Jimmy Hart

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Jimmy Hart
Ring name(s) Jimmy Hart[1]
The Colonel[1]
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Weight 166 lb (75 kg)[1]
Born January 1, 1944 (1944-01-01) (age 66)[1]
Jackson, Mississippi
Resides Tampa, Florida[2]
Billed from Memphis, Tennessee[1]

Jimmy Ray Hart[2] (born January 1, 1944) is a professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician[1] best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling under his nickname The Mouth of the South. He has managed many professional wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Ted DiBiase, and The Honky Tonk Man. He is also a one-time AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion.

Contents

[edit] Professional wrestling career

[edit] Early career

Main article: The First Family

After being asked to sing back-up with Jerry "The King" Lawler, Hart (who attended Memphis Treadwell High School with Lawler) was asked to be an announcer and then to manage him. He also managed King Kong Bundy, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Lanny Poffo, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Ox Baker, Kamala, Randy Savage, and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert; this stable was known as "Hart's First Family of Wrestling," or simply "The First Family." After Lawler broke his leg, Hart brought in talent to take the title from Lawler.

In 1982, Hart earned national headlines doing a program with comedian and television star Andy Kaufman. Hart, "The King," and Kaufman would continue this feud for over a year. Around this time, Hart became known as "The Wimp," a nickname given to him by Lawler and chanted by fans, and was the subject of the song "Wimpbusters," which was sung by Lawler to the tune of "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.; a music video was also made featuring Lawler, announcer Lance Russell, and wrestlers such as Savage, Handsome Jimmy Valiant, Dutch Mantel, Tommy Rich, and Rufus R. Jones, along with footage of "The King" beating Hart and his "First Family". Then in 1983 and 1984, Hart led Austin Idol, Masao Ito, and Gilbert to CWA/AWA International titles. After this success, Hart was hired by the WWE/WWF, shortly after he was given his trademark megaphone, thus giving him the namesake "The Mouth of the South".

[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1985–1993)

[edit] 1980s

While in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Hart's first acquisition was Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in 1985, then the Intercontinental Champion. At WrestleMania, Hart managed King Kong Bundy as he defeated S.D. ("Special Delivery") Jones, allegedly in nine seconds (from bell-to-bell it was actually 26 seconds). Hart later traded Bundy's contract to Bobby “The Brain” Heenan for The Missing Link and Adrian Adonis.

Also in 1985, Hart managed Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. After Valentine lost the Intercontinental Title to Tito Santana, Hart briefly co-managed the Dream Team (Valentine and Beefcake), until he was phased out and gave full control to "Luscious" Johnny Valiant. In 1986, Hart took the Funk Family under his wing. The Funks included Terry, Hoss, and "brother" Jimmy Jack Funk. Then, Hart managed Adrian Adonis and helped him establish the gimmick of “Adorable” Adrian Adonis.

That year also marked the appearance of Bret "The Hitman" Hart; Hart teamed him up with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart to form The Hart Foundation. On January 26, 1987, Hart guided the Hart Foundation past the British Bulldogs for the WWF World Tag Team title. Hart led the Hart Foundation and former referee Dangerous Danny Davis over the Bulldogs and Tito Santana at WrestleMania III in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. When The Honky Tonk Man turned heel, Hart became his manager. The Honky Tonk Man called Hart “The Colonel” in a reference to Tom Parker, the manager of Elvis Presley. With Hart in his corner, The Honky Tonk Man captured the Intercontinental title from Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat on June 2, 1987.

