Eighteen years after its release, Bret Hart’s famous memoir gets a fresh coat of paint with narration from the man himself
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Online Editor
2007’s “Hitman: My Life In The Cartoon World Of Wrestling” is arguably considered by many wrestling fans to be the quintessential pro wrestling memoir. A lengthy, extremely detailed account of Bret Hart’s life from his birth until the year 2003, it’s a mixture of sad, painful, bitter, traumatizing, funny and hopeful storytelling.
Hart, himself considered to be one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, has a distinct, deadpan tone of voice that is entirely his own. One can not just imitate the man properly, even now as he’s older and obviously physically much different. All of which makes his voice the only one that can make this audiobook stand out in a way that doesn’t just feel like a voice actor getting a payday.
It also helps Hart’s memoir feel more like a confessional at certain points, as he bluntly and matter-of-factly discusses numerous instances across decades of infidelity, and other arguments with his ex-wife, who he remains on good terms with to this day.
Again, Hart’s account of his life is rich with detail, almost to the point of absurdity, right down to the many quarrels he’s had with his many brothers and sisters. He was aided with many of his recollections, though, by keeping an audio diary through his time on the road. While his account obviously has a bias, he also was out of the business almost completely at the time it was written. Thus, he has no issue revealing some of the tricks of the trade.
It must be noted that certain things have changed since the book’s initial publication in 2007, most notably in relation to his feelings of resentment toward fellow wrestler Shawn Michaels, a one-time friend and later long-standing rival. Hart and Michaels, who had not seen each other for a full decade at the time of the book’s publication and would not meet again for another three years afterward, have mended fences since the book’s publication (though one can argue his feelings toward wrestler and current WWE head honcho Triple H remain the same).
Despite this, Hart, in his recording, does not appear to have altered the text in any significant way, with the exception of changing a few consonants to accommodate his unique accent. While certain portions of it seem to have been cleaned up in post-production (certain paragraphs make him sound younger than others), you can tell Bret Hart put all of his heart and soul into the narration. Pun-intended.
It makes the narration of his struggles feel more personal, especially when he relives the Montreal Screwjob of 1997, the tragic death of his brother Owen at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City two years later, the injuries that ended his career in 2000 and his own life-altering stroke in 2002. “Hitman” may have been a triumph of an autobiography, and it’s a triumph of an audiobook as well. It’s just a shame it took so long to get it.
