s the star of the movie,

It’s like King Kong dying. \hSo there went our movie.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hOkay, cut. We’ll try something else.

Iguana.

I quit college and film school

\h\hand everything. I just dropped out.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI remember telling my friends, like,

\h\h\h"I’m gonna try the wrestling thing,"

\h\hand it was like, "Really?" Like, they couldn’t believe it.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\hAnd I knew I was a good amateur wrestler,

so I’m not getting into it

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto be a promoter’s kid wrestler.

I’m getting into wrestling \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto someday be

\h\h\hthe biggest star of my dad’s territory.

\h\h\h\h\hI’m gonna make this wrestling game work.

announcer: This is the fourth \h\h\h\h\h\hof the Hart clan.

\h\h\h\h\h\hBret Hart, again with a big slam.

He’s got the abdominal stretch. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd that’s it.

And there’s your winner, \h\h\h\hyoung Bret Hart.

- My dad’s been working out with me a little this week.

- He knows a little bit \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\habout the game.

\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah, a little bit. - Okay, Bret, good to see you.

Bret Hart.

- The only reservation \h\h\hI ever had was,

I didn’t think he was \h\h\h\h\hbig enough,

and then, all of a sudden, \h\h\hhis physique emerged.

He got bigger, he got stronger.

announcer: There’s Bret Hart. \h\h\h\h\h- He was believable.

\h\h\hHe was likable. The fans took to him.

announcer: Oh.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, did he he hit him.

♪ ♪

They got him, one, two, three.

\h\hIt goes to Bret Hart. This place has gone wild.

- Like a lot of kids

who grew up in Calgary \h\h\h\hin the 1970s,

\h\h\h\hStampede wrestling was a ritual, and it was something

that you looked forward to \hon Saturday afternoons,

\h\h\h\hand I do remember the boys in my elementary

and junior high school,

a lot of the times, at recess, \hwould emulate the Hart boys.

- I’m sure that me and Bruce \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand Keith

are ready to fight it \h\h\h\hany way they want

and give them any kind of match \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthey want.

\h\h\h\h- It was quite funny because I was like this kid

that had been picked on, \h\hand all of a sudden,

girls were telling me that my brother Bret is so cute,

and I’d be like, "Okay, sure."

♪ ♪

\h- The fans loved the Harts so much.

I mean, all the Harts, all of the eight boys,

had some sort of dealings with the wrestling world.

♪ ♪

And then the four girls

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hall wind up marrying wrestlers as well.

- My mom, Ellie, is the oldest \h\h\h\h\h\hof the Hart girls.

\h\hShe ended up marrying Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

He was my dad.

- I’m gonna drop-kick you

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h60 feet all the way to the ceiling.

- My aunt Georgia,

she ended up following in my mom’s footsteps.

His name was B.J. Annis.

\hMy aunt Allison was also married

\h\h\hto a wrestler named Ben Bassarab,

and then the baby, \h\hmy aunt Diana,

she married Davey Boy Smith, \h\h\h\hthe British Bulldog.

Davey came over to wrestle \h\h\hfor my grandfather.

\h\h\h- Davey proposed to me outside on my dad’s balcony.

He said, "I’ve asked your dad and he gave me his blessing.

\h\h\h\hI asked your mom, and she almost fainted."

- It makes me laugh, thinking \habout my grandmother Helen.

\h\h\h\h\h\hShe started off not really liking wrestling,

\hand her whole entire family ends up becoming a part of it,

including her daughters.

♪ ♪

She was in over her head.

♪ ♪

- The posters. \hWe need to...

- In August of that year, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof ’84,

my dad was quietly negotiating

the sale of Stampede Wrestling

\h\h\h\hand its TV rights to Vince McMahon and WWE.

♪ ♪

- My mom was always pressing \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hmy dad

to get out of the business.

He was hesitant, \hand he decided

that he was gonna sell.

- Vince bought the company \h\h\h\hfor the TV network,

and, as part of the deal, \h\h\h\h\h\hStu was like,

"I want you to give jobs \h\hto four of my guys,"

which were Bret, his son,

Davey Boy Smith, his son-in-law,

Dynamite Kid,

\h\h\h\hand Jim Neidhart, who is another son-in-law.

\h\h- Stu wanted to make sure that they were taken care of

\hand had a place to go. Vince looked at all four

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand thought, "We definitely could use them."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- He told me that I was gonna be a big star

and they had big plans for me.

\hAnd I was like, "That’s bullshit.

That’ll never happen."

\h\hBasically, Vince McMahon had no plans for Bret Hart.

♪ ♪

\h- There were people that believed in him,

but Vince just wasn’t totally sold on him,

and Bret was struggling \h\h\h\hto find himself

because there are only gonna \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hbe

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hso many failed characters in WWE

until Vince ended up \hjust cutting them.

- I was a bit more into Led Zeppelin

\h\hand the Rolling Stones and Bret was Cat Stevens,

the Bee Gees, Harry Chapin, \h\hBob Dylan kind of stuff.

And I loved Van Morrison.

And he couldn’t believe it. \h\h\h\hHe’s going, "Wow."

\h\hHe was, "I never thought you’d be a Van Morrison fan."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd I’m like, "Oh, I love Van Morrison."

♪ ♪

- It was getting to that point \hwith Julie where, you know,

I hinted to my parents or my dad, especially,

that I want to get married.

Why don’t you marry a doctor? \hYou know, and I’m thinking,

\h\h\h"I don’t know any doctors are gonna be interested in me.

\hThat’s wishful thinking on your part, not mine."

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- We eloped. We took Bret’s best friend

and this other friend of ours

\hwho was working at the restaurant

that we would always go to \h\h\h\h\hon Friday night,

’cause we needed two witnesses.

\h\h\h\h\hSo Bret ran into the restaurant.

"He’s like, "George come on."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe goes, "You gotta come with us,

\h\h\h\h\hJulie and I are getting married."

And so he came with us \h\h\h\hto City Hall,

\hand after a judge basically told us that we were married,

we went outside.

\hHe was, "Oh yeah, I got you a ring."

Went and had a quick meal, and he had to go wrestle.

- The night I got married, I wrestled Nick Bockwinkel

for the AWA World Championship \hin Calgary at the Pavilion.

And that was my honeymoon.

\h\h\h\h\h\hI was convinced, absolutely totally convinced,

that I was gonna have \h\h\hthe first son,

the first Hart boy.

\hThe baby’s name is gonna be Stu.

\h\hI’m gonna carry the legacy, and...

But when they came and told me, like, "You’ve got a baby girl,"

it just floored me.

\h\h\h\h\hIt’s like, "Wow, I got a girl."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hShe was a really beautiful baby,

and it was a very happy time \h\h\h\h\hfor me and Julie.

It wasn’t long that Dallas was \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hcoming next,

like, the next baby.

So I kind of prepared myself \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand was like,

"I am not gonna overthink this \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthis time."

And I didn’t have a name.

One of my brothers end up \hnaming his kid Stuart.

So the Stu Hart thing was gone.

That wasn’t gonna \hhappen anymore.

And the Dallas Cowboys \h\h\h\h\hwere on TV.

\h\h\hThey were my favorite football team at that time.

\h\h\h\h\hAnd I named him after the Dallas Cowboys.

And he remind me a little bit

a miniature version of King Kong Bundy.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hSo he was immediately nicknamed Bundy

back in those days.

- He was a great dad.

Bret was really hands on \h\h\h\h\hwith our kids.

’Cause he was gone so much, \hlike, that’s all he did.

\h\h\h\h\hHe just stayed home. He didn’t wanna go on anywhere.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- And I can remember playing with my daughter.

\hShe was pushing a shopping cart,

\hher toy one, around, and she was so excited

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hshe was gonna get me groceries,

and we did stuff \hall afternoon.

And I had to hide my suitcase.

I had to bring it \hdown the stairs

and sneak out of the house

because she would get so upset

\h\h\hif she thought I was leaving again.

♪ ♪

- But it was always \h\h\hon the nights

\h\hthat my dad would have to sneak out and, you know,

get on a plane to leave.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI wish that he could have been there more,

\hbut I also, I think, felt so bad for my mom.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- I would love to have stayed home,

\h\hespecially at that time, with two very young babies.

\h\h- Welcome to the World Wrestling Entertainment,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand welcome to the good old US of A.

- Yeah, it’s great to be here. Now I’m down in United States,

I wanna really earn myself a niche here.

I pretty much walked out \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe door,

and, in a lot of ways, \h\h\hnever came back,

\h\hand I was gone at least 300 days a year every year.

announcer: Bret Hart, from Calgary, Canada,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfollowing in his father’s footsteps

\h\h\h\h\h\hinto the ranks of professional wrestling.

- Bret had been used to being \h\h\ha top star in Calgary.

