Wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer BBret ‘The Hitman’ Hart is officially the first pro wrestler to be inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame. On his personal Instagram account, Hart shared a video revealing all of this year’s inductees, and they will all be officially honored with a ceremony in December. Hart is among the names listed who “have made a significant impact in Canada and around the world.”
In the caption, Hart says, “I’m finally able to announce how excited and honoured I am to be an inductee into Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto. I know many people for years have pushed hard for this, and I thank all of you for your support. What makes this honour especially sweet is that I will be the first professional wrestler to be inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, and I hope this will open the door for other great Canadian wrestlers who have proudly represented their country to be recognized and honoured as well. Congratulations also to my fellow inductees and honorees.”
John Wick and The Matrix star Keanu Reeves is also among the inductees with Bret Hart, as he was raised in Toronto before going on to become a global superstar. Some of the other names inducted include Ajay Virmani, Salome Bey, Jully Black, Bruce Cockburn, Romeo Dallaire, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Graham Greene, Serena Ryder, Damian Warner, and the team of Banting, Best, Macleod, and Collip.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart, who hails from Calgary, Alberta, is described by Canada’s Walk of Fame as “a member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation professional wrestler with an amateur wrestling background. The eighth child of wrestling patriarch, Stu Hart and his wife Helen, Bret grew up in a household with eleven other siblings, seven brothers and four sisters, including the late Owen Hart. A major international superstar within professional wrestling, he has been credited with changing the perception of mainstream North American professional wrestling in the early 1990s by bringing technical in-ring performances to the forefront. Bret is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.”
In the 1990s, Bret Hart essentially served as the face of World Wrestling Entertainment until he left the company in 1997 to compete as a main event star at World Championship Wrestling. He retired in 2000 after a career-ending concussion. He was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2006 as a solo performer. Hart was given a second induction as part of the tag team The Hart Foundation with the late Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart in the Class of 2019.
Hart has also delved into acting, which includes a well-remembered guest appearance as himself on a classic episode of The Simpsons. In the late 1990s and in 2000, he made appearances on the sketch comedy series Mad TV, where he played up a feud for laughs with Will Sasso. This later culminated with a match on WCW Monday Nitro where Hart wrestled Sasso as part of a crossover. On Hart’s posting announcing his Walk of Fame induction, Sasso commented, “CONGRATS BRET!!”
Inductees and honorees will be celebrated at the Annual Canada’s Walk of Fame Awards Gala at Toronto’s Beanfield Centre on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. The event will be broadcast on CTV. You can find out more at the official website for Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Source: movieweb.com