Fight, Bret Fight!
Updated: May 27, 2019
And the hits keep on coming. One month in, we have lost some really amazing people. We have lost David Bowie, Lemmy, Glenn Frye, Alan Rickman and others…
When does it end?
Not any time soon apparently. Cancer is a very scary thing. Something my family specifically had to endure over the years. My father was diagnosed 20+ years ago with throat cancer and is a cancer survivor. However, the cost was not only affected his health, but our living situation. Going from a "comfortable" living situation because he worked at a local plant to living off a minimum wage job my mother had and disability which pays peanuts. I have also lost multiple friends and family members to cancer as it is such an unforgiving disease.
Now, a true Canadian Hero who was already played tons of horrible hands in life, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. My hero's name is Bret Hart.
The Excellence of Execution was my childhood hero. I remember watching him when he was just starting out in WWE programming. He had excellent technical attributes but wasn't at a level where anyone took him seriously. It wasn't till he joined up with Jim Neidhart and the "Mouth from the South" Jimmy Hart, is where his career really took off. We saw some amazing matches with other great Tag Team greats in the 80's and Bret Hart began the long road of earning the name "Excellence of Execution."
I remember in the 90's when the Hart Foundation was split, is when he started his IC run. Which I remember going to a local bar with a friend's family to watch SummerSlam. He wrestled Mr. Perfect in a grueling match and where he became the victor! I remember the patons of this bar just exploding in joy when Bret won the belt. That is when I realized as a child that I wanted to be like Bret Hart.
Sadly, I never had enough initiative to ever become a wrestler, but if I did, it would have been modeled after the high bar that Bret Hart had set. Bret went on and had amazing WWE IC and Heavyweight runs which are unforgettable. Also, Bret is one of the main people who helped birth the StoneCold era!
Bret though as I mentioned earlier was dealt some horrible cards over the years. He lost his Brother Owen to a unfortunate ring accident, he lost the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith from a heart attack due to drug abuse, he lost a good friend Brian Pillman to a heart disease, his career was ended by Goldberg accidentally and on the morning of June 24th, 2002 he had a stroke after suffering an injury during a bicycle accident.
However, some good final came. On August 3, 2005, Bret and Vince McMahon reconciled their differences after the Montreal Screwjob and produced one of my favorite wrestling documentaries, "The Best there is, Best there was, and the best there ever will be." It opened a new world to me about Stampede wrestling and even more in depth look at the Hart family. I found myself finding a whole new respect for the Hitman as I saw the trials and bumps he took all the way to the peak of his stardom.
In short, I am completely saddened by learning of his recent disagnosis, but I pray the Hitman does not give up. If anything, fight! Bret has been through so much in his life, he can beat this. We should stand united behind Bret as he was a role model for most of the kids from the 80's/90's and one of the true Canadian Hero's to ever exist.
Fight, Bret Fight!