Continuing the theme of yesterday’s blog post concerning photographing pro wrestling, another great experience I had was at a Ring of Honor (ROH) card at Toronto’s Ted Reeve Arena a few years ago. I wrote an article on the event here and posted some personal thoughts about meeting and speaking with the boys here, so I won’t go into that now. Instead, I want to discuss my brush with Canada’s greatest professional wrestler, Bret “Hitman” Hart.
To me though, as a kid, Bret represented a lot more than just a championship wrestler. He was a David in a world
dominated by goliaths and bulked-up bruisers. Still, Bret found a way to rise to the top of his profession against all odds by the sheer execution of his craft (hence his nickname, “The Excellence of Execution”). To the fans he made the pre-determined world of pro-wrestling seem completely legitimate and carved an image for himself as a feared shooter — someone who could take any sized man down to the mat and tie him in knots. Behind the scenes, he paved the way for a new generation of wrestlers to enter a world where, if you could master the art of wrestling, size was no longer an issue. In Canada, in particular, due to his staunch patriotism and very public separation from the then World Wrestling Federation, Bret became a symbol of honour and dignity and self-respect.
That evening, at Ted Reeve Arena, I stood mere feet away from this man. Technically, I’d met him years earlier at a very brief and informal autograph signing in Toronto after a screening of the excellent documentary Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows. This time, though, I had press credentials and questions prepared.
Bastard Type 