History Wrestling / BretHart

* CanadaEh: Not normally the focus of his gimmick, but his 1997 heel turn played up his Canadian-ness as Hart would use it as a source of pride against Americans, who he believed didn't deserve a hero of his caliber.

* FiveMovesOfDoom: He had a few that he used almost every single match: a ''Russian Legsweep'' and a ''Scoop Slam'' were on top of this list. A fan commentary by Creator/ScottKeith on Bret's matches from the newsgroup rec.sport.pro-wrestling included this phrase. Hilariously, no one who has ever tried to mock Bret for this in their books (Flair for instance) has ever gotten them right. They were: ''Inverted Atomic Drop'', ''Russian Legsweep'', ''Pendulum Backbreaker'', a second rope ''Pointed Elbow Drop'', and ''The Sharpshooter''. More importantly, as a fan, generally the second Bret hit the legsweep, you knew EXACTLY where he was headed in an excited [[JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient "Oooooh here we go!"]] moment.

*** Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}, though this one's understandable. He ended Bret's career with a careless kick. Hart has wavered from the accident not being Bill's fault (for he was rushed through training and put in the ring before he was ready), but saying Bill was a good guy out of the ring; to full-on seething, loathing hatred of the man. From about 2015 on, he's spoken with more vitriol towards Goldberg than he has about the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, an event that defined his life for over 20 years. Though even then, his attacks are limited to Bill's ability and his track record of hurting people ("Everyone he ever worked with," though that's hyperbole). He was appalled when Goldberg was selected for the Hall of Fame in 2018 because of this. Bret prides himself on rarely, if ever, hurting an opponent for being careless, for the most valuable skill a wrestler can possess to him, is the ability to work safely.

* SignatureMove: ''Pointed Elbow Drop'', ''Discus Punch'', ''Close-range Dropkick'', ''Eagle-spread Headbutt Drop'' and his full FiveMovesOfDoom set.

* SpanishAnnouncersTable :The first wrestler to be thrown through it by [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]] at ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series '95]]''.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent[=/=]DistaffCounterpart: Unofficially, but Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}'s [[Wrestling/KimberLee Princess Kimberlee]][[note]]Wrestling/{{WSU}}'s Kimber Lee[=/=]Wrestling/{{WWENXT}}'s Abbey Laith[[/note]] is the ClosestThingWeGot to Bret. She always hands a little girl in the crowd her tiara to wear before each match, and her five-month reign as the fourth, and first female, [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa//e/chikara/chikara-g.html CHIKARA Grand Champion]] had some similarities to Bret's first WWE Title reign. Bret defended the title against, among others, Wrestling/{{Kamala}} and [[Wrestling/JohnNord The Berzerker]]. Kimberlee defended her title against, among others, Jaka (billed from UsefulNotes/{{Chad}}) and Oleg The Usurper (a "Mad Viking Warrior", though billed from [[PartsUnknown "Mount Pulpit Haven"]]). Nevertheless, the analogy isn't perfect, since Bret never had to defend a title against an anthropomorphic insect (Soldier Ant) or a woman ([[Wrestling/RubyRiott Heidi Lovelace]], Nixon Newell) and never lost a title to an undead [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve pumpkin]] demon under a spell (Hallowicked), and Kim never lost a title to a 500 lbs. ex-Sumo Wrestler (Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}}). Still, she is closer to being "The Hitgirl" than even Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart.

* FiveMovesOfDoom (via Creator/ScottKeith as a shorthand for his finishing sequence leading to the Sharpshooter)
* SpanishAnnouncersTable (via [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]] sending him through it at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 95'', considered the first modern example of it being involved in matches)

* AHeroToHisHometown: Very much so in Canada, especially during the days of The Hart Foundation. This was taken advantage of when the Hart Foundation were jingoistic heels in the late 1990s.

%%* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Not clear how this is an example of the trope [At ''King of the Ring '93'', Jerry "The King" Lawler objected to Bret being named "King" just by winning a tournament, and apparently stiffed Bret hard with a sceptre, and later again with the crutches Lawler had shown up at ''Wrestling/{{SummerSlam}}'' in an attempt to get out of the match, introducing Wrestling/DoinkTheClown as his replacement. Bret basically [[SquashMatch squashed]] Doink, and Lawler threw down the crutches revealing that his "injury" was faked, and attacked Bret, leading to the then President Jack Tunney forcing The King into the match. Bret claimed to have really cranked on ''The Sharpshooter'' in retaliation, though Lawler told him that he thought "that was how the Hart boys worked." They made up sometime later.]

