Profile of the Hart Foundation

Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were signed by the WWE in 1985 when Vince bought Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling organization. Stu was Bret’s father while Bret and Jim are brother-in-laws. They were put together as a team and were given the “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart as a manager. The team spent 1986 trying to get the World Tag Team Championship from the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid). When traditional methods did not work, they resorted to a devious plan.

Danny Davis was a referee that started to show a strong bias towards the bad guys during 1986. In January 1987, thanks to his refereeing, the Hart Foundation won the tag team titles. Shortly afterwards, Danny Davis was banned from refereeing and joined the Hart Foundation. The Hart Foundation held the titles for most of the year but lost them to Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel). They feuded with Strike Force for a few months but things were about to change.

At WrestleMania IV, Bret was eliminated from a battle royal when his “friend” Bad News Brown turned on him. Bret became a fan favorite and started wrestling in solo competition. A few months later, he rejoined with Jim Neidhart but not Jimmy Hart. The Hart Foundation would go on to win the tag team titles at SummerSlam 90 from Demolition and lost them at WrestleMania VII to the Nasty Boys. After that match, Bret became a solo wrestler again and had tremendous success. The next year, Jim teamed with Owen Hart (Bret’s brother) as the New Foundation but that quickly ended.

1997 started with Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (aka Davey Boy Smith) as bad guy tag team champions while Bret was a good guy. Tensions started to mount for the tag team championship and they had a match on RAW. However, Bret came out and stopped the match. He said that blood was thicker than water and reformed the Hart Foundation. Around this time, Bret was feuding with Steve Austin and the fans took to booing Bret and cheering the treacherous Austin. They were quickly joined by Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman (a graduate of Stu Hart’s dungeon).

The team was hated in the U.S. but were heroes in Canada. This led to some strange audience reactions as WWE programming was frequently broadcast from both Canada and the U.S. The highlight of this era of the group was their Homecoming at the 1997 Canadian Stampede PPV which featured the Hart Foundation win a 10-man tag team match. After the match, the Hart Foundation celebrated with the entire Hart family.

At this time, the WWE was getting crushed by WCW and was in danger of going out of business. In order to survive, Vince McMahon did two things. The first was to change the product from a family friendly experience to a more adult oriented program. The second was to inform Bret that he would not be able to pay his contract and that he could join WCW. Bret, an outspoken critic of the new direction of the WWE, decided to go to WCW. There was just one problem. Bret was still the WWE Champion. At this time, tragedy hit the Hart Foundation as Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room.

Bret had a creative control clause in his contract and was adamant that he not lose the title to his real-life enemy Shawn Michaels in Canada. However, Bret lost the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels in Montreal at the 1997 Survivor Series when he “submitted” to the Shawn’s Sharpshooter. After the match, on TV Bret spit in the face of Vince and backstage gave him a black eye. That was Bret’s final WWE match. Jim Neidhart and the British Bulldog were allowed to go to WCW but Owen was not led out of his WWE contract.

At Over the Edge 99, Owen Hart lost his life in a freak accident when he plummeted from the rafters of the arena into the ring. Despite his death, the PPV continued. The aftermath of this event fractured the family as some members stood behind Owen’s widow Martha while other members of the family made peace with the WWE for various reasons. A few months later, Bret was forced to retire from a concussion he received in a match with Goldberg. In 2002, Davey Boy Smith died from a heart attack.

In 2006, Harry Smith, the son of the British Bulldog, was signed to a developmental deal with the WWE. Nattie Neidhart, the daughter of Jim Neidhart, was signed also signed to a WWE developmental deal in 2006. Teddy Hart, the son of Georgia Hart (Bret’s sister), is a star in the indies and was a part of the short-lived Wrestling Society X that was on MTV. He has been involved in several controversies and has been blackballed from several indy federations. As of 2008, Harry and Nattie were both on the main WWE roster.