[1997-11-09] Wrestling With Shadows

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Starting with footage backstage of Julie and Bret's kids talking about Bret's departure from the WWF. Knowing what's about to happen and that Bret's kids are at the show … wow. Bret wears a wire into a conversation to Vince where they agree on a finish. Bret tells his family everything is okay and that it's going be a DQ finish. We see Stu watching at home as well. Here we go ...

[Robert S]

I am not sure if "Wrestling With Shadows" is a great title but it's so much better than the German title of this docu: "Die heimliche Wut des Catchers Hitman Hart", which translates to "The Secret Wrath of the Catcher Hitman Hart".

[flyonthewall2983]

For a foreign title, that's not half bad actually. This was so much better than Beyond The Mat. Everyone seemed more at ease with the cameras (probably thinking little of it will ever see the light of day, as it was really just going to be a puff piece on Bret for Canadian television originally).

[ajtroma]

THANK YOU! Beyond the Mat is a piece of shit. Just an utterly depressing piece of shit.

[Kevin Ridge]

Ajtoma! It should have won Oscar for best documentary! Sunny talking with Julie Hart about Bret leaving. We see the Hart kids playing around backstage. Seeing Sunny goofing off with them just made me randomly sad. Close up of that piece of crap Earl Hebner. Where's the lightning strikes when you need them.

[soup23]

Really excited to see this spliced in. We get clips of Sunny talking with Bret's wife Julie. The head bangers throwing around his children. This is really surreal to see given the plight of 1997 and the rear viewed mirror aspect I have now 17 years later. Watching live, you had such an adrenaline rush as to what the hell was going on, now you can analyze the psychological aspects more and see the toll this took on most parties involved. Ill give Vince this, he has a good poker face during his clip and seems smooth during his discussion with Bret.

[PeteF3]

Julie talking with a HEBNER! Oh, my. I'm guessing that's Dave and not Earl, but it's still jarring. Bret's kid puts on a happy face with the boys but goes to run and hide and is clearly getting torn up on the inside. Vince seemingly agrees to Bret's proposal--a schmozz finish followed by Bret forfeiting the title the next night on Raw. Agree or disagree with Vince's tactics, and I thought he was out of line...but a forfeiture followed by Bret leaving would have been a disaster. There had to be a middle ground somewhere where Bret could drop the title to someone at some point, in the ring.

[Exposer]

This looks to be a really great documentary in full. Funny to watch the Headbangers & Brian Lee play toss with Bret's kid. Bret & Vince discuss the finish. Stu sits down to watch the match. Time for the most infamous moment in WWE history.

[soup23]

Easily my favorite wrestling documentary from a quality standpoint.