Perfect because tonight is Wrestlemania... and what occurred last night.
Before yesterday I wasn't sure what I would view this afternoon. Then an incident happened at the WWE Hall of Fame. Retired pro wrestler Bret Hart was on stage giving an induction ceremony as The Hart Foundation (a tag team he was in w/ the late Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) went into the HOF this year. Suddenly, some fan in his 20's for some reason jumps up on stage and attacks Bret, who has had a variety of health maladies in the past 20 years, including concussions, a stroke and he has even survived cancer. A bunch of wrestlers literally bum-rushed the stage and delivered a sweet beating on that punk.
This documentary I had seen once before, long ago. It covered Hart for one year as he returned to the then-WWF for a year after taking a short sabbatical. He was one of the WWF's biggest stars at the time and that year was quite the time period for him; he turned down a lucrative offer from rival promotion WCW to stay in the federation he's been a member of since the mid 80's. A longtime fan favorite, he became a heel as the fans of a harder-edged WWF now started cheering anti-hero Stone Cold Steve Austin; Bret was beloved in his home country of Canada and still was even after the turn. There was the unique phenomenon for most of '97 where Canadians still cheered Hart as they agreed with his valid points of the fans turning against his traditional babyface mannerisms and instead cheered a foul-mouthed, crude rebel like Austin.
Wrestling with Shadows is not only about that year in the WWF but it also shows his wife & kids, along with his parents; note that his seven brothers were all involved with pro wrestling and all four sisters married pro wrestlers... talk about insanity. Then there was The Montreal Screwjob... I could go on for paragraphs about it, but to be brief: a legit double-crossed happened. The WWF at the time had money troubles so they couldn't pay Bret's contract; he decided to go to WCW, but had to lose the WWF Championship first. He was supposed to lose to Shawn Michaels but he did not want to drop the title in his home country to someone who he legit did not like (for a variety of reasons; at the time Shawn had power and also a bad substance abuse problem). They agreed to a not clean finish but suddenly, WWF owner Vince McMahon came out and ordered the bell rung when Bret was in a submission hold.
It was quite the stroke of luck that there were cameras present from a film crew to capture this lunacy and I know a few still think that the event was “fake”, but it was all real. The end result: Vince turned into his evil owner “Mr. McMahon” character, feuded w/ Steve Austin, and the WWF was white-hot for a few years. WCW was also popular at the time (before they bungled things so badly, they went out of business in early 2001) and I was a wrestling fan for years before this time period but the late 90's was quite exciting experiencing all that throughout high school. Anyhow, that night in Montreal... after the match, it was pandemonium backstage and while it was not captured by any cameras, Bret punched Vince and knocked him out.
I do not know how Wrestling with Shadows will play for those not a fan at the time or don't like professional wrestling at all. I won't get into why I don't watch modern wrestling or why I think most of it is bad... for me, it was great reliving and remembering this fun time in my life. Oh, and it took years but Vince and Bret eventually made amends, which is why Bret was at the Hall of Fame ceremony last night.
Before yesterday I wasn't sure what I would view this afternoon. Then an incident happened at the WWE Hall of Fame. Retired pro wrestler Bret Hart was on stage giving an induction ceremony as The Hart Foundation (a tag team he was in w/ the late Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) went into the HOF this year. Suddenly, some fan in his 20's for some reason jumps up on stage and attacks Bret, who has had a variety of health maladies in the past 20 years, including concussions, a stroke and he has even survived cancer. A bunch of wrestlers literally bum-rushed the stage and delivered a sweet beating on that punk.
This documentary I had seen once before, long ago. It covered Hart for one year as he returned to the then-WWF for a year after taking a short sabbatical. He was one of the WWF's biggest stars at the time and that year was quite the time period for him; he turned down a lucrative offer from rival promotion WCW to stay in the federation he's been a member of since the mid 80's. A longtime fan favorite, he became a heel as the fans of a harder-edged WWF now started cheering anti-hero Stone Cold Steve Austin; Bret was beloved in his home country of Canada and still was even after the turn. There was the unique phenomenon for most of '97 where Canadians still cheered Hart as they agreed with his valid points of the fans turning against his traditional babyface mannerisms and instead cheered a foul-mouthed, crude rebel like Austin.
Wrestling with Shadows is not only about that year in the WWF but it also shows his wife & kids, along with his parents; note that his seven brothers were all involved with pro wrestling and all four sisters married pro wrestlers... talk about insanity. Then there was The Montreal Screwjob... I could go on for paragraphs about it, but to be brief: a legit double-crossed happened. The WWF at the time had money troubles so they couldn't pay Bret's contract; he decided to go to WCW, but had to lose the WWF Championship first. He was supposed to lose to Shawn Michaels but he did not want to drop the title in his home country to someone who he legit did not like (for a variety of reasons; at the time Shawn had power and also a bad substance abuse problem). They agreed to a not clean finish but suddenly, WWF owner Vince McMahon came out and ordered the bell rung when Bret was in a submission hold.
It was quite the stroke of luck that there were cameras present from a film crew to capture this lunacy and I know a few still think that the event was “fake”, but it was all real. The end result: Vince turned into his evil owner “Mr. McMahon” character, feuded w/ Steve Austin, and the WWF was white-hot for a few years. WCW was also popular at the time (before they bungled things so badly, they went out of business in early 2001) and I was a wrestling fan for years before this time period but the late 90's was quite exciting experiencing all that throughout high school. Anyhow, that night in Montreal... after the match, it was pandemonium backstage and while it was not captured by any cameras, Bret punched Vince and knocked him out.
I do not know how Wrestling with Shadows will play for those not a fan at the time or don't like professional wrestling at all. I won't get into why I don't watch modern wrestling or why I think most of it is bad... for me, it was great reliving and remembering this fun time in my life. Oh, and it took years but Vince and Bret eventually made amends, which is why Bret was at the Hall of Fame ceremony last night.
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