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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Bret Hart's book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, is to be taken seriously. Although he clearly shows professional wrestling was his calling, there's quite a bit of sadness. Most surprising to me was the number of professional wrestlers who have died before they reached...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “I actually found this looking for David Foster's Hitman. Incredibly this was a couple of notches better than Foster's Hitman. That's not saying much or rather it says a lot about how bad the Foster book is. Bret Hart needed an editor to slash half of the trash out of this book. It is just too...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“If ever you were to ask me who my favorite wrestlers are, odds are that Bret Hart would be near the top of the list. Quite simply, I don't know that I've ever seen anyone in the ring who I would put in his class. Sure, you could make a case for others, such as Ric Flair, Eddy Guerrero, Dynamite Kid, or countless others. But if I were going on that proverbial desert island and could only take footage of one guy, it would be "The Hitman."
Bryan B wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I hear rumor of him penning an autobiography. I had these wild visions of it being on par with his exploits in the ring, a five star classic like his bouts with Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels.
The kicker? The book may even be better than that. It's awesome.
Now I say that with a bit of a disclaimer: if you are a fan of Bret, you may walk away from the book actually thinking LESS of him. I did. While Bret (obviously rightly, but almost to a fault) toots his own horn about his wrestling acumen, he is not quite as kind to Bret Hart, the person. And when you read of his out of the ring actions, well...your hero might drop a notch or two.
"Brutally honest" is a phrase thrown around a lot these days, but here it is very appropriate: his stories of illicit relationships and drug usage are discussed in a very frank and open manner. As you read again and again about him cheating on his wife, or his drug abuse, you almost have to step back and think, "Man, this guy is kind of a scumbag. Is this someone I should have really been looking up to?"
Conversely, it's that openess that actually gains some of that lost respect back. How many autobiographies tell the entire truth, warts and all, without covering up the author's faults? It is commendable that Bret would be willing to lay it all on the line the way he has.
And the depth in this book...my goodness. I can honestly state I have never, EVER read any wrestling book that dives into so much detail. Bret talks about all his famous matches, as well as some not so famous ones, not only going over in the ring happenings, but backstage as well. Most of the time he even lists the date the bout took place!
Bret also has zero problem giving his blunt, honest opinions of his contemporaries in the business. While other books might have a shot here or there against someone, Bret throws all caution out the window and absolutely laces into those he doesn't care for. No doubt you are thinking, "Boy, Shawn and Hunter are gonna get it", and they do, with one of the great lines in the book being "I'll never forgive Shawn, or Hunter, for killing the business that so many of us gave our lives for."
But you might be stunned to read about the others he thinks so little of. Bad News Brown, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and countless others are ripped to absolute shreds. Even folks Bret does like, such as the British Bulldogs, are taken to task. Heck, even his own FAMILY members are read the riot act!
But not once did I find myself thinking, "Man, Bret's just being a jerk here." No, I found myself thinking, "I totally see why he would say that. What the hell is/was wrong with these people?" I also thought his overall view of the business, and what it has become, was right on the money.
Bret's life has had a LOT of tragedy, and you really start to feel for him throughout the mess of it all. Owen's passing, Montreal, in-fighting in the family, all the deaths of his family and friends, the Goldberg kick, the absolute stupidity of WCW, his stroke...after a while, you just wanted the poor guy to have something, anything, go his way.
The most shocking thing about the book? It has a lot of humor. It's not joke a minute (leave that to us!), but there are some laugh outloud moments in the book. Here are a couple of my favorites:
(Regarding his brother Dean): "Dean's life now existed of getting high and simply existing. He made it look like he earned his keep at Stu's by tinkering on old Cadillacs and moving piles of bricks and debris from one end of the yard to the other for no apparent reason."
(Regarding Chyna): "Even Hunter came out to greet me, with Chyna, who clearly had radical cosmetic surgery since the last time I'd seen her; she looked drastically altered, reconstructed and beautiful in a ghastly kind of way."
I promise you, henceforth when I describe Chyna, it will be that she is "beautiful in a ghastly kind of way."
Absolutely highest possible recommendation if you're a Bret fan. Still recommended if you're not.
”“Best wrestling autobiography so far. More honest than I expected it to be and written well.”
Jordan G wrote this review Wednesday, July 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Autographed by the Hitman himself!”
Raymond P wrote this review Wednesday, May 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This was a very interesting book. There were things that I was glad that Bret Hart was very honest about. It showed everyone that he was not as perfect as we may have thought. In some ways I feel like we have been lied to about the whole Hart Family. I had heard some stories before, but Bret shared even more info about his family. Sometime some of the information was shocking. And I feel like Bret Hart shared the whole story about certain things that I have read from other wrestling biographies that was not shared in those books. I will say it was sad reading all about Owen's death and the things that happened after. It was also sad to read that Bret said he would never forgive Shawn, but I do believe that is a two way street and there may be things Shawn needs to do and say to Bret. Maybe we should lock them both in a room together. I just feel that Bret not forgiving Shawn may be worse in the end.”