He was the promoter’s son, \h\hand incredible talent.

announcer: Body slam by Hart \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand, whoa,

tremendous stomp in there as well.

announcer: Back at rope \hand coming off. Whoa.

- But when Bret came \h\h\hinto the WWE,

\hhe didn’t really fit into the upper echelon

as far as size,

drawing power, personality.

- He didn’t have \hthe confidence.

\hThe company wasn’t totally sold on him.

At one point, they wanted him \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto be a cowboy.

♪ ♪

- We’re gonna call you, \h\h\hcowboy, Bret Hart.

You’re gonna ride a different horse

out to the ring every night.

I’m not a cowboy.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou know, where I come from in Calgary,

you gotta be a real cowboy to call yourself a cowboy.

I can’t even ride a horse.

- He had to come up with a suggestion.

♪ ♪

\h\h\hBret decided that he and my dad

could be a tag team.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart

and Bret Hart teaming up.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hIn the air, and what’s gonna happen here?

Oh, wow, what a clothesline.

- Here are your winners,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hBret Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

- When we first teamed up,

we didn’t even have \hmatching outfits.

\h\h\hI didn’t think we were gonna last.

- [laughs]

\h- We had a Saturday night main event match coming up.

I called the lady out of Ohio

\h\h\hthat used to make all the wrestling gear.

I remember, I was in the hotel room

\h\h\h\h\h\hwith Jim Neidhart. I said, "She’s got a hot pink."

\h\h\h\h\h\hHe liked it. He gave me the nod like,

"Go for it, go for the pink."

And I remember thinking, "Pink? \h\h\h\hLike, are you serious?"

\h\h\h\h\h\h- All of a sudden, everyone’s wearing pink.

Why is this? - I haven’t--

- Because they’re jealous!

- The Hart Foundation! \h\h- I didn’t like it.

\h\h\h\h\h\hJim loved it, and I’ve always said pink

\his not my favorite color. But it was my lucky color.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWe’re the best team in professional wrestling,

and we got this manager \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hright here,

\h\h\h\h\h\hthe greatest manager in professional wrestling.

- How do you feel, baby? \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHow do you feel?

- We feel good.

- The original formation \hof the Hart Foundation

were kind of three guys that \hwere kind of put together.

\h\h\hBut I think, with all of us having the name Hart

somewhere in it, Neidhart, \h\hJimmy Hart, Bret Hart,

\h\h\h\hit was just something that really meshed, you know.

It’s like the three amigos. \h\hEverybody was different.

Number one, baby.

I was running around the ring, \h\h\h\hlike, 90 miles an hour

with a high squeaky voice. \h\h[high-pitched laugh]

[high] "Hey baby, hey baby, \h\h\h\hit’s so beautiful.

Come on Bret, come on Jim."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h[normally] Kind of stirring up everything.

\h\h\h\hYou got him right where you want him, baby.

What about...

announcer: We’d love to see \h\h\hthe day when somebody

takes his megaphone

and shoves it down his throat.

- He would just absolutely \h\h\h\hdrive you insane.

Never stopping was where he got \hhis name, mouth of the South.

- And my dad was always \h\hthe scene stealer.

- They want what we got. [laughs]

But they aren’t gonna get it.

- [laughs]

- He was always the one \h\h\h\h\hthat just had

an over-the-top charisma \h\h\h\h\h\h\habout him.

- Whoa, are we scared?

- And he loved to laugh \h\h\h\hlike a lunatic.

- [laughing]

- Even though we were \h\h\h\hthe bad guys,

the girls love Bret.

\h\h\h\hOh my gosh, did they love Bret.

- We’ve got skill, \hwe’ve got looks,

we’ve got everything. And we’ve got money.

- His talk and everything else \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas so smooth.

He was like smooth operator.

\h\h\h\h\h\h- Not only am I possibly the greatest looking wrestler,

but I’m also the greatest \h\h\h\h\h\htechnical wrestler.

\h\hannouncer: Whoa, what a drop kick by Bret Hart.

announcer: Oh, clothesline.

- You get Bret to come in \hwith this crisp, slick,

but yet rough, rugged, \htechnical wrestling.

And then here comes the Anvil.

announcer: Oh my, look at the power

\hand the strength of the Anvil, yeah.

- Slingshot it over the top \h\h\hlike a hairy zeppelin.

\h\hBig forms and the goatee and the "yeah, baby" and Bret

just calm, cool, holding it down.

announcer: Oh, watch this. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWatch this.

- All of the things that, as a teenager,

that I loved in a tag team,

they brought it all \h\h\hto the table.

\h\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: There’s the champions,

World Heavyweight....

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- One of the most important parts

to our success as a team

\h\h\h\hwas that we all really liked each other.

Every day was an adventure \h\h\h\hwith Jim Neidhart.

♪ ♪

I wish I could just go back \h\h\h\hand live those days

just for a few minutes.

announcer: The Hart Foundation!

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

Vince had called me.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe was, "I don’t know what it is.

"For some reason, we got \hmore fan mail for you

"than any other wrestler \h\h\h\hin the company.

"We’re gonna take you \h\h\h\h\hout of tags,

"and you’re gonna be \ha single wrestler

all by yourself."

♪ ♪

I was kind of skeptical \h\h\h\h\h\hof anything

that was gonna happen for me

\hand so I didn’t really believe it.

announcer: Bret Hitman!

- Bret had something.

He had the twinkle in his eye

\h\h\h\h\h\hthat you knew there’s something there.

For whatever reason, it didn’t \h\h\h\hblast off immediately.

- Once he put me in singles, \h\hyou took away Jimmy Hart,

you took away Anvil, and they \hwere my support for promos,

and I had to start talking \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hon my own.

It wasn’t my strongest suit, but I was trying my hardest.

You may have come \hout of Harlem,

but I came out of a dungeon.

Everything was tied in \h\h\h\h\hwith my dad,

the Hart family, \hone of 12 kids.

He’s taught us how to be tough.

\h\h\h\h\hHe’s made us fight, and I learned hold after hold

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hafter hold, and I learned to never quit.

Gorilla Monsoon always talked \h\h\h\h\habout my dad on TV

and the dungeon.

announcer: And he learned that \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the dungeon

in Calgary, Alberta,

from one of the greatest \hwrestlers of all time,

Stu Hart.

\h\h\h- These are all things that fans didn’t hear about

from other wrestlers.

Fans started to slowly get \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hopened up

to this backstory.

And, at the same time, fans had seen me slowly climb up.

They understood my struggle. \h\h\h\hThey related to it.

- Although he is very technical \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand very sound,

\h\h\hpretty believable, Bret was not all that big

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hcompared to the other performers.

\hBut Bret stayed and hung in there and hung in there,

it’s like, and eventually,

everyone recognized his skill, \h\h\hand the rest is history.

announcer: Stu and Helen Hart, \h\hmom and dad of the Hitman.

- Bret was put in with Curt Hennig,

who was one of the absolute \h\h\h\hgreatest performers

in the history of the business.

announcer: Perfect flex \h\h\h\h\h\hright now.

Oh, building and building.

Whoa, that could be the...

- No matter how much you beat \h\h\h\h\hthe crap out of him,

\h\hhe just wouldn’t die. He just kept coming back.

\h\h\hKind of like a Rocky type of vibe, you know what I mean?

announcer: The Hitman \hgaining confidence

with each second that goes by.

\h\h\h\h\hCome on Bret, don’t stop that rally.

- And as the match progressed, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou would notice

he would focus more on the back \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hareas.

Why is he doing that?

announcer: Hart going \hto another portion

of the body now, interesting.

Bret may be setting up \hfor the Sharpshooter.

- His finishing move’s \h\h\hthe Sharpshooter.

He’s wearing down his opponent

so his finishing move \h\h\h\his effective.

announcer: The Sharpshooter, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe’s got him.

He’s got him! \h\h\h\h\hNo!

We’ve got a new champion. \h\h\hAnd he deserves it.

This place is going bananas. \h\h\h\h\hHe’s fought for it.

- The Intercontinental title \h\h\h\hwas given to the best

actual technical wrestler \h\h\h\h\hin the company.

We’d come that far

\hand had this moment together as a family,

\hand I was so happy to give both my mom

and my dad that moment.

♪ ♪

We brought honor to the family \h\h\h\hand the name and my dad

and... everybody.

\h\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: Bret "the Hitman" Hart

\hdefends his coveted Intercontinental title

against his brother-in-law, \h\h\h\hthe British Bulldog.

\h\h- Bret, you are my brother-in-law.

But when I step in the ring \h\h\h\h\h\hwith you, Bret,

\h\h\hI never met you. I don’t even know you.

- He’s the one that wanted \h\h\h\h\hto challenge me.

\hHe’s the one responsible for all the family tension.

\h\h\hHe’s the one that wanted a shot.

\hThe beauty of the storyline we presented was this realism.

He wanted the big fight, \hhe’s got the big fight.

- Bret’s obsessed with keeping \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe belt.

