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Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling | 
 enlarge | Author: Bret Hart
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $26.99
Buy New: $17.81
You Save: $9.18 (34%)
New (36) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $14.55
Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 4721
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 592
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 2
ISBN: 0446539724
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.812092
EAN: 9780446539722
ASIN: 0446539724
Publication Date: October 8, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Product Description
Written without collaborators and based on decades of tape recordings he made throughout his career, HITMAN is Bret Hart's brutally honest, perceptive and startling account of his life in and out of the ring that proves once and for all that great things come in pink tights.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...
 Sports Entertainment No longer entertaining ! December 12, 2007
Nawaf H. Al Taher (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
41 out of 73 found this review helpful
Greetings,
I ordered the book straight from amazon (Canada) because Bret means a lot to me ! As a person, as my hero when I was growing up, as a consummate professional, story teller (Face or Heel), technical wrestler. Could not wait for the release in the US (2008).
Besides who knows, you never know what WWE will try to do to edit the book.
I enjoyed the fact that Bret took us in details to all the events of his life, these events were all part of history and have been documented either on TV or PPV. I am truly glad that it is not a WWE book. Otherwise you would read half the book in its honest truth. I read that WWE wanted to edit almost 400 pages out of the book.
Vince admitted that he lied to Bret, Vince did not appreciate what Bret did for WWE. And for the record Bret put sold more tickets than Shawn Michaels did. As a matter of fact, right after the infamous "Montreal Screw Job" Shawn only held the title for 4-5 months, simply because he was not carrying the company like Bret did.
Steve Austin on the other hand was the main draw after Bret.
Anyway, Vince may look like the last one to laugh, but I am telling you eventually karma will catch up with him.
I can clearly see that the business now is a joke. I miss the good ol 80's-1997 wrestling business. Where you can actually watch it with your family. Now, my hand is holding the remote control fearing something obscene may show on TV.
Anyway, the book will show you how:
1. The business was, and what it is today.
2. The dirty politics and the true colors of the people you think you can trust. (Shawn swearing (lying) that he did not know about the screw job).
3. Learn more about yesterday's legends and how they were supportive to one another.
4. More about our beloved late star Owen.
5. Drugs & substance abuse, and the business needs to give more awareness towards such matters. We have lost too many stars at a very young age.
6. Bret is a human beings like all of us, he had went through a series of tragedies and challenges that he over came eventually at a very expensive price. Nevertheless, he was strong and never gave up. I feel he is truly a strong determined man.
7. Bret could have easily bashed the wrestlers who spoke negatively about him in their written books. But, instead brought out points that we have heard over and over again from other wrestlers. So you can tell that he is trying to be honest when criticizes some of the talents. In fact, he did write the pros and cons of the talents that he criticized.
8. Every family has its share of problems and the Hart family is not an exception (Only hoped that we did not see the dirty laundry in public).
I have read many autobiographies for wrestlers, and my favorite books belong to Mick Foley, Bret Hart, Booby Henan (random order). Hogan's book is too sugar coated and seems to hide a number of facts, Shawn Michaels book (IMHO) was loaded with lies.
I will not say that I am boycotting WWE, but I lost interest ever since:
1. Vince McMahon screwed Bret and many others (Cant respect WWE's product or vision).
2. No more WCW, therefore WWE does not bother in putting a decent weekly show, since we do not have an alternative (WRONG ! I'll watch any other show).
3. Ever since HHH got to be part of decision making/writing/marrying Stephine.
4. Supporting a company that is not properly applying the drug testing policy.
5. A company so selfish that it is not supporting a union (or a similar concept to protect the workers who were loyal to WWE).
I promise you that eventually HHH would end up doing something very stupid and he will be screwed by Vince just like that.
I have truly enjoyed reading the book, laughed and cried. I know that you know that pro wrestling in many ways maybe predetermined, but:
1. The injuries are real.
2. What goes behind the scenes is also very real.
3. Traveling from one place to another, the pain the exhaustion and homesick is very real, and will impact the morale and health on the talent.
