The Hitman In For A Battle

Today Bret Hart announced he is fighting prostate cancer and will have surgery in the next few days as part of his treatment. I grew up watching wrestling in the 1980s with my brother and Hart was one of my bigger brother’s favorite wrestlers and he loved getting me in to the figure-four leg lock.

Bret Hart was a great wrestler, vocal and charismatic, and he was a 5-time Champion. I was a big fan of the Hart Foundation tag-team though I think that was more because I liked Jim Neidhart’s killer goatee.

Bret was also the victim of bad blood with WWF/WWE owner Vince McMahon in what is now known as the Montreal Screwjob. Hart was leaving for rival organization WCW but he was the WWF Heavyweight Champion, it had been decided that his final match in the 1997 Survivor Series against Shawn Michaels was supposed to end in a DQ and Hart would forfeit the title before he left WWF but instead Vince McMahon, in a strange twist, really rigged the match so referee Earl Hebner would call the match saying Hart tapped out. He eventually reconnected with the WWE and was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 2006.

Brett Hart fans have plenty of options with cards dating back to 1987, he has a handful of relic cards from ITG/SportKings and Topps and autographs in ITG/SportKings, Leaf and more recently Topps. Relic prices are starting around $20 with autographs running about $10 more than the relics. Now if you are on the search for Bret Hart autograph there are plenty of 8x10 autographed photos for significantly less.

 

Hopefully Hart comes through his surgery and recovers quickly.