Davey’s consumed with winning it.

- This is not a made-up story. \h\h\h\hShe’s not an actress.

This is my real sister,

\h\h\h\h\h\hand she really is married to the Bulldog.

\h- They don’t understand what we’re going through.

It was a legitimate storyline.

\hI had feelings for both of them.

I really did.

- Take a listen to the comments

of your dear mother, Helen.

Take a look at the emotion she shows.

- I don’t want them to fight.

\hI don’t want them to hurt each other.

They’re our blood.

I just can’t stand it. \h\h\h\h\h\hThat’s all.

Sorry.

- She’d pretend to cry \h\h\h\h\hor something,

’cause she was so torn up over her family fighting over this,

\h\h\h\h\h\hand they even had certain members of my family

take Davey’s side.

- Bret’s ego is so damn big

that he he can’t get \ha grasp of reality.

- All that just came across \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\has layers

to the truth of the story.

Then it’s like "Okay, well can you deliver the match?"

♪ ♪

announcer: The British Bulldog \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hon his way

to the [indistinct].

\h\h\hWhat a matchup this is going to be.

- And they sold that out \hin less than 11 hours.

♪ ♪

Before that, I think Madonna \h\h\h\h\hand Michael Jackson

\h\h\h\h\h\hhad the record for selling out the fastest

and over 80,000 tickets \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwere sold.

announcer: Two great \h\h\h\h\hcompetitors

about to collide here.

\h- This is my husband wrestling my brother.

announcer: Bret Hart goes down, \h\h\h\h\h\hstands back up, oh.

- It was extraordinarily \h\hoverwhelming for me.

♪ ♪

My brother’s kicking my husband \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the face.

\h\h\h\hIt’s like... announcer: Drop kick.

\h\h- Then he suplexes Bret off the top rope.

announcer: From the top rope!

- Bret grabs Davey \h\h\hby the hair.

announcer: A shorter part \h\h\h\h\h\h\hof such a--

\hOh no, Anna looking on with great consternation.

- Davey slingshots him,

\h\h\h\hand Bret goes into the turnbuckle.

announcer: With to the b-- \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hoh, no.

- Oh, my god.

announcer: Oh did you see that?

Well, this family feud \h\his just about over.

It’s like a civil war

It’s been an uncivil war.

...a test of the fortitude

\h\h\h\h\hon the part of both participants.

Sunset flip...

♪ ♪

- Thank God that’s over and \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hDavey won,

like, Davey boy won.

I was so happy about that.

announcer: The British Bulldog.

And he did it in his own \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hbackyard,

and 80,300 and.--

- The winning and losing,

when you’re telling \h\h\ha great story,

really doesn’t matter.

\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: The new Intercontinental champion...

\h\h\h\h\h- What matters at the end of the day is,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhat does the audience remember?

announcer: Are you seeing Diana

between the husband \hand her brother?

- Losing isn’t always \h\h\h\h\ha bad thing.

If it’s done in a dramatic way \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand honest way

and an emotional way...

announcer: This has been \h\h\h\ha family affair.

- It will make me \ha bigger star.

- I don’t know if that was ever \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the plans,

and that’s what makes me \h\hrespect it even more.

\hHe had to prove it, night in, night out.

♪ ♪

announcer: Nice duck underneath

by the Hitman. \h\hDrop kick!

announcer: He’s about \h\h\hto slap it on.

\h\h\h\hYou’re talking about the Sharpshooter.

The brawler surrenders!

announcer: Sharpshooter. \h\h\h\h\h\hThere it is.

announcer: Forget about it.

- Kids like me showing up, \h\h\h\h\halways watching

that Bret Hart match

\hbecause we just knew it was gonna be great.

announcer: Talk about \h\h\h\h\hconfidence.

I am on a roll.

Whoa.

- That eventually springboarded

\h\h\h\h\h\hto the World Heavyweight Championship.

♪ ♪

- There was a fair number \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof people

that never imagined me being World Champion,

including fans and wrestlers.

announcer: He’s crushing \h\h\h\h\h\hthe champion,

Hart in full control.

He is so magnificent \h\h\hin this match.

announcer: He’s perched \h\h\h\h\hup there now.

Look out.

Super flex coming up. \h\h\h\h\h\hOh, yes.

\h\h\h- Jeez, talk about a dark horse.

announcer: Now he’s going \h\hfor the Sharpshooter.

Oh, he gave up.

♪ ♪

It’s pandemonium here \h\h\h\hin Saskatoon.

♪ ♪

Bret "the Hitman" Hart

just gained the World Wrestling \h\hEntertainment championship.

\h\h- How do you express to an audience how happy I was

\h\h\h\hand how much of a dream this was?

\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: Right here in the hometown of his father,

all his kin...

\h\h\h\h- You know what? Just tell him the truth.

Just tell them the truth.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNow Jean, since I was this tall,

I’ve been involved \h\h\hin wrestling.

My whole family’s been involved \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin wrestling.

I dedicated my whole life \h\h\h\h\h\hto wrestling.

I dedicate this moment \h\h\hto all the people

that believe that the biggest \hdreams can still come true.

♪ ♪

\h- Family is real, and family is something that everyone has.

Anybody that has siblings know that siblings fight.

- There’s nothing,

nothing that will ever stop \h\h\hthe rocket, brother.

♪ ♪

- When people look \h\hat the Hitman,

they see that I don’t have \h\h\h\h\h\h\h24-inch arms,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand maybe I’m not six foot eight.

But you know what I am?

\h\h\hThe greatest technical wrestler

\h\h\h\h\h\hin the World Wrestling Entertainment.

\hannouncer: And he is a wrestler’s wrestler,

The Hitman Bret Hart,

one of the great technicians \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the WWE.

- His execution of everything \h\h\h\h\hhe did in the ring

was absolutely flawless.

His nickname’s the excellence \hof execution for a reason,

\h\h\hevery suplex, every backbreaker,

\hevery punch, everything just looks so authentic,

and it was very important to me \h\h\hthat everything I do look

as believable and real as Bret.

♪ ♪

If you get a shot of Bret Hart \h\h\h\h\h\h\hdoing a suplex,

\h\hand put it side by side with mine,

it’s exactly the same.

♪ ♪

\hThis is somebody that speaks to me.

- Bret looked at the ring \h\h\has an artist canvas.

He was going to paint a picture

\h\h\h\h\hevery time he got into the ring.

He was an artist in real life.

- Everybody’s good \h\h\hat something.

Sometimes you don’t even know \h\h\h\hyourself what it is,

and one day you’re just gonna stumble upon it.

Like, I really love \hto draw cartoons.

♪ ♪

\h\hEverybody has a gift hidden inside themselves.

You just gotta find it.

♪ ♪

These are my old cartoons from years and years ago.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWrestleMania, where I fought Roddy Piper

for the Intercontinental belt. \h\h\h\h\hI went through Piper,

and I did go through Flair \h\h\h\h\hto get the title.

\h\h\hHere’s one with me and Davey at Summer Slam,

\h\h\hwhich is kind of funny. It’s actually a good cartoon.

\hGoldberg and Hogan, two of my favorites.

\hWhat has four years done to the Warrior?

\hWhich Warrior would laughed really hard at that cartoon.

Here’s Yoko and Lex Luger.

And then the Mountie.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd, of course, this is one of my favorites,

Owen, Jim, and my dad.

\h\h\h\hI had fun drawing Jim, he was always a fun character.

Here’s an old one of Steve Austin.

\h\h\hAnd there’s Vader and Undertaker, Hogan.

I would get the story \h\h\h\hfrom somebody

what happened the night before,

\h\h\h\hand then I would draw some kind of cartoon about it

\h\h\hto make everyone laugh, and Andre used to love them.

He used to laugh all the time.

This one was pretty special, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin a way,

’cause it was about Andre,

and it was Andre basically \h\hcarrying the territory.

I was probably about 12 or 13.

I don’t know what possessed me

or what the reasoning \h\h\h\hbehind it was,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h’cause I love my brother Owen.

He was seven years younger \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthan I am.

But it was my job often \hto put Owen’s shoes on

\h\h\h\hor get Owen dressed or make sure Owen ate dinner

or given the task \h\hof making sure

Owen was being taken care of.

But I remember Owen loved it \h\hwhen I drew him in this.

I remember drawing him \h\h\h\hin the story.

You’re gonna be the bad Hart.

He had a little stubble \h\h\h\h\h\hon his chin.

He was always in a bad mood.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\hYears later, when we were wrestling,

we enjoyed bringing

that storyline we made up \h\h\has kids to reality.

We’re gonna be the champions.

- Here is two brothers

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat come from a wrestling family.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- We’re like a fine-tuned machine.

\h\h\h- One had ascended to championship status.

♪ ♪

The younger brother, Owen, \h\h\h\h\h\hwas damn good,

but had never really had that \hshot to be in a main event.

