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WWE officially announced that the original Hart Foundation, Bret Hart and the late Jim Neidhart are being inducted into the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame class on Saturday 4/6 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. PWInsider.com first reported plans to induct the Foundation, including Jimmy Hart, on 2/4 but today's announcement only listed Bret and Neidhart. WWE is bringing Jimmy Hart in for Wrestlemania 35 weekend.
Bret Hart commented on the induction, writing:
On March 1985 in Brantford, Ontario, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and I officially became the Hart Foundation. On April 6, 2019, we take our place in the WWE Hall of Fame. I wish Jim was still with us to celebrate this moment, but I know he’ll be on stage with me in spirit. pic.twitter.com/hFasuj385Q
— Bret Hart (@BretHart) March 25, 2019
The original Hart Foundation tandem was put together in WWF in 1985 after Vince McMahon purchased Stampede Wrestling from Stu Hart, bringing in several wrestlers from the territory in at the request of Stu, as they were family members. The decision was made to put brothers-in-law Hart and Neidhart together and place them with the unrelated Jimmy Hart, who had come into the company from Memphis Wrestling. They officially debuted as a team on 4/20/85, defeating Mario Mancini and S.D. Jones on WWF TV and quickly became a cornerstone of the company’s tag team division during that era.
The mixture of Jimmy Hart’s jabber, Bret Hart’s technical finesse and Neidhart’s brute strength proved to be a great combination as the two were regularly in the mix as one of the top tag teams in the company. They held the WWF Tag Team Championships on two occasions, once as heels and later as babyfaces before the team was broken up. They had a tremendous feud with the British Bulldogs as well as one later with Demolition and made memorable appearances at WrestleMania II and III before the decision was made to turn Bret Hart into a babyface singles star the following year at WrestleMania IV.
Bret Hart, now 61-years old, would go on to become one of the definitive singles talents for the company in the 1990s with multiple WWF Championship runs and WrestleMania main events. Following the Montreal Screwjob in November 1997, he would go on to WCW, where he would also win their World title but not be used as a strong as he had been in WWF. Hart would officially retire (quite prematurely given his level of stardom) in 1999 after suffering a terrible concussion from an errant, stiff kick while wrestling Bill Goldberg.
Although Hart remained at odds with WWE for many, many, many years, he agreed to be inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2006 in Chicago by Steve Austin with Hart giving an amazing Hall of Fame speech where he talked about his life growing up in and performing in professional wrestling. He would finally return to WWE in January 2010, leading to a WrestleMania match against Vince McMahon and several other wrestling appearances, including a final match at Madison Square Garden as part of a “Bret Hart Tribute Night.” Hart has made appearances for the company since in non-wrestling roles. Hart has overcome a number of health issues in recent years, including a stroke and cancer.
Following Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Booker T Bret Hart will become the latest multi-time WWE Hall of Famer, having been initially inducted himself in 2006. The next day, Hart declined to appear at WrestleMania 21, although it’s unlikely he will turn down the same opportunity at WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium.
After the initial incarnation of the Hart Foundation disbanded for good, Jim Neidhart would go on to have a number of WWF roles, including tag team partner for Owen Hart as the New Foundation, color commentary for WWF’s then-syndicated weekly shows and even performing as the masked “Who” enhancement character. When the 1997-era version of the Hart Foundation was formed, Neidhart (who had been aligned with Owen Hart as heels) reconciled on-screen with Bret Hart and would work as an enforcer for the group. The highlight of the 1997 run was the In Your House: Canadian Stampede PPV, headlined by a ten-man tag that saw the Hart Foundation receive thunderous ovations in Calgary for a bout that had incredible old school territory crowd head. Neidhart would follow Bret to WCW after the Montreal Screwjob.
In recent years, Neidhart made cameo appearances on Raw for milestone episodes and was regularly featured on Total Divas as his daughter, Natalya, is now a cornerstone member of the WWE women’s roster and cast member of that WWE reality series. Neidhart, who had been battling Alzheimer’s Disease, passed away last year at the age of 63.
We are told that a contingent of Hart family members will be coming in to New York City for the ceremony over WrestleMania 35 weekend. The Hart family patriarch, the late Stu Hart, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona with Bret Hart inducting his father and the Hart family accepting the honor as a group.
The Hart Foundation name continues to be active as Davey Boy Smith’s son Harry and Bret Hart’s nephew Teddy use it alongside Brian Pillman Jr. and are the current Major League Wrestling Tag Team Champions.
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