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113-456: The tag-team known as The New Foundation was a short-lived team formed in 1991 soon after the original disbanded. This team consisted of Neidhart and Owen Hart , Bret's younger brother. The two also teamed again in 1994, and the New Foundation name would later be used by Neidhart together with The Blue Meanie . The Hart Foundation (sometimes called The New Hart Foundation in this incarnation)

226-573: A manager and women's wrestler. They were sometimes managed by Natalya and David's uncle, Bret Hart after his return to WWE in 2010, accompanied by the Keegans, Mark, Josh, and Matt. In 2018, a new Hart Foundation group was formed in Major League Wrestling , with Teddy Hart, Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Harry Smith) and Brian Pillman Jr. as the three members. On October 23, 2019, Teddy Hart announced on his Twitter page that Kenny "Gorilla Blanco" Lester

339-603: A two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion , a one-time WWF European Champion , and a four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion , as well as the 1994 WWF King of the Ring . He headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF , and was widely regarded as one of the company's best in-ring performers. Hart died on May 23, 1999, during his entrance from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri , United States. The equipment that

452-400: A villainous tag team. According to Bret, the tag team originated after he turned down the "Cowboy" Bret Hart gimmick he was given, claiming that he did not really take a liking to it. He then suggested to WWF management that he would much prefer to be teamed up with Neidhart. Management first laughed at the idea, but months later just as Hart was about to quit, he was given what he wanted: he

565-499: A baseball bat, picked him up and threw him back into the ring where Triple H put Hart in a reverse ankle lock to his injured right ankle to win the European Championship under referees discretion in controversial fashion. Four weeks after WrestleMania, during a tag team match with Ken Shamrock against Mark Henry and Rocky Maivia (later known as The Rock ), Hart turned on Shamrock, "snapping" his ankle and "biting his ear" in

678-692: A feud with D-Generation X (DX) and challenged Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship on the December 29, 1997 episode of Raw Is War : Hart had Michaels locked in the Sharpshooter when Triple H interfered in order to save Michaels' title, giving Hart the victory by disqualification. He later won the European title from Triple H, although not directly. Goldust dressed up as Triple H in an attempt to swerve Hart, but Commissioner Slaughter considered him to be

791-414: A feud with The Warlord . However, by the end of November 1989, Hart and Neidhart resumed their partnership and were booked into a series of tag team matches with fellow fan-favorite tag team The Rockers ( Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty ). This was unusual at the time as fan favorites rarely faced each other in the ring; also, although no hostilities between the two were apparent at this time, it marked

904-565: A few months previously, a fan favourite team. In the late fall of 1988, Jimmy Hart signed the Rougeaus who, in the storyline, claimed 25 percent of the Hart Foundation's contract. The Hart Foundation continued their feud with the Rougeaus, and formed an alliance with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan . At the Royal Rumble in early 1989, Duggan and the Hart Foundation defeated Dino Bravo and the Rougeaus in

1017-481: A historic 10-man tag team match where the entire Hart Foundation faced the team of Steve Austin, the Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock , and Goldust . In the end, Owen Hart pinned Stone Cold Steve Austin. The entire Hart family came into the ring to celebrate afterward. The first crack in the stable's success came on May 26, 1997, when Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels (who has been rescuing each other from attacks from

1130-402: A legitimate replacement. Hart later suffered a kayfabe ankle injury during a match against Barry Windham involving Triple H. When Hart joined the commentary at ringside, Triple H managed to draw Owen into an impromptu title match and regained the title. Chyna interfered while the referee wasn't looking and while Triple H was distracting the referee, she struck Hart behind the left knee with

1243-593: A mask) as the original British Bulldog. Then, after he graduated from the University, he wrestled as "Bronco" Owen Hart at Royal Albert Hall in London , England . As those attempts were unsuccessful, Hart was trained in his father's Hart Dungeon and worked for his father's federation, Stampede Wrestling and wrestled in England for Max Crabtree's Joint Promotions in matches that got broadcast on ITV's World of Sport and

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1356-471: A match against champions Crazy Boy and Joe Lider, Charly Manson and Chessman , and Extreme Tiger and Halloween . The name had originally been used by Teddy Hart and Jack Evans between 2003 and 2005 while in Ring of Honor . In 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) launched their new development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). David Hart Smith, Nattie Neidhart, and Teddy Hart were moved to

1469-455: A match in which Hart "accidentally injured" Dan Severn , Hart seemingly quit the WWF. Playing off the legitimate injury Hart had inflicted on Austin the year before, the angle blurred the lines between reality and "storyline." Yet as soon as Hart "quit," the Blue Blazer appeared in the WWF claiming to in no way be Hart despite it being very obvious who was under the mask. Unlike the first run of

1582-557: A non-title match. When the match was made, the Busters, managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan , were not champions and were not obliged to give the Harts a title shot. The Hart Foundation lost the match pushing them further away from regaining their titles. In the fall of 1989, the Hart Foundation split for a while and both wrestled as singles for the first time in almost four years. Hart had a series of matches against Mr. Perfect , while Neidhart began