Later in 1987, Hart was named Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Manager of the Year, an award he won again in 1994. Also in 1987, Hart managed the WWF Women’s Tag Team champions Judy Martin and Leilani Kai, known as the Glamour Girls. At WrestleMania IV, Hart received a haircut from Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. When he dropped the Hart Foundation in 1988, Hart managed The Fabulous Rougeaus to feud with his former team; the angle was that Hart still retained the managerial rights to his former team and gave it to the Rougeaus, giving them the right to appear at ringside whenever the Hart Foundation wrestled. At SummerSlam 1988, Hart accompanied Demolition and Mr. Fuji to help retain their WWF Tag Team title against the Hart Foundation. Ax used Hart's megaphone as a foreign object to strike Bret and secure the victory. The Megaphone became a significant trademark of (Jimmy) Hart's throughout the years and was extensively used as a foreign object by the wrestlers he managed and by himself. In 1989, Hart brought Dino Bravo into his stable after the departure of Frenchy Martin. Then at a push-up contest between the Ultimate Warrior and Bravo, Hart and Bravo invited a large 460 pound man from the audience—later known as Earthquake—into the ring to sit on the contestants' backs. Hart groomed Earthquake to be the man to beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship.

[edit] 1990s

In 1990, Hart managed the short-lived team Rhythm and Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine) to feud with his former tag team, the Hart Foundation. He also managed The Mountie, Jacques Rougeau.

On March 24, 1991, Hart led The Nasty Boys past the Hart Foundation for the WWF World Tag Team title at WrestleMania VII. Hart added another tag team to his stable, the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon), but Hart turned on the Natural Disasters to manage Money Inc. ("The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and IRS). Hart took Money Inc. to two WWF World Tag Team title reigns. In 1992, The Natural Disasters got their revenge on Hart, but their reign was short. Hart also managed The Mountie, in a short lived Intercontinental championship reign in early 1992. When Ric Flair was wrestling in the WWF, Hart would occasionally manage him at house shows when Bobby Heenan and Curt Hennig had commitments elsewhere. Also in 1992, Hart lost The Nasty Boys due to his ties with Money Inc. because they felt he was not helping them and was only focusing on his champions. Finally in 1993, Hart turned face and managed Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake after he came to the aid of Beefcake following an attack by Money Inc. At WrestleMania IX, Hart managed the Mega Maniacs (Hogan and Beefcake), who lost to Money Inc. by disqualification. After being disqualified, Hogan and Beefcake were going to "beat up" the referee, but Hart told them not to do it and stepped in. At King of the Ring, Hart was in Hogan's corner as he lost the WWF title back to Yokozuna. This appearance was Hart's last in the WWF, as both he and Hogan departed the company.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling (1994–2001)

Following their departure from the WWF, Hogan and Hart briefly toured Japan. After their return, Hart wrote music and occasionally appeared on Hogan's television show, Thunder in Paradise. Hogan then had Hart manage him when they went to World Championship Wrestling (WCW). At Bash at the Beach in 1994, Hart managed Hogan to win his first WCW World title by defeating “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.

At Halloween Havoc in 1995, Hart turned on Hogan to help The Giant. Hart also became the manager of the evil faction, The Dungeon of Doom, created by Kevin Sullivan. During that era _1995-1996) he managed Ric Flair to a 12th world title victory over Macho Man Randy Savage and some members of the 4 Horsemen to in the union of the horsemen and the DOA against Savage and Hogan.After the demise of the Dungeon of Doom, Hart recreated The First Family. After the demise of the First Family, Hart was placed in charge of booking TBS's WCW Saturday Night show prior to the program's cancellation. At Spring Stampede in 2000, Hart faced radio personality Mancow. The two had a rematch later in the year at Mayhem. In February 2001, Hart joined WCW's booking committee.

[edit] Independent circuit; Wrestlicious (2001–present)

Hart posing with Lance Hoyt

After the sale of WCW to the then rival WWF, Hart and a close consortium of wrestlers and investors decided to create a wrestling organization—the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF)—that would replace WCW as well as take wrestling back to early 1990s style of fun, family-oriented entertainment with minimal story lines and more solid wrestling. In 2003, Hart restarted his feud with Jerry Lawler by buying, for the XWF, part of the upstart Memphis Wrestling promotion.

On June 19, 2005 at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)'s Slammiversary pay-per-view, The Naturals were assisted in a title defense against Team Canada by Hart, who ran to ringside and threw his megaphone to Chase Stevens, who hit Petey Williams with it and pinned him. Hart acted as the manager of The Naturals until October 3, 2005.

