Straight from the Hart

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Copyright © Bruce Hart, 2010

Published by ecw press

2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

library and archives of canada cataloguing in publication Hart, Bruce, 1951-Straight from the Hart / Bruce Hart.

isbn 978-1-55022-939-4

1. Hart, Bruce, 1951-. 2. Hart family. 3. Stampede Wrestling (Firm)--History. 4. Wrestlers--Canada--Biography.

5. Wrestling--Alberta--History. I. Title.

gv1196.h372a3 2011 796.812092 c2010-906816-5

Editor: Michael Holmes

Cover Design: David Gee

Text Design: Melissa Kaita

Production and typesetting: Troy Cunningham

Printing: ???

The publication of
Straight from the Hart
has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, by the Ontario Arts Council, by the Government of Ontario through Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, by the OMDC Book Fund, an initiative of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

printed and bound in ????

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NOT FOR SALE — FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

These are uncorrected galleys. Please check all attributions and quotations against the finished copy of the book. We urge this for the sake of editorial accuracy as well as for your legal protection and ours.

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“Just when I think I’m out, they keep pulling me back in.”

— Michael Corleone

Those words, from
The Godfather III
, just about say everything you need to know about my affiliation (some would say affliction) with the business of professional wrestling. Sometimes it’s been an exhilarating joy ride; other times it’s been a daunting descent, a ride down the highway to hell. Many times I figured I’d abandoned wrestling but invariably would find myself somehow being drawn back — like a rationalizing junkie needing just one more fix.