Early Life And Family History
Bret Hart was born on July 2, 1957, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is the eighth child of Stu Hart, one of the most famous patriarchs of the wrestling business. Like his father, Bret was a successful amateur wrestler before he began his professional wrestling career.
Bret began working for his father’s Calgary-based promotion Stampede Wrestling in 1976. He also made appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling. All in all, Bret proved to have a lot of potential as a performer from an early age.
Tag Team Career
On August 29, 1984, Bret made his WWE debut in a tag team match alongside Dynamite Kid. He soon joined The Hart Foundation alongside Jimmy Hart and his brother-in-law, Jim Neidhart.
Bret Hart excelled in the ring, earning monikers like The Hitman and The Excellence of Execution. He and Neidhart went on to become two-time WWE Tag Team Champions.
The Rise Of The Hitman
In the early 90s, Bret began to shine as a singles competitor. He won the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Summerslam in 1991 in a match against Mr. Perfect. Bret went on to feud with stars like Jacques Rougeau, Roddy Piper, Shawn Michaels, and Davey Boy Smith.
On October 12, 1992, Bret defeated Ric Flair to become the WWE Champion. By defending his title, Bret put on several classics with rivals like Shawen Michawls at the 1992 Survivor Series and Razor Ramon at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Bret dropped the title to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX.
In his quest to regain the championship, Bret crossed paths with his younger brother, Owen Hart. The two worked together as a tag team until Owen turned heel at the 1994 Royal Rumble. At WrestleMania X, Bret lost to his brother but won in the main event of the night and regained the WWE Championship from Yokozuna. Bret and Owen continued their feud into the following months.
In the Summer of 1996, Bret began his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This clash of two titans would go down as one of the most notorious feuds in WWE history; it culminated at WrestleMania 13, where Bret defeated Austin in a brutal, bloody fight.
The New Hart Foundation
Soon after his feud with Austin, Bret Hart turned heel by displaying a new, anti-American mean streak. He, Owen, Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman formed a new, heelish iteration of the Hart Foundation. The Attitude Era was in full swing.
Bret then entered into a feud with a familiar rival, Shawn Michaels. This feud would result in one of the most infamous nights in pro wrestling history: The Montreal Screwjob. At the 1997 Survivor Series in Montreal, Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and referee Earl Hebner conspired to rob Bret Hart of his WWE Championship. Bret was infuriated and immediately departed for WWE’s rival promotion, WCW.
WCW Run And Retirement
Bret made his WCW on the December 15, 1997, episode of Nitro. Bret achieved moderate success in WCW, but never achieved the same level of star power he had garnered in WWE. His WCW tenure was impeded by injury and the death of his brother, Owen Hart, on May 23, 1999.
On October 26, 2000, Bret Hart announced his retirement from professional wrestling. This decision came as a consequence of a concussion he’d sustained in a match against Goldberg.
Since his retirement, Bret Hart has made sporadic appearances across the wrestling world, including a match at WrestleMania 26 against Vince McMahon. Hart is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