- They didn’t have much going for Owen, and they never had.

They’d made promises to him, \hbut they never panned out.

\h\h\h\h\hI think he got hurt, and different things happened,

but Owen got so discouraged \h\h\h\h\h\hthat he told me

\h\h\h\h\hthat he was quitting and he was gonna be a fireman.

\h\h\hI thought he was such a great wrestler,

\h\hand I really wanted to get him that chance.

- Bret knew that if Owen had \h\h\h\h\h\hthis opportunity

to have this rivalry with him,

it could be what catapulted \h\h\h\h\hOwen into stardom.

- We’re gonna go at each other,

and it’s gonna be a war \h\hbetween me and you,

and we’re gonna make this real

and try to make people believe that we really hate each other.

- Deep down inside, Bret, \h\h\h\h\hin your heart,

you know I’m better than you. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI know.

- Owen played his part \h\h\h\h\h\h\hso well.

- You’ve tried to hold me back. \h\hYou tried to keep me down.

- He was just that bratty \hlittle younger brother.

- You Bret, you’ve been \h\h\h\h\h\h\ha problem

for a long time for me.

And never getting any recognition.

It’s always you, Bret. \hYour ego is too big.

\h\h\h\hYou only worry about yourself, Bret.

- Bret was just like,

\h\h\h\h"Owen, enough of the foolishness."

- I’m gonna ask you one thing: you sit down with me, Mom, Dad,

\h\h\h\hand we’re gonna settle this thing, get all worked out.

Everything’s gonna be fine. \h\h\h\h\h\hThis is family.

- You know I’m better than you. \h\h\hAnd come WrestleMania X,

Bret, I’m coming at you \hlike a freight train,

\h\hand I’m not stopping. I’m gonna beat you, Bret.

announcer: Welcome to WrestleMania X.

This is the moment Bret Hart \hthought he would never see,

that he would actually be facing his brother.

announcer: Oh, what a slap. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd yes.

Putting on the brakes. \h\h\h\hNice maneuver.

And now the pile driver.

Yeah, here comes the Hitman! \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hClothesline

Over the top to the outside.

- Damn, those brothers \hare beating the hell

out each other.

\hannouncer: Oh. announcer: Uh-oh.

announcer: Look at Owen yelling \hand screaming at his brother.

What a matchup this is. \h\h\h\h\hUnbelievable.

- It’s the best opening match \h\h\h\hof any WrestleMania.

It might be the best opening \hmatch of any pay per view.

Owen shocked the world \hby winning the match.

[announcers exclaiming]

- The one opportunity \h\h\h\h\hthat you had

in front of a worldwide stage, \h\hyou couldn’t beat me, Bret.

- I am the best there is,

the best there was,

\h\h\h\hand the best there ever will be.

Don’t you forget it, brother. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWhoo.

\h\h\h\h\h- This is why it’s such brilliant storytelling.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWrestleMania X is a very unique WrestleMania

in the sense that Bret Hart \h\h\h\h\h\hhas two matches.

\hSo, after losing to Owen in the opening match of the show,

Bret goes to the main event, \h\h\hand he beats Yokozuna,

and he becomes the champion.

announcer: The Hitman \hat WrestleMania X.

He’s done it.

\h- All the good guys come out to the ring,

and they hoist Bret up \hon their shoulders.

\h\h\hannouncer: Somehow, he’s done the impossible.

\h- And Owen is just looking at Bret with such contempt.

You did it again. \h\h\hI beat you.

This was supposed \hto be my night.

♪ ♪

- We have forgotten \habout Owen again,

and we’re now applauding Bret.

- The World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

the Hitman.

\h- And it carries from April all the way into the summer.

announcer: Oh, watch out, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwatch out.

announcer: No, no, no. Owen!

Bret Hart trying to hang on.

\h\h\h\hOoh! Unbelievable!

Unbelievable.

- Owen’s getting the mom \hto throw in the towel.

I mean, Owen cost Bret \h\h\hhis championship.

announcer: Owen pleading \h\h\h\h\hwith his mother

to please throw the towel in.

Oh, no.

announcer: She threw \h\h\h\hthe towel in.

She threw the towel in.

\h\h\hannouncer; Helen Hart, who finally yanked the towel

out of Stu’s hand and threw it in,

and thus she ended the match. \h\hA heartbroken Bret Hart.

- Mom and Dad... [laughs]

You fell right into my trap.

You throw the towel in, and Bret,

you’re not a champion anymore.

You’re a loser, and I’m a king.

♪ ♪

- When the cameras \hstopped rolling,

and there was nobody around,

I don’t know if I ever saw \h\h\h\ha more respectful,

\hloving relationship between two brothers.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h- Owen was so happy. He was on top of the world.

\hHe loved the storyline that we had, and working with Owen,

\h\hwe definitely did become closer

as we bonded together.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe love for what we were doing

\hfor each other mattered so much

to both of us.

♪ ♪

I love that about wrestling.

And...

♪ ♪

Especially with Owen, \h\h\h\hhow it was...

♪ ♪

There’s this appreciation

\h\h\h\h\h\hfor one another that supersedes everything.

♪ ♪

- Put the old ankle, right? \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTook him down.

And then he was all... - Mesmerized, I’m sure.

- In a disarray. \h\h\h\h\h- Yeah.

All right. Let’s get serious, all right.

Bret, how would you compare yourself

to previous World Wrestling Entertainment’s champions?

- Well, I mean, I’ll be honest \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith you,

\h\hand I have the utmost respect for all the previous champions,

you know,

but I’m a completely different breed of cat than all of them.

- Bret’s an unusual cat.

Man, that was a real champion.

That was the credibility factor \h\h\h\h\h\hwith Bret, I think,

will be the highest of anyone \hwe’ve ever had as champion.

♪ ♪

\h\h- He took every aspect of being champion to heart.

♪ ♪

It was a true honor for him.

Maybe he’s an old school guy, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hright?

I mean, you know, his daddy,

\h\hall his brothers, were in the business.

So it meant a lot for him \h\h\h\h\hto be champion.

\h\h- Bret never looked at his titles as a prop.

♪ ♪

\hThey were something honored, earned, and privileged to have.

[onlookers cheering]

- Bret liked being \h\ha role model.

- You’ve got a new champ, guys.

And I would give wrestling fans

\h\h\hand little kids all around the world

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hsomebody that they can look up to.

I didn’t yell at my fans. \h\h\hLike, I didn’t yell

\h\hwhat I was gonna do, "and I’m gonna do this."

I’m the first wrestling hero that communicates and talks.

- Chill, man.

That’s the point, man. \h\hCan be your manager?

- You don’t wanna be a manager, \h\h\hyou wanna be a wrestler.

You wanna go for the big one.

- I just wanna be like you \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhen I grow up,

Professional wrestler, man. \h\h- My main man, Gordon.

\h\h\h\h\h- There’s something that he has tapped into here.

- Lift the glasses \h\h\h\hso he can--

- Stay cool.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- He became this different type of hero,

but a much more realistic hero.

- This is my pride and joy. You wanna hold it?

- To see a jumping off the wall. Yes.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Wasn’t this over-the-top character.

He was still cool. He was the Hitman.

But he was Bret,

who just happened to be a wrestler.

Everyone can relate to that.

\h\h\h\h\hEveryone can feel like they’re a part of that.

C-H-A-Z? All right.

- Everything was just \ha natural extension

of the real Bret Hart,

and the fans, then, will make

\hthat all-important emotional investment

into your TV persona.

- Let me tell you something, boys.

I am the World Wrestling \hEntertainment champion.

The excellence of execution \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\his on top.

The best there is, the best there was,

\h\h\hand the best there ever will be.

♪ ♪

When they hit my music \h\hand I walked out,

that place went crazy.

\h\h\hThey stampeded me. It was like Beatlemania.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h- Bret had a rock star persona.

He really had this kind of grungy vibe that was cool.

♪ ♪

This energy in his presence that was ahead of its time.

♪ ♪

announcer: Some young lady, \h\h\hextremely astounded,

clearly happy.

- Bret was also a heartthrob. \h\h\h\h\hHe was so handsome.

\h\h\h\h\hWomen were just very, very drawn to him.

He had a huge female audience.

♪ ♪

- That’s kind of weird, that I’m, like, giving

a poster of my dad to my friend \h\h\h\hfor a birthday present.

♪ ♪

- I was the star, \hVince’s top guy,

with or without the belt.

♪ ♪

I was the top draw.

I sold the most T-shirts \h\h\h\hand merchandise.

♪ ♪

- Bret Hart forever.

\h- All the right things came into place at the right time,

and it just made me stand out

above and beyond all the other wrestlers.

♪ ♪

- Great.

- Hi, there. \h\h\h\h- Hi.

\h\h\h\h- Long time no see. - Yeah, it’s been a while.