1695-501: A pair of specialty matches on pay-per-view, but nothing was ever conclusively settled between them. Hart remained with the Nation throughout the year until the stable slowly dissolved. After SummerSlam , he teamed with Jeff Jarrett . Hart and Jarrett had Jarrett's manager Debra in their corner. During this time a storyline was proposed that Hart was supposed to have an on-screen affair with Debra, something which Owen turned down. After

1808-493: A pay-per-view shot at the tag team titles at In Your House 10 . Owen and Bulldog left with the gold after defeating the Smoking Gunns. They also left with a new manager as Clarence Mason had conned Jim Cornette into signing over the contracts of the new champions. Signs of dissension, however, slowly started to show. One occasion where this was evident was at the Royal Rumble when Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog. After

1921-435: A pro- Canadian and British /anti- American family-oriented stable that was born after the events of 1997's WrestleMania 13 , where Bret Hart defeated his then-nemesis Stone Cold Steve Austin in a submission match . During the match, Austin became a fan favorite and Hart became a villain. After the event, Hart reunited with Jim Neidhart and recruited Owen Hart, The British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith), and Brian Pillman to form

2034-618: A regular basis. Bret even secured the two a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship . They faced the Quebecers for the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1994. Initially everything was fine between the brothers, but when Bret hurt his knee ( kayfabe ) and was unable to tag Owen in for a long period of time, the younger Hart got frustrated. When the referee stopped the match due to Bret's damaged knee, Owen snapped; he kicked his brother in

2147-549: A result of this action and, at this point, it was strongly suggested that Davis, as referee, had been to blame for Santana's loss of the WWF Intercontinental title to Randy Savage with the help of a foreign object a year earlier (although in fact this had predated the start of Davis' "heel referee" angle). At this point, Santana joined the British Bulldogs in their feud with the Hart Foundation. The rivalry culminated in

2260-540: A result, the Hart Foundation were increasingly pushed as fully fledged fan favorites. In the summer of 1988, the Hart Foundation began a feud with WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition ( Ax and Smash ) for the title. At the inaugural SummerSlam in August 1988, they challenged Demolition for the WWF Tag Team Championship but ended up losing the match after Ax hit Hart with Jimmy Hart's megaphone leaving Smash to get

2373-472: A ring crew arrived to reattach the broken rope. The Hart Foundation's second title reign lasted until WrestleMania VII when they were defeated by The Nasty Boys ( Jerry Sags and Brian Knobs ), when Knobs nailed Neidhart over the head with Jimmy Hart's helmet (Jimmy Hart managed the Nasty Boys at the time). The Hart Foundation split after WrestleMania VII, and Bret then focused on his singles career. After

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2486-405: A second chance at regaining the tag team titles after Michaels vacated his half of the championship due to an injury. On the edition of July 14, 1997 of Raw the two entered a tournament and won to face Austin and a partner of his choice that evening for the vacant titles. That partner turned out to be Dude Love , who declared himself to be Austin's partner and helped him defeat Hart and Bulldog for

2599-399: A shocking moment, the recently turned heel Bret Hart appeared at ringside and stopped the match. Bret appealed to both Owen and Bulldog, talking about the importance of family. They agreed to put their differences aside and join with Bret to form the new Hart Foundation, an anti-American stable that also included Hart in-law Jim Neidhart and Hart family friend Brian Pillman . After forming

2712-627: A six-man tag team match at WrestleMania III where the Foundation teamed with Davis against the British Bulldogs and Santana. Davis hit Davey Boy Smith with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and pinned him to get the victory for the Hart Foundation. On the May 2 Saturday Night's Main Event XI , the Foundation defended their tag title against the British Bulldogs in a Two out of three falls match . In the first fall, they got disqualified because of illegal double-teaming and in

2825-541: A storyline injury, he joined Owen to form a team known as The New Foundation. Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers . They then had their only pay-per-view match at the Royal Rumble in January 1992 where they beat The Orient Express . Neidhart left the WWF shortly afterward, and Hart set out on a very short run as a singles wrestler, including a victorious match at WrestleMania VIII when he faced off against Skinner . Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart

2938-581: A team in the hopes of recreating the magic of the Hart Foundation and the duo was subsequently dubbed The New Foundation. Owen was soon nicknamed "The Rocket" and the duo became instantly recognizable for their unique parachute pants attire and bright colored jackets. Their first feud was naturally with the Beverly Brothers but they also had matches with The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags ) and The Natural Disasters ( Earthquake and Typhoon ). The team had their one and only pay-per-view match at

3051-423: A title match; the partner turned out to be former world champion Yokozuna . After the victory Owen took Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji as his managers, who already managed Yokozuna. The team defended the title for five months until they lost them to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House 3 . They would briefly hold the title a second time when the belts were handed back to them before the Smoking Gunns regained

3164-533: A two out of three falls match to end the feud. The Hart Foundation continued to feud with wrestlers managed by Jimmy Hart through 1989. At WrestleMania V , they defeated Rhythm and Blues ( The Honky Tonk Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine ) with the use of Hart's megaphone. They also defeated several tag teams during this time. At SummerSlam 89 , they faced the Tag-Team Champions The Brain Busters ( Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard ) in

