Bret "Hit Man" Hart: The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be | |
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Directed by | Kevin Dunn |
Starring | Bret Hart Roddy Piper Chris Benoit Mick Foley |
Production company | |
Distributed by | WWE Home Video |
Release date |
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Running time | 549 [1] |
Language | English |
Bret "Hit Man" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be also known as The Bret Hart Story: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be is a 2005 documentary film released as part of a three-DVD [2] set on November 15, 2005, by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). [3] The documentary chronicles the career of popular WWE wrestler Bret Hart. Hart collaborated with WWE to make the documentary, contributing hours of interview content to the film. This collaboration marked the first time Hart had worked in an on camera capacity with WWE since the Montreal Screwjob, which was Hart's last in-ring appearance with the company until his return on January 4, 2010. The documentary chronicles Bret Hart's wrestling career, from how he broke into the business as a member of the Hart family to his run in World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
This is the second documentary about Bret Hart, the first being Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows (which was produced with cooperation by the WWF, but not released by WWF/E Home Video) which chronicles Hart's last days wrestling in the WWF and talks about his relationship with his brother Owen.
Hart has stated that the video was a project that he had wanted to do for a long time and that he originally pitched the idea of a compilation set to Vince McMahon before DVDs were commonplace. [4] [5]
Originally, the DVD was to be named Screwed: The Bret Hart Story, and would be a film focusing on the negative aspects of Hart's career, much like WWE's The Ultimate Warrior DVD, The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior . [6] [7] [8] It originally featured derisive interview comments from former opponents like Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Jerry Lawler, with whom Hart had real-life personal issues (Hart has since made amends with Michaels and Lawler). Hart said of the project: "It was kind of a smear. It was basically a platform for guys to express their dislike for me and their jealousy." Hart was not slated to contribute to the documentary, but later agreed to participate, claiming that WWE essentially told him: "Get on board or we'll run you over." [9]
Negative interviews were thereafter deleted when Hart got involved, and replaced with positive appraisals from alternate former opponents like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Roddy Piper and Chris Benoit, who held Hart in high regard. [10] Hart has said that a major factor in his agreeing to participate in the project was an encounter with a small child in a dentist's office. The child had a Bret Hart action figure, but he had no knowledge of Hart's actual work and was only familiar with WWE video games in which Hart was featured as a "WWE Legend." [11] Hart expressed that he wanted the DVD to be a way for younger people who had no experience watching him while he was estranged from WWE to see him in a more positive light, as opposed to the negative way he felt the company had portrayed him previously. [12] After a promotional photo with WWE chairman Vince McMahon, Hart contributed over seven hours of new interview footage and was allowed full creative input in the project. McMahon noted Bret's participation with a message before the main program in which he thanked Bret for putting aside the various personal and professional differences the two men had in order to produce the DVD for the fans. [4] It has been suggested that the Screwed DVD was conceived by McMahon as a ploy to persuade Hart to the project. [10] [13]
After the DVD's release, Hart was interviewed for WWE.com's show Byte This! and promoted the DVD with a series of appearances to meet, and greet fans. He also appeared at the next year's WWE Hall of Fame to be inducted by Steve Austin. [14] [15]
Disc 1
The first disc is separated into several smaller segments focusing on different parts of Hart's life. [16] [17] [18]
Bret Hart partakes in several interviews where he discusses specific events, such as the origin of the name "the Dungeon" for his father's training hall, being away from family on Halloween, his friendship with the other Hart Foundation members, learning his signature move: the sharpshooter, his brother's pranks and about his trademark sunglasses. There are also two tribute videos included, one for his older brother Dean who died in 1990 from kidney failure and another for dead wrestlers Hart knew. [16] [17] [18] [20]
Disc 2 and 3
The second and third discs contains a selections of matches from Hart's career. Hart himself chose all the matches presented on the DVD. [16]
The DVD has received positive reviews. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] It won the 2006 Wrestling Observer Newsletter award in the category "Best Pro Wrestling Documentary". [28]
Hart has said that he is very happy with how the DVD ended up. [4] [11] Hart has also said that he is very glad that the documentary did not end up like the "Screwed DVD" which it was originally intended. Despite this, Hart has stated that he feels that it is not comprehensive enough and says that he felt that the DVD could have been one or two discs longer and wishes that his match with "Macho Man" Randy Savage from Saturday Night's Main Event XIII could have been included. Said matches could not be included due to legal issues involving Jesse Ventura. [24] Because of this Hart expressed that he wished to do another collection of matches at some time. [29]
Bret Sergeant Hart is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College. A major international draw within professional wrestling, he has been credited with changing the perception of mainstream North-American professional wrestling in the early 1990s by bringing technical in-ring performance to the fore. Hart is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time; Sky Sports noted that his legacy is that of "one of, if not the greatest, to have ever graced the squared circle". For the majority of his career, Hart used the epithet "the Hitman".
