Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Micron pen (03, 05 and 08) and Pentel Pocket Brush Pen in a 5.5" X 8.5" Daler-Rowney sketchbook. Art by Coyote Duran.
A couple of weeks ago, Tracy and I were re-watching Vice TV's "Dark Side of the Ring," this time re-packaged as something tantamount to a "director's cut"-style limited series featuring cutting room floor scenes, new interviews and commentary by host Conrad Thompson and series creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener.
The topic was legendary Canadian professional wrestler and three-time WWE Hall-of-Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart, son of the late patriarch of the Hart Dynasty and founder of Calgary, Alberta's Stampede Wrestling, Stu Hart.
Now, as I mentioned before, we did watch this episode before but all the extra bits and pieces provided interesting context to its sub-topic, the "Montreal Screwjob."
For those not necessarily in the pro wrestling know, the Screwjob was an infamous incident that happened on November 9, 1997 in the main event of the WWF's (now WWE) 11th annual "Survivor Series" pay-per-view event.
Long story short (or as the kids say these days, TL;DR - "too long; didn't read"), Hart was on his way out of the WWF to join the competition World Championship Wrestling (WCW). There were talks about where the booking (scripting, for lack of a better term) would go and how Hart would ultimately drop the WWF championship to his opponent Shawn Michaels, a wrestler with whom Hart already had a somewhat shaky relationship.
Long story short (or as the kids say these days, TL;DR - "too long; didn't read"), Hart was on his way out of the WWF to join the competition World Championship Wrestling (WCW). There were talks about where the booking (scripting, for lack of a better term) would go and how Hart would ultimately drop the WWF championship to his opponent Shawn Michaels, a wrestler with whom Hart already had a somewhat shaky relationship.
See, it's traditional for a departing talent to "drop a title" (lose a championship) or "put his or her opponent over" (lose). Not really a big deal, one would reckon, for a professional not unlike Bret Hart. However it was expected that Hart would retain his title via disqualification at Survivor Series and he would drop it at a later date, most likely on a televised card the following week.
Well, it didn't exactly work out that way.
Vince McMahon, then-owner of the WWF, arranged for a swerve that would cost Bret his championship - in Hart's backyard - by referee stoppage, as the third man in the ring, Earl Hebner, was ordered by McMahon to ring the bell sounding the end of the bout when Michaels captured Hart in the latter's submission maneuver, the Sharpshooter. Of course Hart didn't actually submit.
He got screwed. kids.
Then the fun began.
Hebner and Michaels bounced like bad checks while Hart clearly spat in McMahon's face, then trashed the commentary area.
The Hitman then went backstage and lived up to his moniker: He hit Vince McMahon, knocking him out.
Hart then departed for WCW, making a relatively less-than-auspicious impact on the company overall.
As a result, McMahon seemingly boarded this train to a destination between "work" (actions and story conducive to dramatics within the industry. You know, what most folks might call fake) and "shoot" (the Real McCoy. Legitimate animosity and conflict), thus giving birth to the "Attitude Era."
While reliving all this kerfuffle, I was gleefully reminded of the career Bret Hart had to this point. When I first discovered Hart, it was while tape-trading for various smaller promotional broadcasts, which included Stampede Wrestling, with other wrestling fans (via mail! Crazy, right?) and reading what were widely known as "Apter Mags," Pro Wrestling Illustrated, The Wrestler and Inside Wrestling, coined thusly because of journalist and photographer Bill Apter (as a teen, he was my idol and, as an adult, my first influence to become a professional writer and editor, this side of the outstanding Al Bernstein), in 1985, not long after he joined the WWF. I immediately became a fan, thanks to Hart's technical mastery and hard-hitting style. Despite Lex Luger being known as "The Total Package," Hart was better suited for the nickname, even being named "The Excellence of Execution" by WWF commentator Gorilla Monsoon. Hart also referred to himself as "The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Will Ever Be." Pretty damn fitting.
Prior to his singles success, Hart was once one-half of the Hart Foundation with Jim Neidhart, winning two WWF tag team championships. They were such a tight tandem in the tradition of the very best tag teams which were seen as indivisible, i.e. the Road Warriors and the Rock and Roll Express. So when Hart began getting a singles push, I was curious about how it would play out. Did I believe he was capable? Oh, hell yes. Was I sure that the fans would embrace the push? I wasn't certain. I mean, based on a visual level alone - the "Pink and Black Attack" - Hart's performances would almost always evoke the memory of the former tag team champions.
Luckily Bret Hart would make believers of all of us, going on to win the WWF Intercontinental title twice, the WWE United States title, the King of the Ring tournament twice, the Royal Rumble, the WWF World Championship five times, the WCW United States title four times and the WCW World Championship twice, among multiple Hall of Fame inductions and many more accolades.
So, waitaminnit...why am I here talking about all of this? Oh, yeah. ART!
I figured, to stay sharp between "Have Paw, Will Draw" projects, I'd break out the smaller Daler-Rowney 5.5" X 8.5" sketchbook and just draw whatever inspired me at the moment. It was a while since I drew a professional wrestler, so I thought, "Why not the Hitman?"
As per usual when I create something like an ink study, I keep it simple and eschew the usual hyper-details, so to speak, like values, gradients, etc. Just black ink. So when I drew Bret, I followed those rules, sticking to Micron pens (03, 05 and 08) and Pentel Pocket Brush pen, after penciling the art with my trusty "Blue Special" (an Alvin Drafting "'Tech' DA De-Lux" leadholder, loaded with 4H graphite...gosh, I adore that pencil!)
So now that I've finished the Hitman piece (with which, in looking back, I'm not terribly happy. I think its simplicity made it look rather slapdash. I also should've taken more time on the hair!), I'll absolutely do better with my next Dark Side of the Ring: Confidential topic: Bruiser Brody! (Good Lord; more hair?!)
Oh, most importantly, thank YOU so much for visiting and reading!
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Commissions? Hit me up at artofthepaw@gmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram @CoyoteDuran, on BlueSky @coyoteduran.art.com and on Facebook @CoyoteDuranArt. You can also watch some Coyote TV on YouTube @CoyoteDuranArt.
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