| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ross Lindsay Hart[1][5] (1960-01-03)January 3, 1960 (age 65)[5] |
| Family | Hart Jack Pfefer (godfather)[7] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ross Hart Ross Lindsey[1] Ross Lindsay[1] Rory Hunter[2] |
| Trained by | Stu Hart |
| Debut | 1985[3] |
| Retired | 2005[4] |
Ross Lindsay Hart[5] (born January 3, 1960)[8] is a Canadian-American retiredprofessional wrestler, promoter,[9] trainer, booker, TV producer, coach and actor.[2] Hart is a member of theHart wrestling family and the second youngest son ofStu and Helen Hart. He is best known for his work inStampede Wrestling and several appearances inWWE, often with his siblingsBruce,Keith,Bret,Diana andOwen Hart.
Ross Hart was born in Calgary, Canada on January 3, 1960 (his older brotherDean Hart 6th Birthday). Hart is of Irish descent through his maternal grandfather andGreek descent through his maternal grandmother.[10][11][12][13] His father was mainly ofScots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry.[14][15] Hart is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States due to his mother Helen Hart being from New York.[16][17] Hart grew up in ahousehold with 11 siblings,Smith,Bruce,Keith,Wayne,Dean, Ellie, Georgia,Bret, Alison,Diana andOwen.[18]
Hart's middle name was given to him in honor of his father's longtime friendLuther Lindsay[5] and he was the godson of wrestler and promoterJack Pfefer.[19] Hart has stated that his earliest memory is hearing his father Stu training wrestlers in their family basement, known asThe Dungeon.[20] Hart's first experience working for his father's promotionStampede Wrestling was selling programs for the shows when he was six years old.[20] Hart is a childhood friend of fellow wrestlerMilad Elzein who is the same age, he would sometimes help Hart sell the programmes before the Stampede shows when they were young.[21]
In the 80s Hart wrestled for the original Stampede Wrestling having matches with wrestlers such as Drago Zhivago,[22] Cuban Assassin, Gerry Morrow, Biff Wellington, Jude Rosenbloom,Chris Benoit, Goldie Rogers, Steve Blackman, Steve DiSalvo, Vokhan Singh, Great Gama, Mike Hammer, Beef Wellington, Mr. Hito, Vladimir Krupoff, Adolph Barbee, George Skaaland and brother in-law BJ Annis.[23] Hart worked in tag team matches with Keiichi Yamada, Ken Johnson, George Skaaland and Johnny Smith as well as with his brothers Bruce against the Cuban Commandos.[23] He participated in three-man tag team matches with his younger brother Owen and brother in-law Ben Bassarab against Drago Thomas, Gama Singh and Vladimir Krupoff as well.[23] During this period he also took part in battle royales with many of the aforementioned wrestlers and competed for the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship.[23]
In the '80s Hart worked in the UK and wrestled on the programWorld of Sport in singles matches against Marty Jones[24] and in tag team matches with his brotherOwen againstFit Finlay and Rocky Moran,[25] they performed as faces.[26] Ross and Owen toured most of Europe together in 1983.[27] Hart appeared at a pair of WWF television tapings in August 1990, wrestling asenhancement talent on the television programWWF Wrestling Challenge under the ring name Ross Lindsey.[28] At the tapings he faced Ted DiBiase in a singles match and also teamed with Mike Pocari against The Orient Express, with Barry Hardy against Power And Glory, with Mike Morgan and Ron Cumberledge against Demolition.[23] In 1994 hart worked forAll Star Wrestling in England for a short period. He wrestled in victorious singles matches with Red Brocco, Johnny Angel, Duke Lynch, Count Von Zuppi, Drew McDonald. Duke Lynch being the only one he wrestled more than once.[23] At the1994 SummerSlam Hart can be seen attempting to climb the cage in which his brothers Bret and Owen Hart had their match together with other members of the Hart family.[29][30]
Hart continued to wrestle sporadically for the 1999–2007 incarnation of Stampede Wrestling, having matches with wrestlers such as Rod Rage, Juggernaut, Cuban Assassin, Ryan Evans and Apocalypse before retiring in 2005.[23][31] Hart appeared again for WWF (now renamed WWE) in an in ring capacity atWrestleMania XXVI, where he was a lumberjack for his brother Bret's first WWE match in 13 years, aNo Holds BarredLumberjack match against the WWE chairmanVince McMahon. The storyline was that McMahon had paid off Ross and the rest of the Hart family to betray Bret, but all of them turned on him and helped Bret win the match.[32]
