Former WWE Writer Michael Notarile Wanted To Develop Bret Hart’s Book Into A TV Show

Bret Hart’s autobiography “Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling” is regarded as one of the best and most detailed wrestling autobiographies ever written. Though fans saw Bret’s career play out in the wrestling ring, and behind the scenes in documentaries, it could have played out in a different television format. 

Appearing on New Day: Feel The Power, former WWE writer Michael Notarile discussed his meeting with Bret Hart and how he wanted to develop Bret’s book into a television show. 

“When I met Bret, I met him before WWE and I wanted to develop his book into a TV show. Long story short, he had my email from a letter I wrote him when I was a kid. Somehow, my email got into his address book, he sent me an email about something, I think by mistake, and I wrote back and was like, ‘I want to develop your book into a TV show.’ This is before I worked at WWE,” he said.

Notarile began working with WWE in 2013. 

He continued the story, saying he met with Bret at a hotel in California after the two exchanged emails.

“At this point, I thought it was a prank. I put my wrestling figure in my bag and was like, ‘If he could sign the figure, how awesome would that be?’ I’m at the hotel, looking around like, ‘I’m definitely on a prank show.’ Bret Hart walks in. It’s real. We sit down, talking about the book and the whole time, in the back of my head, I’m like, ‘I’ve got to get him to sign this wrestling figure.’ How do I do it? I go, ‘My mom was like, you should bring your wrestling figure and get Bret to sign it.’ I go, ‘Mom, I’m going to be professional, it’s a meeting.’ Bret’s like, ‘Oh, I would have signed the figure for you.’ ‘Great, I brought it, it’s right here,’ and he signed it.”

The Bret Hart TV show never came to fruition, but Notarile did get to work with Bret in WWE, helping him with a promo in Montreal in 2014. Notarile called working with Bret his third favorite moment during his WWE tenure behind New Day winning their first tag team titles and Xavier Woods’ initial New Day promo where he recruited Kofi Kingston and Big E.

You can learn more about New Day coming together on-screen by clicking here. 

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