4.20.2011

#86: Jim Neidhart

Real Name: James Neidhart
Other Aliases: Who
Biggest Fan: Joe Reardon "One half of one of the greatest tag teams ever. His greatness is overshadowed by Bret, which is why many have him so low on the list. The Anvil certainly carried Bret during nearly all of their promos."

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart is almost like professional wrestling royalty. He's like the Prince Philip of the Harts, not technically part of the bloodline, but one of the most famous members of the family. In fact, it was Helen Hart who first called Neidhart "The Anvil" after he won an anvil-throwing contest.

Like many superstars of the era, Neidhart started out as a football player, but when he wasn't able to catch on with either the Raiders or the Cowboys, he went north to train under Stu Hart. While working for Stu's Stampede Wrestling promotion, Neidhart met and wed Stu's daughter, Ellie.

In 1985, The Anvil went to the WWF, along with Stu's son, Bret, as a result of Vince McMahon's purchase of Stampede Wrestling. Neidhart and Bret "The Hitman" Hart would end up forming one of professional wrestling's most successful tag teams of all time, the Hart Foundation. The pink-clad duo would wear tag team gold on two separate occasions, for a combined 483 days. Only Demolition (Axe and Smash) and the team of Mr. Fuji and Professor Tanaka reigned over the tag team ranks longer. Eventually, Bret went on to a magnificently successful singles career, and Neidhart teamed up with another brother-in-law, Owen "The Rocket" Hart. The Anvil and The Rocket would call themselves the New Foundation, although their success never matched that of the Hart Foundation.

Neidhart disappeared for a while from the WWF, wrestling in Japan and for WCW, but he reemerged around the time of the second King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1994. At the event, Neidhart allied himself with Owen Hart, helping him win the tournament and become the "King of Harts." This alliance with Owen led him into a feud with his former partner that culminated in a vicious attack perpetrated by Owen and The Anvil, where they pounded the crap out of the Hitman inside a steel cage.

By 1997, the entire Hart family had put their differences aside and formed one of the WWF's most impressive and memorable stables, also called the Hart Foundation. This group of five Stu Hart-trained wrestlers was immensely popular in Canada and the United Kingdom, but were reviled in the United States. It was one of the more unique phenomena in wrestling history. At one point, this stable held every one of the WWF's championships at once. After the events of the 1997 Survivor Series, Neidhart left the promotion for WCW.

Sadly, Jim Neidhart was arrested three days ago for operating an unregistered motor vehicle with no license to operate a motor vehicle anyway. Other than that, and his various other legal troubles, Neidhart's legacy lives on in the form of his daughter, Natalya, who wrestles in the WWE. Will she be able to live up to her legendary father and become a Top 100 Superstar like The Anvil? Only time will tell.

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