Starla wrote this review Thursday, March 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I actually found this looking for David Foster's Hitman. Incredibly this was a couple of notches better than Foster's Hitman. That's not saying much or rather it says a lot about how bad the Foster book is. Bret Hart needed an editor to slash half of the trash out of this book. It is just too long. A good editor might have been able to save this book and actually turn it into something meaningful. Well, that's an overstatement but you get the drift. ”
Frank B wrote this review Sunday, March 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A elementary read and very repetitive. Interesting to hear what happened to all of these guys.”
Geoff D wrote this review Friday, February 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I read this because I watch wrestling... I guess it's one of my not-so-secret shames. When I started watching, Bret Hart had already left the WWF and gone to WCW, and I had no idea what the Montreal Screwjob was about. Going back and watching older matches, I can't say that I was a big Bret Hart fan... and yet, after reading this book, I've taken the time to watch some of his favorite matches again and really enjoyed them.
Bonnie S wrote this review Tuesday, February 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I feel like there are a lot of pros and cons to deciding if you want to read this book... and if you aren't a fast reader, it's a pretty big time-investment at close to 600 pages. The book has a slow pace, as you're basically reading Bret Hart's audio diary over the many years of his career as a professional wrestler. I'm kind of curious now about how many wrestlers do keep a diary of some sort, since Mick Foley wrote his book based on his notebook diaries.
It's also a book written for wrestling fans... there's very little explained about move sets and names are given at a rapid-fire pace and if you don't know who they are, you're out of luck. It definitely helps to read this with a background knowledge of territories, organizations, and wrestlers from all generations.
Another con that I had on a personal basis is that Bret sleeps around a lot. That's part of the business as much as drugs and alcohol are, but it's still tough to read about how he cheats, who he cheats with, and how he justifies it to himself when he can. The best that I can say about this aspect is that, out of the many evils he could have chosen to do, this seems like a lesser one.
So that's a lot of cons, but there are some major pros about this book. I don't know that you'll ever find a wrestling biography that covers such a vast scope. Bret's been at the bottom and the top of the industry, wrestled in more promotions and countries than you can shake a stick at, and been part of the biggest shakeup in the industry. If you love wrestling and want to learn more, this is a must-read. There's always a question of honesty when reading a biography, and this is especially true when it comes to wrestlers' biographies. However, I think this is a really sincere telling of how the business works. Sometimes it feels like he's over-promoting himself, but who am I to say that's not how it happened?
Bret's really at his best when he's telling about traveling outside of North America or his brother Owen. I really enjoyed his story about visiting Jerusalem during a tour and the awkward experience of being in such a holy place, while also being challenged to fights and followed by admiring fans. The stories about Owen, his talent, his career, and his death are sweet and sad. You get the feeling that he was one of the few good guys in the business, was ridiculously talented, and really cared about his family.
Basically, I would highly recommend this book to people who are wrestling history or Bret Hart fans - there's a plethora of information, stories and tidbits there to enjoy. If you aren't one of those people, you may want to skip it. Or skip the first 200 pages... things really get going once Bret is in the WWF and his career is taking off.”1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Bret Hart's book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, is to be taken seriously. Although he clearly shows professional wrestling was his calling, there's quite a bit of sadness. Most surprising to me was the number of professional wrestlers who have died before they reached 50. Readers have to have some familiarity with professional wrestling to understand terminology and the names. Here are some thoughts that came to me as I read the book:
Leroy H wrote this review Monday, December 22 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
- You can't fake fidelity, and you can't fight fragility.
- Even the toughest are fragile.
- The WWF's post 1980's success proves you can succeed with sleaze. Whether you should or not is another question.
- Story lines are important in setting up fan interest.
- There is also a spiritual wrestling match: His wrestling with Vince Mcmahon's success and Owen Hart's death reminded me of the Biblical laments in Psalms and Habbakuk about the success of the wicked and the oppression of the righteous.
- Another spiritual wrestling match: He remained loyal to Vince McMahon who gave cause for disloyalty but not to his wife who didn't seem to give cause for disloyalty.
- Drugs and alcohol were abused to even out the highs and lows of the job. It also resulted in wasting money and talent.
- Professional wrestling, like other forms of entertainment, illustrates the difficulty of breaking out from the pack into success.”“For someone who grew up watching wrestling (especially in the 90s), this book is an absolute must. It's a bit bulky for this type of book (600+ pages), but it's brutally honest, informative, and a relatively quick read. ”
Gustavo Z wrote this review Saturday, November 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
