Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Claimed by many to be one of the best WWE Superstars of all time. One of the absolute best. He has legions of fans all over the world, especially in his home country of Canada. So many people just seem to love the pink and black. Thousands of people who were part of the sell out crowd in Wembley Stadium for Summer Slam 1992 fondly remember his classic match with Davey Boy Smith. Many fans sympathize with him for the infamous Montreal Screw Job. But to be objective, Bret has his fair share of critics. The guy really does have some significant setbacks. To quote Vince McMahon discussing the love affair between the fans and Bret Hart “I honestly don’t get it.”.
How can it be that Bret could make fans jump from their seats at the opening chord to his theme music? When compared to most performers who have become big stars in sports entertainment, Bret is lacking considerably in terms of having charisma. While he is praised for being a great technician, some people still say Bret was boring in the ring. They say that most of the time he had a low work rate and overused rest holds. He wasn’t exactly electric when he talked on the microphone. He’s been criticized for not having a variety of facial expressions in the ring. So the question arises, just why did/does he have such a strong following in the wrestling world?
One of the contributing factors is most likely that Bret Hart was an excellent technician in the ring. During the time period where he first rose to prominence as a singles competitor, pro wrestling had a decent amount of good in ring performers. Rick Rude, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Mr. Perfect, Rick Martel, and (especially) Ric Flair, to name a few. They could offer excitement in the ring just as good as, if not better than Bret Hart could (on average).
But in most cases, Bret executed his moves excellently (pun intended). He really did hit his moves in a very crisp way. Randy Savage could bring fans to their feet in a lot of his matches, as could Rick Rude. But they didn’t execute technical moves as smooth and as crisp as Bret did. Even when compared to technical greats like Mr. Perfect and Ricky Steamboat, Bret usually came across as the more knowledgeable technician. I’m not saying Bret is overall better in the ring than those guys, but that he came across as a better technical wrestler. It got to the point that his in ring abilities overshadowed his character, which simply wasn’t as good or developed as the others mentioned.
Try looking at it from this viewpoint- Rob Van Dam has been using a variety of exciting moves inside the square circle since his days in the original ECW. His somersault splashes off the top rope, jumping from one side of the ring to the other when executing the Van Terminator, his spin kicks, leg sweeps, and so forth. Yeah, RVD used to have a strong heel persona where he showed loyalty to WWE in front of ECW fans. But the truth is that as time went on, his character ended up taking a backseat to his in ring skills. You might consider Van Dam to little more than a spot machine, and I don’t know if I’d disagree. But regardless, Van Dam built up an incredible reputation based almost solely on his in ring work. He used his awesome athletic ability and an arsenal of moves that really showed off that ability. His extremely cocky character who liked to smoke marijuana was overshadowed by what he had to offer inside the ring.
Just as Rob Van Dam gained a following based on what he did in the ring and not really for his character, so too has Bret Hart. In the examples I listed, most of them with the exception of Steamboat, had characters that overshadowed their great in ring work. Not that their wrestling skills were ignored, but to the fans their characters were more of a focal point. That’s how it is for most wrestlers in the business. But in Bret Hart’s case, but simply loved to watch his array of technical moves. He executed the moves to near perfection, and came across as a master technician. In a rare case at the time, his ring skills were of greater value than his character. That’s just the way pro wrestling is.
Maybe that is the reason why Bret Hart had gained so much of a fan following over the last few decades. Maybe it really is because he could perform so well in the ring without his character overshadowing it, as is the case with most wrestlers. But perhaps that is not or the reason, or possibly not the only reason. Bret played a face for most of his singles career, which is the time where his legacy was really established. Could his success simply have come from how he played his character?
I stated in the last few paragraphs I stated that Bret’s character was overshadowed by his technical ability. And it was. But that’s not to say people were flat out ignorant towards his on screen persona. He came across as a stand up guy, a true hero. He was courageous and stood tough in the face of adversity. If a woman was tied to railroad tracks, Bret had the kind of character that would try to save her.
Bret may have lacked charisma and some interview skills, but somehow, someway, he came across as a guy with a lot of integrity. He was just a good, pure person. He didn’t have a price for the Million Dollar Man. He wasn’t going to submit to Backlund’s cross face chicken wing. He didn’t turn his back on his sister, Diana, for when she sided with his brother in law at Summer Slam ’92. He just had a lot of moral fiber and while his character didn’t receive the spot light that his in ring skills did. But it was impossible to ignore altogether.
In the wrestling business there is something called the” it factor”. It goes beyond personality, charisma, interview skills, technical ability, or whatever. You can strip away all of a wrestlers attributes and if they have the it factor, fans can still care about them. In the case of Bret Hart, he lacked several attributes that are normally essential for most successful wrestlers. But having the it factor, a quality that will make fans care about you, is what will make or break a wrestler. Bret had the it factor. I don’t know how else to describe it.
Bret Hart is considered by a large portion of wrestling fans to be one of the best of all time. When looking upon his attributes, it is tough on paper to figure out why he developed the strong following that he did. He lacks charisma, personality, and strong interview skills. But Bret’s abilities in the squared circle can overshadow his character, which had integrity, honesty, and endless courage. When a wrestler is stripped of all his positive attributes, you can see whether or not he has the it factor. Bret, who didn’t have much to begin with, simply had it.
He’s the man, the myth, and the legend. Is this man a legend? Or is that just a myth? I’d have to say that he made some excellent contributions to wrestling and deserves his strong fan base.
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