I’ll assume anybody reading this already knows, but I’ll explain anyways: The Hart Foundation was the tag team of Bret “Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, managed by Jimmy Hart. Bret would go on to his biggest success as a singles wrestler, but had he left the WWF at the end of this tag run he’d still be a legend.
Bret of the famous Hart family, son of Stu, injected a shot of excellent wrestling into the WWF midcard when he was hired in the mid-80s, but as with many guys it was soon decided he was best utilized as a tag wrestler. Jim Neidhart had come in at the same time, was married to Bret’s sister, and conveniently had “hart” at the end of his name.
Jimmy Hart wasn’t related to the wrestling Hart family at all.
Bret and Jim complemented each other perfectly, providing a template for a tag team that is so good it keeps being attempted so many years later even though it hasn’t been done as well since: the skinny scrappy technical wrestler paired with the big meathead power wrestler.
When this tape was released in 1987, referee Danny Davis had joined the Hart Foundation after helping them win the WWF Tag Team Titles. He left the group after a year, while Bret and Jim continued to team into 1991 before Bret moved onto the WWF Championship. The WWF tried to pair Jim and Owen Hart together as the New Foundation, but that flopped. Bret and Jim would eventually reunite again as the Hart Foundation alongside Owen, The British Bulldog, and Brian Pillman in 1997.
Young Craig DeGeorge hosts this particular Coliseum Home Video, focused primarily on The Hart Foundation’s work in 1986 and 1987. Like many announcers before him he begins the tape by putting over the technical expertise of Bret Hart and the origin story of Jim Neidhart, in which he quit football because it wasn’t rough enough for him.
1. WWF World Tag Team Title: The Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart vs. The British Bulldogs [c] (Superstars 2/7/87)
The February 7th, 1987, edition of WWF Superstars was a wild show: Andre the Giant turned on Hulk Hogan and The Hart Foundation won the Tag Team Titles. They won them in a 3-minute match with the help of referee Danny Davis, definitely their rivalry’s weakest and most angle-heavy match but notable all the same.
Dynamite bumps to the floor quick and Davis spends the match checking on him and ignoring all the double teaming and rule-breaking going on at Davey Boy’s expense. I won’t speculate on whatever dumb thing Dynamite Kid did to have the Bulldogs reign end this way, but here we go – off to the races. Two stars? One star? I don’t know.
2. The Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart vs. The Rougeau Brothers (MSG 9/22/86)
This is a match I’m sure I’ve seen a dozen times but am also not confident I ever have. Jacques does a wristlock where he backflips over Bret’s back and dropkicks him and the timing and delivery is very nice. Neidhart is great here reacting to stuff too – “ahhh how did this guy kickout, ahhh shit he made a tag” kind of stuff. Jacques gets beat up for a while, during which Bret miraculously runs at him while he’s prone on the ropes and ACTUALLY HITS HIM. He actually doesn’t take the bump into the ropes! Eventually Ray gets a tag and they build to a finish where Jacques flips over Neidhart and Ray onto Bret to get the 3, even though he’s the illegal guy. ***1/4
3. Bret Hart w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Ricky Steamboat (Boston Garden 3/8/86)
Craig DeGeorge informs us that this match is here as Bret’s personal choice, which is no surprise – WHAT A MATCH!! I think Steamboat has said this is his favorite match with Bret too and no wonder – everything is working. The crowd is hot, the timing is brilliant, the bumping is big, and the armdrags are perfect. It starts as good as any match ever, as Bret attacks pre-bell only for Steamboat to reverse an Irsih whip and send Bret into his big corner bump which the crowd goes NUTS for. Steamboat then points at Bret who begs off and it is incredible professional wrestling.
Steamboat controlling Bret with armdrags and armbars is what dreams are made of. There is some incredible and unique rope-running here to setup the armdrags – some young babyface needs to watch this match and rip off Steamboat’s spot where he quickly crawls under Bret’s legs twice as they run the ropes before firing off the armdrag. Steamboat takes an amazing bump too where he just crashes through the ropes to the floor after a shot to the gut.
They sell and lay around an extra long time, but it’s also some of the best god damn wrestling you have ever seen. Ricky eventually reverses a crossbody and gets the 3 and everybody goes crazy. ****
4. The Hart Foundation & Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Junkyard Dog, Tito Santana & Davey Boy Smith (Pennsylvania 1/6/87)
This match was previously only aired on the International version of Wrestling Challenge, so we’ve got ourselves a bit of a Coliseum Home Video EXCLUSIVE here! Not much of a pick-up though – really basic match where Bret and Davey pop the people with wrestling, Junkyard Dog takes a beating, and the heels take a 3-way noggin’ knocker at the end. **3/4
Special Investigative Report: The Offices of The Hart Foundation
This is another Coliseum Video Exclusive, in which Mean Gene promises upfront a “penetrating look” inside The Hart Foundation, where they actually act like they have a legit HQ with fax machines and secretaries. To be honest after maybe thinking about it once briefly when I was 5, I never questioned again what kind of foundation The Hart Foundation actually was. Gene gets a tour of the office where he hits on the tour guide and there’s a recurring bit with secretaries running screaming through the hallways, which seems just swell. He notes the sauna on-site and video library for match analysis, suggesting Jimmy Hart was the brains behind the Performance Center.