3277-481: The Junkyard Dog . But Brown then double crossed Hart, hitting him with his Ghetto Blaster finisher before throwing him over the top rope for the win. Immediately after being declared the winner and being awarded a huge trophy, Hart attacked Brown and smashed up the trophy starting his face turn. Neidhart eventually joined Bret's side in the feud with Brown causing a rift between the Foundation and manager Jimmy Hart. As

3390-517: The King of the Ring tournament first to accompany Bret as he faced Diesel , but then also made a surprise appearance at the end of the night to help Owen win the tournament, resulting in Owen dubbing himself the "King of Harts". It was later confirmed that Neidhart was helping Owen. The brothers in law teamed regularly throughout 1994, feuding with Bret and Davey Boy Smith . At SummerSlam 1994 , after Bret retained

3503-603: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He received most of his success in the WWF, where he wrestled under both his own name and the ring names The Blue Angel and The Blue Blazer . A member of the Hart wrestling family , he was born in Calgary , Alberta , the youngest of twelve children of Stampede Wrestling promoters Stu and Helen Hart . Among other accolades, Owen was a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion ,

Hart Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue

3616-505: The pinfall . Jimmy Hart had "managed" Demolition alongside their regular manager Mr. Fuji for the match as part of the ongoing Hart Foundation split. On the October 29 Saturday Night's Main Event XVII , they faced Demolition in a rematch for the title but lost due to outside interference by The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers ( Jacques and Raymond ), old rivals of the Hart Foundation and, until

3729-505: The referee of the match, "Dangerous" Danny Davis helped the Harts to win the match, and after Davis became a member of the Hart Foundation. On the March 14 Saturday Night's Main Event X , the Harts made their first title defense against Tito Santana and "Golden Boy" Danny Spivey , retaining the title after Danny Davis hit Santana with Jimmy Hart's megaphone . Santana began to feud with Davis as

3842-500: The (pre-taped) episode of Raw that aired on April 5, 1999. However, Hart and Jarrett continued to team together until Hart's death in May during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event. Hart met Martha Joan Patterson in 1982. They married on July 1, 1989, and had two children together: Oje Edward Hart (born March 5, 1992) and Athena Christie Hart (born September 23, 1995). On May 28, 2011, Hart

3955-435: The 1992 Royal Rumble , where they defeated The Orient Express ( Pat Tanaka and Kato ). Only weeks later, Owen Hart would be on his own as Neidhart left the federation. They were undefeated at the time of Neidhart's departure. Owen and Jim reunited in 1994, this time as villains and without the New Foundation moniker. Owen had turned on his brother Bret in early 1994 and was deep in a feud with him. Jim Neidhart turned up at

4068-412: The Blue Blazer gimmick. He also returned to Stampede, until it shut down in December 1989. In 1991, Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a mascara contra mascara match against Mexican wrestler El Canek , and would not utilize the gimmick again until 1998. He also returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In 1990 he went to Germany and worked Catch Wrestling Association . He also wrestled again in

4181-545: The Dinos at the University of Calgary. He placed 4th at the 1984 Canada West championships in the 76 kg weight class. Wrestling was not Hart's first choice for a career; as Martha explained in her book Broken Harts , Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling. Owen is quoted as saying, in the WWE Home Video "Owen Hart of Gold" that "during his time in the University, he wrestled incognito (under

4294-654: The Foundation faced the Bees in a tag team match, which the Bees won. The Hart Foundation continued to feud with the Killer Bees for the better part of 1986. The Hart Foundation then began a feud with Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) in early 1987 over the title. On the February 7 edition of Superstars , in Tampa , Florida , the Harts defeated Bulldogs for their first WWF Tag Team Championship when

4407-524: The Hart Foundation 2003 in November 2003, participating in a Ring of Honor (ROH) Scramble Cage match against The Backseat Boyz , The S.A.T. , The Carnage Crew , and Special K. Later, Hart, Evans, Smith, and Wilson reformed the group in Major League Wrestling . In 2005, the original duo of Hart and Evans worked for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW), winning the JAPW Tag Team Championship from

4520-426: The Hart Foundation and the then top two babyfaces in the company) defeated Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. The stable was highly successful, garnering every championship available at the time (WWF Championship, WWF Intercontinental Championship, WWF European Championship, and WWF Tag Team Championship) in the WWF. Pillman was found dead of an undetected heart condition on October 5,

4633-400: The Hart Foundation had politicked to keep the title. Michaels claim is contradicted by other claims, including one that the WWF had actually fired Neidhart, and another that his contract had ended and an agreement to re-sign hadn't been reached which forced the title change, but that after the match the two sides came to an agreement and Neidhart was brought back with the broken ring rope used as

Hart Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue

4746-475: The Hart Foundation split, both members focused on their singles careers; Bret challenged for and won the Intercontinental title while Jim Neidhart faced a much tougher road as a singles competitor. In November 1991, Neidhart had a match against Ric Flair , which Neidhart lost via submission to the figure four leglock . The move incapacitated Neidhart so much that he had to be helped from the ring; as he exited

