Ross Hart (Hart Family)

Ross Lindsay Hart, (January 3, 1960) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, promoter, trainer, booker, TV producer, coach and actor. Hart is a member of the Hart wrestling family and the second youngest son of Stu and Helen Hart. He is best known for his work in Stampede Wrestling and several appearances in WWE, often with his siblings Bruce, Keith, Bret, Diana and Owen Hart.
==Early life==
Hart is of Irish descent through his maternal grandfather and Greek descent through his maternal grandmother. His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry. Hart is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States due to his mother Helen Hart being from New York. Hart grew up in a household with 11 siblings, Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Diana and Owen.
Hart's middle name was given to him in honor of his father's longtime friend Luther Lindsay.
Hart has stated that his earliest memory is hearing his father Stu training wrestlers in their family basement, known as The Dungeon.
Hart's first experience working for his father's promotion Stampede Wrestling was selling programs for the shows when he was six years old.
==Professional wrestling career==
===In the ring===
====Stampede Wrestling====
In the 80s Hart wrestled for the original Stampede Wrestling having matches with wrestlers such as Drago Zhivago, Cuban Assassin, Gerry Morrow, Biff Wellington, Jude Rosenbloom, Chris Benoit, Goldie Rogers, Steve Blackman, Steve DiSalvo, Vokhan Singh, Great Gama, Mike Hammer, Beef Wellington, Mr. Hito, Vladimir Krupoff, Adolph Barbee, George Skaaland and brother in-law BJ Annis. Hart worked in tag team matches with Keiichi Yamada, Ken Johnson, George Skaaland and Johnny Smith as well as with his brothers Bruce against the Cuban Commandos. He participated in three-man tag team matches with his younger brother Owen and brother in-law Ben Bassarab against Drago Thomas, Gama Singh and Vladimir Krupoff as well. During this period he also took part in battle royales with many of the aforementioned wrestlers and competed for the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship.
====Sporadic work and appearances for WWF====
In the 80s Hart worked in the UK and wrestled on the program World of Sport in singles matches against Marty Jones and in tag team matches with his brother Owen against Fit Finlay and Rocky Moran.
Hart shortly worked for WWF in the 90's and appeared on the television program WWF Wrestling Challenge under the ring name Ross Lindsey. During his time there he mostly wrestled Ted DiBiase in singles matches and tag teamed with Mike Pocari against The Orient Express, with Barry Hardy against Power And Glory or with Mike Morgan and Ron Cumberledge against Demolition.
In 1994 hart worked for All Star Wrestling in England for a short period. He wrestled in victorious singles matches with Red Bronco, Johnny Angel, Duke Lynch, Count Von Zuppi, Drew McDonald. Duke Lynch being the only one he wrestled more than once.
At the 1994 SummerSlam Hart can be seen attempting to climb the cage in which his brothers Bret and Owen Hart had their match together with other members of the Hart family.
====Return to Stampede Wrestling and Wrestlemania appearance====
Hart continued to wrestle sporadically for the 1999-2007 incarnation of Stampede Wrestling, having matches with wrestlers such as Rod Rage, Juggernaut, Cuban Assassin, Ryan Evans and Apocalypse before retiring in 2005.
Hart appeared again for WWF (now renamed WWE) in an in ring capacity at WrestleMania XXVI, where he was a lumberjack for his brother Bret's first WWE match in 13 years, a No Holds Barred Lumberjack match against the WWE chairman Vince McMahon. The storyline was that McMahon had paid off Ross and the rest of the Hart family to betray Bret, but all of them turned on him and helped Bret win the match.
===Promoting and booking===
Hart worked as a Television Producer on the original Stampede Wrestling.
Hart together with his brother Bruce relaunched their father's Stampede Wrestling promotion in 1999. Ross usually handled promotion in the smaller Alberta towns such as Hanna, Didsbury and Cochrane while Bruce took care of Ogden Legion.
In 2005 Hart worked as senior advisor and commissioner for Celtic Pro Wrestling in Ireland.
===Other work in wrestling===
Ross and his brother Bruce started the Stampede wrestling hall of fame together. Together they also owned the copyright to many of the Stampede Wrestling tapes, some of which they gave to their brother Bret and some who they sold to WWE.
Ross helped design his niece Natalya's ring costume, he criticized how revealing the original version was and opted to change it.
In 2014 Ross inducted long time wrestling photographer Bob Leonard into the High Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Hart appeared on WWE television on stage together with all his living siblings when his father Stu Hart was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
==Other media==
In 2006 Hart portrayed Humphrey Bogart in a theatrical rendition of Play It Again, Sam at the Workshop Theatre in Calgary.
Hart has appeared in several documentaries, including Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows, Bret Hart: Survival of the Hitman, Surviving the Dungeon: The Legacy of Stu Hart and Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology.
In 2015 Hart appeared alongside his sister Diana on Shaw TV to speak about their father Stu's one hundredth birthday.
Hart is set to appear in the documentary Hart Still Beating, which is about his brother Smith and nephew Matt.
==Personal life==
Since the passing of Hart family patriarch and matriarch Stu and Helen Hart, the traditional Sunday dinner is held at Ross' home.
Hart was the godson of wrestler and promoter Jack Pfefer.
Hart appeared at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas in February 2001.
Hart is a childhood friend of fellow wrestler Milad Elzein who is the same age, he would sometimes help Hart sell programs before the Stampede shows when they were young.
In July 4, 1989 Hart was involved in an automobile accident near Jasper, Alberta together with Davey Boy Smith, Chris Benoit, Karl Moffat and Tatsumi Kitahara. Hart who was in the driver's seat and wearing a seatbelt received minor injuries, Smith who was sitting next to him and not wearing a seabelt had his head smashed through the windsheld resulting in a wound which required one hundred stitches. Karl Moffat was injured the most, one of his ankles was crushed by the spare tire. After the incident Moffat attempted to sue Hart, claiming he had been crippled by the event, but he did not succeed in receiving any compensation since a moving company Moffat had worked for supplied evidence of him moving around reasonably well after the accident.
==In wrestling==
*Signature Moves
**Abdominal stretch
*Finishing Moves
**Flying tackle
*Managers
**Stu Hart
=== Wrestlers trained ===
*Pete Wilson
*Natalya
*Jack Evans
*Brad Maddox
*Billy Jack Strong
*Randy Myers
*Blake Norton
*Chris Garvin
*Greg Pawluk
*Matt Vershine
*Noam Amit
*Steve Rivers
==Championships and accomplishments==
*SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame
** Class of 2016
==See also==
* Hart wrestling family
* Stu Hart
* Smith Hart
* Bruce Hart
* Keith Hart
* Dean Hart
* Bret Hart
* Diana Hart
* Owen Hart
* Hart House
* Hart Foundation
==See also==
*Hart family
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
Category:Canadian wrestlers
Category:Stampede Wrestling alumni
Category:1960 births
Category:Dungeon graduates
Category:Hart family
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni
Category:2005 retirements
Category:1985 debuts
Category:Alberta wrestlers
Category:Living people
Category:Male wrestlers
Category:Second Generation Wrestlers
Category:Actors
Category:Promoters
Category:Bookers
Category:Professional wrestling trainers