\h\h\h\h\h\h- A cowboy on a television show,

\hwell you could have asked me that when I was five years old.

\h\h\h\h\h\hThat’s what I would have wanted to be.

\hI was lucky they were shooting "Lonesome Dove"

up here in Calgary.

- Luther Root. Ha ha!

- Who is the thirstiest, \h\h\h\h\h\hthe hottest,

and the hungriest man \h\h\hin the valley?

- You if you’re buying. \h\h\h\h- That’s right.

Carson, three whiskeys, set them up.

\h- I was always throwing somebody out of the bar,

or they’d come find me \h\hin the whorehouse.

It’s such a fun role to play.

- I heard you were in trouble.

- Who says I’m in trouble?

There’s one scene in there \h\h\hwhere I have a fight

with a big guy.

\h\h\hHe hauled off and just drilled me

as hard as he could.

Right smack in the teeth, \h\h\h\h\hbusted my lip.

\h\h\h\h\hI’ve always said I got hurt more in acting

\hthan I ever did in pro wrestling.

"Lonesome Dove" was the most fun

I ever had in my life.

♪ ♪

At that time, my contract \h\h\hcompletely expired,

and I was actually \h\h\ha free agent.

- This was in the middle \h\h\hof the most heated

National Wrestling war that there’s ever been.

♪ ♪

- WCW was a group out \h\h\h\h\h\hof Atlanta

owned by Ted Turner,

and they had made a concerted \heffort to compete with WWE

and had started to entice \hour top talent to come.

\h\h- And so I found myself in a meeting with Eric Bischoff.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe said, "Look, what’s it gonna take

to bring you to WCW?"

\h\h\h"Give me the exact same contract

as Hulk Hogan, plus one penny."

\h\hThey called me the very next day

and said 2.8 plus royalties.

\h\hTo me, it was 3 million a year.

They were gonna give it to me \h\h\h\h\h\hfor three years.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- 2.8 million for a pro wrestler in 1996

\his money at the level that they could not have dreamed.

Now, all of a sudden, \h\h\h\h\h\hit’s like,

how can I turn this down?

- Geez, I got a guy \h\h\h\hoffering me

$3 million a year,

\h\h\hthree or four times what I’m making for Vince.

I got four kids.

And I’m in the twilight of my career right now.

\hAnd I got to think about what’s right for my family.

- I didn’t wanna lose Bret.

Hogan was gone, Razor, Ramon, \h\hall those guys were gone.

They just can’t get them all.

You know, so I wanted \hto hang on to Bret.

\h- And he said, I can’t match it.

\hAnd I said, "Well, I don’t expect you to match it, then,

\h\h\hbut I mean, give me the best offer you can."

\h\hThe one I had from WCW was for $9 million for three years.

\h\h\h\hAnd the one he came up was 10.5 million for 20 years.

- I’m fine, thank you.

- A lot less than WCW.

\h\h\h\h\hBut we’ll give you, over the course of 20 years,

a good amount of money,

\h\h\h\hand you’ll be part of the WWE family for life.

- Basically, I was gonna take \h\hwhatever offer he gave me

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h’cause I didn’t wanna go to WCW.

- Who turns down 2.8 million?

\h\hI can’t imagine even doing that, and he really did do it.

♪ ♪

- I was very loyal to Vince.

And I was gonna stay \h\h\h\h\hwith Vince

kind of no matter what.

\h\hAnd I shook his hand. I accepted the agreement.

♪ ♪

I was a WWE guy all along. \h\h\h\h\h\hI always was.

And I would have jumped

in front of a train \hfor Vince McMahon.

- Vince called me. \h\h\h\h\hHe goes,

"I wanna turn you heel."

I don’t want to turn heel.

\hI’m making almost half a million dollars a year

on my merchandise.

It’s not like I’m no good \h\has a good guy anymore.

My stuff’s selling like crazy, \h\h\h\hand I’m super popular,

and I don’t wanna mess \h\h\h\h\h\hwith that.

\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd Vince was like, "You’re only gonna be a bad guy

"in America.

\h\h\h\h"This is gonna be a whole different thing.

"We’ve never done this before.

You’re gonna be a good guy \h\h\h\heverywhere else."

♪ ♪

Okay, it’s always more fun \h\h\h\h\hbeing a bad guy.

♪ ♪

- Stone Cold Steve Austin \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hshows up.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe’s just a beer-drinking badass

who has no respect for anybody, \h\h\h\h\hincluding the Hitman.

- "If you put the letter S \h\h\h\hin front of Hitman,

you have my exact opinion \h\h\h\h\hof Bret Hart."

That sounded cool, \h\hand it worked.

If you put the letter S \h\hin front of Hitman,

you have my exact opinion \h\h\h\h\h\hof Bret Hart.

♪ ♪

\h- He was always lurking behind a corner or a wall

or something to jump me.

announcer: Bret Hart \h\h\h\h\hand Austin!

- It had been building \h\h\h\hreally nicely

from a storyline standpoint.

announcer: It’s a fistfight \h\h\h\h\hin the aisleway!

- I remember walking out \h\h\h\h\h\hto the ring

in WrestleMania XIII,

and there’s kids holding signs \hfor me, and I’m high fiving,

and everyone loves me.

announcer: And all hell is breaking loose here.

- It’s gonna have to be \ha bare-knuckle brawl.

\h\h\h\hI’m just gonna go to kick his ass big time.

- We’ve got them hooked \hright from the get-go.

And so we took them on a ride, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwe brawled up,

came back, I got busted open.

announcer: Austin’s \hbeen busted open.

- Blood just started flowing \h\h\h\h\h\h\hout of my head

and ran down my cheek in between my teeth.

And I’m thinking to myself, "God, hey, this feels good,"

’cause I’m listening \h\h\hto the crowd.

announcer: His people \h\h\h\hare standing.

Can you imagine the pain?

\h\h\h- He’s agonizing, he’s screaming in pain,

and he won’t quit. And he passes out.

\hannouncer: That’s it. Austin is unconscious.

Austin never gave up.

\h\hAustin never gave up, but he passed out from the pain.

- That gets you respect.

People will just love me \h\h\h\hbecause they knew

that I would go through thick \hand thin through anything,

and never ever, ever give up.

announcer: Come on Bret, \h\h\h\henough is enough.

I’m a Bret Hart fan, \hbut that’s enough.

- Now you’re going back \h\h\h\h\h\hto do more

to a passed out man.

And that audience went.

Immediately. He went from being \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe best there is

\hthe best there was, to being an asshole.

\h\hannouncer: There’s a chorus of boos directed at Bret Hart.

\h\h- I’m walking back to the dressing room,

and people were giving me \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe finger

and flipping me off,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand I knew that I was the bad guy.

Steve has been the lousiest, \h\h\h\hrotten-est bad guy.

Everyone fell in love with him,

It was like falling in love with this shark on "Jaws."

♪ ♪

- He blamed Americans

for idolizing people \hlike Steve Austin.

\h\h\hHe blamed Americans for idolizing antiheroes.

\h\h- All you have to do is look at O.J. Simpson,

and you know, there’s no such thing as justice in America.

\h\hIt was fun being a bad guy and pushing all their buttons,

going to the American cities

and being booed out \h\hof the building.

\h\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: Bret Hart has appalled

this capacity crowd.

- Canada and Britain and everywhere else

where I’m a big name...

♪ ♪

I’m still the hero. I’m still Bret Hart,

the good guy. I’m standing up \h\h\h\h\hagainst Americans.

The American wrestling fans, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hcoast to coast,

can kiss my ass.

[cheers and applause]

While I was crusading \h\h\hagainst America,

\hI was also feuding with Shawn Michaels.

♪ ♪

- Unrelenting youth \h\h\h\hand freedom,

a sexuality and that was open.

♪ ♪

- He was absolutely 100% \h\h\h\h\hfull-on prick

\h\h\h\has a character and as a personality.

♪ ♪

Things were changing. \h\h\hI didn’t think

you could still do the same \h\hmom and pop storylines.

I felt that we could \h\hcontinue to grow,

evolve, change.

- And that made me wanna puke. You’re a guy that has degraded

the World Wrestling \h\h\hEntertainment

championship belt.

- Shawn’s cockiness \h\h\h\hand attitude

in general irritated Bret. \h\h\h- I don’t like him,

\h\h\hI don’t trust him, and I don’t believe him.

I don’t believe in anything \h\h\h\h\h\habout the guy.

He’s a phony little shit.

- The storyline dislike \h\h\h\hfor one another

became very real very quickly.

People can feel real animosity.

- Hitman, I’ve seen you \hon the road, and bro,

you ain’t no role model.

- I felt like I got pushed \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto a point,

\h\h\h\h\hand I just... [makes volcanic noise]

You know, on live television, \h\h\h\hand that ain’t good.

You couldn’t go 10 minutes \h\h\h\h\hin any situation.

