Diana Hart | |
---|---|
Born | Diana Joyce Hart 8 October 1963 Calgary, Alberta, Canada [1] |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | English |
Nationality | Canadian American |
Period | 1980s– |
Genre | Autobiographical, romance novel |
Subject | Pro wrestling |
Notable works | Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family |
Spouse | |
Children | 2, including Davey Boy Smith Jr. |
Diana Joyce Hart (born 8 October 1963) [2] is a Canadian-American writer, model, valet and wrestling personality. [3] She is the youngest daughter of Canadian wrestling promoter Stu Hart and was the second to last child born to Stu and his wife Helen. [4] She is best known for her several appearances for Stampede Wrestling and WWE often with her brothers Bret and Owen Hart as well as her husband Davey Boy Smith, and for her book, Under the Mat . [5]
She was also the 1997 "Mrs. Calgary Stampede". [6]
Hart is of Greek descent through her maternal grandmother [7] [8] and Irish through her maternal grandfather, long-distance runner Harry Smith. [9] [10] Her father was mainly of Ulster Scot descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry. [11] [12] Hart is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States thanks to her mother Helen, who was born in New York. [13] [14]
Hart grew up with eleven siblings; Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Ross and Owen.
One of Hart's first wrestling appearances was in her father's promotion, Stampede Wrestling, in August 1989, during a heated rivalry between her husband Davey Boy Smith and his storyline brother Johnny Smith, in which her brother Owen Hart also got involved after Johnny's disrespect towards the Hart family. [15]
She was also involved in the 1999 incarnation of Stampede Wrestling. In a storyline where she refused to put the belt around the waist of a wrestler who had insulted her family, she was then attacked but her son Harry intervened and chased the attackers off. [16]
Hart was in attendance at SummerSlam in August 1992 where her husband won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from her brother, Bret Hart, in the night's main event at Wembley Stadium. [17] At the end of the match, Hart embraced both her brother and her husband to signify the family's unification. [18] Two years later at the 1994 SummerSlam, she sat at ringside beside her husband, who had just returned to the WWF, to watch her brothers Bret and Owen wrestle each other inside a steel cage for the WWF Championship. [19] In 1995, she accompanied her husband to the ring for his WWF Championship match against Bret at In Your House: Season's Beatings, which Davey lost. [20]
In April 1996, the WWF began a storyline where Hart claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Shawn Michaels backstage at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies in an attempt to play mind games with Michaels as her husband prepared to challenge him for the WWF Championship at In Your House: Beware of Dog. [21] The angle culminated with an in-ring promo on an episode Monday Night Raw where Hart slapped Michaels, leading to a brawl between Michaels and Bulldog. When their match at In Your House led to a draw, a rematch was signed for King of the Ring 1996, which the Bulldog ultimately lost. [22] [23] After that, the storyline was dropped.
In July 1997, Diana accompanied the Hart Foundation in their match at In Your House: Canadian Stampede, who defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and The Legion of Doom in the main event. Two months later, she was at ringside for the WWF One Night Only British pay-per-view, where her husband lost the WWF European Championship to Shawn Michaels in the main event. [24]
She later appeared on WWE television in May 2002, when she was interviewed for a WWE Confidential piece on the recent death of her ex-husband. [25] At WrestleMania XXVI, Hart returned as a lumberjack for the No Holds Barred Match between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon. McMahon had paid the Hart Family to screw Bret in their match. However, the tables were turned and the Hart Family sided with Bret and helped him win the match. [26] She also appeared at her father Stu's Hall of Fame induction in 2010 together with all her living siblings. [27] She also appeared alongside her children to accept the posthumous Hall of Fame induction of her ex-husband as part of the class of 2020 (ceremony held in 2021). [28]
Hart has also worked for Hart Legacy Wrestling, which is managed by her relatives and their associates, she appeared on the first ever HLW event in 2013 together with all her living siblings except Bret [29] [30] and the Hopes & Ropes charity fundraiser in 2016 where she signed copies of her book Cauliflower Heart: A Romantic Wrestler. [31] She also works with gym training for younger students and promotional work for the shows. [32]