4. Both skilled & Unskilled wrestlers may perform moves that can actually leave more than a dent on their opponents (whether intentional or not).
5. The screw job was without a doubt real, and could have been avoided, or at least worked out.
Bret's career has been through vital points of the business and was an eye witness to milestones in the business such as:
1. Wrestling becoming a mainstream phenomena in the early 80's.
2. Wrestlemania 1-13.
3. Beginning of Raw.
4. The birth of Stone Cold Steve Austin & The Rock.
5. WWF/WWE new Attitude Era.
6. Monday Night Rating Wars.
7. Being part of the WCW roster.
8. The sudden untimely deaths of young talents who did not reach the age of 50.
All the above eight points have been talked about from the eyes of Bret Hart.
I will say that, I understand that more than 10 years have passed since the screw job, and I am not bitter about it, however, we must learn the lesson, since this could happen to any wrestler, in fact it could happen to you at work. So work hard at what you do, but not all people can be trusted.
And yes we should not be bitter, but I feel that one reason behind the business is in the dark ages today is because of Vince's short sight backstabbing, and the cheap actions and betrayal of Shawn and HHH the business may take some time till it actually sees the light at the end of that tunnel.
In the end, if Vince failed to show the proper respect that Bret has earned time and time again, I have NOT. As a result, thank you Bret Hart for being a professional all the way. We truly enjoyed watching you whether you were a face or a heel. You have been a great hero to many of us. We appreciate the fact that you were a great story teller in the ring. And we truly hope you a happy successful and most of all a healthy life.
The bottom line is pro wrestling is dead to me, ever since:
1. Bret retired.
2. The death of Owen Hart, WWE being unprofessional by putting its talents in hazardous stunts.
3. The death of too many talented superstars.
4. Lack of competition (WCW and ECW out of business).
5. Lame rosters.
6. Shallow story-lines.
And many many more reasons.
Thanks & Enjoy,
Nawaf
 Bret Hart's Love Letter To Himself January 1, 2008
M. Roberts (Ohio)
19 out of 71 found this review helpful
The title of this book pretty much tells you what is wrong with it in that it is allegedly Bret Hart's "Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling." As a fan of professional wrestling for about 25 years I can tell you that nothing in professional wrestling is real and it is all fake no matter what washed up wrestlers like Hart and Hogan or their fans on the internet want you to believe. Bret Hart in the early 1990's was given the gimmick of being "the best, there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be" in the fictional world of professional wrestling and some how in his warped mind he bought into it to the point that it consumed his entire existence. This book is the ultimate Hart ego trip as he continues his never ending quest to sell the world that everything in professional wrestling is fake except for him and his glorious career as the greatest ever (despite him being a complete financial flop whenever he was on top of professional wrestling).
If you are a big fan of Bret's then you can buy the book and enjoy Bret's love letter to himself. Of course it is nothing you can not read all over the internet for free and it is not any different than what Bret's toadies in the wrestling media like Meltzer and Scherer have written forever. The only difference in this Bret Hart ego stroking to previous Hart ego strokings is that Hart has now cast Triple H as the main villian who opposes the real greatness of Bret Hart in the WWF despite the fact that Triple H had no political pull or power in the WWF until 1999. Former Hart top villian Shawn Michaels is now down to number 2 top villian because Triple H's name sells more books at this point and Vince McMahon is down to Hart's number 3 villian against Hart's self professed greatness because McMahon and Hart are back to doing business together on DVD releases and merchandising (they kissed and made up).
This book pretty much omits anything that really makes Hart look bad and rewrites history to Hart's specifications. Hart blatantly lies and says that Shawn Michaels did not have the knee injury in 1997 that put Michaels out of wrestling for the better part of 6 months including the biggest show of the year Wrestlemania 13. This of course would be news to Michaels, McMahon, and Doctor James Andrews who did the surgery on the knee of Shawn Michaels. In Hart's fantasy world Shawn Michaels faked his knee injury and addiction to pain killers because Michaels was supposed to drop the World title to Hart at Wrestlemania 13 (Hart wants you to believe everyone in wrestling cares about predetermined match outcomes and fixed championships as he delusionally does) despite the fact that no real evidence exists to support this and Hart ended up not even being in the championship picture until Michaels came back from injury (Undertaker was world champion after Wrestlemania 13 after beating Sid for the title at Wrestlemania 13).
