Following the announcement that the Hart Foundation would enter the WWE Hall of Fame this year, Bret Hart talked to Yahoo Sports. Coming after Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart’s death in August of last year, it’s a bittersweet moment.
“It really means a lot to me and I think it would mean a lot to my late tag partner, who would be really honored to be in the Hall of Fame. I think we both were really proud of our work as a team. I had hoped for years that we would get inducted together and get to go on stage together, but that’s not going to happen now. Emotionally, I feel really proud and I’m glad to get a chance to speak for Jim and I know he’ll be listening.”
Jim and Bret wrestled in the late 80s as a team, capturing the tag team titles twice. “I think at the time there was sort of a stereotypical tag team wrestling format and I think the Hart Foundation and the Bulldogs turned it on its head, we took it to a whole different level.” While it is commonplace today, the combination of one big man and one smaller, more technically proficient grappler was innovative at the time.
The Hart Foundation almost wasn’t a thing, as Bret was initially pitched a Cowboy gimmick. “I was going to have a horse with the toy and they were going to sell it as a package and it would be a big seller. I was kind of excited about it. I was riding to Branford, Ontario from Toronto with Jim and Adrian Adonis and I remember they started laughing about it and started chuckling about it and teasing me about it. It kind of got the best of me because I started thinking about what they were saying and thought maybe it wasn’t a good idea.” After this, Bret pitched the idea of the team, with the unrelated Jimmy Hart managing the duo and solidifying the name.
RELATED: The Hart Foundation Are The Next WWE Hall of Fame Inductees