4859-585: The Hart Foundation, Owen quickly gained singles gold of his own as he pinned Rocky Maivia to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship . This meant that the Hart Foundation held every WWF title except the WWF Championship, cementing their dominance over the federation. It was not all success for Owen, though, as he and the British Bulldog lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels on May 26, 1997. He began feuding with Austin shortly thereafter. Owen and Bulldog got

4972-661: The Neidhart/Hart team and their manager, who all had 'Hart' in their family names. The Hart Foundation made its pay-per-view debut at WrestleMania 2 in 1986 as participants of a 20-man battle royal which also included NFL stars. The duo were the final two men whom André the Giant eliminated to win the battle royal. The Harts gained their status as a mid-card team when feuding with The Killer Bees ( "Jumping" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair ). At Saturday Night's Main Event VIII ,

5085-481: The New Foundation name in Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) in 2000 and were the promotion's first Tag Team Champions . As part of the feud between Bret and Jerry Lawler , at the 1993 Survivor Series Bret and his brothers Keith , Bruce and Owen faced Shawn Michaels and his three masked knights ( The Red Knight , The Blue Knight and The Black Knight ). The Knights theme was used as

5198-730: The Next Generation Hart Foundation in WWE's development territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where they won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship . Smith and Kidd, managed by Natalya, later debuted in WWE as The Hart Dynasty where they won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship . The original Hart Foundation began in 1985, when Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, already managed by Jimmy Hart, joined his brother-in-law Bret "Hitman" Hart to form

5311-494: The Rockers and the Hart Foundation. At SummerSlam 90 , the Hart Foundation faced Demolition in a two out of three falls match for the tag title. By this time Demolition member Ax was suffering from health problems so a third member of Demolition ( Crush ) was introduced with the storyline being that the Hart Foundation didn't know which two members they would face until Demolition entered the arena. The two chosen were Crush and Smash. In

5424-460: The Rumble, they had miscommunication in matches against Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon and Bulldog fired Mason after losing a match to Crush who was also managed by Mason, something which did not sit well with Hart. Another bone of contention between the two was the newly created WWF European Championship ; both men had fought their way to the finals to crown the first champion with Bulldog coming out as

5537-663: The Strong Styles Thugs ( B-Boy and Homicide ). They held the title for approximately four months before losing it to the Backseat Boyz. Evans and Hart began wrestling as The Hart Foundation 2.0 in Mexico's AAA on November 30, 2007. At Centro de Convenciones de Ciudad Madero for the annual Guerra de Titanes event, they participated in and lost a four-way extreme dance for the AAA World Tag Team Championship in

5650-855: The UK, losing to Danny Boy Collins in Bath 1991 in a match for the World Middleweight championship, as well as wrestling in France on TV matches for Eurosport 's New Catch program. Hart debuted in World Championship Wrestling 's self-titled TV show on March 16, 1991, the first of five TV matches he competed in, all of which were against preliminary talent such as Mark Kyle . One of the bouts saw him team with Ricky Morton . He also teamed with Brian Pillman , getting several wins over The Freebirds . Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but

5763-806: The United Kingdom, with the United States release the day after. WWE wrestler Kevin Owens named his son after Hart and incorporated the name into his own ring name as tribute to both of them. On September 20, 2021, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced the Owen Hart Cup Tournament, in partnership with the Owen Hart Foundation, wherein the winner will receive a trophy called "The Owen". The company also announced production and distribution of original Owen Hart merchandise, action figures and Hart as

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5876-646: The United States and its inhabitants in general, thus causing fan reactions and making the New Hart Foundation (and Bret Hart in particular) unpopular in the States but highly popular in Canada. Their main feud was with Austin and Shawn Michaels who (as opposed to the Hart Foundation) were booed heavily in Canada and Europe, but cheered on wildly in the United States. At Canadian Stampede , the Hart Foundation took part in

5989-568: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Owen in a steel cage match , Neidhart attacked Bret; when Smith tried to make the save for Bret, Neidhart attacked him as well. On the November 7 edition of Raw , Bret and Smith defeated Owen and Neidhart in a tag team match. The team disbanded when Neidhart left the WWF in late 1994, Owen continued with the company and began teaming with Yokozuna, with whom he won two tag team titles. Jim Neidhart and The Blue Meanie teamed under

6102-449: The WWF as The Blue Blazer (initially The Blue Angel), with his early appearances seeing him defeat the likes of Terry Gibbs , Steve Lombardi and Barry Horowitz . The Blue Blazer made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series '88 , teaming with The Ultimate Warrior , Brutus Beefcake , Jim Brunzell and Sam Houston against The Honky Tonk Man , Greg Valentine , Outlaw Ron Bass , Bad News Brown and Dangerous Danny Davis . The Blazer

6215-603: The Year Award in 1987. After he and Bassarab lost the tag team title, he feuded with Johnny Smith . In 1987, Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on several tours. In NJPW, he wrestled Keiichi Yamada, both before and after he debuted the Jushin Liger gimmick . On May 27, 1988, Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship , becoming

6328-404: The arena The Beverly Brothers made their entrance for a tag team match. The arrogant brothers took an opportunity and jumped Neidhart, further (kayfabe) aggravating his injury. When Neidhart returned about a month later, he was determined to get revenge and he even had back up. Bret's younger brother, Owen, had been signed with the company and he was revealed as Neidhart's back up. They then formed

