| Jim Neidhart | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Jim Neidhart[1] Who[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 281 lb (127 kg)[1] |
| Born | February 8, 1955 Tampa, Florida[1] |
| Resides | Land O' Lakes, Florida |
| Billed from | Reno, Nevada[1] |
| Trained by | Stu Hart[1] |
| Debut | 1979[1] |
James Henry "Jim" Neidhart (born February 8, 1955)[2][3] is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Jim is the father of WWE Diva Natalya. Among other accolades, he is a two-time WWF Tag Team Champion with Bret Hart as part of the original Hart Foundation.
Neidhart holds dual citizenship with Canada and the United States.
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Neidhart had an athletic career prior to his entrance into the world of professional wrestling. He first gained acclaim during high school for his success in many strength-oriented track and field events. A talented shot putter, Neidhart held the California high school record in the event from 1973–1985 for Newport Harbor High School (a school which was later made famous for its central role in the hit television show The O.C.). After graduating high school,[4] Neidhart pursued a career in the National Football League, where he may have played briefly for the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys in practices and preseason games. Although some biographies state that he played in the NFL for those teams,[5] DatabaseFootball.com contains no evidence that Neidhart ever recorded actual playing time in an NFL regular season game. In a shoot interview, Neidhart said that he spent some time in jail and actually saw Charles Manson during this period, as well.[4]
Neidhart achieved his nickname from setting a record at the Calgary Stampede games for throwing an anvil further than anyone else. Stu Hart had given him $500 to enter and win and from then, Helen nicknamed him the 'Anvil'.[6]
Following his release from the Dallas Cowboys, Neidhart traveled to Calgary to train with Stu Hart and pursue a career in professional wrestling. He worked for Stampede Wrestling, Hart's Calgary based promotion, for several years, during which time he married Ellie Hart, one of Stu's daughters.[7] He thus became the brother-in-law of fellow wrestlers Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Ross Hart, Keith Hart, and Davey Boy Smith, and later the uncle of wrestlers Teddy Hart and Harry Smith.
When Stu Hart sold Stampede Wrestling to Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Neidhart and Bret Hart were included in the deal. Originally, McMahon had Neidhart slated to perform as a singles wrestler managed by Jimmy Hart – who has no relation to the Hart family – and Bret Hart was asked to play under a "cowboy" gimmick. But after a short time, Bret requested to drop the gimmick. Hart himself suggested that he be teamed with "The Anvil" and his manager Jimmy Hart and be called the Hart Foundation.
While in the WWF, Hart and Neidhart formed a highly successful tag team, "The Hart Foundation". At first they were a heel team managed by "The Mouth Of The South" Jimmy Hart. The Hart Foundation made their Pay-per-view debut at Wrestlemania 2 when they were the last 2 eliminated by Andre the Giant in a 20 man invitational Battle royal.
Jimmy Hart led The Hart Foundation to their first Tag Team Championship in January 1987 by defeating two other former Stampede wrestlers, the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid) on the Superstars of Wrestling with the help of heel Referee "Dangerous" Danny Davis. They would hold the belts until October 1987 when they dropped the belts to Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) when Neidhart submitted to Martel's Boston crab.
Used as mid-carders in early 1988, the Hart Foundation wrestled in another 20 man Battle Royal at Wrestlemania IV before starting a feud with The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. In the summer of 1988, the Hart Foundation fired Jimmy Hart and turned face when Hart started managing the Foundation's rivals The Rougeau's who, in the storyline, also gained 25% of the Foundations contract and subsequent money. The Hart Foundation unsuccessfully challenged Demolition (Ax and Smash) for the Tag-Team titles at SummerSlam 88 when Ax hit Hart with Jimmy Hart's megaphone. The Foundation would continue feuding with Jimmy Hart's wrestlers for the next year, teaming with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to defeat Dino Bravo and The Rougeau's in a two out of three falls match at the 1989 Royal Rumble before defeating The Honky Tonk Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine at Wrestlemania V. They then faced the Tag Team Champions the Brain Busters in a non-title match at SummerSlam 89 where they lost pushing then further from regaining their titles.
The Hart Foundation was split in late 1989 as both Bret Hart and Neidhart began wrestling singles matches to varying degrees of success. The Anvil was often pitted against other "power" wrestlers such as The Warlord during this period.
The Hart Foundation re-formed in early 1990 and started challenging for the titles almost immediately. At Wrestlemania VI in Toronto, Canada, they defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) in just 19 seconds following which they started a second feud with champions Demolition, who by this time had added Crush due to Bill Eadie's ongoing health problems. They won their second Tag Team Championship by defeating Demolition at SummerSlam 90 in a two out of three falls match. Jimmy Hart was also instrumental in ending the team's second championship reign at WrestleMania VII when he led The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) to the titles against his former team, after Jimmy's distraction of the referee allowed Sags to knock out Neidhart with a helmet.
