Bret Hart’s wrestling career started in 1976 in his home land of Canada for his father Stu’s promotion, Stampede Wrestling. Bret would spend years wrestling for Stampede, and occasionally New Japan Pro Wrestling, working on his mat skills and becoming a master inside the ring. During his time at Stampede and New Japan he would learn from great performers like Mr. Hito, Mr. Sakurada, Dynamite Kid, and Tiger Mask. Hart would eventually make his way to WWF in August of 1984 and would form the legendary Hart Foundation, with partner and brother-in-law Jim “The Anvil” Niedhart and manager “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart. The Hart Foundation is one of the classic tag teams in wrestling history and they enjoyed a great run in WWF before losing the Tag Team Championships to The Nasty Boys at WrestleMania VII and splitting up. There’s always one guy destined for bigger things in every tag team, and Bret was no exception. At SummerSlam 1991 Bret Hart defeated Mr. Perfect to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, it marked Hart’s arrival as a big time singles star. Bret would go on to win the 1991 King of the Ring tournament and would defeat “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania VIII, becoming the first man to ever pin the legendary performer. Hart rose quickly through WWF’s mid card, he defended the Intercontinental Championship against Shawn Michaels in WWF’s first ever Ladder match, and he eventually passed the title on to his dear friend and brother-in-law The British Bull Dog in Wembley Stadium at SummerSlam 1992. It’s widely regarded as one of the best matches to ever take place at SummerSlam and it received Pro Wrestling Insider’s Match of the Year honors for 1992. Bret Hart had brought honor and respect to the Intercontinental Championship, but he had also outgrown it.