6441-473: The character, the Blazer was now an overbearing, self-righteous heel who treated the edgy Attitude Era WWF with disdain. Hart and Jarrett ended up making the storyline comical. To prove that Hart was not the Blazer, he showed up beside the Blue Blazer, who was a masked Jarrett. In a later attempt to prove that neither Hart or Jarrett was the Blazer, they both appeared next to a man in the Blue Blazer mask; however, it

6554-761: The day of In Your House: Badd Blood . A month later at the Survivor Series , Bret (who was leaving the WWF to join World Championship Wrestling ) lost the WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels in the infamous " Montreal Screwjob ". After the Survivor Series, the Hart Foundation disbanded, as both Neidhart and Smith left over the incident and eventually joined Bret in WCW, but Owen stayed, feeling that he may have been sued for breach of contract if he left. Along with Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart incurred premature deaths . Hart and Evans also wrestled as

6667-451: The deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company's headquarters in Atlanta. Instead, he signed with the WWF for a second time. In the WWF the popular Hart Foundation , composed of his brother Bret and real-life brother-in-law Jim Neidhart , had split up; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly. When Neidhart returned from

6780-503: The episode of Raw for May 31, 1999. During that show, Jeff Jarrett defeated The Godfather to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, the title Hart was booked to win for a third time at Over the Edge. Celebrating his victory, Jarrett screamed Hart's name. On October 4, 1999, five months after Hart's death, Bret Hart faced Chris Benoit on WCW Monday Nitro in a tribute to his brother. The match took place in

6893-496: The evening, Bret won the WWF Championship against Yokozuna while Owen stood by and watched in anger and jealousy as Bret celebrated in the ring. Owen won the 1994 King of the Ring tournament turning back Razor Ramon in the finals with an elbow drop to the back and with an assist from Jim Neidhart. After the victory, Owen dropped "The Rocket" nickname and took the nickname "The King of Harts." Owen and Bret feuded throughout

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7006-547: The first fall, Hart was pinned by Crush but the Hart Foundation won the second fall by disqualification after Crush attacked the referee. Ax then made his way to the ring and interfered in the third fall until the Legion of Doom ( Animal and Hawk ) came to ringside and attacked Demolition, the distraction allowed Hart to pin Crush and the Hart Foundation won. As a result, the Hart Foundation got their second WWF Tag Team Championship (despite

7119-495: The first non-Japanese wrestler to win the title. His reign would end nearly a month later, as he lost the title to Shiro Koshinaka on June 24, 1988. Hart's success in Japan and Stampede's working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the summer of 1988. Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Hart 's younger brother, the WWF decided to create a masked " superhero " type gimmick for him which played to his high-flying style. He broke into

7232-427: The genesis of what would become a long-running rivalry between Hart and Michaels. Most of these early Hart Foundation-Rockers matches ended in time-limit draws. On the April 28, 1990, Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI , they faced The Rockers in a tag team match, which resulted in a double disqualification after WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition interfered. As a result of the interference, Demolition feuded with both

7345-518: The harness and his cape on, Hart unintentionally triggered an early release. Television viewers did not see the incident. During the fall, a pre-taped vignette was being shown on the pay-per-view broadcast as well as on the monitors in the darkened arena. Afterward, while Hart was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring, the live event's broadcast showed only the audience. Meanwhile, WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what had just transpired

7458-416: The knee and then walked off, berating Bret on the Titantron shortly after as Bret was being helped backstage. This started his run as a heel . After the act, an infuriated Owen accused his brother of being selfish and holding him down. Owen admitted that it felt good to take out his brother. The two brothers faced off for the first time at WrestleMania X , where Owen cleanly pinned his older brother. Later in

7571-448: The later standalone wrestling program including a 1987 loss to former champion Marty Jones for the vacant World Mid-Heavyweight Championship. He remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills. During 1986, Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship. The success of the team and Hart's in-ring skills earned him Pro Wrestling Illustrated ' s Rookie of

7684-411: The match between Bret and new champion Diesel . In the weeks after the Royal Rumble, Bret and Owen clashed again with Bret soundly defeating his brother, thus putting an end to their feud for the time being. Owen rebounded from the loss to Bret by winning the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Smoking Gunns at WrestleMania XI . Owen, who was joined by a "Mystery Partner", had challenged the Gunns to

7797-431: The match the top rope broke by accident making the match a disjointed affair that would require serious clean up before it could be shown on TV. The Rockers actually defended the WWF Tag Team title against Power and Glory ( Paul Roma and Hercules ) on November 3, 1990. Shortly after November 3 it was decided to not air the title change and that the title would revert to the Hart Foundation. In his book Michaels claims that

7910-403: The match. The feud culminated in a match for the WWF Tag Team Championship on the February 5 The Main Event I , as the Hart Foundation challenged Strike Force for the title, but lost the match. Bret Hart started a slow face turn at WrestleMania IV in spring 1988. Hart and Bad News Brown were the last 2 competitors in a 20-man Battle Royal and looked to be co-existing heels after eliminating