Even though lately you’ve had some sunny days, my friend...

- He made some reference to me having sunny days

and I remember thinking, \h\h\h\h\h"Sunny days?"

- Sunny!

\h\h\h- The young lady there who worked for the company,

her name was Sunny.

She and I used to run around, \h\hand all I know is that her

and Bret had become friends, \h\hand so I made a comment

\h\h\h\hthat they were more than friends, so to speak,

and that he wasn’t happy about, understandably so.

- When I got home the next day \hafter that Monday Night Raw,

\h\h\hmy oldest son asked me if I had something going on

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith Sunny, and my daughter asked me.

I had enough problems \h\h\hwith my marriage

\h\hat that time without Shawn’s little comment.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWe were in Hartford, Connecticut,

and that’s where I made up my mind

\h\hthat I was gonna straighten Shawn out

\h\h\honce and for all about this Sunny thing.

\hAnd I just beelined straight over to him

and pushed the door in.

\h\h\h\h\h- He takes a swing. Well, I move out of the way.

\h\hWe get into it. So we just... khh.

- I grab him by the hair, \h\h\h\hpulled him down,

\h\hand dragged him all around the dressing room by his hair.

\h- Big old, you know, chunk of hair comes out of my head.

♪ ♪

\h\h- The end of 1997 is a wild time in WWE.

It starts in August.

\h\h\h\h\h\hBret Hart becomes the champion.

\h\h\hNow, while all this is going on, Vince goes to Bret

\h\hand says, "You know that lifetime contract

\hwe signed? Can’t do it."

- WCW was pretty far ahead \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof WWE

when it came to popularity \h\h\h\h\h\hat that point.

WWE’s finances were weak \h\h\h\h\h\hat the time.

They were losing money.

\hThey were taking out loans at the time to make payroll.

But all of a sudden, \h\hyou’ve got Bret,

\h\hwho turned down 2.8 million a year,

and now, all of a sudden

\hhe’s being asked to take a pay cut.

Went from that to, "Well, maybe you should call WCW

\h\hand see if you can still get that offer."

- I’m sure I’ll get you \h\ha fatter contract,

\h\h\h\h\ha lot more money, and we’ll work it together.

\hSo you can go to WCW and earn far more money

than what I was paying you.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- Bret’s flabbergasted. He never wanted to go to WCW.

Vince kind of left him \h\h\hwith no choice.

So the contract gets torn up.

And Bret Hart signs with WCW.

♪ ♪

He’s the WWE Champion \h\h\h\hat the time.

\h- Vince wants Bret to lose it to Shawn Michaels in Montreal.

- So I went to Shawn. \hI said, "Hey, Shawn,

"I want you to know \hI have no problem

dropping the belt to you."

Shawn looked at me and said,

\h"Well, I appreciate that, but I just want you to know

\h\h\h\h\hthat I’m not willing to do the same thing for you."

And that really floored me. \hWhy would I do the honors

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor somebody that has no respect for me?

♪ ♪

Why would you expect me to? \h\h\h\h\hThe hell with him.

♪ ♪

I can’t drop the belt to a guy

\h\h\h\hthat can’t be professional with me.

♪ ♪

\h\hHe’s been so disrespectful, and for lack of a better word,

such a ----.

- Because it was me, it was a flat-out no.

\h\h\h\hAnd look, that just causes a problem.

- Bret going into Montreal \h\h\h\h\hsigned with WCW

to start in December,

\h\h\h\hand it’s November, and he’s the WWE Champion.

How did Vince get himself \hinto this predicament?

But here it is, he did.

- And I didn’t want him to go to WCW with our championship.

So the request for Bret \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwould be,

"Okay, let’s drop this championship

"back to someone here in WWE,

\h\hwhere it belongs," and that didn’t happen.

\hSo I had to do what I had to do.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- I had it in the initial contract

that I had creative control \h\h\h\hfor my last 60 days.

So I knew I had my rights, \h\h\h\h\h\hI was covered,

and I could protect myself.

I’ll drop the belt \hto Steve Austin,

I’ll drop it to Steve Lombardi,

\h\hI’ll lose it to anybody you want, any way you want,

but I will not lose to a guy \hthat has no respect for me.

\h\hI truly believe that I am the best.

On top of it,

I’m not gonna let you do this \h\hto me in my home country.

\hAnd the last thing I could ever dream of

is letting that lousy, rotten, \h\hstinking little degenerate

\h\h\htake the World Wrestling Entertainment championship belt

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfrom me in front of my home people.

It’s not gonna happen.

- After refusing and refusing \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand refusing

to lose to Shawn Michaels,

this plan is presented \h\h\h\hto Bret Hart.

♪ ♪

The entire time, a documentary

called "Wrestling with Shadows"

was being filmed, independent \h\h\hof WWE, about Bret Hart.

Bret Hart has one last meeting \h\h\h\hwith Vince McMahon...

\h- We gotta just talk. - About what the finish

of the Survivor Series 97 match is gonna be.

\h\hAnd he’s still miked by the documentary crew.

♪ ♪

- They’re gonna be watching.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- We taped the whole conversation.

\h\h\h\h\hIt was made perfectly clear to me

\h\h\h\hthere was gonna be a run-in disqualification.

\h\h\h\hIn wrestling dressing room jargon,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hit’s a schmoz where it’s outside interference

from various dressers \h\h\h\h\hcoming in.

\h\h\hTitle was not gonna change hands.

\h- Vince goes in there with the suggestion of the finish,

\h\h\hwhich Bret thinks is what the finish is,

it’s gonna be a DQ finish.

Bret’s getting his hand \h\hraised in Montreal.

- It was all done.

There was nothing to fight \h\h\h\h\h\habout anymore.

I won.

- Bret did meet with Vince. \hThen, when it went down,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hit was like, "Okay, we didn’t do that."

\h\h\h- It’s no different than an actor in a television series

who, at the end of it, \h\h\h\hrefuses to die

or refuses to do the job, \h\h\h\h\h\hso to speak.

What do you do?

\h\h- Look, Vince, I want you to know

that I’ll do whatever it is \h\h\h\hyou need me to do.

\h\h\h\hNever read Sammy the Bull Gravano’s book.

\h\h\h\h\hAnd especially at that time in my life,

there was a sense \h\hof validation

that he trusted me enough \h\hto do the dirty work.

We were getting that belt \h\hoff of Bret tonight.

- This is what I have to do.

announcer: And Bret Hart \h\h\h\h\h\hfighting back

with broad hands.

- It goes off the rails \h\h\h\h\h\hright away.

I clothesline him over the top roll,

and I’m fighting in the crowd,

and I’m beating him all over the place.

announcer: ...being pummeled \h\h\hby the WWE champion...

- We’ve got all these moves \h\h\h\hand different things

planned to keep telling \h\h\hthis great story.

announcer: Bret Hart \h\h\hwith his finger

\h\hput a leg lock on Shawn Michaels.

For the cost to Hitman.

announcer: Shawn Michaels. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hOh!

- One of the spots \hcalled for Shawn

\h\h\h\hto try to put a Sharpshooter on me.

\h\hannouncers: Michaels is gonna try to beat Bret Hart

with a Sharpshooter? \h\h\h\h\hYes he is.

- Suddenly, I look over, \hand I see Vince McMahon

yelling at the timekeeper \h\h\h\hto ring the bell.

"Ring that F-ing bell!"

[bell rings]

announcer: Are you kidding me?

\h- And all of a sudden, we hear the bell ringing.

- I was just like...

- Bret did not tap out. - What the F was that?

- We just screwed Bret. \h\h\h- He got screwed.

- The bell was ringing. \h\h\h\h\h\hThe referee

was already signaling that I \h\hhad supposedly tapped out

and gave up.

Clearly, I was reversing \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe hold,

and I was not giving up. \hThat was a screw job.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- We’re seeing something that we can’t already believe,

\h\hthat we didn’t know what’s going to occur.

\h\hHe got shoved out of the title for real.

♪ ♪

The deed was done.

It was unlike anything \h\h\h\hI’d ever seen.

Real guttural emotion.

- When they screwed me, \h\hI just was so angry

\hand so disappointed that Vince chose to go that way.

- When the, as he calls it, Montreal screwjob occurred,

I wanted to make sure \h\h\hthat Bret saw me

out at ringside and know

\h\hthat what I did was the right thing to do,

at least from my standpoint.

He’s really good at spitting,

I am sorry to say.

♪ ♪

I could have hidden.

I could have not gone out \h\h\hto the ring at all.

You know, I could have left \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe building.

I could have done a lot of things.

- Rick Rude and Davey Boy \h\h\hcame in the shower,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand they go, "Vince is waiting for you,

and he wants to talk to you."

"As soon as I get dressed, \h\hif you’re still here,"

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI say, "I’m gonna knock you out."

- And he gave me one,

right in the temple, left side.

- I hit him as hard as I could.