Mean Gene ends his search finding all four members avoiding him in an office, with Bret and Anvil having an action figure wrestling match on a table. Gene loses it: “Oh, and they’re playing with toys! They’re playing with little DOLLS” to which Jimmy responds, “These aren’t dolls, these are action toys. Girls play with dolls… we’re men, baby!” Gene sits down at the table and they all have a nice exploration of their toxic masculinity. Gene brings up their loss to The Rougeaus, to which they bring up illegal Jacques getting the pin and begin chanting “WE WON! WE WON!” Legends. A fun if not creepy “of the times” segment.
Danny Davis Becomes a Wrestler
A brief recap of Danny Davis joining The Hart Foundation is shown, including the angle on Superstars where Jack Tunney suspends him for LIFE. Jimmy Hart interprets this as only refereeing, so Davis puts on obnoxious long referee wrestling tights and starts working 6-mans. This was a decent storyline and Davis was fine in the role, but there’s not enough to make it more than a footnote.
5. The Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart and Danny Davis vs. Jim Powers & Jerry Allen (Superstars 3/7/87)
A sweet, purposeful squash match that is here only because it’s Davis’ first appearance in the Foundation’s corner. *1/2
6. The British Bulldogs & Tito Santana vs. The Hart Foundation & Danny Davis w/ Jimmy Hart (WrestleMania 3/29/87)
Only a few minutes of this are shown on the tape, but the entire match is very good. There’s a lot of quality sequences between the tag teams before a Santana hot tag and flying forearm on Davis that is AMAZING. Davey drops Danny with a tombstone as revenge for costing them the tag titles, but Danny cheats to win soon after anyways. A brisk, fun match that if not for Savage/Steamboat was the wrestling highlight of Mania III. ***1/2
7. WWF World Tag Team Title: The Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart vs. The British Bulldogs [c] (Boston Garden 11/1/86)
Unlike the title change, this is more in line with their classic matches: great straight-up tag team wrestling in the prime of their tag team careers. They work a template WWF tag but every move thrown has an extra oomph to it and the Davey/Neidhart exchanges are genuinely good in a spectacle kind of way. Bret and Dynamite are interesting to watch as far as guys who very quickly adapted to the formulaic WWF “style” but still stayed true to themselves and added in enough extra things to perfect the formula.
Bulldogs get in some stuff early, including a cool thing where Dynamite aggressively fights off both Hart and Neidhart in the Hart Foundation corner, before the Foundation takes control. The way they take control is so smooth – Davey Boy ducks a Neidhart clothesline hits the ropes and gets a knee from Hart, then Neidhart immediately throws Davey outside and Hart bodyslams him on the floor as Jimmy Hart admires his boys’ work: “Beautiful, baby, beautiful!” Neidhart works a LONG front facelock on Davey Boy, and in the moment it isn’t the most fun thing to watch but when Davey almost gets to Dynamite and Bret pulls Davey back by his tights the heat is INCREDIBLE.
So is the hot tag setup – Davey Boy press slams Bret and drops him on his nuts on the top rope before bringing in Dynamite who is a brick shithouse of fire. The ref goes down, Neidhart puts Bret on top of Dynamite and revives the referee, Davey Boy struggles to get inside and Dynamite is able to kick out at two – WOO. All four guys get in the ring and Davey Boy rolls up Neidhart for 3 even though they were both illegal. I’d get mad, but Neidhart’s face after the rollup is marvelous. ****1/4
8. WWF World Tag Team Title: The Hart Foundation [c] w/ Jimmy Hart and Danny Davis vs. The Killer Bees (MSG 2/23/87)
This is nothing special but special all the same as The Hart Foundation just shit this kind of match out nightly. There’s no surprises watching with hindsight, but the work is credible and the crowd hangs on every basic twist and turn. Davis helps the Foundation win, again. ***1/2
Happy Thoughts: You do not get a full appreciation for The Hart Foundation unless you see them carrying the WWF weekly through the 80s, but this tape provides a good overview of their early run. The Bret/Steamboat match and Bulldogs tag are classics. 7/10