There is no tell all here as all Bret confesses to is his so called sex addiction, which is the same addiction you can read in any male celebrity's book now at days (see Batista's book). It is cool and studly to be a sex addict (with girls of course) without the negative publicity and stigma attached to drug or alcohol addiction, so every athlete or pseudo athlete since Wilt Chamberlain has claimed a sex addiction in their books in some form (while hiding their drugs and drinking as much as possible). Nothing new in here about the Montreal Screw Job in 1997 because all that is ever going to be publicly released on that topic already has been released (aspects such as that Hart was supposed to show up on WCW television with the WWF title get left out as always because those aspects make McMahon, Bischoff, and Hart look sleazy and stupid). Bret of course does not take any personal responsibility for the decline of his career and Montreal (even though it was Bret who declined at Survivor Series and for weeks before Survivor Series to do business the right way and drop the title before leaving the WWF) as everything is a massive screw job conspiracy against the "real" greatness of Bret Hart involving the usual suspeacts (even in WCW, it was all Triple H / Michaels / McMahon).
If you are going to read this book, then just take everything with a grain of salt and do not blindly believe any of it. Also read the biographies of other wrestlers like Flair and Michaels to get their side of the stories Hart tells (take them with a grain of salt too because all wrestlers are self promoting flim flam artists who are out to promote themselves and their view of history). I would recommend getting the Bret Hart DVD box set that McMahon put out a couple of years ago instead of this book because that at least has some good matches on it to balance out Hart's dry egotism. In general, wrestling biographies after Foley's second biography have been completely worthless (including Foley's last book, the god awful Hardcore Diaries) because they are all repetitive, biased, dry, and uninformative for true wrestling fans who are not interested in historical slanting by wrestlers and their puppets in the wrestling media.
Very good book on a storied career April 8, 2008
M. Atamian (San Diego, CA USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I enjoyed Bret's autobiography more than any other wrestling book, including both of Foley's books. His life story is interesting, and one gets a real insight into the Hart family as a whole (it is NOT a pretty sight, either) as well as Bret and his career. I always enjoyed the Hitman character, and while Bret himself has a little bit of an ego, he really details his faults as well as his high points. He still has a lot of bitterness over how his career ended, and the current day players (HHH and HBK, notably) but that's not entirely unjustified. All in all though, I found this to be a really entertaining read and highly recommend it to any wrestling fan.
Amazing, Amazing Book November 10, 2007
True to the Sport (Las Vegas, NV)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I got this book shipped in from Canada because I couldn't wait and I'm thrilled to say that it is THEE best "wrestling biography" out there. It blows Michaels', Flair's and Foley's outta the water (and Foley's is a best seller). I got it earlier this week and am done with it. Bret's account of matches, oversea's tours, backstage politics and his bitter rivalry with Shawn Michaels are very well written. To read about all the sorrow and grief he encountered from Owen's death to his father's death will bring any wrestling fan to the brink of tears if not fully shed.
I cannot stress how phenominal this biography is. Bret tells it like it is because the WWE didn't have their hands in it. I love how he has stayed loyal to himself just like he did his fans all those years. BUY THIS BOOK!
The New Standard for Wrestling Books November 10, 2007
Robert Mckinney (Tulsa, OK USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Quite Simply this book may be the best there is, the best there was, and maybe the best there ever will be about a man's journey through the crazy world of Pro Wrestling. There are stories filled with Humor(Though if you are expecting something like Mick Foley's Book look elsewhere), Sadness, and Hardship. Bret is very open and honest about the world he lived in, and pulls no punches when talking about the drinking, drugs, and Affairs that went on in his life. You'll also get a close look with people that shared his journey along the way, Tom Billington(Dynamite Kid),Davey Boy Smith and members of the Hart Family. I cannot reccomend this book strongly enough.
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