After Bret split off into singles competition, Neidhart went to the announce table, commenting for Wrestling Challenge, alongside Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. In the fall of 1991, he returned to the ring, but only to be injured by Ric Flair during a match held on the November 9 episode of Superstars, followed by an ambush by the Beverly Brothers. Neidhart was removed from the annual Survivor Series 1991, but returned soon after teaming up with Owen Hart (Bret's little brother) as "The New Foundation." The New Foundation saw moderate success including a win over The Orient Express (Kato and Tanaka) at the Royal Rumble 92 Pay-Per View. Following the win, Neidhart would leave the WWF.
After a stint wrestling in Japan, Neidhart had a brief run in World Championship Wrestling in 1993, competing in lower card matches and teaming with The Junkyard Dog on occasion.[8]
Neidhart reappeared in the WWF at King of the Ring 1994 as the mystery cornerman of Bret in his WWF Championship defense against Intercontinental Champion Diesel. The finish saw Diesel Jackknife Bret to the canvas, which would have assured him of capturing the Federation championship. Neidhart, however, interfered, costing Bret the match, but allowing him to retain his title. Following the match, Bret was subject to a beatdown at the hands of Diesel and Shawn Michaels, but Neidhart did not come to Bret's aide. Later in the night, Neidhart reappeared at ringside during Owen's match against Razor Ramon in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament. Neidhart assaulted Ramon behind the referee's back, allowing Owen to become the second WWF King of the Ring (after his brother Bret, who was King in 1993) on pay-per-view.
Owen was mired in a feud with Bret stemming from the 1994 Royal Rumble. Neidhart believed Owen when he said that Bret had been holding him down all his life and sided with him against his former tag team partner. Usually seconding Owen in his matches throughout the summer of 1994, Neidhart was seated in the third row at SummerSlam 1994 behind members of the Hart family, as well as Davey Boy Smith for the steel cage match pitting Bret against Owen for the Federation championship; this was the title that Neidhart had saved for Hart back at the King of the Ring so Owen could claim it at SummerSlam. Following a grueling match-up, Bret emerged triumphant, but was later subject to another beating at the hands of Owen and Neidhart, who locked themselves inside the caged ring while members of the Hart family tried to climb over the top to get in and help Bret. Neidhart joined Owen as part of Shawn Michaels' "Teamsters" team at Survivor Series 1994. After eliminating all the members of Razor Ramon's "Bad Guys" team except for Razor himself, Michaels inadvertently hit Diesel with the Sweet Chin Music. This move split up their tag team, as Diesel chased Michaels down the aisle. This cost their team the match as Neidhart and Owen were counted out along with the rest of the "Teamsters". Following Survivor Series, Neidhart disappeared from the WWF.
In 1996, he had a very short stint as the masked wrestler named Who, a gimmick purely designed for commentators Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler to make Abbott and Costello "Who's on First?" jokes during his matches. He last wore the mask at SummerSlam 1996 as part of the "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" party held during the Free For All pre-show.
In 1996 Jim Neidhart wrestled for the independent New York based promotion Ultimate Championship Wrestling or UCW,where he wrestled with the likes of Tatanka, his brother-in-law Bruce Hart, Falcon Coperis Louis Velazquez, King Kong Bundy and Marty Jannetty.
He later reunited with Bret as part of his stable of Canadian sympathizers in the WWF in 1997.
After Bret left the WWF on bad terms because of the incident in 1997 which would go down in history as the Montreal Screwjob, Neidhart followed him to World Championship Wrestling (though not immediately, as he would be beaten up and humiliated, on the November 24 episode of Raw, by D-Generation X prior to his departure) where he formed a tag team with The British Bulldog, who also followed Bret there. Although this was his first true big-money deal, they were rarely utilized by WCW. They achieved little in-ring success, and he was eventually released and returned to the independent circuit.
On Raw XV, the 15th-anniversary WWE Raw special on December 10, 2007, Neidhart participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal, eventually making it to the final five before being eliminated by Skinner.[9]
Neidhart appeared in TNA on the November 12, 2009, edition of Impact! winning against Jay Lethal in his initial open challenge thrown out to the legends of professional wrestling.[10]
Neidhart continues to wrestle all over the world on the independent circuit and is pursuing a career in "micro-asset classes" and real estate.
Neidhart and wife Ellie have three daughters – Jennifer, a gourmet chef and caterer, Natalya, and Kristen ("Muffy"), who was married in early June 2007.[6] Natalya is also a professional wrestler and is currently signed to WWE.[6]
On April 6, 2010, World Wrestling Entertainment released Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology, which is a 3 DVD set featuring a documentary on the Hart wrestling family (including Jim Neidhart) as well as 12 matches. It is unique in that it also features previously unseen home movies from the Harts as well as candid interviews from surviving family members.
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