Bret Harts Calgary Sun Column - Yard Sales - http://maxpages.com/brethart/Bret_Harts_Calgary_Sun

Bret Hart's Calgary Sun Column for November 12, 1999

Every once in a while I like to give everyone a glimpse of what it’s like
to be me.
I only get to be home for a couple e of days before I leave to fight
Kidman, on Nitro. He’s one of the most under-rated guys in wrestling -
maybe because he’s not the biggest guy - I don’t know. What I do know is
that he’s fast, agile, smart, and surprisingly strong for his size. I’ve
proven myself against big giants in the ring many times and have often said
that a good technical wrestler will beat a big guy - unless of course the big
guy is also a good technical wrestler! I’m actually looking forward to a
great match with Billy Kidman. I’m training for it by riding my bike as much
as I can, while the weather holds out. Truth is, I’m running on adrenaline
and can’t stop now. I’m intent on advancing through the World Title
Tournament - all the way to the finals at WCW’s first ever pay-view event in
Canada, at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, on Nov 21. It would be my first
pay-per-view in Canada since I was double crossed at Survivor Series, two
years ago, I and I’m really fired up not only because there’s a chance for a
title shot but that it’s in Canada is almost too good to be true.
Speaking of Montreal (Survivor Series), more and more people come
up to me all the time and tell me they’re proud of how I carried myself
through that time. When I walked out of the building that night I never
though that anybody would ever really understand what had happened. Call it
fate that there was a documentary crew following me around at the time and
that they had the integrity to tell the truth and the talent to do it so
well. That was my vindication and so I was happy to go over to England this
past week to promote the long awaited premier of Wrestling With Shadows on
British TV. Imagine my delight when the phone in my hotel room rang with the
news that Shadows won two Gemini awards! What a great way to give back to
the little documentary that nobody thought would amount to much. It was like
the little engine climbing that steep hill, “I think I can, I think I
can....” and they did! Congratulations to the folks at High Road
Productions! As for me, I feel a sense of personal reward too. Being
double-crossed in Montreal wasn’t the send off that I’d envisioned after 14
years in the WWF - but 2 Geminis for the little film that stood up and told
the whole world the truth, not only about what they did to me, but about
what they did to wrestling, at least means that it wasn’t all in vain.
Even on a busy schedule I managed to have a good time in England,
hanging out with rock legend, Bryan Adams at his 40th birthday part, which
conveniently fell on Guy Fawkes day, so he had built in fireworks
celebrations across the UK. His rock and roll pals, roadies and fellow
musicians were great fun but the strangest character was this woman who was
three sheets to the wind. She asked me who i am so I told her I’m a
wrestler. She said she haaates wrestling. She said it’s “superficial”.
She went on and on about it . I was pretty tired to begin with so I decided
to humor her and sarcastically agree with everything she said, ‘yes, I hate
it to. you’re right, it’s superficial. it’s all for nothing bollux “.
But that wasn’t good enough for her. She went on and on and so I just kept
agreeing with her until finally she did a complete turnaround and was
defending wrestling and so then I started knocking it down. She asked me
what I was doing in England and I explained that they’d made a documentary
about my life and that I was there to promote it. She replied in a heavy
British drawl, accented by alcohol, “Yer soooo smug, aren't ya?” She
thought I was making the whole thing up about the documentary ! By then we’d
acquired a little audience, that she was totally unaware of, and it could
have gone around in circles for hours when a roadie took her off to her next
adventure and Bryan Adams came over and rescued me with a margarita that,
after taking one sip, I realized would have made Andre the Giant drop to
one knee. And that’s when I knew it was time to step out.
Of course the next morning I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to be
on TV. The Big Breakfast , one of the most popular programs in the UK. The
host, Johnny Vaughan, is so talented and funny that I see him as England’s
Adam Sandler and he’s bound to break onto the international scene. You heard
it here first.