Hart worked as a Television Producer on the original Stampede Wrestling.[22] Hart together with his brother Bruce relaunched their father's Stampede Wrestling promotion in 1999.[33][34][35] Ross usually handled promotion in the smaller Alberta towns such as Hanna, Didsbury and Cochrane while Bruce took care of Ogden Legion.[36] At this time the Hart brothers also handled at the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp where they would train students, often with help from their father Stu and occasionally other relatives.[37] In 2005 Hart worked as senior advisor and commissioner for Celtic Pro Wrestling in Ireland.[38][39][40]
Ross and his brother Bruce started theStampede Wrestling Hall of Fame together. Together they also owned the copyright to many of the Stampede Wrestling tapes, some of which they gave to their brother Bret and some who they sold to WWE.[41][42] Ross helped design his niece Natalya's ring costume,[43] he criticized how revealing the original version was and opted to change it.[44][45] In 2014 Ross inducted long time wrestling photographerBob Leonard into theHigh Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame.[46] Hart appeared on WWE television on stage together with all his living siblings when his father Stu Hart was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.[47] Ross and his brother Smith were present for the induction of their father into theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014.[48] In 2017 Hart served together with his older brother Bret as part of theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum's Distinguished Selection Committee, the committee decides which wrestlers will be inducted for that following year.[49][50] During that year Hart inducted fellow CanadianYvon Robert to the Hall of Fame.[51]
In 2006 Hart portrayedHumphrey Bogart in a theatrical rendition ofPlay It Again, Sam at the Workshop Theatre in Calgary.[52]
Hart has appeared in several documentaries, includingHitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows andBret Hart: Survival of the Hitman which are both about his brother Bret, as well as the Hart family documentaryHart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology[53][54] andSurviving the Dungeon: The Legacy of Stu Hart which is about his father, and also 2016'sHart Still Beating, which is about his brother Smith and nephewMatt.[55] Outside of documentaries about Harts's family he has also appeared inDynamite Kid: A Matter of Pride.[56]
In 2008 Hart appeared on theE! Chris Benoit special after Benoit's death.[57] In 2015 Hart appeared alongside his sisterDiana onShaw TV to speak about their father Stu's one hundredth birthday.[58]
Ross's nieceLindsay Hart who is a make up artist and wrestling personality is named after his middle name. On July 4, 1989 Hart was involved in an automobile accident near Jasper, Alberta together withDavey Boy Smith,Chris Benoit,Karl Moffat andTatsumi Kitahara. Hart who was in the driver's seat and wearing a seatbelt received minor injuries, Smith who was sitting next to him and not wearing a seatbelt had his head smashed through the windshield resulting in a wound which required one hundred stitches. Karl Moffat was injured the most, one of his ankles was crushed by the spare tire. After the incident Moffat attempted to sue Hart, claiming he had been crippled by the event, but he did not succeed in receiving any compensation since a moving company Moffat had worked for supplied evidence of him moving around reasonably well after the accident.[59][60]
Hart appeared at theCauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas in February 2001.[61] Since the passing of Hart family patriarch and matriarch Stu and Helen Hart, the traditional Sunday dinner is held at Ross' home.[62] Hart has long been candid about the scripted nature of professional wrestling and approved of the Calgarian civic committee's decision to exclude it from its combative sports bylaw in 2006.[63] In 2008 Ross Hart encouraged the city of Calgary to renovate but preserve his childhood home in its original form,[64] this was eventually done between 2010 and 2012. Ross is the Hart family's historian and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the wrestling business according to his brother Bret and journalistsDave Meltzer.[65][66][51]
Visiting with my uncle Ross Hart, aka Rory Hunter! He was one of my first coaches when I started wrestling in 2001!
Happy Easter to all my children, family, friends & fans. Unfortunately I will be missing my brother Ross' big family dinner, which is a continuation of the Sunday dinners my dad used to make, but I will be well represented by Bob Flop Johnson & the notorious Sir Chisholm. My sisters Georgia & Allison & my lovely niece Jennifer deserve major credit for the mighty feast. Also Happy Passover to Rabbi Gaffe and his lovely bride.
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