Ten Best Tag Teams of All Time: Number 5
One was quite possibly the greatest technical wrestler in professional wrestling history, the other one was a bruiser through and through. Together they made up our number five tag team of all time, The Hart Foundation. Both were also family through marriage.
The team began in 1985, when Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart teamed up with his brother-in-law Bret "The Hitman" Hart to form a heel team with Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart as their manager. They made their pay-per-view debut at Wrestlemania 2, as part of 20-man battle royal match. While the match was won by Andre the Giant, the Hart Foundation were the last two entrants to be eliminated.
They then spent the better part of 1986 battling the Killer Bees-- Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair. By early 1987, the Harts switched their attention to the WWF Tag Team champions, the British Bulldogs. On February 7, the Harts defeated the Bulldogs for the tag titles with the help of referee, "Dangerous" Danny Davis. They defended and retained the titles on March 14 over Tito Santana and Dan Spivey-- again with the assistance of Davis, who hit Santana with Jimmy Hart's megaphone.
After retaining their titles in a two out three falls match with the Bulldogs, due to disqualification, the Hart Foundation dropped the tag titles on October 27 to Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel). The two teams faced each other in a 10-man elimination match at Survivor Series. While the Harts eliminated Strike Force, they too were eliminated and their team lost the match. The feud ended on February 5, when the Harts were unsuccessful in their bid for the titles.
As the summer of 1988 approached, Jimmy Hart dumped the Harts and signed the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers-- who were claiming 25% of the Harts' paychecks, according to the storyline. This led to the Hart Foundation's face push, and Bret Hart began giving his shades to a kid at ringside when the team entered the ring. After this short feud, the Harts moved on to take on tag champs Demolition. However, after Jimmy Hart intervened with his megaphone, the Harts lost their tag titles bid at SummerSlam 1988.
They continued feuding with Jimmy Hart managed teams, taking on the team of Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and the Honky Tonk Man-- defeating them at Wrestlemania V. They then lost a non-title match to tag champs the Brain Busters at SummerSlam '89.
After a small time apart, they reunited on April 28 versus the Rockers, but the match ended in a double disqualification after tag champs Demolition interfered. At SummerSlam '90, Demolition and the Hart Foundation faced off in a two out of three falls match for the tag titles. Due to Ax's real-life injury, Demolition introduced Crush and invoked the "Freebird Rule." Hart was pinned in the first fall by Crush, but Crush was disqualified in the second fall after attacking the referee. Ax then entered the ring during prior to the third fall and it as though Demolition would win. Legion of Doom entered the ring, and the distraction allowed Hart to pin Crush for the victory. Despite the second fall ending in disqualification, the Hart Foundation were awarded the second tag titles.
They held on to the titles until Wrestlemania VII. At Wrestlemania, they faced the Jimmy Hart managed Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobs). After Knobs struck Neidhart over the head with Jimmy Hart's helmet, the Nasty Boys were able to score the victory and take the tag titles. Wrestlemania VII also became the end of the Hart Foundation team of Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart.
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