Jimmy Hart
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"The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart is a professional wrestling manager, composer and musician. He worked in Memphis Championship Wrestling, the WWF (now WWE), WCW, Xtreme Wrestling Federation, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He has managed some of the biggest professional wrestlers in the business, including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, and The Honky Tonk Man.
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Early career
Before wrestling, Jimmy was part of a band in the 1960s called The Gentrys who had a million selling record “Keep on Dancin.” The group played at all the Dick Clark tours, "Hullabaloo Shindig", and "Where the Action is." They toured with the Beach Boys and Sonny and Cher. Later, after the leader of the group Larry Raspberry left Jimmy took over and they had a few hits.
After being asked to sing back-up with Jerry "The King" Lawler, Jimmy was asked to be an announcer and then to manage Jerry. He also managed the massive King Kong Bundy, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Lanny Poffo, Kamala, Randy Savage, and Eddie Gilbert. After Lawler broke his leg, Jimmy was the top man in Memphis wrestling and brought in talent to take the title from Jerry. 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. Then in 1983 and 1984, Hart led Austin Idol, Masao Ito, and Gilbert to CWA (Championship Wrestling Association) International titles. As was often the case, he was soon poached by Vince McMahon and the WWF.
WWF career
1980s
While in the WWF, Jimmy managed many wrestlers. His first acquisition was in 1985 was Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, then the Intercontinental Champion. At Wrestlemania I, Hart managed King Kong Bundy as he defeated S.D. ("Special Delivery") Jones, allegedly in a mere 9 seconds. Jimmy Hart would later trade King Kong Bundy's contract to Bobby “The Brain” Heenan for the Missing Link.
Also in 1985, Jimmy managed Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. After Valentine lost the Intercontinental Title to Tito Santana Hart briefly co-managed the Dream Team (Valentine & Beefcake), until he 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 Jimmy Jack. Then Jimmy managed Adrian Adonis and helped him use the revolutionary gay gimmick of “Adorable” Adrian Adonis.
Also in 1986, with the appearance of Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Jimmy teamed him up with Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart to form The Hart Foundation. On January 26, 1987, Hart guided his new tag team past the British Bulldogs for the WWF World Tag Team titles. Hart led the Hart Foundation and former referee Dangerous Danny Davis over the British Bulldogs and Tito Santana at Wrestlemania III in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. When the Honky Tonk Man turned heel, Jimmy 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, on June 2, 1987 the Honky Tonk Man captured the Intercontinental title from Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.
Later in 1987, Hart was named Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Manager of the Year. He won the award again in December of 1994. Also in 1987, Jimmy Hart managed the WWF Women’s Tag Team champions Judy Martin & Leilani Kai, known as the Glamour Girls. At Wrestlemania IV: Jimmy Hart received a haircut by Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. When Jimmy dropped the Hart Foundation in 1988, Hart managed the Fabulous Rougeaus to feud with his former team. At SummerSlam 1988: Jimmy Hart accompanied the Demolition & Mr. Fuji to help retain their WWF Tag titles against the Hart Foundation. Ax used Jimmy Hart's megaphone as a foreign object to whack one of the Hart Foundation members to secure the victory.The Megaphone became a significant trademark of Hart throughout the years and was extensively used as an foreign object by the wrestlers he managed and by himself.
1990s
In 1989, Jimmy Hart brought Dino Bravo into his stable after the departure of Frenchy Martin. Then at a push-up contest, Jimmy and Dino invited a large 460 pound man from the audience into the ring to sit on Dino’s back. That large man would be later known as the Earthquake; and Jimmy groomed to be the man to beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF title. In 1990, Hart managed the short-lived team Rhythm and Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg “The Hammer or the Pelvis” 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 titles at Wrestlemania VII in Los Angles, CA. Jimmy Hart added another tag team to his stable; the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon), but Jimmy 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 titles in 1992 because the Natural Disasters got their revenge on Jimmy, but their reign was short.