In 2007, Hart appeared at the PMG Clash of Legends. On November 7, 2008, Hart appeared at the Jerry "The King" Lawler 35th anniversary event. He also made a few appearances with Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's developmental territory, as a color commentator in 2008. He made multiple appearances for Axxess during the week leading up to The 25th Anniversery of WrestleMania.

On January 19, 2010, Hart announced that his all-female wrestling promotion Wrestlicious would be premiering on MavTV and BiteTV on March 1, 2010.[3]

[edit] TNA WRESTLING (2010)

On Feruary 6, 2010 Hart told Crave Online that he would be returning to TNA to manage The Nasty Boys who he once manage during their early careers in the WWF.

[edit] Other media

[edit] Music

Before wrestling, Hart, as a teenager, was a vocalist in the 60s band The Gentrys who had a million selling record "Keep on Dancin." Before becoming The Gentrys, there were known as just "The Gents." Their production manager told them that if they did not change their name, then they would not succeed in the music industry. Later, after the leader of the group Larry Raspberry left, Hart took over and they had a few minor hits most notably "Why Should I Cry" and a cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl". Hart and the band were successful in the Memphis area nightclub circuit. The group was under contract to Stax Records at the time of its bankruptcy, and Stax could not properly promote them.

During his years in the professional wrestling business, Hart composed many theme songs for wrestlers in the WWF and WCW. Some of the wrestlers for whom he composed music were Honky Tonk Man, Jimmy Snuka, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, The Rockers, The Hart Foundation, Crush, the Fabulous Rougeaus, Dusty Rhodes, the Legion of Doom, the Nasty Boys, Ted DiBiase, the Mountie, Hulk Hogan, the nWo Wolfpac, and 3 Count. One of Hart's most notable compositions is Shawn Michaels's entrance theme, "Sexy Boy."[4]

In the late 1980s, Hart released a music album (also available on cassette tape) entitled Outrageous Conduct. The release consisted of comical songs done in character; such as "Barbra Streisand's Nose" and "Eat Your Heart Out Rick Springfield." In 1995, Hulk Hogan released the album "Hulk Rules."[5] Hart, as well as Hogan's then wife Linda, were a part of the band The Wrestling Boot Band and helped write and sing many of the album's songs.[5]

[edit] Television appearances

In September 2007, Hart appeared on an episode of The People's Court as a witness for a defendant.

Hart is a close friend of Hulk Hogan and is featured on many episodes of Hogan's VH1 reality series, Hogan Knows Best. Hart was also a judge on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling.

Hart also appears in hair restoration advertisements for Medical Hair Restoration, as a client.

[edit] In wrestling

  • Teams and stables managed

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

Hart at a signing in Toronto in December 2009

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao "Jimmy Hart profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/j/jimmy-hart.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
  2. ^ a b "Jimmy Ray Hart on USSearch". USSearch.com. http://preview.ussearch.com/preview/newsearch?searchtab=people&adID=10002101&adsource=34&comjsessionid=cF1kQ-B8k577KLM3965C8g**.node2&searchFName=jimmy&searchMName=r&searchLName=hart&searchCity=&searchState=FL&searchApproxAge=555&x=0&y=0. Retrieved 2008-04-26. 
  3. ^ Johnson, Mike (2010-01-19). "Wrestlicious issues official press release touting TV clearances". PWInsider. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/44446/wrestlicious-issues-official-press-release-touting-tv-clearances.html?p=1. Retrieved 2010-02-03. 
  4. ^ "Amazing But True..". WWE Magazine (13): 23. July 2007. 
  5. ^ a b Hulk Hogan. "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" (p.256)
  6. ^ "Hart Foundation Profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/h/hart-foundation-original.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  7. ^ "Bret Hart". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/hart-bret.html. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 
  8. ^ "The Naturals profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/n/naturals.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 

[edit] References

  • Hogan, Hulk (2002). Hollywood Hulk Hogan. World Wrestling Entertainment. pp. 352. ISBN 0743456904. 

[edit] External links

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