* FamilyBusiness[=/=]ItRunsInTheFamily: The Harts are virtually all in the wrestling business, including cousins and in-laws. Bret's father Stu was one of the most legendary Canadian wrestling performers and promoters ever.

* FiveMovesOfDoom: He had a few that he used almost every single match: a ''Russian Legsweep'' and a ''Scoop Slam'' were on top of this list. A [[Creator/ScottKeith fan commentary]] on Bret's matches from the newsgroup rec.sport.pro-wrestling included this phrase, making Bret sort-of the TropeNamer. Hilariously, no one who has ever tried to mock Bret for this in their books (Flair for instance) has ever gotten them right. They were: ''Inverted Atomic Drop'', ''Russian Legsweep'', ''Pendulum Backbreaker'', a second rope ''Pointed Elbow Drop'', and ''The Sharpshooter''. More importantly, as a fan, generally the second Bret hit the legsweep, you knew EXACTLY where he was headed in an excited [[JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient "Oooooh here we go!"]] moment.

* SpanishAnnouncersTable: The first wrestler to go through the table, being thrown through it by [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]] at ''Survivor Series'' in 1995.

* NoSympathy: On his first night as ''Raw'' General Manager, he shows no concern towards Batista being in a wheelchair from the injuries suffered from his loss to Cena the night before by ordering him to compete in an immediate qualifying match against Randy Orton if he wants another shot against Cena and the WWE Championship only to name said opponent the winner via forfeit when Batista refuses citing his injuries, causing The Animal, who was already livid over suffering three straight PPV losses to Cena, to undergo VillainousBreakdown and quit the WWE afterwards.

* DecoyProtagonist: He was prominently featured in the promo that announced the beginning of Attitude Era... which aired right before his match with Creator/ShawnMichaels at Survivor Series in 1997. [[Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob He was gone less than half an hour later.]]

* DecoyProtagonist: He was prominently featured in the promo that announced the beginning of Attitude Era... which aired at Survivor Series in 1997. [[Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob He was gone by the end of the day.]]

* PlotTriggeringDeath: His treatment at the hands of Vincent [=McMahon=] at Survivor Series '97 - where he was screwed out of the World Title before leaving for WCW - directly led to the birth of the Mr. [=McMahon=] character on the following episode of ''Raw''.

The Hitman is a ''Double Triple Crown Champion''. A 5x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE World Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]] (w/Neidhart), a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-h.html WWE United States Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Champion]], a 4x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html WCW United States Heavyweight Champion]] and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Champion]] (w/Goldberg). In 2006, Bret resurfaced for his Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame induction prior to ''[=WrestleMania=] 21'', and in 2019, he became a two-time Hall of Famer as part of the induction of The Hart Foundation. Bret would make an official return to what is now Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 2010, making sporadic appearances in a (mostly) non-wrestling role at pay-per-views and ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} Raw]]''... but not before having one last feud with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon leading up to ''[=WrestleMania=] XXVI.''

* SpanishAnnouncersTable (via [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]] sending him through it at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 95'')

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent[=/=]DistaffCounterpart: Unofficially, but Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}'s [[Wrestling/KimberLee Princess Kimberlee]][[note]]Wrestling/{{WSU}}'s Kimber Lee[=/=]Wrestling/{{WWENXT}}'s Abbey Laith[[/note]] is the ClosestThingWeGot to Bret.
** She always hands a little girl in the crowd her tiara to wear before each match.
** Her five-month reign as the fourth, and first female, [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa//e/chikara/chikara-g.html CHIKARA Grand Champion]] had some similarities to Bret's first WWE Title reign. Bret defended the title against, among others, Wrestling/{{Kamala}} and [[Wrestling/JohnNord The Berzerker]]. Kimberlee defended her title against, among others, Jaka (billed from UsefulNotes/{{Chad}}) and Oleg The Usurper (a "Mad Viking Warrior", though billed from [[PartsUnknown "Mount Pulpit Haven"]]).
** Nevertheless the analogy isn't perfect, since Bet never had to defend a title against an anthropomorphic insect (Soldier Ant) or a woman ([[Wrestling/RubyRiott Heidi Lovelace]], Nixon Newell) and never lost a title to an undead [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve pumpkin]] demon under a spell (Hallowicked), and Kim never lost a title to a 500 lbs. ex-Sumo Wrestler (Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}}). Still, she is closer to being "The Hitgirl" than even Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: On the March 29, 1999 ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', which was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Bret called out Goldberg, who ran out full-speed and speared Bret just to got knocked out. Bret took off his [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Toronto Maple Leafs]] jersey to reveal [[http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1999034m.htm a steel torso protector.]]