I remember going 14 years \h\h\h\h\h\hfor this guy,

Christmases and birthdays, all the front turnbuckles,

\hall the body slams I ever gave this guy,

all the times I worked harder \h\h\h\h\h\hthan I needed to,

and this is the gratitude \h\h\h\hthat he showed me

for all those years of working for him.

I was gonna connect,

and it was the greatest punch \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI ever threw.

- Don’t look at the camera.

Try and just look forward.

- When it had just first happened backstage,

I was kind of confused.

Like, what’s going on? \h\h\hLike, Dad’s mad,

and it was more scary, \h\h\hkind of intense.

And then, on the flight home, I saw how it really hit him.

It’s actually the first time \hI ever saw my dad crying.

\h\h\h\h\hThat broke my heart to see him so upset by that.

I don’t think people understood

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhow much that really meant to him.

- He felt very hurt.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd it was like the ultimate betrayal for Bret

to have Vince do that to him.

Nothing like that had ever \h\hhappened before in WWE.

\h\h- That was a part of the biggest shaft,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hcertainly of the wrestling business, ever.

I wanted to go down in history \h\h\h\h\h\hin this business.

I didn’t imagine it being \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hlike this,

and it was just--you knew

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou were part of something incredibly big

but something that wasn’t \h\hincredibly positive.

- Did you or did you not screw \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hBret Hart?

- Bret screwed Bret.

\hI have no sympathy whatsoever for Bret.

♪ ♪

\h\h- What I asked for was to be treated with respect

\h\hon my way out, and if I had to do

the whole thing again tomorrow,

\h\h\h\h\h\hI’d do it exactly the same way.

I resent people that intimate \h\h\hto me that I overreacted

or I didn’t do the right thing

or I should have just done \h\h\hwhat I was told or...

The hell with all those guys.

♪ ♪

It was a huge insult to me,

\h\hand it really bothered me for a long time, to the point

\hthat it was really tough for me to move on from it.

♪ ♪

Growing up in wrestling,

being Stu Hart’s kid is all part of that.

♪ ♪

\hI wasn’t just some guy that got into wrestling.

Wrestling was my whole life.

♪ ♪

- When Bret joined the WCW, \hit just was not the same.

It was just so hard, and he was disillusioned and disappointed.

- The day I got there, I wanted \h\hto turn that company around

and just stuff it right down \h\h\h\h\h\h\hVince’s throat.

But they were so stupid,

\h\h\hthey didn’t know what they were doing.

\hI spun my tires from the day I got there to the day I left.

[crowd jeering]

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h- May 23rd, 1999, it was like the worst thing

\hthat’s ever happened in pro wrestling ever.

♪ ♪

- I got on a plane and headed \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto Los Angeles

to do the Jay Leno show.

♪ ♪

So I just was on the plane,

sitting there in a kind of a mostly empty cabin,

and I just had the strangest, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hdarkest thought.

I knew something bad happened. \h\hI could feel it my bones.

♪ ♪

Finally, I checked my voice messages,

\hand I got a message from a friend of mine

that worked in WWE...

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\hThat Owen had died doing a stunt in the ring.

♪ ♪

announcer: Tragedy befell the World Wrestling Entertainment

and all of us.

\h\hOwen Hart was set to make an entrance from the ceiling,

and something terribly, \hterribly went wrong.

\h\h\h\hI don’t know if the harness broke,

or what the malfunction was.

- I had to say something \h\h\h\h\hfrom my heart

and from my soul.

- And he fell from the ceiling.

- When someone dies \h\hthat you love...

- And I have the...

- It just brings you \h\h\hto your knees.

- Unfortunate responsibility

\h\h\h\hto let everyone know that Owen Hart has died.

♪ ♪

Owen Hart has tragically died

from an accident here tonight.

I had blocked so much of it \h\h\h\h\hout of my memory.

\h\h\h\h\h\hHe was special. He just was one of the most

legitimately lovely men \hthat I’ve ever known.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTo this day, I never heard anybody ever say

one negative word about Owen Hart.

- There’s never a good time \h\h\h\h\hto lose a friend.

♪ ♪

\h\h\hBut he was young, and just so much going,

it was just really, \h\h\h\hreally hard.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- The actual funeral procession

that went through town,

\hCalgary came out great and strong for--for that.

\h\hIt was really impressive to see how much they cared.

♪ ♪

- It was very sad to see, to lose a child like that,

and to a sport that created

your family’s persona.

\hAnd now that’s the very thing that has taken away your child.

I really felt a lot of sympathy \h\h\h\h\h\hfor Helen and Stu.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h- He’d left a widow and two beautiful kids behind.

\h\hOwen missed out on being a husband,

a dad to his wonderful kids,

\h\h\hand they missed out on on growing up with their dad

\hand the wonderful memories they would have had with him.

♪ ♪

- Owen was the last Hart, \h\h\hthis little golden,

big-blue-eyed little boy.

♪ ♪

He was so loved and cherished. \h\h\h\h\hAnd he was so funny.

♪ ♪

We will never get over Owen.

We will never stop missing him.

\hWe’ll never stop thinking about him.

We will never stop grieving.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h- I had as much reason as anybody to hate wrestling.

The more I thought about it, \h\h\h\h\h\hthen I realized

that Owen loved wrestling \hjust the same way I did.

♪ ♪

I can think of so many funny \h\h\h\hmemories about Owen

and the jokes he pulled \hand the things he did.

♪ ♪

\hAnd so many wrestlers loved Owen the same way.

♪ ♪

I wish, a lot of times, that I could talk to him

\h\h\hand remember some of the great memories we had.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\hWe had so much fun being Bret Hart and Owen Hart.

♪ ♪

- My mother and father-- \h\hthey did not recover.

♪ ♪

It was like a light went out.

- It aged my parents \h\h\hconsiderably.

My mom died a few years later, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand then my dad

was somewhat brokenhearted after she had passed away.

♪ ♪

- He loved wrestling so much.

You could wake my dad up \hat four in the morning

and tell him that there’s \hsome Chippendale dancer

\h\hdown in the basement that wants to learn how to wrestle,

and I’m telling you,

\h\h\h\h\hhe couldn’t get his pants on fast enough.

♪ ♪

His whole life was wrestling, and he loved every bit of it.

♪ ♪

- I was in the room \h\hwhen he passed,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand it was a very peaceful passing.

♪ ♪

I could feel the power drained from the room.

♪ ♪

I’ve always felt that it was an honor for me to be there.

And I’ve always been grateful \h\h\h\h\h\hfor it and so glad

\h\hthat I was there at the end for him.

♪ ♪

There was a string \hof years there,

like from ’99 to 2004,

\h\h\h\hI went through a lot of tough stuff.

\hMy career ended, which was really hard for me to accept.

\h\hBill Goldberg was a guy that, on a scale of 1 to 10,

as a wrestler, he was a zero.

He was just so reckless, \h\h\h\h\hso dangerous.

He didn’t know wrestling \h\h\h\h\h\hwasn’t real.

He kicked me so hard,

he would have knocked bricks out of a wall.

I finally got home \h\h\hoff the road,

and my doctor checked me,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand he goes, "You are really messed up.

"You are so concussed,

you need to stop everything \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hright now."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou know, you can fix certain things,

but you only got one brain.

That’s it, my career’s over.

♪ ♪

I don’t know where \hI had my stroke.

announcer: After falling from his mountain bike,

the crash triggered \h\han acute stroke.

- I was in a wheelchair \h\h\hfor three months,

\h\hand my left side was completely dead.

announcer: Essentially, he had \h\hbeen reduced to an infant,

\h\h\h\hlearning to talk and walk all over again.

- The fact that I survived it

and had the recovery \h\h\h\hthat I did,

and I count my blessings,

\h\h\h\h\h\hand I thank everyone that helped me.

My first wife did help me a lot \h\h\hthrough that time period,

which says a lot about her.

- Well, he was the father \h\h\h\h\hof my children,

and we were still kind of \h\hgoing back and forth.

Still kind of seeing each other and still,

one foot in the door, one out.

- My first wife, Julie--

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwe went through a lot together,

and we just grew apart.

We got along really well \habout 50% of the time,

and we really got along \h\h\h\h\hreally badly

the other 50% of the time.

\h- Right until we had all the kids, it seemed

like he was always gone.

So I think I’ve always been \h\h\h\h\h\ha single parent

\hthe whole time we were married.

♪ ♪

He never took a break, \hnever took a break.

We were both going \h\hthrough a lot,

even myself, you know,

pull away, come back, \h\h\h\h\hpull away,

\h\h\h\h\hand eventually, nah, it’s not gonna work.

\h\h\h\h\hWe’re not even the same people anymore.

- Finally, we had reached \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe point

where where there was \h\h\hno turning back,

and we got divorced.

