The Hart Foundation

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 a villainous tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

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*, 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 WWF 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, and afterwards 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 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 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 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 titles to Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) after Neidhart submitted to a Boston crab applied by Martel, ending their ten-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 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 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 two competitors in a 20-man battle royal and looked to be co-existing heels after eliminating 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 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 titles. 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 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 titles but lost due to outside interference by The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond), old rivals of the Hart Foundation and, until a few months previously, a fan favorite team. In the late fall of 1988, Jimmy Hart signed the Rougeaus who, in the storyline, claimed twenty-five 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 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 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, they faced the Tag Team Champions The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) in 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 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).

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 the Rockers and the Hart Foundation. At SummerSlam, the Hart Foundation faced Demolition in a two-out-of-three falls match for the tag titles. 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 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 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 titles. The Rockers actually defended the WWF Tag Team titles 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.

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 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.

## The Hart Foundation

### Members

Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Brian Pillman

In 1997, the Hart Foundation re-formed as a pro-Canadian and British/anti-American family-oriented stable that was born after the events of 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 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 Hart Foundation usually brought the Canadian and British flags out to their matches, and in their promos would talk in disgust about the United States and its inhabitants in general, thus causing fan reactions and making the Hart Foundation (and Bret Hart in particular) unpopular in the States but highly popular in Canada. Their main feud was with Austin, Michaels, The Patriot, Ken Shamrock, Vader, The Legion of Doom, Goldust, and Vince McMahon, 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 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 stable was highly successful, garnering every championship available at the time (WWF World Heavyweight Championship, WWF Intercontinental Championship, WWF European Championship, and WWF Tag Team Championship).

Pillman passed away of an undetected heart condition on October 5, 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 World Heavyweight 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.