* TheGrappler: ''Bars none!'' With maybe the exeption of Wrestling/BobBacklund and [[Wrestling/CurtHennig Mr. Perfect]], Bret has lived up to his most famous nickname ''"The best there is...etc"'' being the most solid and gifted technical perfomer in the last 45 years or so, to say the least.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: For much of 1996 Austin had been doing everything in his power to make Bret's life hell, and kept on targeting Bret no matter what. This led to Bret snapping at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' in their submission match and not holding anything back against Austin, which was the start of his run as a heel.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Despite being acrimonious in-ring rivals, Curt Hennig was Bret's best friend. He took Curt's untimely death rather hard.

* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: While the animosity is more than justified and has lasted for ''four and a half decades'', The Hitman reluctantly admits that no matter his opinion of him as a person or performer, he has always respected the devotion and affection that [[Wrestling/HulkHogan The Hulkster]] shows to fans, not only to his fans, but with wrestling fans in general. And is deeply thankful for him showing in Owen's funeral.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: As Raw General Manager, to the point where he won't even give preferential treatment to ''The Hart Dynasty.''

* SexualKarma: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]], According to his book, he'd slept with many women during his first marriage, kept finding self-justifications even though he knew it wasn't the ideal behavior. His biggest was that every wrestler needed to find ways to relieve the stress and boredom of spending 300 days a year on the road, and (for him) picking up women was [[LesserOfTwoEvils far less harmful/destructive than using drugs and/or alcohol]] to cope with. Honestly and considering how many wrestlers have died from overdoses compared with how many have gone OutWithABang or died from STD's, he might have at least ''something'' of a point. This has bitten him in the ass in later years however, as he caught cancer and his wife left him after she found out he cheated on her.

He was [[DemotedToExtra pushed into the background]] by 1995 even after he ended [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]]'s financially disastrous year-long title reign at ''Survivor Series 95'', it was already set that he would be dropping the title at ''[=WrestleMania=] XII.'' According to a variety of accounts (including his own), the backstage grudge between him and Wrestling/ShawnMichaels started around that time. Bret took then time off to contemplate his future, returning in November to kick off the feud that would ''make'' Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin's career and transformed his forever. Bret rose victor at ''Survivor Series 96'', but the feud continued, culminating in a submission match at ''[=WrestleMania=] XIII'', which saw [[FaceHeelDoubleTurn Austin become a huge face, and Bret was now the top heel]]. Bret recruited his brother Owen, his both in-laws ([[Wrestling/JimNeidhart Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart]] and [[Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith The British Bulldog]]), with a family friend [[Wrestling/BrianPillman "The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman]] turning his former TagTeam into a PowerStable, denouncing America and speaking of Canada being better.

The Hitman is a ''Double Triple Crown Champion''. A 5x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE World Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]] (w/Neidhart), a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-h.html WWE United States Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Champion]], a 4x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html WCW United States Heavyweight Champion]] and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Champion]] (w/Goldberg). In 2006, Bret resurfaced for his Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame induction prior to ''[=WrestleMania=] 21.'' and in 2019, became a two-time Hall of Famer as part of the induction of The Hart Foundation. Bret would make an official return to what is now Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 2010, making sporadic appearances in a (mostly) non-wrestling role at pay-per-views and ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} Raw]]''... but not before having one last feud with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon leading up to ''[=WrestleMania=] XXVI.''

*** In singles competition: [[Wrestling/JerryLawler Jerry "The King" Lawler]] was one of his most frequent in-ring rivals. The feud started at ''Wrestling/KingOfTheRing '93'' and was finally put to bed over two years later.
*** You can count on [[Wrestling/ShawnMichaels "The Heartbreak Kid"]], [[Wrestling/SteveAustin "The Rattlesnake"]] and [[Wrestling/OwenHart "The Rocket"]] too.