8023-408: The memory of Owen." In 2002, Martha wrote a book about Hart's life called Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart . In June 2010, Martha filed a lawsuit against WWE over its use of Hart's name and likeness as well as personal photos of Hart's family in the WWE Hart & Soul DVD, as well as the failure to make royalty payments. The matter was scheduled to go to trial in June 2013 before

8136-568: The middle of 1993, when Bret Hart's feud with Jerry Lawler ignited, Owen stood by his brother's side and fought against Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association where most of the WWF talent were considered the heels . Owen won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Papa Shango . Owen's participation in the WWF vs. USWA feud was cut short when he suffered a knee injury in

8249-604: The new Hart Foundation. This stable opposed the United States , and even degraded the United States and its values whereas they would speak highly of Canada and the United Kingdom (where they were beloved). The New Hart Foundation usually brought the Canadian and British flags out to their matches by wearing Motorcycle coats with the Hart Foundation Logo and name on the back, and in their promos would talk in disgust about

8362-486: The new farm territory, where they aligned themselves and formed the Next/New Generation Hart Foundation (also known simply The New Hart Foundation) and were later joined by TJ Wilson and Ted DiBiase, Jr . At FCW's debut show on June 26, Smith won a 21-man battle royal to become the promotion's first Southern Heavyweight Champion . Plans to bring the stable to WWE's main roster were made, but Teddy Hart

8475-427: The nickname "Slammy Award Winner" and the "King of Harts," though this nickname was rarely used. Owen was also a color commentator for the 1996 King of the Ring (exhibiting clear partisan support for Vader and Smith) and during this time wore a cast on his right forearm for several months, feigning a nagging injury to subsequently use his cast as a weapon during his matches. In September 1996, Bulldog and Hart earned

8588-471: The only Hart family member remaining in the WWF, due to his contractual obligations. Hart was not seen or mentioned on WWF programming until he made a surprise appearance after Shawn Michaels retained his title following a disqualification loss to Ken Shamrock at In Your House: D-Generation X where he attacked Shawn Michaels. Now a fan favourite, but with a new edgy, antisocial attitude, Hart became known as "The Lone Hart" and also "The Black Hart". Owen had

8701-470: The phrase "I am not a nugget "; this was in response to Shawn Michaels referring to Owen as a nugget of feces in a toilet bowl that, no matter how many times Michaels flushed, he was unable to get rid of. "Nugget" became a derisive term that followed Hart for the rest of his career. Hart's participation in the DX feud was sidetracked when Shamrock returned from injuries dead set on getting revenge on Hart. The two split

8814-518: The pink and black tights, sunglasses and Sharpshooter finisher to send a message to his brother. Owen, angry with being in Bret's shadow, challenged his brother which Bret declined. Instead the brothers seemed to reunite by the holidays. According to Bret, the original plan was to have brother Bruce turn on Bret and have Owen leave the WWF alongside Keith, but Bret suggested that he'd feud with Owen instead. Bret tried to make amends with Owen, teaming with him on

8927-424: The process, and becoming a heel once again. After the attack on Shamrock, Hart became the co-leader, with The Rock , of the Nation of Domination, claiming that "Enough is enough and it's time for a change". The Nation's first big feud after Hart joined was against DX. It was during this feud that D-Generation X parodied the Nation of Domination. The imitation was complete with an actor dressing up as Hart and uttering

9040-498: The reason to nullify the match. The Rockers were never officially credited with a title win but footage from the match was shown prior to Jannetty's WWF return in 1995. The match can be seen in its entirety on the DVD The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph . Because it never aired, the match was not clipped and thus is shown in full with no commentary; the only edit being after the second fall when

9153-413: The ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a booked Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather . In keeping with the Blazer's new "buffoonish superhero" character, he was to begin a dramatic entrance, being lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would act "entangled", then release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect —this necessitated

9266-499: The same arena in which Hart had fallen to his death. After a lawsuit that lasted over a year and a half, a settlement was reached on November 2, 2000, which saw WWF pay the estate of Owen Hart US$ 18 million with the help of Pamela Fischer . The manufacturer of the harness system was also a defendant against the Hart family, but they were dismissed from the case after the settlement was reached. Owen Hart's widow Martha used some of

9379-498: The second fall Smith pinned Neidhart. However, the Hart Foundation retained the title due to the disqualification result. On the October 27 edition of Superstars , the Hart Foundation dropped their title to Strike Force ( Rick Martel and Tito Santana) after Neidhart submitted to a Boston crab applied by Martel, ending their 10-month reign. Soon after, the Hart Foundation began making claims that Neidhart had never submitted and that they were robbed on national television (the match

9492-493: The second fall being decided by disqualification). During their second reign as champions, the Harts met the Rockers again, this time in a series title and non-title matches. On October 30, 1990, Jannetty and Michaels did actually defeat the Hart Foundation in a two out of three falls match in Fort Wayne , Indiana to seemingly win the title. However, the WWE (WWF) has never officially recognized The Rockers' champion status. During

9605-533: The settlement to establish the Owen Hart Foundation . In 2001, Hart's sister Diana released her first book named Under the Mat which discussed the Hart family. The book was written partially in response to Hart's death. Martha Hart pursued legal action, stating that the book was "filled with distortions, misstatements and unjustified slurs that attempt to destroy the reputation of my family and me, and undermine

