The illustrious career of Bret “Hit Man” Hart has been well documented with previous WWE DVD releases, most notably 2005’s Bret “Hit Man” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be. If that release was the equivalent of Bret Hart‘s greatest hits collection, the new release Bret “Hit Man” Hart: The Dungeon Collection is like his B-sides and obscurities compilation.
With interview footage where Hart recalls his earliest days in the wrestling business, training in the famed Hart Family Dungeon by his father Stu, The Dungeon Collection truly spans Hart’s entire career from its inception in Stampede Wrestling through his final days in World Championship Wrestling. Don’t let the title fool you, however. Though it does include a 1978 Stampede match between Hart and Dynamite Kid (and a 1985 match against Kid from the Capital Centre), as well as Hart’s recollection of the Wild West feel that his father’s promotion maintained, this DVD set does not include any footage from Hart’s actual training from the Dungeon. Instead, it features matches picked by the Hit Man, some from his personal tapes and many of which have been largely overlooked due to higher-profile matches featured on previous DVD collections.
Unlike most of WWE’s retrospectives, which feature a documentary about the featured superstar, followed by a collection of matches, The Dungeon Collection intersperses Hart’s insightful recollections with the matches themselves. As a result, you get a more thorough examination of what makes each match special to Hart and why he has chosen these particular matches that might otherwise seem somewhat insignificant in the grand scheme of his career. But once you see some of these matches and realize how important they were to his growth as a performer, it’s kind of hard to believe they haven’t been discussed and acknowledged previously.
Prior to becoming one of the most decorated and respected stars in WWE history, Hart had to pay his dues wrestling for territories throughout the United States and around the world. And considering the controversy surrounding his departure from WWE to WCW following the infamous Montreal Screwjob, it’s a shocking revelation to see that Hart wrestled for Georgia Championship Wrestling (the precursor to WCW) in the late ’70s, as illustrated by the rather grainy footage of a match between Hart and Buzz Sawyer from 1979. From there, Hart recalls how his brief stint down South helped him realize his potential in the wrestling business before returning to Stampede for a grueling match against Leo Burke for the North American Heavyweight Championship.
From opponents who might otherwise have faded from the memories of wrestling fans such as the Islanders, Jean-Pierre Lafitte and The Patriot to main event challengers such as Mr. Perfect, Ric Flair, the Undertaker and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Dungeon Collection highlights some outstanding moments that have long been overshadowed by Hart’s numerous title reigns and other career-making moments. And with Hart introducing each match with respectful anecdotes about the circumstances surrounding each bout, it’s easy to see why these moments are so meaningful to Hart. Hart also recalls more rare encounters on foreign soil such as his first match against Andre the Giant in Milan, a stellar contest with Tiger Mask II in the Tokyo Dome and highly-athletic bout with Bam Bam Bigelow in Milan.
The Dungeon Collection serves as a great companion to previous Hart DVD releases in that the match-ups featured here help illustrate exactly why rivalries with Perfect, Austin, Diesel, Sting and brother Owen were so integral to establishing Hart as one of wrestling’s all-time greats. And as Hart himself attests at the DVD’s conclusion, it’s definitely a unique trip down memory lane that needed to be documented.