Back on the job: Bret Hart and wrestling’s working-man narrative

"CA-NA-DA!" Hometown hero Hitman Hart returns to the WWE

Judging by my Twitter feed last night, I wasn’t the only one watching pro wrestling for the first time in years. WWE’s Monday Night Raw 2010 kickoff saw the return of Bret “The Hitman” Hart, who parted ways with the organization twelve years ago due to some (for real) backstage drama that became one of wrestling’s most famous and influential story lines. Recalling that story yesterday was an important move for a company currently trying to move forward and regain its footing, but was it a good one?

For that, we’ll need a history lesson:

What happened?

In the mid-90s, Bret Hart was one of the WWE’s (then WWF) biggest stars. His nickname was “The Excellence of Execution” — a name that captured the spartan years he spent learning classic wrestling moves in his father’s basement. His catchphrase, “I’m the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be,” was a badge for paid dues and earned respect. In his role at the WWE, Hart was what they call a “face”. He was a good guy.

At the same time, another wrestler named Shawn Michaels was gaining in popularity. His shtick was being a long-haired ladies man. While Hart conjured technical proficiency, Michaels was called “The Heartbreak Kid”, signifying youthfulness and sex. Backstage, Michaels, like Hart, wasn’t too far off from his television persona. He became infamous for petulance and arrogance, and his crew of fellow upstart wrestlers called themselves “the Kliq”, apt for how their collective ego played in their business deals and story meetings. (Or “story” “meetings”, for lack of knowledge how these things are organized.)

Unfortunately for Hart, Michaels’ flashy style was winning over the fans, and head honcho Vince McMahon was in a ratings war with Ted Turner’s rival WCW (which poached some of McMahon’s former stars, including other members of the Kliq). McMahon switched the organization’s gears and sex, violence, and overall vulgarity became the show’s focus. Despite not changing their characters, Hart was shuffled to being a “heel”, a bad guy, and Michaels’ fan base grew ever larger. Onstage but with some backstage flair, Michaels shat on the respectability of Hart. Hart questioned Michaels’ sexual orientation. Michaels hinted at some dirt that family-man Hart messed around with one of the female stars. In short, a delicious feud was cooked up between old bootstrap values and new-school rebellious entitlement.

Ok but I said WHAT HAPPENED?

Right. Hijinks ensued. McMahon re-signed Hart to a 20 year contract to keep him from jumping ship to WCW. But prior to 1997′s Surivivor Series event, McMahon reneged, saying he no longer could afford the superstar due to the ratings war. This may have been true, but (and I’m speaking as a fan here) it should be noted that Hart’s “grumpy old conservative guy” angle wouldn’t have worked long-term as a heel, and with the fans’ new appetites, Hart couldn’t really be a face again either. What to do, but put the ol’ workhorse to pasture?

Survivor Series, versus Shawn Michaels, was to be the Hitman’s last match with the WWE, but a problem stood in the doorway: he was the current title holder. Because the event was taking place in his home country of Canada, and because he had personal problems with Michaels, Hart did not want to lose the match that night. Reluctantly, McMahon agreed to vacate Hart’s title another way, but when the match ensued and Michaels had Hart in the sharpshooter hold (Hart’s own finishing move, to add insult), McMahon called for the bell to ring before Hart could pull a reversal as planned. Michaels promptly ran away backstage with the belt. Hart stayed in the ring, flabbergasted. Betrayed, he spat in McMahon’s face and wrote “W-C-W” with his fingers to the fans. Later backstage, he gave McMahon a black eye.

That night became known as the “The Montreal Screwjob”, and it is all documented wonderfully in the NFB doc “Wrestling With Shadows” by director Paul Jay. Check it out in its entirety here, if only to watch Hart’s wife admonish the other wrestlers involved for screwing over their co-worker. (They look sheepish as hell.)

Down with The Man

McMahon, ever the showman, used the rage of betrayed fans to create a television persona around himself as a diabolical, iron-fisted tycoon. To oppose this, WWE found a star in “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. As a beer-swilling, blue collar ball of fuck you, Austin was the perfect foil to McMahon’s “The Man” and became an astronomical star. Like he did with Hart/Michaels, McMahon turned his own real backstage occurrance into fictional gold on camera, and the struggle between wrestlers and their bosses became an ongoing WWE theme.

All of this clicked so well not just because of the real-world personality parallels, or the reality that wrestlers are not unionized despite their high risks and intense schedules, but also because of the language. In wrestling speak, losing a match is called “doing the job.” Those who lose frequently are called “jobbers.” And when something is fake, they call it a “work.” But wrestling’s constant verisimilitude means work is always “a work”. Even when it’s not.

Did Monday’s RAW “work”?

This backstage story was not a part of Hart’s return last Monday, even though the event itself was promoted around it. Early in the episode, Hart called out Michaels and, after some tense dialogue, they made peace and shook hands. They even bro-hugged. But even when during the tense moments Michaels said he thought Hart “deserved what happened to him,” the event he’s referring to is Hart being screwed out of winning a match; not Hart being pushed out of his job, lied to by his boss and humiliated in front of his hometown fans. Hart never said, “But you AGREED I would win,” because that would have been too meta, even for professional wrestling.

Hart’s return comes at an important time for WWE. Last year in a bid to boost sagging ratings, the organization promised a switch back to family-friendly stories and good ol’ fashioned action. It also began to promote lesser-known wrestlers as headliners, answering fan complaints of the same old faces and the same old feuds. Perhaps more important than WWE’s battle with itself is that there is once again another shark in the tank. Though WWE long ago swallowed the competing WCW, a new opponent, TNA, has been making moves and flexing its muscles.

But while TNA has been rehashing old story lines and signing former WWE stars, playing the nostalgia card, WWE’s return to the Hart story, interestingly, is rather forward thinking.

When at the end of Monday’s Raw Hart’s once-again employer gave him an okey-doke kick in the balls, it wasn’t just a rehash of an old event. It was a continuation, and more so, a reconfiguration. With Hart’s willing return to the fold, gamely playing to old parts, “the Montreal Screwjob” can now enter WWE canon as a “worked” storyline. Hart, for his part, got a public apology and the opportunity to stand in front of an arena of fans pleading his case. But McMahon also got what he wanted: something familiar yet new to work with. After 12 years, Bret Hart returned to finally do his damn “job.”

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