Ross Hart | |
---|---|
Birth name | Ross Lindsay Hart [1] [2] |
Born | [2] Calgary, Alberta, Canada [3] | January 3, 1960
Family | Hart Jack Pfefer (godfather) [4] |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Ross Hart Ross Lindsey [1] Ross Lindsay [1] Rory Hunter [5] |
Trained by | Stu Hart |
Debut | 1985 [6] |
Retired | 2005 [7] |
Ross Lindsay Hart [2] (born January 3, 1960) [8] is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, promoter, [9] trainer, booker, TV producer, coach and actor. [5] 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.
Ross Hart was born in Calgary, Canada on January 3, 1960 (his older brother Dean Hart 6th Birthday). Hart is of Irish descent through his maternal grandfather and Greek descent through his maternal grandmother. [10] [11] [12] [13] His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry. [14] [15] Hart is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States due to his mother Helen Hart being from New York. [16] [17] Hart grew up in a household with 11 siblings, Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Diana and Owen. [18]
Hart's middle name was given to him in honor of his father's longtime friend Luther Lindsay [2] and he was the godson of wrestler and promoter Jack Pfefer. [19] Hart has stated that his earliest memory is hearing his father Stu training wrestlers in their family basement, known as The Dungeon. [20] Hart's first experience working for his father's promotion Stampede Wrestling was selling programs for the shows when he was six years old. [20] Hart is a childhood friend of fellow wrestler Milad Elzein who is the same age, he would sometimes help Hart sell the programmes before the Stampede shows when they were young. [21]
In the 80s Hart wrestled for the original Stampede Wrestling having matches with wrestlers such as Drago Zhivago, [22] 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. [23] 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. [23] 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. [23] 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. [23]
In the '80s Hart worked in the UK and wrestled on the program World of Sport in singles matches against Marty Jones [24] and in tag team matches with his brother Owen against Fit Finlay and Rocky Moran, [25] they performed as faces. [26] Ross and Owen toured most of Europe together in 1983. [27] Hart appeared at a pair of WWF television tapings in August 1990, wrestling as enhancement talent on the television program WWF Wrestling Challenge under the ring name Ross Lindsey. [28] At the tapings he faced Ted DiBiase in a singles match and also teamed with Mike Pocari against The Orient Express, with Barry Hardy against Power And Glory, with Mike Morgan and Ron Cumberledge against Demolition. [23] 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. [23] 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. [29] [30]
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. [23] [31] 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. [32]
Hart worked as a Television Producer on the original Stampede Wrestling. [22] Hart together with his brother Bruce relaunched their father's Stampede Wrestling promotion in 1999. [33] [34] [35] Ross usually handled promotion in the smaller Alberta towns such as Hanna, Didsbury and Cochrane while Bruce took care of Ogden Legion. [36] At this time the Hart brothers also handled at the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp where they would train students, often with help from their father Stu and occasionally other relatives. [37] In 2005 Hart worked as senior advisor and commissioner for Celtic Pro Wrestling in Ireland. [38] [39] [40]
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. [41] [42] Ross helped design his niece Natalya's ring costume, [43] he criticized how revealing the original version was and opted to change it. [44] [45] In 2014 Ross inducted long time wrestling photographer Bob Leonard into the High Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame. [46] 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. [47] Ross and his brother Smith were present for the induction of their father into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014. [48] In 2017 Hart served together with his older brother Bret as part of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum's Distinguished Selection Committee, the committee decides which wrestlers will be inducted for that following year. [49] [50] During that year Hart inducted fellow Canadian Yvon Robert to the Hall of Fame. [51]
In 2006 Hart portrayed Humphrey Bogart in a theatrical rendition of Play It Again, Sam at the Workshop Theatre in Calgary. [52]
Hart has appeared in several documentaries, including Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows and Bret Hart: Survival of the Hitman which are both about his brother Bret, as well as the Hart family documentary Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology [53] [54] and Surviving the Dungeon: The Legacy of Stu Hart which is about his father, and also 2016's Hart Still Beating , which is about his brother Smith and nephew Matt. [55] Outside of documentaries about Harts's family he has also appeared in Dynamite Kid: A Matter of Pride . [56]
In 2008 Hart appeared on the E! Chris Benoit special after Benoit's death. [57] In 2015 Hart appeared alongside his sister Diana on Shaw TV to speak about their father Stu's one hundredth birthday. [58]
Ross's niece Lindsay Hart who is a make up artist and wrestling personality is named after his middle name. On 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 seatbelt had his head smashed through the windshield 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. [59] [60]
Hart appeared at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas in February 2001. [61] Since the passing of Hart family patriarch and matriarch Stu and Helen Hart, the traditional Sunday dinner is held at Ross' home. [62] Hart has long been candid about the scripted nature of professional wrestling and approved of the Calgarian civic committee's decision to exclude it from its combative sports bylaw in 2006. [63] In 2008 Ross Hart encouraged the city of Calgary to renovate but preserve his childhood home in its original form, [64] this was eventually done between 2010 and 2012. Ross is the Hart family's historian and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the wrestling business according to his brother Bret and journalists Dave Meltzer. [65] [66] [51]
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.
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.
Michael Paul Shaw was an American professional wrestler who was best known for his stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Norman the Lunatic, and as Bastion Booger in the World Wrestling Federation.
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 and 1984. 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.
Ed Whalen was a Canadian television personality and journalist best known worldwide for hosting the popular professional wrestling TV series Stampede Wrestling. Whalen was also a popular sportcaster in Calgary, Alberta whose nickname "Wailin' Ed" was indicative of his famous nasal announcing voice.
Diana Joyce Hart is a Canadian-American writer, model, valet and wrestling personality. 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. 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.
Owen James Hart was a Canadian 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.
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.
Bradley Joseph Annis is an American retired bodybuilder, powerlifter, fitness guru, professional wrestler, gym owner and firefighter. Annis is best known for his work for Stampede Wrestling and his ownership and handling of the Calgary gym at which many of the wrestlers trained. Annis is married to Georgia Hart, the daughter of wrestler Stu and wrestling promoter Helen Hart.
Visiting with my uncle Ross Hart, aka Rory Hunter! He was one of my first coaches when I started wrestling in 2001!
Happy Easter to all my children, family, friends & fans. Unfortunately I will be missing my brother Ross' big family dinner, which is a continuation of the Sunday dinners my dad used to make, but I will be well represented by Bob Flop Johnson & the notorious Sir Chisholm. My sisters Georgia & Allison & my lovely niece Jennifer deserve major credit for the mighty feast. Also Happy Passover to Rabbi Gaffe and his lovely bride.
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