9718-615: The settlement was reached in April 2013 for an undisclosed amount. Hart was widely regarded as one of the best in-ring performers in the WWE; Fox Sports dubbed him a "genius". He would go on to be considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by many industry colleagues. Hart is a playable character in Legends of Wrestling II (2002) and Showdown: Legends of Wrestling (2004), both published by Acclaim . WWE released Owen: Hart of Gold on DVD and Blu-ray on December 7, 2015, in

9831-580: The show began, all footage and mention of Hart was edited out. A special episode of Raw Is War that aired on May 24, 1999, the night after Hart's death, was dubbed Raw Is Owen . It was broadcast live from the Kiel Center in St. Louis . The tribute show scored a 7.2 Nielsen rating , making it the highest-rated special episode in Raw history and the third highest-rated episode of Raw overall. The next day, WWF taped

9944-499: The stable for another month before it disbanded. Owen and Bret's oldest nephew Teddy Hart has used the Hart Foundation name several times together with close friend Jack Evans since the early 2000s, and they have held a championship together under the name. In 2007, several of the third generation of Harts formed a new stable, including Teddy, David Hart Smith , Natalya , Natalya's boyfriend (later husband) Tyson Kidd and close friend Ted DiBiase . This collective worked together as

10057-532: The stable with Wilson. With Neidhart's (renamed Natalya) help they won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship on October 30, 2008, by defeating Joe Hennig and Heath Slater . They held the championship until December 11, when they lost to Johnny Curtis and Tyler Reks . The Hart Dynasty stable appeared in World Wrestling Entertainment from 2008 to 2010. The unit consisted of the tag team of Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith , and Natalya as

10170-429: The summer of 1993 and was forced to take some time away from the ring. Hart returned to the WWF ring in the fall of 1993, at a time when Bret's feud with Lawler was temporarily sidetracked. Bret, along with Owen and their brothers Bruce and Keith , were scheduled to face Lawler and his team at Survivor Series . However, Lawler was unable to make it to the show, and as a result could not appear on WWF television. Lawler

10283-446: The summer of 1994, clashing many times both in singles and later in tag team matches (with Bret joined by the returning British Bulldog ). Two prominent matches took place in this feud: first, their steel cage match in the co-main event of SummerSlam for Bret's WWF Championship, which Bret won. This match later received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer . The second was a lumberjack match on August 17 that Owen initially won and

10396-409: The tag team championship. At SummerSlam in August, Hart was to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Austin in a "Kiss My Ass" match, where Hart put the title up against Austin having to kiss his buttocks if he lost. During the match, Hart botched a piledriver and dropped Austin on the top of his head, injuring his neck. Austin won the title from Hart that evening, but due to the injury

10509-429: The team was supposed to be led by Lawler, who was having legal troubles at the same time as his feud with Bret Hart and was replaced by Michaels. Though Owen was eliminated and Keith's shoulder was injured by a prolonged assault at the hands of Michaels, the Hart brothers were victorious. Owen's failure ignited a lengthy feud between Bret and Owen that would last for several years. In 1997, the Hart Foundation re-formed as

10622-681: The title when he returned and would not allow Faarooq or anyone else to beat him. After Hart retained the title twice by disqualification between Bad Blood and Survivor Series in Montreal, Austin got his wish and defeated Hart for the Intercontinental Championship again. Later that night, the Montreal Screwjob took place. Bret left the WWF after Survivor Series and both the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were granted quick releases from their contracts to jump to WCW. This left Owen as

10735-470: The title. Owen and Yokozuna would continue to team off and on until the end of the year. In 1995, Owen's brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith turned heel and joined the Camp Cornette stable. During the summer of 1996 the two brothers in law started to team up more and more, sometimes alongside Vader who was also a member of Camp Cornette. Owen also won a Slammy Award for injuring Shawn Michaels and began using

10848-512: The use of a quick release mechanism. It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the Sunday Night Heat before Survivor Series in 1998. Before being lowered into the ring, Hart fell 78 feet (24 m), landing chest-first on the top rope (approximately a foot from the nearest turnbuckle ). Hart had performed the stunt a few times before. Hart's widow Martha has suggested that, by moving around to get comfortable with both

10961-501: The victor. After retaining the tag team title against the Headbangers by disqualification on the edition of March 24, 1997 of Monday Night Raw , the tension between the two bubbled over. An incensed Hart demanded a shot at Bulldog's European title the next week. The match was booked for March 31; on the night, the two went at it with such intensity that many thought the tag team champions had finally gone their separate ways. Then in

11074-419: Was Greek descent through his maternal grandmother and Irish through his maternal grandfather. His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent, but also had Scottish and German ancestry. Hart maintained dual American-Canadian citizenship. Hart first gained wrestling experience in the amateur wrestling division at high school, through which he met his wife, Martha . Hart continued amateur wrestling for

11187-459: Was 34 years old. WWF and Vince McMahon drew controversy when the company chose to continue the pay-per-view event after Jim Ross announced Owen Hart's death on the live broadcast. Over the Edge was never commercially released on WWF Home Video , although it was available on the WWE Network in 2014 for the first time since its original air date. Other than a short memorial that was added before

