The Hart Foundation The Hart Foundation referred to several teams or stables in the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) , usually consisted of members or close friends of the Hart wrestling family from Canada . The original " Hart Foundation " ( 1985 – 1991 ) consisted of Jim " The Anvil " Neidhart and Bret " The Hitman " Hart , who were initially managed by Jimmy Hart and won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice . In 1991 , after the team was disbanded , Neidhart teamed briefly with Bret ' s younger brother Owen Hart as The New Foundation . They also teamed in 1994 . In 1997 , Bret , Neidhart and Owen joined forces with another brother - in - law , The British Bulldog , and Brian Pillman , to re - form the " Hart Foundation " as a pro - Canada / anti - American alliance , which at the time held all the available WWF championships : the WWF Championship , Intercontinental Championship , European Championship , and Tag Team Championship . In 2007 , David Hart Smith , Tyson Kidd , and Natalya teamed together as " The Next Generation Hart Foundation " in WWE ( formerly the WWF ) ' s developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling , where they won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship . They were later moved to the WWE main roster and renamed " The Hart Dynasty " where they won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship . In 2008 , WWE named the Hart Foundation as the third greatest tag team in history . The original " Hart Foundation " began in 1985 , when Jim " The Anvil " Neidhart , already managed by Jimmy Hart , who joined up with his brother - in - law Bret " Hitman " Hart to form 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 Jim Neidhart . Management first laughed at the idea , but months later just as Bret was about to quit , he was given what he wanted : he was allowed to become a villain and was partnered up with Neidhart and Jimmy 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 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 ( Jim Brunzell and B . Brian Blair ) . At " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " , the Foundation faced Brunzell and Blair in a tag team match , which the Killer Bees won . The Hart Foundation continued to feud with the Killer Bees for the better part of 1986 . The Hart Foundation 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 the referee of the match , " Dangerous " Danny Davis helped the Harts to win the match . On the March 14 edition of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " , the Harts made their first title defense against Tito Santana and Dan Spivey and retained the title after Danny Davis hit Santana with Jimmy Hart ' s megaphone . Santana began to feud with Davis as a result of this action and at this point , he joined the British Bulldogs in their feud with the Hart Foundation . The rivalry culminated in a six - man tag team match at WrestleMania III where the Foundation teamed up 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 edition of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " , 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 the second fall Neidhart was pinned by Smith . 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 ) , ending their 10 - month reign . 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 the match . The feud culminated in a match for the WWF Tag Team Championship on the February 5 edition of " The Main Event " , as the Hart Foundation challenged Strike Force for the title but lost the match . In late spring / early summer of 1988 , Jimmy Hart signed the Hart Foundation ' s rivals The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and , the storyline , claimed 25 percent of Bret Hart ' s and Jim Neidhart ' s payment . After Jimmy ' s betrayal of the team , and the loss of their tag team championship , the Hart Foundation were pushed as fan favorites , though Bret started a slow face turn at WrestleMania IV a few months prior . In the summer of 1988 , the Hart Foundation began a feud with WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition for the title . At SummerSlam , they challenged Demolition for the WWF Tag Team Championship but ended up losing the match . On the October 29 edition of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " , they faced Demolition in a rematch for the title but lost due to outside interference by The Rougeaus . The Hart Foundation continued their feud with The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers , and formed an alliance with Jim Duggan . At Royal Rumble in early 1989 , Duggan and the Hart Foundation defeated Dino Bravo and the Rougeaus in a two out of three falls match to end the feud . In late 1989 , the Hart Foundation split for a while and wrestled in other teams but reunited in early 1990 . On the April 28 edition of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " , they faced The Rockers ( Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty ) 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 the Rockers and the Hart Foundation . At SummerSlam , the Hart Foundation faced Demolition in a two out of three falls match for the tag title which the Hart Foundation won . As a result , the Hart Foundation got their second WWF Tag Team Championship . The Hart Foundation ' s second title reign lasted until WrestleMania VII when they were defeated by The Nasty Boys ( Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs ) , when Knobbs 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 .