Then I was off to do a kid’s show called Bedrock, where Olympic runner
John Regis, the English Michael Johnson, was also a guest. I ended up
having to battle him on the new WCW Mayhem video game, he took on the persona
of Booker T and The Hitman beat him soundly with a barrage of moves that my
son Blade taught me. Being a great guy, he took the loss well.
I called The Dynamite Kid while I was over there. The last time we’d
talked was a while ago because I felt kind of funny telling him all about my
wrestling career while he’s stuck in a wheel chair. I told him that and he
said not to feel that way and to keep in touch more - which I look forward to
doing, He was in good spirits and has written a no holds barred book, Pure
Dynamite, which is available on the internet at www.dynamitekid.com. I’ve
only read part of it and look forward to finishing it as soon as I have a
chance. It’s sure to make you laugh and tug at your heartstrings. It’s
honest and tells it like it is - or was.
Dynamite heard about an operation that may be able to fix his back and
free him from the wheelchair - but it’s expensive. I spoke with some of the
boys about doing a benefit card and they’re raring to go so stay tuned for
news on that! Now wouldn’t that be awesome!
Bang! I’m on a plane to Indianapolis, went straight to the building,
and ended up wrestling twice in one night and getting a step closer to the
World title finals, having defeated Perry Saturn, who is one of the best
wrestlers in the business today. Then, in a 4-way ladder match I was doing
my best to get the U.S. title back to Bill Goldberg and even personally hand
it to him but somehow Nash got it instead.
Next thing you know I’m in New York for the American Heart
Association’s Best of the Best Charity Awards dinner where I bumped into
hockey legend Phil Esposito. When Owen and I played hockey when we were
kids, i was Phil and Owen was his brother, Tony. I told Phil that story and
was amused that he couldn't stop talking about wrestling. He grew up
watching guys like my dad, Whipper Billy Watson and he said a lot about some
wrestler named Tiger Tasker...which is a new one on me. I’ll have to ask
Stu about that! It was a great evening and I was pleased to have done my
part to raise awareness for such a great cause.
Then, after all that, at 6:30 in the morning, with my head in three
different countries, I realized that i was about to face what may be my
toughest opponent ever - Howard Stern. There I was at Starbucks in New York
City trying to wake my mind up enough to face this war of witts with Howard
Stern, who can be brutal when he wants to be. I was so tired and I started
to wonder what I’d gotten myself into.
Know what? Howard Stern is a class act. We got along great and I
found it funny that Howard was asking me for marital advice, like I’m the
best guy to ask. I told him a story that he loved about how, years ago,
somebody was trying to steal one of Stu’s old Caddys. The guy was stuck on
the hill of the driveway in the snow and he kept trying to drive out of there
at like 4 in the morning. Stu thought it was my brother, Smith, so he went
down to help push the car out. When he realized that it wasn't Smith he
dragged the kid into the kitchen and stretched the guy for hours. We could
hear the ruckus and I was wondering, what did one of my brothers do this
time? I went to the top of the stairs and after a quick count we realized
all us bothers were present. Bruce ventured down and came back up and
described the situation. There was a juvenile car thief fighting for his
life in the kitchen with pots and pans scattered all over the place, cats
and dogs running for cover and Stu just nearing the top of the mountain. But
to show you what kind of a great guy my dad is, he didn’t phone the police,
he called the kid’s parents, straightened the kid out and gave him a job as
an usher at the wrestling matches. He was a regular every Friday night for
years after that.
Typical - but only at the Hart house.
I found Howard Stern to be an unpretentious, straightforward guy who I
could talk to all day. He invited me back and I look forward to it.
Right now I’m looking forward to my match with Kidman and wondering if
I’ll be ready. My ankle is still bothering me and he’s got those dirty
filthy animals to back him up. He’ll need ‘em. I think about bringing the
World Championship back to Canada and there’s no stopping me. Now how cool
would that be?

Co-Webmaster: Wrestling Innovator

thesmackdownis@hotmail.com

Sign Guestbook

View Guestbook

Visitors: 04048

Page Updated Mon Nov 15, 1999 1:48am EST