Hart grew up in a household with eleven siblings, seven brothers Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ross and Owen, as well as four sisters, Ellie, Georgia, Alison and Diana.

He scored a victory over competitor Bob Eklund – who would go on to become a Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champion, winning "Outstanding Wrestler of the Year 1980–1981"[26] – en route to the championship.

[1] By 1977, Hart was collegiate champion at Mount Royal College, where he was studying filmmaking;[25][28] his coaches and other people around him felt that he had shown sufficient promise to compete at the following year's Commonwealth Games and encouraged him to begin training for the event.

[35] Bret's agile, technical style – which earned him the moniker "The Excellence of Execution" (coined by Gorilla Monsoon)[6][36] – created a contrast with his partner Neidhart's strength and brawling skills.

Hart subsequently competed in his most high-profile singles contest to date on the November 28, 1987, episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XIII, when he faced "Macho Man" Randy Savage in a losing effort.

At SummerSlam in 1990, The Hart Foundation began their second, and final, WWF Tag Team Championship reign by defeating Demolition members Crush and Smash in a two out of three falls match with some help from Legion of Doom.

[52][53] On October 30, the Hart Foundation lost the title to The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels), but a few days later, President Jack Tunney reversed the decision and the win was never acknowledged on television.

[57] In January 1992, Hart was placed in a feud with Jacques Rougeau, who by now was wrestling as "The Mountie" and using the gimmick of a power-hungry, corrupt member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

[100] Hart retained his title once again against Diesel in a steel cage match at In Your House 6, and defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who was undefeated on Raw, on the March 4 episode of the show.

In order to deal with this controversy, a Fatal Four-Way between Austin and the participants he eliminated after re-entering the ring (Vader, The Undertaker, and Hart) was set up for In Your House 13: Final Four, with the winner becoming the number one contender.

Michaels, who, as part of another pre-match stipulation, would be banned from wrestling in the United States if he did not remain impartial as referee, had no option but to count the pinfall, giving his rival Hart the victory.

[120][121] After SummerSlam, Michaels was pushed as the top heel in the company and negative fan reactions toward Hart in the United States softened somewhat, as he declared: "I'm not so much anti-American as I am just very, very pro-Canadian.

[140] After this, Hart elected to defend the honour of WCW against the nWo, defeating members Brian Adams in his debut Nitro match on March 2, and Curt Hennig at Uncensored.

[144] He headlined his first Nitro card on July 20, defeating Diamond Dallas Page for the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship, with assistance from nWo member, The Giant.

[152] On the March 29 episode of Nitro held at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, Hart appeared in street clothes and derided WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, as well as Hogan, for avoiding a match with him.

Hart returned to wrestling on the September 13, 1999, episode of Nitro in a tag team match with Hulk Hogan against Sting and Lex Luger, reestablishing himself as a face in the process.

[172] Hart thanked the fans for their continued support, jokingly teased announcer Jerry Lawler about their long-running 1990s feud, and confronted Shawn Michaels and McMahon regarding the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series in 1997.

[194][195][196] In August 2019, Hart appeared at WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view backstage wishing Seth Rollins good luck in his match against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.

[212] Veteran industry journalist Dave Meltzer called Hart "one of the best ever,"[213] and further praised his ring psychology as the best in WWE history (alongside that of Ricky Steamboat, and "maybe Jake Roberts").

[233] Along with Storm, Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn point to Hart as their top wrestling inspiration;[234][235] Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal called him an idol,[236][237] and Jon Moxley cited him as an influence.

[251] Hart's rise to singles success was seen to revolutionize the business; IGN wrote: "After Bret beat Ric Flair for the WWE Championship in 1992, it changed the entire industry, re-setting the WWF back to the days of technical wizardry and reshaping all our notions of what a great wrestling match should actually look and feel like".

"[256] Recalling WCW's acquisition of Hart that year, then WWE owner Vince McMahon argued that his chief competitor "could have really built the entire franchise... around this extraordinary star."

"[259] Veteran industry personality and former WWE executive Paul Heyman referred to Hart's oeuvre as "a body of work so spectacular that it is beyond comprehension how brilliant a career he enjoyed".

He has made numerous televised appearances since, including a guest spot on The Simpsons in 1997 (as himself, in "The Old Man and the Lisa") and episodes of the Honey I Shrunk The Kids TV series (along with his brother Owen), The Adventures of Sinbad, Big Sound, and The Immortal.

Hart donned his "Hit Man" singlet, along with additional costume, and executed wrestling maneuvers on villain characters, as part of his performance as the Genie in a 2004 stage production of Aladdin.

Hart appeared on many talk shows (including Larry King Live, Nancy Grace, Hannity & Colmes, On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren) discussing the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide.

The ceremony was done as recognition for his and his father Stu Hart's cultural relationship building contributions, such as promoting interest of the sport of amateur wrestling among indigenous youth throughout Western Canada.

[287] He married Stephanie Washington, an African-American woman several decades his junior, in 2010;[288] although at first his children were wary of their new stepmother, they have since embraced her as they realized that despite their differences in age, the love between her and their father is deep and genuine.

[302] On an episode on his "Confessions with the Hitman" podcast, Hart revealed that in 1996–97, Dwayne Johnson, at that time a rookie in WWE, was a "marked guy" and that both Shawn Michaels and Triple H bullied him and did everything in their power to make The Rock leave the company.

"[303] In 2021, Johnson himself acknowledged and praised Hart for his attitude, professionalism, as being a great person and for being exceptionally kind to him when he was a rookie in WWE during an interview with Joseph Deckelmeier of The Illuminerdi.