After the death of her younger brother, Owen Hart, in a wrestling accident, Hart became very outspoken about the wrestling industry and wrote a controversial book entitled Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family, which discussed alleged secrets of the Hart family. [33] Owen's widow, Martha, intended to sue Hart over the book, which caused the book to be removed from publication. [34] [35] It was later claimed by Hart that the stories that were printed in the book were completely twisted and changed from how she had written them originally, and she was deeply hurt by the controversy that it caused her family because of it. Her brother Bret has questioned her claim that she was not aware of the book's content before publication. [36] Hart has disowned the book and stated that she wishes it had never been written. [37] [38]
In 2015 Hart stated that she was intending to write a trilogy of romance novels. The book series is entitled Cauliflower Heart and revolves around a woman born into a wrestling family. The first book entitled Cauliflower Heart: A Romantic Wrestler, which was released in 2014. [39] [40] [41] Hart received a silver medal award by the Reader's Favorite in the category Sports Fiction for the book. [42] [43] It was also a runner-up at the Hollywood Book Festival in the category genre-based books. [44] The second part of the series is entitled Cauliflower Heart: Wrestling With Life and was released on October 7, 2016. [45] [46] [47] The third and final part was released on February 17 in 2017 and is called Cauliflower Heart: She Who Laughs Last. [48] [49]
Hart worked as a model for 20 years in Calgary. [50]
Hart has appeared in several documentaries, including Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows , Surviving the Dungeon: The Legacy of Stu Hart and Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology . [51] In 2015 Hart appeared alongside her brother Ross on Shaw TV to speak about their father Stu's hundredth birthday. [52] Hart appears in the documentary Hart Still Beating, which is about her brother Smith and nephew Matt. [53] Hart is the subject of the 2017 shoot documentary Queen of Harts: The Diana Hart Story. [54]
Hart met Davey Boy Smith when he was training under her father in 1981. They married on October 7, 1984, a day before her 21st birthday. The couple had two children together, Harry (born on August 2, 1985) and Georgia (born September 26, 1987). They remained married until 2000, when the couple filed for divorce, and her son Harry followed his father and mother into professional wrestling. [55] At the time of their split in 2000 they were not yet formally divorced, even though they both had begun new relationships with other people. [56]
Hart has in her autobiography expressed interest in family research. [57]
In 2015 Hart sold the rights to the British Bulldog wrestling trademark to her son Harry. [58] [ unreliable source ]
Bret Sergeant Hart is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College. A major international draw within professional wrestling, he has been credited with changing the perception of mainstream North-American professional wrestling in the early 1990s by bringing technical in-ring performance to the fore. Hart is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time; Sky Sports noted that his legacy is that of "one of, if not the greatest, to have ever graced the squared circle". For the majority of his career, Hart used the epithet "the Hitman".
Stewart Edward Hart was a Canadian amateur and professional wrestler, wrestling booker, promoter, coach, trainer, football player and sailor. He is best known for founding and handling Stampede Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, teaching many individuals at its associated wrestling school "The Dungeon" and establishing a professional wrestling dynasty consisting of his relatives and close trainees. As the patriarch of the Hart wrestling family, Hart is the ancestor of many wrestlers, most notably being the father of Bret and Owen Hart as well as the grandfather of Natalya Neidhart, Teddy Hart and David Hart Smith.
David Smith was an English professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog.
James Henry Neidhart was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag Team Champion with his real-life brother-in-law Bret Hart in the Hart Foundation. He also won titles in Stampede Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Mid-South Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. He was part of the Hart wrestling family through marriage to his wife Ellie Hart, teaming with various members throughout his career, and appearing with his daughter Natalya Neidhart on the reality television show Total Divas.
Thomas Wilton Billington, best known by the ring name the Dynamite Kid, was a British professional wrestler.
Bruce Edward Hart is an American-born Canadian retired professional wrestler, promoter, booker, trainer and school teacher. He is a second-generation wrestler and a member of the Hart wrestling family, being the second child of Stu and Helen Hart. He is best known for his time in Stampede Wrestling and several appearances for WWE, often with his brothers Bret and Owen.
Keith William Hart is an American born-Canadian retired professional wrestler and firefighter. He is a member of the Hart wrestling family and the third child of Helen and Stu Hart, CM. He is best known for his work for Stampede Wrestling and several appearances for WWE, often with his siblings Bret, Owen, Bruce and Diana. In Stampede he won several championships and for WWE he participated in the seventh edition of Survivor Series.
