Bret Hart

The Dungeon

Bret Hart was one of twelve children of Stu Hart, who ran the Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary and trained wrestlers in the basement of the family home. The room, nicknamed the Dungeon, was known for painful submission holds that tested whether a student was serious. Bret was an amateur wrestler in school and started in his father's promotion in the late 1970s.

From tag team to world champion

In the WWF he teamed with his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart as The Hart Foundation, a technically sound pairing in pink and black that won the tag titles twice. As a singles wrestler he won the Intercontinental title, including a classic against Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1991 and one against his brother-in-law The British Bulldog at Wembley Stadium at SummerSlam 1992.

He won his first WWF Championship from Ric Flair in October 1992 and held it five times. His Sharpshooter submission and his precise, story-driven matches earned him the reputation of a wrestler's wrestler.

The Montreal Screwjob

In 1997 Hart had agreed to join WCW, and the WWF title match with Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in Montreal became a dispute over how he would leave. During the match, Michaels put Hart in the Sharpshooter and the referee called for the bell even though Hart had not given up, on the instructions of Vince McMahon. The finish shocked fans and wrestlers, inspired documentaries and helped create the Mr. McMahon villain character.

After the ring

Hart's in-ring career ended after a kick to the head in a December 1999 match with Goldberg left him with a severe concussion. He later recovered from a stroke suffered in 2002. He returned to WWE in 2010, wrote a well-received autobiography, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 and again with the Hart Foundation in 2019.

Hart's matches were famous for their logic: if he worked on an opponent's leg early, the Sharpshooter at the end made sense, and if he was hurt, he showed it until the final bell. That approach influenced a generation of technical wrestlers. His 1997 feud with Steve Austin, which ended in a famous submission match at WrestleMania 13 where the two men swapped roles as hero and villain, is often taught as a perfect example of a double turn.

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