*** Wrestling/TripleH, and this one's a mutual hate/hate relationship. Haitch was on the booking committee during the year lead up to Montreal, and Bret, while having helped a little on-screen with the beginning of the Attitude Era, didn't ''quite'' agree with the edgy shift in direction. This was back in the higher point of Wrestling/TheKliq's [[WagTheDirector reign of terror backstage]], which doesn't help matters. When Austin asked HHH about Bret on his podcast, HHH's lukewarm response was [[DamnedByFaintPraise "He's a good technician".]] The animosity still continues to this day -- while they ''can'' be civil with each other, it's very clear that Bret still nurses a grudge against him. It's generally agreed upon that you can trust Bret to give an unbiased view of something only if it is unattached to HHH completely,[[note]]For example, in ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble '16'' everyone regarded both the titular match and the PPV in general as a ''significant improvement'' over the last two years. Bret called this ''the worst Rumble of all time'' even though the last two ended with severe XPacHeat for its [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} respective]] [[Wrestling/RomanReigns winners]], and this one had the debut of Wrestling/AJStyles. Considering precedent, you could easily conjecture that Bret regarded it as such because Haitch happened to win that year his fourteenth world title in the process. Fans weren't exactly happy about that either but they were willing to live with it since the rest of the PPV and the match were okay and the winner actually fit storyline purposes.[[/note]].

*** Wrestling/HulkHogan, for at least three reasons, beginning in one of his first matches in the States[[note]]Hogan (As "The Super Destroyer") simply [[SquashMatch squashed Bret off]][[/note]] then for not giving him the opportunity to getting over for the WWF Championship because of his size, and to finish, The Hulkster could right any wrong in their match at WCW, but he just proceeded to wash, rinse and repeat what happened in their first match.
*** Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}, though this one's understandable. He ended Bret's career with a careless kick. Hart has wavered from the accident not being Bill's fault (For he was rushed through training and put in the ring before he was ready), but saying Bill was a good guy out of the ring; to full-on seething, loathing hatred of the man. From about 2015 on, he's spoken with more vitriol towards Goldberg than he has about the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, an event that defined his life for over 20 years. Though even then, his attacks are limited to Bill's ability and his track record of hurting people ("Everyone he ever worked with," though that's hyperbole). He was appalled when Goldberg was selected for the Hall of Fame in 2018 because of this. Bret prides himself on rarely, if ever, hurting an opponent for being careless, for the most valuable skill a wrestler can possess to him, is the ability to work safely.
*** His big sister Ellie (Nattie's mother). According to ''Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling'' they never got along. She's the only one of his eleven siblings whom he never seems to say anything good about in his book, ''Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling''. At least this hatred hasn't passed on to Nat, who is very close to Bret.

** Made an appearance on ''Series/MadTV1995'' in a sketch as Jesse Ventura's (Played by Creator/WillSasso) new lieutenant governor. In the sketch, reporters would ask questions of Ventura, only for Hart to intimidate or injure the reporter in question. Turns into a WorkedShoot when Hart allegedly goes off script and starts injuring the cast members. Then he hit Sasso with a chair, grabbed a mic and cut a heel promo, and put Sasso in the [[FinishingMove Sharpshooter]]. The event received some media coverage, and even fooled some news outlets and fans of the show. (One of the writers even alleged that the incident was real.) This ultimately led to Sasso and Hart having a match on the 2-15-99 edition of [[{{Wrestling/WCW}} Monday Nitro]].

* BreakTheCutie: The Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob and especially Owen's death seems to have sucked out any enthusiasm he's had for the business, admitting that he spent his WCW days on "auto pilot" and that he didn't care as much about the politicing going as he would have done in the WWF.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: At ''King of the Ring '93'', Jerry "The King" Lawler objected to Bret being named "King" just by winning a tournament, and apparently stiffed Bret hard with a sceptre, and the crutches Lawler had shown up at ''Wrestling/{{SummerSlam}}'' in an attempt to get out of the match, introducing Wrestling/DoinkTheClown (Still a {{Heel}} at the time) as his replacement. Bret basically [[SquashMatch squashed]] Doink, and Lawler threw down the crutches revealing that his "injury" was faked, and attacked Bret, leading to the then President Jack Tunney forcing The King into the match. Bret claimed to have really cranked on ''The Sharpshooter'' in retaliation, though Lawler told him that he thought "that was how the Hart boys worked." They made up sometime later.
* CanadaEh: Not normally the focus of his gimmick, but his 1997 heel turn played up his Canadianness as Hart would use it as a source of pride against Americans, who he believed didn't deserve a hero of his caliber.