Smith Stewart Hart was an American-Canadian professional wrestler and a member of the Hart wrestling family. His parents were Stu and Helen Hart. Smith was the first of their twelve children, being one of their eight sons, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Bret, Ross and Owen followed him. Hart is also the father of two professional wrestlers, Mike and Matt Hart. Hart wrestled for the majority of his career in Canada but also worked briefly in other countries and is best known for his time in Stampede Wrestling and for his appearances for WWE. He died in 2017 due to prostate cancer.
Dean Harry Anthony Hart was a Canadian–American amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, referee, wrestling as well as music promoter and member of the Hart family who wrestled in Canadian regional promotions during the 1970s and 1980s, most notably in the Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling. He was the son of Stu and Helen Hart and the younger brother of Smith, Bruce, Keith and Wayne, as well as older brother of Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Ross, Diana and Owen Hart. Dean was widely regarded as the most handsome of the Hart brothers. He died at the age of 36 in 1990, from a heart attack induced by kidney failure.
Benjamin Bassarab is a Canadian former bodybuilder and professional wrestler, best known for his appearances for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion throughout the 1980s. Bassarab is a two time Stampede International Tag Team champion. Wrestling historian Dave Meltzer described Bassarab as a semi-spectacular in-ring performer.
Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the promotion competed with other promotions such as NWA All-Star Wrestling and Pacific Northwest Wrestling and regularly ran events in Calgary's Victoria Pavilion, Ogden Auditorium and the Stampede Corral between 1948 until 1984 when bought out by promoter Vince McMahon, the company was briefly run by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before being sold back to the Hart family the following year. Run by Bruce Hart until January 1990, he and Ross Hart reopened the promotion in 1999 and began running events in the Alberta area.
Owen James Hart was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He received most of his success in the WWF, where he wrestled under both his own name and the ring name The Blue Blazer.
The Hart House, sometimes known as the Hart mansion, is a residence located in the Patterson Heights neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Once owned by Stu Hart, it was home to his extensive professional wrestling family for 52 years from October 1951 until Stu Hart's death in October 2003. While not built for them nor any longer under ownership of the Harts, the mansion continues to be referred to as the Hart House.
The Hart Dungeon or Hart Family Dungeon, otherwise known simply as The Dungeon, was the gym and wrestling school located in the basement of the Hart mansion. The school was created by Stu Hart, patriarch of the Hart wrestling family and is known for having produced some of the greatest and most successful professional wrestlers of all time.
The Hart wrestling family, sometimes known as the Hart dynasty, is a mainly Canadian family with a significant history within professional wrestling. The patriarch of the family was wrestling legend Stu Hart (1915–2003). An amateur and professional wrestling performer, promoter and trainer, Stu owned and operated his own wrestling promotion, Stampede Wrestling. He also trained some of the most well known stars in wrestling history including "Superstar" Billy Graham, Fritz Von Erich, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and his own sons Bret Hart and Owen Hart.
Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family is a book co-written by Diana Hart and journalist Kirstie McLellan. The subtitle, Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family, refers to the Canadian Hart wrestling family, which includes wrestlers such as Smith Hart, Bruce Hart, Keith Hart, Dean Hart, Bret Hart, Ross Hart, Owen Hart, Teddy Hart, David Hart Smith and Natalya Neidhart among others. The book is highly controversial and was pulled from stores after Martha Hart, widow of Owen Hart and Diana Hart's sister-in-law, filed a lawsuit. The book became an Alberta top ten nonfiction best-seller on its release.
Martha Joan Hart is a Canadian philanthropist and researcher who is the widow of professional wrestler Owen Hart. After her husband's death in an accident at Over the Edge, Hart sued the World Wrestling Federation. She later wrote a bestselling book about her husband's life and founded a charity in his name. She has subsequently been involved in several legal cases involving her husband's image and has worked as a philanthropist and researcher.
Ross Lindsay Hart 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.
The Stu Hart 50th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling supercard produced by the Hart family that took place on December 15, 1995 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta. Held in honor of Stu Hart, the event featured Stampede Wrestling alumni as well as talent from World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation. It was the first event to feature an interpromotional "dream match" during the Monday Night War-era. The proceeds from the event were donated to the Calgary Quest Children's Society. Nine professional wrestling matches, two of which for championships, were featured on the card.
The usage of animals in professional wrestling has varied through the profession's history. Animals that have been used as opponents to humans in matches include bears, tigers, cheetahs and orangutans.
A ROMANTIC SPIN: Cauliflower Heart series telling the tale of a fictional wrestling clan should sidestep more hurt feelings, feuds and lawsuits
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