Review and Recommendation
The Documentary: For the first time, I have been confused while watching a WWE documentary. In addition to telling the story of the Hart family, there is a brief bio about Stu, Helen, and each of their 12 children. These mini-documentaries take place at random intervals during the story and are in no particular order. To add to the confusion, each time a Hart is shown commenting about the past, their name is only shown the first time they appear. While that is not a problem with other WWE DVDs, it is a major problem for this one because many of the people shown are not familiar faces to the WWE Universe. I found myself having to go back several times to figure out which child or grandchild was talking.
Match Selection: Every match on this DVD features matches involving at least two members of the family. A major problem with this set is that half of the matches on this DVD have been released on DVD before.
Overall Recommendation: I don't recommend this DVD. If you want to know more about the Hart family, I would recommend either reading Bret's autobiography or watching his DVD that was released a few years ago.
The Martha Hart Situation
Martha received the "Ultimate Warrior" treatment on this DVD where history was seemingly rewritten to put her in as bad a light as possible. I found portions of this DVD to be pretty vile and sickening.
Any person unfamiliar with the Hart family watching this DVD would have thought the family was close knit until Martha had the audacity for suing the WWE in the aftermath of Owen's death. Apparently Martha's vindictive actions against the WWE tore the family apart. Worst of all, they appeared to have led to the death of Helen Hart. I got the impression from this DVD that being in the middle of this as well as the grueling travel she had to do because of this lawsuit led to her death. I never realized before this that when the WWE sued Martha and tried to get her lawsuit thrown out of court what they really were doing was protecting Helen.
However, Bret's description of his mother's death in his own book totally contradicts what the viewer of this DVD will get the assumption of. It's a shame that Bret didn't comment about this when he made his statement about the lawsuit. Now that Bret gets some paychecks from Vince, we get a visual example on this DVD about the family betrayals Bret spoke about very often in his book.
Matches on This DVD Set
Disc Two
- Stampede Wrestling '79: Keith, Bruce, & Bret Hart vs. The Kiwis & Dynamite Kid
- Boston Garden 11/86: Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs vs. The Hart Foundation
- SummerSlam '92: Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog (History of the Intercontinental Championship, Bret Hart Story, & Best of Confidential Vol. 1)
- Survivor Series '93: Owen, Bruce, Bret, & Keith Hart vs. Shawn Michaels & His Knights (Most Powerful Families of Wrestling)
- Florence, SC 1/94: Bret & Owen Hart vs. The Steiner Brothers
- Royal Rumble '94: Tag Team Champions The Quebecers vs. Bret & Owen Hart
- SummerSlam '94: WWE Champion Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart in a Steel Cage Match (History of the WWE Championship, Bloodbath: Wrestling's Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches)
- RAW 11/7/94: Bret Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart & Jim Neidhardt
- RAW 5/3/97: Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog to become the first European Champion (Best of RAW 15th Anniversary)
- Canadian Stampede '97: Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhardt, & Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and the Legion of Doom (Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon)
- RAW 7/21/97: Bret Hart, Owen Hart, & British Bulldog vs. Steve Austin, Dude Love, & The Undertaker in a Flag Match (Best of RAW 15th Anniversary)
- SmackDown 12/25/09: Tag Team Champions D-Generation X vs. The Hart Dynasty
