Zeeboe

On Saturday, July 12th, 1997, the World Wrestling Federation came to my hometown of Austin, Texas for a house show. I was fourteen-years old, and I had a front row seat.

Bret and Owen Hart teamed up to take on Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mankind, and even though the Hart Brothers were the "bad guys", and I was an American, I was still a huge mark for The Hart Foundation. Bret Hart had always been one of my favorite wrestlers, and I just couldn't see things from the other fans point of view. From my perspective, Bret "The Hitman" Hart did not change in 1997. He was still the same old Bret. Everything he was saying was a reaction to the overwhelming amount of booing he received from the majority of American wrestling fans all across arenas in the U.S.A. To me, it was the people who changed. Bret never turned his back on them, they turned their backs on him. They were the ones that made the "heel turn", so I saw most of them as the "bad guys".

Texas is Stone Cold Steve Austin/Shawn Michaels country, so it didn't surprise me when Stone Cold and Mankind both got the loudest pop of the night, while Bret and Owen got the most heat.....needless to say, I was litreally the only Hart Foundation fan in the Frank Erwin Center that summer night, and in a sea of Austin 3:16 t-shirts, I sat among them, and wore a Bret Hart t-shirt, and waved a Canadian flag, and I was cheering VERY LOUDLY for the Hart Brothers. (Looking back, I was lucky I didn't kick my butt kicked.)

All my cheerleading for the Harts did not go unnoticed by Bret Hart. He was just across the ring from me, standing on the ring apron, while Owen was in the ring, wrestling. As I waved the Canadian flag and cheered, Bret looked RIGHT at me, and watched me. He didn't say or do anything, but he did give me a warm smile of genuine appreciation.

Four years later in 2001, I came across The Calgary Sun website, and I found some of Bret Hart's old columns from 1997, and read how he actually really hated being a bad guy wrestler, and he never wanted to be a heel. He also mentioned on his site that he knew he still had some American wrestling fans, and that if you listened carefully, you could hear them in the audience on Monday Night Raw, and that he was very grateful for all his loyal American wrestling fans who still cheered for him while he did an anti-USA gimmick.

I know being a hero meant a lot to Bret, so it makes me very happy that in a building full of Bret Hart haters all those years ago, I was able to bring a smile to the face of Bret, and let him know that he was still a hero to at least one person in Austin, Texas.

horrorfan_1986

It's more like Bret was nervous about turning heel because he didn't want to hurt his non-American fan base. Bret's said on several occasions that he preferred being a heel since it gave you more freedom and you could lead the match.

That summer of 1997 was an incredible time to be a WWE fan. Just the complete contrast of reactions depending on what country you were in, but always a hot crowd made things a lot of fun. The Hart character had evolved to probably his best character ever. Finally, Bret was good on the mic and seemed comfortable out there talking a lot. The whole heel turn was so interesting since it wasn't your traditional heel turn. Hart never really did anything heelish. All he did was up the intensity of the Austin feud and mended the fences with Owen and Bulldog. All of this started in 1996, but things finally started to come together around this time period. Even though Bret wasn't around when the WWE came back and over take WCW in the ratings, I would say he was a crucial part in the change of the company. The two biggest things that the WWE had in defeating WCW (Austin and the Mr. McMahon characters) were made because of Bret.

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Zeeboe

Alright, well, my mistake. I read this like almost ten years ago. lol. I actually tried to go back, and find those again not too long ago, but no had no luck. I do know for sure that he was grateful for the Americans who still cheered for him, and that I did read that, because it reminded me of seeing him in 97' when I read that. I wish I could describe the smile. It wasn't some big smile, nor was it a surprised looking smile. It was just a casual kinda, smile. A friend told me if he was a face, he might have offered me a high five later, but because he was heel, he wanted to stay in character, but also just let me know..."Hey, I see and hear ya. Thanks."

.....I remember I was the one with the big smile on my face when he smiled at me, and proceeded to point to him, and shout out more things like, "You're the man, Bret! You're the greatest!" and things of that nature.

Good post horrorfan_1986. 1997 was a memorable year indeed.

DD

Zeebeo, great start to your WC posting.

I am actually reading the Bret Hart book right now.

One thing that I think is very strange about the book though is how extremely detailed it is. It almost seems TOO detailed.

I really like it the book though. Right now I am up to 1990 in the book where he career in the Hart Foundation reunites and gets a legitiment push for the first time.

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Zeeboe

That's great to know, because I just recently bought Bret's book from Amazon. I haven't read it before, and I'm really looking forward to reading it!

