WWE TLC: Wrestling community rallies round Bret Hart

Barnaby Read 05:02 03/02/2016
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    • Hart has suffered from health issues previously.

    It has been a remarkably sad start to the year with the deaths of Alan Rickman and David Bowie making headlines; the world of wrestling has now been left reeling at the news that Bret Hart has been diagnosed with cancer.

    The ‘Hit Man’ took to social media on Monday to reveal the news, leading to an outpouring of support and well wishes from the wrestling community.

    A WWE Hall of Famer and five-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Hart is one of the most recognisable faces in wrestling.

    His career in the ring was filled with glory, controversy, trial and tribulations in equal measure but now Hart faces what he describes as a “fearsome fight” against prostate cancer.

    It is with great remorse that I feel compelled to speak truthfully to my friends, family and my millions of fans around the world. In the past few years, I've spent more than enough time paying the price for all those years trying to be the best there ever was as a professional wrestler. I executed excellently and my proudest claim was that I never seriously hurt or injured another wrestler in my 23 year career. I've paid a price for all that "fake" wrestling ... Mark Helprin wrote: "We are all perfect clocks that Divinity has set to ticking when, even before birth, the heart explodes into a lifelong dance." I've had a great lifelong dance and I'm a survivor of many hard battles. I now face my toughest battle. With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all. My fans have always looked upon me as a hero and I've always done my best to live up to that in and out of the ring. I beat the odds when I suffered my stroke in 2002, but it is now yet again, that I ... stand unafraid and face the tough road ahead of me, I will march toward this destiny with his spirit chanting in my ear. I make a solemn vow to all of those that once believed in me, the dead and the living, that I will wage my fearsome fight against cancer with one shield and one sword carrying my determination and my fury for life, emboldened by all the love that's kept me going this long already. Love is my weapon and I've got much of it around me all the time, for which I'm truly blessed and eternally grateful. My children, grandchildren, and my loving wife Steph have been and will constantly be at my side. I refuse to lose, I will never give in or give up, and I will win this battle or die trying. Most important of all, I hope can take the fight to prostate cancer. To be a leader in awareness and to set the example for men everywhere who find themselves in my very same shoes, that prostate cancer can be beaten. B x

    A photo posted by Bret (@brethitmanhart) on

    The Canadian grappler was renowned for his gruelling in-ring battles and his career was marred by myriad injuries – prematurely bringing an end to his work inside the squared circle in 1999.

    Hart acknowledged these in a heartfelt post on Instagram and Facebook, in which he reeled off the plethora of knocks he suffered in the “fake” world of wrestling.

    “I’ve paid a price for all that ‘fake’ wrestling,” wrote Hart.

    “Aside from a devastating career-ending concussion and numerous surgeries when I was younger, in recent years I’ve had two knee replacements, two hernia operations, surgery on my right elbow, and, just a few months ago, I underwent a four-corner fusion of my right wrist that even now makes it most difficult to write or type.”

    Not only that, Hart suffered a stroke in 2002 that at the time left him with total paralysis on his left side.

    Through extensive physiotherapy, the Calgary native had a full recovery and will surely take positives from that experience into his latest health setback.

    The news is a further reminder of the fragility of the Superstars who seem immortal when their music plays and they make their way down to the ring to put on a show for our entertainment.

    For now, however, Sport360 joins the millions of wrestling fans the world over in wishing Hart a speedy recovery.

    #GetWellHitman

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