Bret Hart

Bret Hart

Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian writer, actor and retired professional wrestler currently signed with WWE under a Legends contract. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College. Along with his famed "Hitman" nickname, Hart was known by the monikers "The Excellence of Execution", "The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be" and "The Pink and Black Attack"—the last being in reference to his ring attire, as well as his signature mirrored sunglasses, which he routinely gave away to a young audience member before matches.

Hart joined his father Stu Hart's promotion, Stampede Wrestling, in 1976, carrying out non-wrestling duties. He made his in-ring debut in 1978. He found mainstream popularity and championship success throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—later WWE), where he helmed The Hart Foundation faction and was a challenger for singles and tag team championships in both decades. He left for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) following the controversial "Montreal Screwjob" in November 1997, where he enjoyed continued championship success until his departure from in-ring activity after January 10, 2000. His departure from the ring was due to a December 1999 concussion that was inflicted during a match against Goldberg at the Starrcade pay-per-view event. He officially retired in October 2000. In a publication that year, WCW described Hart as "universally respected by other wrestlers", and "perhaps the greatest pure wrestler ever to lace up a pair of boots." He returned to sporadic in-ring competition in 2004 and 2006, and in 2010 with WWE, where he won his final championship, headlined that year's SummerSlam event, and served as the General Manager of Raw. He makes occasional appearances for WWE, who has described him as "arguably the greatest technical wrestler in WWE history." In other WWE publications, Hart has been described as one of the biggest names in the history of the business, and perhaps the most popular in the world by the mid 1990s.

Hart has held championships in five decades from the 1970s to the 2010s, with a total of thirty-two held throughout his career, and seventeen held between the WWF/WWE and WCW. He is a seven-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship five times and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice. He spent more time as WWF Champion than any other wrestler during the 1990s, with a total of 654 days as champion, and was the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion born outside the United States. He is also a record-tying five-time WCW/WWE United States Champion, with his four WCW reigns being the most in the history of the organization; and the second WWF Triple Crown Champion and fifth (with Goldberg) WCW Triple Crown Champion. He was the first man to win both the WWF and WCW Triple Crown Championships. Hart has the distinction of competing for WWE's two secondary titles, the Intercontinental and United States Championships, on the sole occasion where a match for each headlined a pay-per-view event, at SummerSlam 1992 and World War 3 1998, respectively. In addition to championships, he is the 1994 Royal Rumble winner (with Lex Luger), and the only two-time King of the Ring in WWE history, having won the 1991 tournament and the first King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1993. Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by former on-screen rival, Steve Austin.