A few comments about 1997 WWF: I don't wanna get too deep here, but I thought the Bret Hart/Steve Austin feud was very symbolic. You had the classic, good guy WWF hero battling a WWF attitude hero. It was like these two forces and their way of life were competing for control of the WWF and it's fans.

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Davey

I'll never forget the split screen interviews those two did. Looking back on it after seeing Austin's paranoid comedic character gives it a whole new dimension as some of the things he said to Bret and some of the facial expressions he put on while Bret was speaking were so funny. I too was a Bret mark from the early nineties but was smart enough to the kayfabe at this point that I just went along with it and booed him. The stuff that Austin was doing and saying around that time was just too awesome to take Bret's side.

Bigpapa42

I'm reading it as well.

I love that a couple of the pics from the book are taken from the city of Regina, where I live. Bret made his professional debut and won the WWF World title for the first time in Saskatoon, which isn't far from where I grew up. I've spent my whole life in the old stomping ground of Stampede Wrestling. Watched it on TV and saw it live when I was a kid. That's a big part of the reason that I've always been a big Bret Hart fan. Glad I'm not the only one.

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Zeeboe

I actually secretly liked Stone Cold Steve Austin. lol. He's probably my greatest guilty pleasure ever. I mean, I was a teenager with anger, hormones and rebellion issues just like any other kid that age. lol. So I could relate to Stone Cold, and I liked that Austin didn't give a damn what anyone thought of him, and was so bad, he could make any other bad-ass heel like Vader or Farooq look weak, and I liked that he told power-tripping guys like Sgt. Slaughter and Vince McMahon what they could go do....

.....Yet, I also hated Stone Cold Steve Austin. lol. He was such a great bad guy, and sometimes I enjoyed seeing Austin deal with an authority figure like Sgt. Slaughter who WOULDN'T take his crap. And honestly, even knowing all that I know now, I still would have cheered for Bret, and booed Austin. I liked that Bret was a true good guy, and hero with class, whereas Stone Cold sometimes would remind me of an overgrown school-yard bully who sometimes would hurt and bully the weak, and that teed me off, and I liked that Bret....a protector of the weak, never showed any fear when dealing with Austin, and would fight for the honor of all that is good.

But then when Stone Cold feuded with guys who were more evil then him, I saw Austin as the lesser of two evils, and I liked that whatever bad guy Stone Cold dealt with was finally getting a taste of their own pills cause you knew with Austin, he'd never "do the right thing" or have any class, or show mercy, and would fight fire with fire with any heel he feuded with, and I loved that. Stone Cold Steve Austin spraying down The Rock and Vince McMahon with beer is a perfect example. No classic babyface wrestler would ever have done that. He would have waited for the match to seek revenge, but not Stone Cold Steve Austin! lol.

It was a love/hate relationship with Stone Cold in 1997. He was fun to boo and hate, but there was a part of me that wanted to wear the Austin 3:16 t-shirt and hold an Austin 3:16 sign. But there was no way I could betray to the Hart Foundation. The most I did was buy the Cause Stone Cold Said So video, and that was mainly because I wanted to see the Pillman gun incident which I had missed. And the Hart Foundation mark in me saw it as merely studying the hyenas and their behavior. Nothing more. lol. But there was no way I could actually wear his shirt!

I'm a Texan, and I'm very proud of that, and I liked that Stone Cold Steve Austin represented Texas. During the very brief Austin/HBK feud in June of 97', I was totally on Austin's side. And once Austin ended his very memorable feud with the Harts, I became a fan of his for life, and cheered for him through out his career no matter who he feuded with.

I especially liked heel Steve Austin in 2001, and I finally bought an Austin 3:16 shirt, only it was the red and black one.But even now, my inner-teen will NEVER allow me to buy an original Austin 3:16 t-shirt.

horrorfan_1986

Well keep in mind that he used journal audio tapes that he recorded throughout his entire career as the source for the writing. Although I did notice some mistakes, the facts was pretty accurate compared to other books.

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Zeeboe

Does anyone know where I can find Bret Hart's old columns that he wrote for The Calgary Sun? I'd love to go back and read his exact words about how he was grateful he was to the Americans who still cheered for him. I'm sure he later okay with being a heel, but in 97', that was his first major heel run since his very early Hart Foundation days, and I'm pretty sure he felt uneasy with the role, not just because he was worried about his non-American fan base. I think he may have felt the same about his American fans too.

I tried the Calgary Sun site, but no luck, and the internet archive machine doesn't go back far enough.