11300-417: Was allowed to become a villain and was partnered up with Neidhart and Jimmy Hart to form the Hart Foundation. The name "Hart Foundation" was already used to refer to the stable of wrestlers managed by Jimmy Hart, and in early matches the Neidhart/Hart team would be introduced as "members of the Hart Foundation". With the success of the new tag team, however, "The Hart Foundation" came to be associated solely with

11413-664: Was an official member of the Hart Foundation. In 2002, Teddy Hart formed a team with his cousin Harry Smith, TJ Wilson, Nattie Neidhart, and Jack Evans in Stampede Wrestling . In 2013 Jim Neidhart and Harry Smith wrestled for an independent promotion under the Hart Foundation name. Owen Hart Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling , New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and

11526-424: Was announced as WWF Champion; Bret won the match after it was ordered to continue due to interference. At the Survivor Series , Owen struck the most damaging blow against his brother as he conned his own mother Helen to throw in the towel for Bret. The ploy cost Bret the WWF Championship to Bob Backlund . Owen also prevented Bret from regaining the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble in 1995 when he interfered in

11639-468: Was eliminated by Valentine, but his team went on to win the match. He continued to wrestle in the midcard, defeating enhancement talent but often falling short against other name talent; he lost to Ted DiBiase on the March 11, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XX and was defeated by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V . Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without

11752-554: Was forced to vacate the title. Although the entire situation was an accident, the WWF decided to make it part of the storyline as Owen began wearing a T-shirt patterned after Austin's that read "Owen 3:16/I Just Broke Your Neck". Hart was then entered into a tournament to crown a new champion. Hart fought his way to the finals of the tournament to crown the next Intercontinental Champion and was set to face Faarooq at Badd Blood: In Your House . Owen beat Faarooq with Austin's help. Afterward, Austin explained that he wanted to beat Hart for

11865-546: Was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, West Virginia at their "LPW Hart & Soul Tour" event. The award was accepted by his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, who was also inducted that night. On May 23, 1999, Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri , during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event. Hart was in the process of being lowered via harness and grapple line into

11978-528: Was lowering him to the ring malfunctioned and he fell to his death in front of a live audience and live on Pay Per View during WWF's Over the Edge event. Owen was born on May 7, 1965, in Calgary, Alberta the youngest of 12 children to Canadian-born father Stu and American-born mother Helen Hart of the Hart wrestling family . His siblings entailed: Ellie, Georgia, and fellow wrestling familials; Smith , Bruce , Keith , Wayne, Dean , Ellie, Georgia, Bret , Alison, Ross and Diana . Hart's family background

12091-438: Was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation. Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City . While several attempts to revive him were made, he died due to his injuries. The cause of death was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt force trauma . The impact severed his aorta, resulting in Hart bleeding to death just minutes later; he

12204-400: Was obvious that a black man was under the mask (Hart's former tag team partner Koko B. Ware ). On January 25, 1999, in the midst of the Blue Blazer angle Hart and Jarrett defeated Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man for the WWF Tag Team Championship. The pair successfully defended the belts against Test and D'Lo Brown at WrestleMania XV . They lost the titles to the team of Kane and X-Pac on

12317-446: Was reformed as a stable in 1997, composed of Bret, Owen, their brothers-in-law Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith as well as family friend Brian Pillman . Formed as a pro-Canadian, anti-American group, they would go on to hold all available WWF championships (the WWF title , Intercontinental title , European title , and Tag Team titles). After Pillman died in 1997, the other four continued on with

12430-536: Was released from his development contract in October. Eventually, DiBiase, Neidhart, and Smith, after losing the Southern Heavyweight Championship, were all called up to the main roster, albeit on separate shows, as DiBiase and Smith (using the name DH Smith) were sent to Raw and Neidhart to SmackDown , disbanding the Next Generation Hart Foundation. After being drafted to SmackDown, Smith returned to FCW—without ever debuting on SmackDown—and reformed

12543-455: Was replaced with Shawn Michaels . During the match Owen and Bret inadvertently crashed into each other, causing Owen to be eliminated from the team. Owen showed up after the match and had a heated confrontation with Bret, while Keith, Bruce and Stu tried to calm things down. This confrontation resulted in Owen leaving the ring to boos while his brothers and father watched in dismay and mother Helen cried at ringside. The following night Owen adopted

12656-401: Was shown on an edition of Superstars of Wrestling ). The two teams faced each other at Survivor Series in a 10-team Survivor Series elimination match . Strike Force captained a team of fan favorites while the Hart Foundation captained a team of villains. Strike Force was eliminated by the Hart Foundation, but the Hart Foundation also got eliminated and in the end, the fan favorite team won

12769-556: Was teamed up with Koko B. Ware (whom he had previously partnered while wrestling as the Blue Blazer) to form the duo known as High Energy. They had only one pay-per-view match as a team, at the Survivor Series where they lost to The Headshrinkers . The team was quietly dropped at the start of 1993 with Hart starting a singles career. Owen suffered a knee injury on April 17, 1993 in a match taped for Superstars, against Bam Bam Bigelow , which kept him sidelined for nearly two months. In

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