Also in 1992, Jimmy Hart lost the Nasty Boys due to his ties with Money Inc. because they felt he was not helping them. They thought he was only focusing on his champions. Finally in 1993, Hart managed Hulk Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake after he came to the aid of Brutus Beefcake after being attacked by Money Inc. At WrestleMania IX: Jimmy Hart managed the Hulkamaniacs, Hulk Hogan & Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, but lost to Money Inc. by disqualification. Later that night, Hulk Hogan returned to defeat Yokozuna for the WWF title. At King of the Ring 1993: Jimmy Hart was in Hulk Hogan's corner as he lost the WWF title back to Yokozuna. This would be Jimmy Hart's last WWF appearance, as both he and Hulk Hogan departed the company.
WCW
Then Hogan and Jimmy briefly toured Japan. After their return, Jimmy wrote music and occasionally appeared on Hogan's television show, "Thunder in Paradise." Hulk Hogan then had Jimmy manage him when they went to the WCW. At Bash at the Beach 1994: Jimmy Hart managed Hulk Hogan to win his first WCW World title by defeating “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
At Halloween Havoc 1995: Jimmy Hart, longtime manager and friend to Hulk Hogan, turned on Hogan to help the Giant. By doing that, Jimmy Hart would become the manager of the evil faction, The Dungeon of Doom, created by Kevin Sullivan. Consisting of Hugh Morrus, The Barbarian, Meng, Kevin Sullivan, Lex Luger, The Giant, and many more. After the demise of the Dungeon of Doom, Hart created the First Family: Brian Knobs, Jerry Flynn, The Barbarian, and Hugh Morrus. 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 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.
Behind the scenes
Jimmy was also responsible for many of the wrestler’s theme tunes in WWF and WCW. He composed: “The Honk Tonk Man,” “Honky Love,” “Sexy Boy,” “Road to Destruction,” Randy and Liz’s Wedding song, “What a Rush,” “We’re All American Boys,” “I’m the Mountie,” “It’s All about the Money,” “Snuka,” “American Made,” the Wolfpac song, and many more.
Since the demise of WCW, Jimmy Hart has become a force to be reckoned with behind the scenes and is considered on the shrewdest brains in the business who was a part owner and one of the starters of the XWF (Xtreme Wrestling Federation) along with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brian Knobbs. He can also be seen from time to time at Universal Studios promoting TNA IMPACT! because he now has an administrative position in NWA-TNA.
On February 3, 2005, Jimmy Hart was announced as one of the Class of 2005 inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame along with Paul Orndorff, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Nikolai Volkoff, The Iron Sheik, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and Hollywood Hogan. The induction ceremony took place on April 2, 2005 in the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.
Total Nonstop Action
On June 19, 2005 at Slammiversary The Naturals were assisted in a title defence against Team Canada by Jimmy Hart, who ran to ringside and threw his megaphone to Chase Stevens, who hit Petey Williams with it and pinned him.
Wrestlers Hart has managed
- The Barbarian
- Brutus Beefcake
- Dino Bravo
- King Kong Bundy
- Dungeon of Doom
- The First Family (Memphis)
- The First Family (WCW)
- Ric Flair
- Jerry Flynn
- Dory Funk, Jr.
- Terry Funk
- The Giant
- Eddie Gilbert
- The Glamour Girls
- The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart)
- Hulk Hogan
- Austin Idol
- Masao Ito
- Kamala
- Konnan
- Jerry Lawler
- Lex Luger
- Meng
- Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster)
- Hugh Morrus
- The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags)
- The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon)
- The Naturals (Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas)
- Lanny Poffo
- Rhythm & Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine)
- Jacques Rougeau
- Raymond Rougeau
- Rick Rude
- Randy Savage
- Kevin Sullivan
Titles/Accomplishments
- Jimmy won the Mid-Southern Heavyweight Title from Jerry Lawler in 1981 and gave it to one of his wrestlers, Chick Donovan, shortly after.
- Hart won 2 Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Manager of the Year Awards in his career. He won them in 1987 and 1994.
Books
Jimmy's autobiography, The Mouth of the South: the Jimmy Hart Story became available in 2004.