Postcard | A bar or a museum?

(Calgary) Pink. The fight against breast cancer for some. A future public transport project for others. It’s Rose Ouellet, Pete Rose or Paul Rose, depending on our cultural references.

But for others, pink is one man and one man only: Bret “Hitman” Hart, Canadian wrestling icon, member of the famous Hart family, essentially royalty around here.

It appears that his rosy universe is embodied by a sports bar located a beer throw from the Saddledome in Calgary: Hitman’s Bar, quite simply. Opened a year ago, it is there, in a corner of the Cowboys Casino, announced by a poster of Bret Hart himself, as well as a sublime pink podium marked with a red heart.

It is unclear whether Hart is the owner of the premises. A waitress tells us no, but the business website says yes. No matter: wrestling fans will find a veritable museum documenting the career of the man who threw the best punches in the history of this spectator sport. Not for nothing was one of his nicknames “The Excellence of Execution”, a nickname remembered by neon lights on the walls.

The walls are covered with screens showing both live sporting events and old shows in which Bret Hart appeared. When we were there, it was WrestleMania XI, the one that ends with a fight between the flamboyant Bam Bam Bigelow and football legend Lawrence Taylor.

The real interest of the bar, that said, are the photos of Hart’s biggest fights, as well as the promotional posters reminding us that the wrestler has toured the world: Japan, South Africa, Germany and Kuwait, to name than these countries. The most striking photo: the one signed by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, which immortalizes the end of the epic fight where Austin is caught in the famous sharpshooter, his face bloody. “This is the match that created Stone Cold,” his rival wrote to him. There are also many magazine covers, including one with Bart Simpson, in a rare leap by Hart into popular culture.

Behind glass, some of the championship belts won by Hart. We even thought about installing a television that shows in a loop the fight where Hart became world champion for the first time, against Ric Flair.

Exactly like the museum, except instead of admiring Rembrandt paintings, we see Bret Hart doing a back breaker as if his life depended on it.

The rest of the family was not forgotten in the photos. Bret and the late Owen are the best known, but Stu Hart’s eight sons all wrestled or worked in the business. These are the Sutters of wrestling. Not forgetting Davey Boy Smith, member of the British Bulldogs, and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, the man with the red goatee who long teamed with Bret Hart. They married two of the daughters of the Hart clan. Now gone, they still live in photos in this estaminet.

After a good 20 minutes of looking through the photos, you still need to hydrate. Even more so with all these cocktails named in honor of wrestlers. Better to stick to cocktails, because beer-wise it’s slim.

For the sake of rigor, The Press therefore tested The Anvil, a paper plane which really whets the appetite. The cocktail will of course be listed as food in the expense report; If our accounting colleagues don’t come across this article, the trick should work. Although come to think of it, it would have been better not to write it at all, but hey, the damage is done.

However, we have not tested the Hitman Spritz, a drink that we do not wish to be as bitter as Hart towards his former industry (his career ended in failure, notably due to injuries).

Only disappointment: not having encountered Bret Hart himself. To achieve this, you can always fill out the form which allows you to win “a dinner with Bret Hart”, according to the website.

The other way to meet him is to show up on Thursday; he comes there every week, the waitress explains to us… on this Friday, it’s a matter of putting the iron in the wound.