And I don’t wanna sit here \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand pretend

that it was all her. \h\h\h\h\h\h\hI mean,

I failed in a lot of ways as an unfaithful husband.

\h\h\hOnce I got divorced, I just wanted to be alone.

\h\hI was just doing nothing. I had a lot of dark thoughts,

and I really questioned \h\ha lot about myself.

\h\h\h\h\h- Everywhere I went, the first question I got asked

\h\h\h\h\h\hwas about the Montreal screwjob.

Whether it was real, \h\hhow it happened,

did I really hit \hVince McMahon.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hIt just was like a constant downer in my life.

♪ ♪

It changed me a lot of ways,

made me a bit of an angry man

\h\h\h\h\hand bitter about what happened.

♪ ♪

It was kind of like carrying \haround a big bag of rocks.

You pick it up every day,

\h\hand you put it over your shoulder,

and you’re carrying it around.

And the best way to put it to bed

was to drop the rocks,

drop the whole bag, \h\hand make peace.

♪ ♪

What if I called Vince McMahon \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hup and said,

"Hey, let’s bury the hatchet

so I don’t have to worry \h\h\habout it anymore"?

♪ ♪

announcer: It’s been \h\h\h\h12 long years

since anyone’s seen Bret Hart.

This is amazing.

♪ ♪

- After all these years, he deserved that moment.

It’s like he had never left.

People were dying to see him.

\h\hThey were dying to acknowledge him,

\h\h\h\hto give him a standing ovation.

All those things \hare beautiful.

♪ ♪

- Bret’s legacy is timeless.

\h\h\h\h\hBret’s body of work is timeless.

\h\h\h\hOur WWE universe has never forgotten that.

- It’s been 12 years since I’ve been back at the WWE.

\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd I thank you from the bottom of my heart

for carrying me in your hearts \h\h\h\h\hfor all these years.

And the very first thing \h\h\h\h\hI wanna do is,

I wanna call back there \h\hnow Shawn Michaels

\h\h\h\h\hto come out here and see to me face to face.

- Now we both were realizing, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h"Oh my god,

there’s more to life than just \h\h\hthe wrestling business."

Who knew?

\h\h- I was good friends with Shawn Michaels

when we were younger.

You know, I had a hand \h\hin all that stuff,

too, that happened \hwith Shawn and I

and it wasn’t just me, \h\h\h\h\h\hthe victim.

♪ ♪

You know, we’re both guilty.

- We’re synonymous \hwith each other.

\h\h\hWe’re such a big part of each other’s lives and careers.

But I do put myself \h\h\hin his shoes,

and I have deep regret \h\hand deep remorse.

\h\h\h\hYou want to end it, you want to end it for him

and certainly for yourself.

You’re not the only one, Bret,

\h\h\h\h\hthat’s been carrying this around for 12 years.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou’re not the only one that wants to bury the hatchet.

\hI think he did understand the real remorse and sorrow

\h\h\h\h\h\hthat I had about that entire time.

- I call for a truce,

and I call for you to shake my hand,

and if you wanna bury the hatchet,

let’s bury it right now.

♪ ♪

It’s a similar feeling \h\h\h\hfor both of us.

\h\h\hIt was a release of those rocks, and...

♪ ♪

A good lesson in my life.

\h\h\hAnd I think it was a good lesson for Shawn.

- Healing is good \hfor everybody,

even in pro wrestling. \hAnd it sounds silly,

\h\hbut there are real-life aspects

of it that make it serious.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- With Vince, you know, I never forget what happened,

\h\h\h\h\h\hbut I also know that Vince did a lot for me,

\hand the man that I am today, I owe so much of it to Vince.

- One of the reasons that this \h\h\h\h\hwhole Montreal thing

\h\hwas so personal between you and me,

I was like a father figure to you.

And I’d like to thank you for being the best there is.

I’d like to thank you for being the best there was.

\h\h\hAnd the best there ever will be.

\h\h\h\h\h- Of course, there were shenanigans.

I mean, you can’t have \h\h\h\h\h\ha WWE show

without somebody getting kicked \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the crotch.

[laughs]

announcer: The Hitman going \hfor the ultimate revenge.

- My match with Vince

wasn’t the greatest match \h\h\h\h\h\h\hin my career

by any means, but people \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hlaughed,

and people enjoyed it,

\h\h\h\h\h\hand it was a happy ending for me.

\hannouncer: Mr. McMahon taps to the Sharpshooter.

\h\h\h\hBret Hart’s signature submission hold brings an end

to one of the most volatile \hrivalries in WWE history.

\h\h\h\h\hannouncer: Bret Hart definitely screwed Mr. McMahon.

- Bret was right back \h\hwhere he belonged.

♪ ♪

- His character reminds me \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\ha lot

of the "Shawshank Redemption" \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAndy Dufresne.

WWE is like the asylum,

and Bret, like, survives \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe asylum,

\h\hand he’s lived to tell his story.

And, more than anything, Bret gives people hope.

♪ ♪

And, like Andy Dufresne said \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the movie

"Shawshank Redemption," \hhope is a good thing.

♪ ♪

- We met in 2008.

♪ ♪

\h\hWe have a mutual friend of ours that introduced us.

♪ ♪

I moved up to Canada in 2009,

and we got married in 2010.

♪ ♪

I know a lot of people \hon the outside think

\h\h"What the heck could they see in each other?"

especially when they look at our racial differences

and note our age difference.

But it’s just really hard to explain

how well we get along with each other.

If anything, I like to joke that I feel like sometimes

I’m the 63-year-old and he’s the 38-year-old,

’cause he is, he is so young at heart, and I’m an old soul.

♪ ♪

You look great.

- It was such a beautiful day.

\h\h\hThis was magical, just a great little bond

that we just take good care \h\h\h\h\h\h\hof each other

and get along really well.

\h\h\h\h\hYou can just tell how happy everyone is.

Steph’s really hard \h\h\h\hnot to like.

I mean, what you see \h\his what you get.

\h\h\h\h\h\hShe’s just a really kind person,

and I’m really lucky.

\h\h\h- You wanna see the pictures, too?

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Steph’s birthday is on the same day as my mom’s.

and Steph kind of reminds me \h\h\h\h\h\ha little bit of my mom

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the sense that she was an American girl

\h\h\hand there was a big gap between my mom and dad’s age,

and I feel like my mom and dad \h\hwere kind of cheering us on.

- Like, even in the beginning,

\h\h\h\h\hI knew his kids were reluctant about me.

I had to really earn \h\h\h\h\htheir love

and earn their respect.

And I think I did over time,

\h\h\h\honce they saw us and saw how happy he was

and saw how happy I was.

\h\h\h\h- My relationship with them has gotten stronger with Steph.

I think when they see me \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith Steph,

\hthat they know that we’re happy.

- Cheeseburgers!

\h- Thought they’re like, "One, two, three, jump."

- [screams]

♪ ♪

- His house here is kind of \h\h\hlike his dad’s house.

It was like the nucleus \h\h\h\hfor the family.

We always come here for dinner.

This is where our family meets.

- It’s a little thing \h\hin here, playing...

[talking indistinctly]

- Family is everything to him. \h\h\h\h\hMy grandpa’s legacy

\h\hand now my dad’s following within the footsteps of that,

he’s created his own legacy, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof course,

but when you put it all \h\h\h\h\h\h\htogether,

\h\h\h\h\hit’s actually such a beautiful story.

♪ ♪

I think it’s one of a kind, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhich makes,

like, the Hart family as a whole so unique.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h- We shared him with the whole world...

♪ ♪

Which is why I am enjoying \h\hhis retirement so much

is ’cause we kind of have more to ourself.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\hWith grandkids, my dad is just so happy

\h\h\hto be able to spend time with them and kind of make up

\h\h\h\h\h\hfor the time that he missed with us.

- That’s not fair!

- Resilience, there’s-- nothing could stop him.

He’s just--he’s the Hitman.

♪ ♪

- I got to live my dreams,

the good and the bad,

the sorrow, the tragedy.

♪ ♪

A difficult life makes you \h\h\h\h\ha better person.

♪ ♪

\hI’m very content and very satisfied

\h\hthat I had a good life. I wouldn’t change any of it.

♪ ♪

- How do you want the fans \h\h\h\h\haround the world

to remember Bret "the Hitman" \h\h\h\hHart years from now?

\h\h\h- I just hope they reflect on me.

\hI think you fade once you’re off the \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTV.

\h\hAnd If you’re \h\htalking about WrestleMania or a \h\h\h\hbig show

or a big--you know, it’s Madison Square \h\h\h\h\h\hGarden,

I’m still the best.

You want somebody that \h\hstands up for right \h\h\h\h\h\h\hand wrong

\hand someone that speaks for justice.

\h\h\hSomeone who’s not afraid to come \h\h\h\h\h\hforward

\hand to take on anybody and fight \hfire with fire

and that’s me. \h\hThat’s me.