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative and oversees the creative aspects of the NXT brand, the promotion's developmental territory. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "The Heartbreak Kid", "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania".
The Montreal Screwjob was an infamous unscripted professional wrestling incident that occurred on November 9, 1997, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view produced by the World Wrestling Federation in Montreal. During the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and champion Bret Hart, WWF owner Vince McMahon and select WWF employees covertly manipulated the predetermined outcome of the match in favor of Michaels; the screwjob occurred without Hart's knowledge, causing him to lose the championship.
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James Henry Neidhart was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag Team Champion with his real-life brother-in-law Bret Hart in the Hart Foundation. He also won titles in Stampede Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Mid-South Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. He was part of the Hart wrestling family through marriage to his wife Ellie Hart, teaming with various members throughout his career, and appearing with his daughter Natalya Neidhart on the reality television show Total Divas.
WrestleMania X was the 10th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 20, 1994, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. The central focus of the pay-per-view was the WWF Championship, which was defended in two matches. Due to both Lex Luger and Bret Hart being named the co-winners of the 1994 Royal Rumble match, both challenged champion Yokozuna. Luger was first but was disqualified for pushing the referee. Hart then faced Yokozuna later in the evening and won the championship by pinning Yokozuna. This led to a lengthy worked feud between Bret and his brother Owen, who had defeated Bret in the opening match of the pay-per-view.
WrestleMania 13 was the 13th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event was presented by PlayStation and held on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Eight matches were held at the event, including one on the Free for All pre-show.
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Diana Joyce Hart is a Canadian-American writer, model, valet and wrestling personality. She is the youngest daughter of Canadian wrestling promoter Stu Hart and was the second to last child born to Stu and his wife Helen. She is best known for her several appearances for Stampede Wrestling and WWE often with her brothers Bret and Owen Hart as well as her husband Davey Boy Smith, and for her book, Under the Mat.
Owen James Hart was a Canadian professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He received most of his success in the WWF, where he wrestled under both his own name and the ring name The Blue Blazer.
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The 1995 Royal Rumble was the eighth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 22, 1995, in the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. The event featured five matches on its card. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 1995 event, the winner received a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XI.
The 1994 Royal Rumble was the seventh annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Saturday, January 22, 1994, at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island—the final Royal Rumble held on a Saturday until the 2022 event. Six matches were contested at the event, including one dark match.
The 1997 Survivor Series was the 11th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was presented by Milton Bradley's Karate Fighters. The event took place on November 9, 1997, at the Molson Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The event's tagline "Gang Rulz" refers to the various wrestling stables that feuded with each other heading into this event. Seven matches were contested on the event's card.
In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede was the 16th In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on July 6, 1997, at the Canadian Airlines Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The event's card consisted of four matches with one match held on the Free for All pre-show.
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Bret Hart: Survival of the Hitman also known as just Survival of the Hitman is a 2010 television documentary film chronicling Canadian professional wrestler Bret Hart's life as he prepared for his in-ring return at WrestleMania XXVI after a ten-year absence from the ring after a career ending concussion. It also covers the rise of Hart's career and his split with World Wrestling Federation in 1997. It is a Fight Network original documentary and first aired March 22, 2010. The documentary was produced by John Pollock, Jorge Barbosa and Wai Ting. The documentary features interviews with Bret, members of Hart's family, former head of WWE Canada Carl De Marco, former sports agent Gord Kirke and producer of Wrestling with Shadows, Paul Jay. It also features archive footage of wrestlers, Dynamite Kid, Bad News Allen, Curt Hennig and Ric Flair.