Jim Neidhart

James Henry "Jim" Neidhart (born February 8, 1955) 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 headlined two pay-per-views for the WWF: Survivor Series 1989 and In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede.

Neidhart holds dual citizenship with Canada and the United States.

Early life
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. After graduating high school, 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, 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.

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'.

Early career
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. 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.

World Wrestling Federation (1985–1992)
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 Rougeaus who, in the storyline, also gained 25% of the Foundation's 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 Knobs 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 younger 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. Neidhart left the WWF a few weeks later.

World Championship Wrestling (1993)
After a stint wrestling in Japan, Neidhart debuted in World Championship Wrestling in April 1993. He was used sparingly and made his last appearance that October before leaving WCW.

Later WWF stints (1994; 1996; 1997)
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 "British Bulldog" 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 mid-1996, he had a stint as a masked heel under the name Who, a gimmick designed for commentators Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler to do Abbott and Costello "Who's on First?" routines during his matches (all of which he lost). 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.

Neidhart then 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.

Neidhart returned to the WWF in 1997, reuniting with Bret as part of his new Hart Foundation, a stable of Canadian sympathizers (joining Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and Brian Pillman). His most high-profile match during this stint was at the Canadian Stampede pay-per-view in Calgary, where the Hart Foundation defeated the American team of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and The Legion of Doom in a ten-man tag team match. He was also a part of Team Canada at Survivor Series 97, teaming with The British Bulldog, Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon to defeat Team USA, composed of Vader, Goldust, Marc Mero and Steve Blackman (Bulldog was the sole survivor).

World Championship Wrestling; Second run (1997–1998)
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.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2007)
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.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2009)
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.

Personal life
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, Natalie, and Kristen ("Muffy"), who was married in early June 2007. Natalie is also a professional wrestler under the ring name "Natalya" and is currently signed to WWE.

On February 27, 2010- Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, WV at their "LPW St. Valentine's Day Massacre" event. Then on May 28, 2011, he was honored again by Jack Blaze who also inducted his brother-in-law Owen Hart earlier that night into the "Hall of Fame".

Media
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.

Neidhart was arrested on September 6, 2010 and charged with two counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, two counts of trafficking illegal drugs, one count of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, and one count of third degree grand theft for property stolen between $300 and $5,000.

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * Anvil Flattener (Front powerslam)
 * Anvilizer (Cobra clutch)


 * Signature moves


 * Camel clutch
 * Clothesline
 * Dropkick
 * Forearm club
 * Leaping shoulder block
 * Slingshot splash


 * With Bret Hart
 * Hart Attack


 * With Owen Hart
 * Rocket Launcher


 * Managers
 * Mr. Fuji
 * Jimmy Hart

Championships and accomplishments

 * Championship Wrestling from Florida
 * NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1 time)
 * NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) – with Krusher Khruschev


 * Legends Pro Wrestling
 * Inducted into the LPW Hall of Fame (5/28/11)


 * Memphis Championship Wrestling
 * MCW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Blue Meanie


 * Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation
 * MEWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Mid-South Wrestling
 * Mid-South Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Butch Reed


 * Professional Wrestling Federation
 * PWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him # 61 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1994
 * PWI ranked him # 189 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
 * PWI ranked him # 37 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years with Bret Hart in 2003.


 * Pro Wrestling Ohio
 * PWO Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Greg Valentine


 * Stampede Wrestling
 * Stampede International Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Hercules Ayala (1) and Mr. Hito (1)
 * Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame


 * Universal Wrestling Alliance
 * UWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * World Wrestling Federation
 * WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bret Hart


 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Feud of the Year (1997) with Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin