Mid 20th Century
179-548: Heath Wallace Miller (born July 15, 1983) is an American professional wrestler . He is best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring name Heath Slater . He also performed in Impact Wrestling , under the mononymous name Heath . After debuting in 2004, Miller signed to WWE in 2006 and competed in its developmental territories Deep South Wrestling (DSW) and Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) before appearing on
358-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
537-591: A manager and women's wrestler. They were sometimes managed by Natalya and David's uncle, Bret Hart after his return to WWE in 2010, accompanied by the Keegans, Mark, Josh, and Matt. In 2018, a new Hart Foundation group was formed in Major League Wrestling , with Teddy Hart, Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Harry Smith) and Brian Pillman Jr. as the three members. On October 23, 2019, Teddy Hart announced on his Twitter page that Kenny "Gorilla Blanco" Lester
716-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
895-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1074-544: A twist of fate on Slater, followed by a clothesline from hell by Bradshaw . Lita then pinned Slater after performing a moonsault . As Slater lay prone in the ring, the legends celebrated while Faarooq taunted him with his catchphrase "Damn!". On the September 21, 2012, episode of SmackDown , Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal interfered in Slater's match against Brodus Clay by attacking Clay. The trio later settled for
1253-661: A 10-team Survivor Series elimination match . Strike Force captained a team of fan favorites while the Hart Foundation captained a team of villains. Strike Force was eliminated by the Hart Foundation, but the Hart Foundation also got eliminated and in the end, the fan favorite team won the match. The feud culminated in a match for the WWF Tag Team Championship on the February 5 The Main Event I , as
1432-659: A 20-man battle royal which also included NFL stars. The duo were the final two men whom André the Giant eliminated to win the battle royal. The Harts gained their status as a mid-card team when feuding with The Killer Bees ( "Jumping" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair ). At Saturday Night's Main Event VIII , the Foundation faced the Bees in a tag team match, which the Bees won. The Hart Foundation continued to feud with
1611-473: A 6-man tag team match against Jackson and The Usos on the June 10, 2011, edition of SmackDown , leading to Gabriel and Slater telling Barrett that The Corre was over. Slater and Gabriel then started a feud with The Usos. On the June 17, 2011, episode of SmackDown , Gabriel and Slater were defeated by The Usos, later defeating them in a rematch on the June 24, 2011, edition. The next day, he and Gabriel were added to
1790-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1969-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
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#17327980373542148-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
2327-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
2506-649: A count-out victory over Dolph Ziggler thanks to yet another distraction, this time from The Miz. During this period, Slater Gator also scored victories on Main Event over Los Matadores and Gold and Stardust . Slater's brief winning streak was ended when Slater Gator were defeated by Los Matadores on the August 25, 2014, edition of Raw . Slater Gator then began a feud with Adam Rose and his bunny, who has attacked Slater on many occasions. In his return to Raw on November 17, 2014, he returned in Uncle Sam attire and became
2685-600: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . The Hart Foundation#the New Hart Foundation The Hart Foundation is the name of several derivative tag teams and stables composed primarily of members and close friends of
2864-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
3043-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
3222-555: A four-way elimination match also involving The Usos and Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu on the December 6 episode of Raw . Gabriel and Slater received a championship rematch at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs but lost by disqualification when Nexus member Michael McGillicutty interfered. On the January 10, 2011, episode of Raw , Gabriel and Slater refused to take part in new Nexus leader CM Punk's initiation and walked away from
3401-485: A historic 10-man tag team match where the entire Hart Foundation faced the team of Steve Austin, the Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock , and Goldust . In the end, Owen Hart pinned Stone Cold Steve Austin. The entire Hart family came into the ring to celebrate afterward. The first crack in the stable's success came on May 26, 1997, when Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels (who has been rescuing each other from attacks from
3580-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
3759-529: A losing effort. At WrestleMania 35 , Slater competed in the sixth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win. On July 17, their team ended after Rhyno left WWE. On the June 24 episode of Raw , Slater briefly captured the 24/7 Championship from R-Truth before immediately losing it to back to Truth. This marked Slater's first singles championship win in WWE. As part of
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#17327980373543938-594: A losing effort. On the July 11, 2014, edition of SmackDown , Slater teamed up with Titus O'Neil to face The Usos in a match which Usos won. At Battleground , Slater competed in a battle royal for the vacant Intercontinental Championship ; Slater managed to eliminate Cesaro but was then quickly eliminated by Sheamus. On the July 21, 2014, episode of Raw , Slater confronted Flo Rida about their previous confrontation . This resulted in Flo Rida once again pushing Slater to
4117-687: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
4296-477: A match against champions Crazy Boy and Joe Lider, Charly Manson and Chessman , and Extreme Tiger and Halloween . The name had originally been used by Teddy Hart and Jack Evans between 2003 and 2005 while in Ring of Honor . In 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) launched their new development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). David Hart Smith, Nattie Neidhart, and Teddy Hart were moved to
4475-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
4654-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
4833-568: A non-title match against the champions Kozlov and Marella on the February 4 episode of SmackDown , Gabriel and Slater received a match for the WWE Tag Team Championship two weeks later, but lost via disqualification when the other members of The Corre interfered. They received a rematch at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on February 20 and defeated Marella and Kozlov to win the WWE Tag Team Championship for
5012-437: A pro- Canadian and British /anti- American family-oriented stable that was born after the events of 1997's WrestleMania 13 , where Bret Hart defeated his then-nemesis Stone Cold Steve Austin in a submission match . During the match, Austin became a fan favorite and Hart became a villain. After the event, Hart reunited with Jim Neidhart and recruited Owen Hart, The British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith), and Brian Pillman to form
5191-475: A pro-Canadian, anti-American group, they would go on to hold all available WWF championships (the WWF title , Intercontinental title , European title , and Tag Team titles). After Pillman died in 1997, the other four continued on with the stable for another month before it disbanded. Owen and Bret's oldest nephew Teddy Hart has used the Hart Foundation name several times together with close friend Jack Evans since
5370-543: A result of losing to Barrett at Hell in a Cell and at Bragging Rights , Cena and David Otunga won the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the October 25 episode of Raw , Barrett made a tag team match, with Gabriel and Slater facing Otunga and Cena for the championship. Gabriel and Slater won when Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him, winning the title. Gabriel and Slater held the title for nearly two months, before losing it to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in
5549-555: A shorter haircut. At WrestleMania 31 , Slater competed in the 30-man Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Big Show. Slater returned to the scenes on the April 20, 2015, edition of Raw when he was at catering, only to receive an RKO through the table by Randy Orton . On the May 28, 2015, edition of Superstars , Slater picked up a victory against Adam Rose. Slater would appear mostly on Superstars and Main Event losing to
Heath Slater - Misplaced Pages Continue
5728-514: A six–on–one handicap match against John Cena, which they won when Gabriel pinned Cena. The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam . Slater eliminated both Chris Jericho and Edge but was eliminated from the match by Daniel Bryan, with Team Cena winning the match. In October 2010, Cena was forced to join The Nexus as
5907-488: A tag team match, which resulted in a double disqualification after WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition interfered. As a result of the interference, Demolition feuded with both the Rockers and the Hart Foundation. At SummerSlam 90 , the Hart Foundation faced Demolition in a two out of three falls match for the tag title. By this time Demolition member Ax was suffering from health problems so a third member of Demolition ( Crush )
6086-550: A tag team turmoil match, where they were quickly defeated by the team of Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns . On the February 16, 2015, episode of Raw , O'Neil made a face turn and reformed the Prime Time Players with Darren Young , effectively disbanding Slater Gator. Later that night, Slater stated on social media, "I'm going to start focusing on ME!!! I'm better on my own ... It's about time I get what I deserve," cementing their breakup. Shortly afterwards, Slater debuted
6265-693: A ten man tag team match. At Victory Road , Heath, Josh Alexander , and Rich Swann lost to Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett). At Bound for Glory , Heath competed in 20-person Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet which was won by Bully Ray . On October 8, 2022, during the Impact! taping, Heath and Rhino defeated The Kingdom to become to the new Impact World Tag Team Champions , marking his first title in Impact Wrestling. At Over Drive , Heath and Rhino defeated The Major Players ( Brian Myers and Matt Cardona ) to retain
6444-601: A two out of three falls match in Fort Wayne , Indiana to seemingly win the title. However, the WWE (WWF) has never officially recognized The Rockers' champion status. During the match the top rope broke by accident making the match a disjointed affair that would require serious clean up before it could be shown on TV. The Rockers actually defended the WWF Tag Team title against Power and Glory ( Paul Roma and Hercules ) on November 3, 1990. Shortly after November 3 it
6623-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
6802-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
6981-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
7160-434: Is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are
7339-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
Heath Slater - Misplaced Pages Continue
7518-409: The 2018 Royal Rumble as the fifth entrant, but was attacked by Baron Corbin before he could enter the ring. He would then repeatedly be attacked by incoming entrants, keeping him from entering the ring. The eleventh entrant, Sheamus , inserted him to the ring and Slater immediately eliminated him in a huge upset , but was eliminated seconds later by Bray Wyatt . At WrestleMania 34 , Slater entered
7697-407: The 2019 draft , Slater was drafted to SmackDown brand. On the February 7, 2020, episode of SmackDown , Slater appeared in backstage segment with Daniel Bryan , trying to sympathize with the latter following a recent loss to Bray Wyatt . Slater's poor choice of words led to a match between him and Bryan, where Bryan emerged victorious. The two had a rematch two weeks later, where Bryan was once again
7876-603: The FCW Florida Tag Team Championship . Smith and Kidd, managed by Natalya, later debuted in WWE as The Hart Dynasty where they won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship . The original Hart Foundation began in 1985, when Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, already managed by Jimmy Hart, joined his brother-in-law Bret "Hitman" Hart to form a villainous tag team. According to Bret, the tag team originated after he turned down
8055-650: The Hart wrestling family . The name originated in the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 with the original Hart Foundation consisting of brothers-in-law Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart . Initially managed by Jimmy Hart (no relation), they won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice. WWE has consistently ranked the original Hart Foundation as one of the greatest tag teams in wrestling history. The tag-team known as The New Foundation
8234-581: The King of the Ring tournament first to accompany Bret as he faced Diesel , but then also made a surprise appearance at the end of the night to help Owen win the tournament, resulting in Owen dubbing himself the "King of Harts". It was later confirmed that Neidhart was helping Owen. The brothers in law teamed regularly throughout 1994, feuding with Bret and Davey Boy Smith . At SummerSlam 1994 , after Bret retained
8413-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
8592-707: The Raw brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up . On the June 5 episode of Raw , Slater and Rhyno unsuccessfully challenged Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship . After pinning The Miz in a tag team match on the June 12 episode of Raw , Slater was awarded an Intercontinental Championship match against Miz on the July 3 episode of Raw , which he lost. On the October 30 episode of Raw , Slater and Rhyno defeated The Club in an All Hallow's Eve Trick or Street Fight . He entered
8771-613: The Slammy Awards , 3MB lost again to Miz, Del Rio, and Tommy Dreamer . McIntyre and Mahal often interfered in Slater's matches on Slater's behalf, defending the leader of the trio. On the 20th Anniversary of Raw on January 14, 3MB won an Over the Top Challenge against Sheamus. Slater and McIntyre represented 3MB in the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champions, but lost in
8950-530: The SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match . They were again defeated by The Usos on the July 8, 2011, episode of SmackDown , having a visible disagreement and argument in the ring following the match. On the July 15, 2011, episode of SmackDown , Slater started a feud with Gabriel when he verbally berated him saying that Gabriel was holding him down. That same night, Slater lost to Gabriel. At Money in
9129-452: The figure four leglock . The move incapacitated Neidhart so much that he had to be helped from the ring; as he exited the arena The Beverly Brothers made their entrance for a tag team match. The arrogant brothers took an opportunity and jumped Neidhart, further (kayfabe) aggravating his injury. When Neidhart returned about a month later, he was determined to get revenge and he even had back up. Bret's younger brother, Owen, had been signed with
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#17327980373549308-467: The first season of NXT in 2010. He debuted on WWE's main roster later that year as a member of The Nexus , becoming a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion with fellow Nexus member Justin Gabriel in the process. In 2016, he began a storyline which saw him form a tag team with Rhyno , leading the two to become the inaugural WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions . He is the first wrestler to have won both
9487-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
9666-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
9845-477: The video games WWE '12 , WWE '13 , WWE 2K14 , WWE 2K16 , WWE 2K17 , WWE 2K18 , WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20 . Miller married his high school girlfriend Stephanie Jean in 2011; they have two children and reside in Fort Mill, South Carolina . Miller remains friends with Scottish wrestler Drew McIntyre and Indo-Canadian wrestler Raj Dhesi (formerly Jinder Mahal), who were his stablemates in
10024-401: The "Cowboy" Bret Hart gimmick he was given, claiming that he did not really take a liking to it. He then suggested to WWF management that he would much prefer to be teamed up with Neidhart. Management first laughed at the idea, but months later just as Hart was about to quit, he was given what he wanted: he was allowed to become a villain and was partnered up with Neidhart and Jimmy Hart to form
10203-434: The 1000th episode of Raw , he demanded a "no disqualifications, no countout" match and guaranteed his own victory. Lita responded to the challenge, however before the match could begin, Lita said she had "hired herself a little protection", after which APA emerged. Slater attempted to leave; however, he was forced back to the ring by all of the legends who had humiliated Slater in the preceding weeks on Raw . Lita performed
10382-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
10561-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
10740-509: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
10919-504: The 1992 Royal Rumble , where they defeated The Orient Express ( Pat Tanaka and Kato ). Only weeks later, Owen Hart would be on his own as Neidhart left the federation. They were undefeated at the time of Neidhart's departure. Owen and Jim reunited in 1994, this time as villains and without the New Foundation moniker. Owen had turned on his brother Bret in early 1994 and was deep in a feud with him. Jim Neidhart turned up at
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#173279803735411098-483: The 3rd annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32 but was eliminated. In May, The Social Outcasts began filming The Marine 5: Battleground , taking them out of action. The Social Outcasts returned on the June 27 episode of Raw , confronting Enzo Amore and Big Cass . The following week on Raw , The Social Outcasts faced Enzo Amore and Big Cass in a losing effort. I
11277-510: The 50th FCW TV taping, Miller defeated Tyler Reks to become FCW Heavyweight Champion. Slater lost the FCW Heavyweight Championship to Justin Gabriel in a two out of three falls match at the September 24, 2009, TV taping. On February 16, 2010, Miller, now using the ring name Heath Slater, was one of eight FCW wrestlers to compete on the first season of the new NXT show, with Christian as his storyline mentor. On
11456-493: The April 19 taping of SmackDown , the duo of Gabriel and Slater lost the Tag Team Championship to the team of Kane and The Big Show. In a backstage segment following the match, Gabriel was attacked by Slater, who thought Gabriel blamed him for their loss. On the May 6, 2011, edition of SmackDown , Gabriel, Barrett and Slater attacked Jackson, removing him from the group. Barrett walked out on Gabriel and Slater in
11635-525: The April 28, 2014, edition of Raw . On June 12, 2014, both Mahal and McIntyre were released from their WWE contracts, thus disbanding 3MB. On the June 16, 2014, edition of Raw , Slater showed signs of a face turn as he stood up to Rusev and Lana by responding to their anti-American promos. However, he was quickly defeated by Rusev, who applied the Accolade on Slater to get the win. On the June 26, 2014, episode of Superstars , Slater faced Adam Rose in
11814-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
11993-488: The Bank on July 17, he and Gabriel participated in the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match, which was won by Daniel Bryan. On October 17, WWE suspended Slater due to a Wellness Violation for 30 days. On the June 11, 2012, episode of Raw , Slater began appearing in segments involving WWE veterans returning to Raw as a build-up to Raw's 1000th episode on July 23. 2012. In the segments, Slater would enter
12172-542: The Hart Foundation 2003 in November 2003, participating in a Ring of Honor (ROH) Scramble Cage match against The Backseat Boyz , The S.A.T. , The Carnage Crew , and Special K. Later, Hart, Evans, Smith, and Wilson reformed the group in Major League Wrestling . In 2005, the original duo of Hart and Evans worked for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW), winning the JAPW Tag Team Championship from
12351-430: The Hart Foundation and the then top two babyfaces in the company) defeated Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. The stable was highly successful, garnering every championship available at the time (WWF Championship, WWF Intercontinental Championship, WWF European Championship, and WWF Tag Team Championship) in the WWF. Pillman was found dead of an undetected heart condition on October 5,
12530-409: The Hart Foundation began a feud with WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition ( Ax and Smash ) for the title. At the inaugural SummerSlam in August 1988, they challenged Demolition for the WWF Tag Team Championship but ended up losing the match after Ax hit Hart with Jimmy Hart's megaphone leaving Smash to get the pinfall . Jimmy Hart had "managed" Demolition alongside their regular manager Mr. Fuji for
12709-473: The Hart Foundation challenged Strike Force for the title, but lost the match. Bret Hart started a slow face turn at WrestleMania IV in spring 1988. Hart and Bad News Brown were the last 2 competitors in a 20-man Battle Royal and looked to be co-existing heels after eliminating the Junkyard Dog . But Brown then double crossed Hart, hitting him with his Ghetto Blaster finisher before throwing him over
12888-574: The Hart Foundation. The name "Hart Foundation" was already used to refer to the stable of wrestlers managed by Jimmy Hart, and in early matches the Neidhart/Hart team would be introduced as "members of the Hart Foundation". With the success of the new tag team, however, "The Hart Foundation" came to be associated solely with the Neidhart/Hart team and their manager, who all had 'Hart' in their family names. The Hart Foundation made its pay-per-view debut at WrestleMania 2 in 1986 as participants of
13067-589: The Harts to win the match, and after Davis became a member of the Hart Foundation. On the March 14 Saturday Night's Main Event X , the Harts made their first title defense against Tito Santana and "Golden Boy" Danny Spivey , retaining the title after Danny Davis hit Santana with Jimmy Hart's megaphone . Santana began to feud with Davis as a result of this action and, at this point, it was strongly suggested that Davis, as referee, had been to blame for Santana's loss of
13246-445: The January 11 episode of Raw , now billed as The Social Outcasts, the group would face The Wyatt Family to a no contest when Ryback got involved. On the January 14 episode of SmackDown , the four defeated the team of Goldust , Damien Sandow , Jack Swagger and Zack Ryder in an eight-man tag match. On the February 15 episode of Raw , Slater defeated Zack Ryder with the help of The Social Outcasts. On April 3, Slater competed in
13425-414: The July 26 episode of SmackDown , cutting a highly acclaimed worked shoot promo addressing the issue, only to be attacked by a returning Rhyno shortly after. During the next few weeks, Slater faced other wrestlers to win a contract, but he was defeated. Despite not appearing at the event, WWE audiences chanted "we want Slater" during the brawl between Roman Reigns and Rusev at SummerSlam , as well as
13604-514: The Killer Bees for the better part of 1986. The Hart Foundation then began a feud with Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) in early 1987 over the title. On the February 7 edition of Superstars , in Tampa , Florida , the Harts defeated Bulldogs for their first WWF Tag Team Championship when the referee of the match, "Dangerous" Danny Davis helped
13783-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
13962-408: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
14141-557: The Nasty Boys at the time). The Hart Foundation split after WrestleMania VII, and Bret then focused on his singles career. After the Hart Foundation split, both members focused on their singles careers; Bret challenged for and won the Intercontinental title while Jim Neidhart faced a much tougher road as a singles competitor. In November 1991, Neidhart had a match against Ric Flair , which Neidhart lost via submission to
14320-494: The New Foundation name in Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) in 2000 and were the promotion's first Tag Team Champions . As part of the feud between Bret and Jerry Lawler , at the 1993 Survivor Series Bret and his brothers Keith , Bruce and Owen faced Shawn Michaels and his three masked knights ( The Red Knight , The Blue Knight and The Black Knight ). The Knights theme was used as
14499-473: The November 18, 2013 country music episode of Raw , 3MB competed as The Rhinestone Cowboys. McIntyre and Mahal lost to R-Truth and the debuting Xavier Woods in Nashville, Tennessee . Similarly, this trend of name changes continued to amount the group losses as they also lost to The Prime Time Players on SmackDown , as The Fabulous 3Birds, which was a play on legendary tag team, The Fabulous Freebirds . On
14678-499: The November 29, 2013, episode of SmackDown , they were billed as The Plymouth Rockers, a play on The Rockers tag team, even coming out to the Rockers' theme music and faced Los Matadores, along with their mascot, El Torito in a losing effort. Shortly after that match, Slater took time off from WWE to deal with personal issues. He returned on the January 6, 2014, edition of Raw , which saw 3MB defeated by Rikishi and Too Cool . On April 4, 2014, Slater broke his losing streak, picking up
14857-482: The October 27 edition of Superstars , the Hart Foundation dropped their title to Strike Force ( Rick Martel and Tito Santana) after Neidhart submitted to a Boston crab applied by Martel, ending their 10-month reign. Soon after, the Hart Foundation began making claims that Neidhart had never submitted and that they were robbed on national television (the match was shown on an edition of Superstars of Wrestling ). The two teams faced each other at Survivor Series in
15036-654: The SmackDown and Raw Tag Team Championships. He was released from WWE in April 2020, ending a 14-year tenure with the company. Miller signed with Impact Wrestling later that year. He would reunite with former tag team partner Rhino and win the Impact World Tag Team Championship in 2022. Overall, Miller is a five-time tag team champion between WWE and Impact. Heath Wallace Miller was born in Pineville, West Virginia , on July 15, 1983. He
15215-697: The Strong Styles Thugs ( B-Boy and Homicide ). They held the title for approximately four months before losing it to the Backseat Boyz. Evans and Hart began wrestling as The Hart Foundation 2.0 in Mexico's AAA on November 30, 2007. At Centro de Convenciones de Ciudad Madero for the annual Guerra de Titanes event, they participated in and lost a four-way extreme dance for the AAA World Tag Team Championship in
15394-670: The United States and its inhabitants in general, thus causing fan reactions and making the New Hart Foundation (and Bret Hart in particular) unpopular in the States but highly popular in Canada. Their main feud was with Austin and Shawn Michaels who (as opposed to the Hart Foundation) were booed heavily in Canada and Europe, but cheered on wildly in the United States. At Canadian Stampede , the Hart Foundation took part in
15573-478: The WWE ended its relationship with DSW in the spring of 2007, Miller was one of over twenty developmental wrestlers to be sent for further training at the new Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) territory. At a June 2007 FCW show, Miller appeared as the manager of fellow developmental talent Shawn McGrath under the name Heath Wallace Miller Esq., but he reverted to using his real name and resumed his singles career while continuing to manage McGrath. In 2007, Miller
15752-637: The WWF Intercontinental title to Randy Savage with the help of a foreign object a year earlier (although in fact this had predated the start of Davis' "heel referee" angle). At this point, Santana joined the British Bulldogs in their feud with the Hart Foundation. The rivalry culminated in a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania III where the Foundation teamed with Davis against the British Bulldogs and Santana. Davis hit Davey Boy Smith with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and pinned him to get
15931-587: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Owen in a steel cage match , Neidhart attacked Bret; when Smith tried to make the save for Bret, Neidhart attacked him as well. On the November 7 edition of Raw , Bret and Smith defeated Owen and Neidhart in a tag team match. The team disbanded when Neidhart left the WWF in late 1994, Owen continued with the company and began teaming with Yokozuna, with whom he won two tag team titles. Jim Neidhart and The Blue Meanie teamed under
16110-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
16289-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
16468-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
16647-614: The building by Impact executive Scott D'Amore as he was not an Impact employee. On the August 4 episode of Impact! , Heath made his in-ring debut by challenging Moose for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and a spot on the roster, but was defeated. Despite this, he and Rhino began a "#Heath4IMPACT" campaign to convince the company to sign Heath, even getting celebrity endorsements from David Hasselhoff , Flava Flav , Nancy Kerrigan and Chuck Norris . At Victory Road , Heath and Rhino teamed for
16826-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
17005-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
17184-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
17363-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
17542-664: The company and he was revealed as Neidhart's back up. They then formed a team in the hopes of recreating the magic of the Hart Foundation and the duo was subsequently dubbed The New Foundation. Owen was soon nicknamed "The Rocket" and the duo became instantly recognizable for their unique parachute pants attire and bright colored jackets. Their first feud was naturally with the Beverly Brothers but they also had matches with The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags ) and The Natural Disasters ( Earthquake and Typhoon ). The team had their one and only pay-per-view match at
17721-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
17900-929: The day of In Your House: Badd Blood . A month later at the Survivor Series , Bret (who was leaving the WWF to join World Championship Wrestling ) lost the WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels in the infamous " Montreal Screwjob ". After the Survivor Series, the Hart Foundation disbanded, as both Neidhart and Smith left over the incident and eventually joined Bret in WCW, but Owen stayed, feeling that he may have been sued for breach of contract if he left. Along with Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart incurred premature deaths . Hart and Evans also wrestled as
18079-473: The distraction allowed Hart to pin Crush and the Hart Foundation won. As a result, the Hart Foundation got their second WWF Tag Team Championship (despite the second fall being decided by disqualification). During their second reign as champions, the Harts met the Rockers again, this time in a series title and non-title matches. On October 30, 1990, Jannetty and Michaels did actually defeat the Hart Foundation in
18258-521: The early 2000s, and they have held a championship together under the name. In 2007, several of the third generation of Harts formed a new stable, including Teddy, David Hart Smith , Natalya , Natalya's boyfriend (later husband) Tyson Kidd and close friend Ted DiBiase . This collective worked together as the Next Generation Hart Foundation in WWE's development territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where they won
18437-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
18616-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
18795-452: The fall of 1989, the Hart Foundation split for a while and both wrestled as singles for the first time in almost four years. Hart had a series of matches against Mr. Perfect , while Neidhart began a feud with The Warlord . However, by the end of November 1989, Hart and Neidhart resumed their partnership and were booked into a series of tag team matches with fellow fan-favorite tag team The Rockers ( Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty ). This
18974-471: The fifth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but did not win. He also participated in the 50-man Royal Rumble match at the Greatest Royal Rumble , where he entered at number 36. However, he was eliminated by eventual winner Braun Strowman . On the December 3 episode of Raw , acting general manager Baron Corbin forced Slater and Rhyno to fight each other with the stipulation that
19153-559: The finals. On February 23, 2008, Miller and Lewington lost to The Puerto Rican Nightmares ( Eddie Colón and Eric Perez ) in the finals. On September 11, teaming with Joe Hennig , he won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship . As champion, he changed his ring name to Sebastian Slater. On October 30, 2008, Slater and Hennig lost the title to The New Hart Foundation ( Harry Smith and TJ Wilson ) in Tampa, Florida . He later returned from injury and defeated Justin Angel . On August 13, 2009, at
19332-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
19511-533: The first round by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey on the January 23 NXT . He competed in the Royal Rumble coming from number 10, but was eliminated by John Cena. On the April 12 episode of SmackDown Slater, along with the rest of 3MB, attempted to ambush Triple H as he was addressing Brock Lesnar , however The Shield then came out and attacked them. On the April 15 episode on Raw , 3MB called out The Shield but instead, Brock Lesnar came out and attacked
19690-608: The first time in Impact, where they defeated Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend). Three days later, Scott D'Amore offered Heath a contract, however, contract talks broke down. D'Amore eventually allowed Heath and Rhino to enter the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Bound for Glory , and if either man won, Heath would get his contract, and if neither won, Rhino would be fired. At Bound for Glory, Rhino won
19869-505: The following night on Raw . During this time, Slater started a gimmick as a desperate father with several children to support, including the catchphrase "I got kids", this would slowly transition Slater to a fan favorite for the first time since 2010. He eventually signed with SmackDown and found an unlikely ally in Rhyno, with the two emerging victorious in the finals of a tag team tournament at Backlash , defeating The Usos and becoming
20048-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
20227-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
20406-408: The ground. Slater then began to regularly team up with Titus O'Neil. On the July 29, 2014, episode of Main Event , Slater and O'Neil became known as "Slater Gator" and picked up their first win over Tyson Kidd and Zack Ryder. On the August 4, 2014, episode of Raw , thanks to a distraction from Dean Ambrose , Slater scored an upset victory over Seth Rollins and he followed it up a week later with
20585-424: The group. The following day, at the January 11 taping of SmackDown , Gabriel and Slater helped their former leader Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson attack Big Show . The following week, Gabriel, Slater, Barrett, and Jackson formed The Corre , and later that night Gabriel defeated World Heavyweight Champion Edge in a non-title match, following interference from the other members of The Corre. After winning
20764-562: The inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions . On October 9 at No Mercy , Slater and Rhyno successfully defended the titles against The Usos. At Survivor Series , Slater and Rhyno were the team captains for Team SmackDown in the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match , where they were defeated by Team Raw. At TLC: Tables Ladders and Chairs , Slater and Rhyno's reign came to an end at 84 days after they were defeated by Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt . Two days later on SmackDown , Slater and Rhyno received their rematch but failed to regain
20943-442: The inaugural episode of NXT , Slater debuted as a face as he and Christian defeated Carlito and Michael Tarver in a tag team match. Two weeks later, Slater defeated Carlito, becoming the first NXT rookie to defeat a WWE pro. On the March 30 episode of NXT , he came fourth out of eight rookies in the first Pros' Poll. On the April 6 episode, Slater won a keg-carrying contest against all other rookies. This resulted in him being in
21122-473: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
21301-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
21480-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
21659-425: The likes of Fandango , Neville, R-Truth, and Zack Ryder. Slater started appearing on Raw , trying to answer John Cena's United States Championship Open Challenge, but was denied each week. On the January 4, 2016 Raw , Slater debuted a new stable of himself, Curtis Axel , Adam Rose and Bo Dallas calling themselves "social outcasts". Slater went on to defeat Dolph Ziggler after interference from his stablemates. On
21838-545: The loser will be fired. Slater won, but Corbin immediately repositioned him as a referee instead of a competitor. The following week on Raw , Slater refereed a match between Elias and Lio Rush , where he allowed Bobby Lashley to attack Elias, leading to Rush's win. Later that same night, he attempted to cost Seth Rollins the Intercontinental Championship by helping Corbin during their match, but failed. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , Slater
22017-530: The main brand TV shows they would feud with Zack Ryder on Superstars . On the November 11, 2013, edition of Raw , while on tour in the UK, 3MB changed their name to The Union Jacks, but were defeated by Santino Marella and Los Matadores . On the November 13, 2013, episode of Main Event , Slater and McIntyre would defeat The Prime Time Players . On the November 15, 2013, episode of SmackDown , The Union Jacks were defeated by R-Truth and The Prime Time Players. On
22196-506: The main event match between John Cena and CM Punk , attacking both competitors, Jerry Lawler and Justin Roberts before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment. On the June 14 episode of Raw , the rookies (sans Daniel Bryan , who had been released from his contract) attacked General Manager Bret Hart , when he refused to give them contracts. At the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view,
22375-497: The main event that night, a match against Kane , which he lost. In an upset victory on April 20, Slater defeated Chris Jericho in the main event of NXT . However, Slater remained at fourth in the second Pros Poll, revealed on May 11. He was eliminated from NXT on May 25, coming in last in the Pros' Poll. On the June 7 episode of Raw , Slater and the other season one NXT rookies established themselves as heels by interfering in
22554-533: The match as part of the ongoing Hart Foundation split. On the October 29 Saturday Night's Main Event XVII , they faced Demolition in a rematch for the title but lost due to outside interference by The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers ( Jacques and Raymond ), old rivals of the Hart Foundation and, until a few months previously, a fan favourite team. In the late fall of 1988, Jimmy Hart signed the Rougeaus who, in
22733-506: The match the two sides came to an agreement and Neidhart was brought back with the broken ring rope used as the reason to nullify the match. The Rockers were never officially credited with a title win but footage from the match was shown prior to Jannetty's WWF return in 1995. The match can be seen in its entirety on the DVD The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph . Because it never aired,
22912-406: The match was not clipped and thus is shown in full with no commentary; the only edit being after the second fall when a ring crew arrived to reattach the broken rope. The Hart Foundation's second title reign lasted until WrestleMania VII when they were defeated by The Nasty Boys ( Jerry Sags and Brian Knobs ), when Knobs nailed Neidhart over the head with Jimmy Hart's helmet (Jimmy Hart managed
23091-507: The match, thus winning Heath an Impact contract, however, Heath suffered an injury during the match. After an absence of almost a year, he returned from injury on the September 30, 2021, episode of Impact! , saving Rhino from a potential attack by Violent By Design , a stable that Rhino used to be a part of. At Bound for Glory , Heath and Rhino defeated Violent By Design ( Deaner and Joe Doering ). afterwards Heath and Rhino decided to challenge VBD to one more match at Turning Point, which
23270-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
23449-597: The name of the Three Man Band, or 3MB for short. Slater would then go on to become the brash and confident leader of the 3MB. From October 2012, 3MB racked up many wins against Team Co-Bro ( Santino Marella and Zack Ryder ) and the Usos, all of them due to illegal interference. At TLC , 3MB's winning streak came to an end at the hands of The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and the Brooklyn Brawler . The next night at
23628-627: The new Hart Foundation. This stable opposed the United States , and even degraded the United States and its values whereas they would speak highly of Canada and the United Kingdom (where they were beloved). The New Hart Foundation usually brought the Canadian and British flags out to their matches by wearing Motorcycle coats with the Hart Foundation Logo and name on the back, and in their promos would talk in disgust about
23807-500: The new farm territory, where they aligned themselves and formed the Next/New Generation Hart Foundation (also known simply The New Hart Foundation) and were later joined by TJ Wilson and Ted DiBiase, Jr . At FCW's debut show on June 26, Smith won a 21-man battle royal to become the promotion's first Southern Heavyweight Champion . Plans to bring the stable to WWE's main roster were made, but Teddy Hart
23986-448: The next victim against Rusev. Later at Survivor Series , Slater remained and Titus O'Neil lost to Adam Rose and The Bunny. In December 2014, a warrant for Slater's arrest was issued, rendering him inactive until all legal issues are resolved. The charges were dropped on January 15, 2015. Slater returned to action in a dark match against Luke Harper on February 3, 2015. On the February 12, 2015, edition of SmackDown , Slater Gator competed in
24165-431: The permanent Raw general manager, but the family announced that he would have to win a no disqualification handicap match against Angle, Crews, Roode, and Gable with Slater as referee, which he lost. After Corbin was removed from power, Rhyno returned to aid Slater against an attack from Jinder Mahal on the December 24 episode of Raw . The following week on Raw , Slater and Rhyno faced Mahal and The Singh Brothers in
24344-625: The primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
24523-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
24702-476: The ring and issue challenges to "the so-called legends" or "any former WWE champion", which resulted in him losing a series of squash matches , with the first two losses to Vader and Sycho Sid . He was further humiliated in a comedic segment by Roddy Piper , Wendi Richter and Cyndi Lauper . He defeated Doink the Clown on the July 2, 2012, edition of Raw , but following the match, Diamond Dallas Page came to
24881-716: The ring and performed the Diamond Cutter on Slater. On the July 9, 2012, episode of Raw , after losing to Sin Cara , Slater berated the audience and issued a challenge "to any former champion" and guaranteed he would defeat him; Bob Backlund accepted the challenge. Shortly after Backlund entered, Slater hit him with a cheap shot. Backlund then applied the crossface chickenwing submission hold and kept it locked in long after Slater had tapped out. In following matches Scotty 2 Hotty , Rikishi and Road Warrior Animal all defeated Slater in further matches. On July 23, 2012, during
25060-440: The second time. The following night on Raw , Gabriel and Slater lost the championship to John Cena and The Miz , but won the championship back minutes later after Barrett invoked The Corre's rematch clause and The Miz quickly turned on Cena. The match ended with Slater pinning Cena. The Corre began a feud with Big Show and at WrestleMania XXVII , the team of Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston defeated The Corre. At
25239-586: The seven rookies interfered in the WWE Championship match, and as a result costing Cena the championship to Sheamus . The following week on Raw , Vince McMahon fired Hart and installed the Anonymous General Manager , who signed the seven season one NXT rookies to contracts. The following week, the group was named The Nexus . On the July 12 episode of Raw , The Nexus competed in their first match together, without Darren Young,
25418-546: The stable with Wilson. With Neidhart's (renamed Natalya) help they won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship on October 30, 2008, by defeating Joe Hennig and Heath Slater . They held the championship until December 11, when they lost to Johnny Curtis and Tyler Reks . The Hart Dynasty stable appeared in World Wrestling Entertainment from 2008 to 2010. The unit consisted of the tag team of Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith , and Natalya as
25597-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
25776-546: The storyline, claimed 25 percent of the Hart Foundation's contract. The Hart Foundation continued their feud with the Rougeaus, and formed an alliance with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan . At the Royal Rumble in early 1989, Duggan and the Hart Foundation defeated Dino Bravo and the Rougeaus in a two out of three falls match to end the feud. The Hart Foundation continued to feud with wrestlers managed by Jimmy Hart through 1989. At WrestleMania V , they defeated Rhythm and Blues ( The Honky Tonk Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine ) with
25955-520: The team 3MB during his time in WWE. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches
26134-480: The team was supposed to be led by Lawler, who was having legal troubles at the same time as his feud with Bret Hart and was replaced by Michaels. Though Owen was eliminated and Keith's shoulder was injured by a prolonged assault at the hands of Michaels, the Hart brothers were victorious. Owen's failure ignited a lengthy feud between Bret and Owen that would last for several years. In 1997, the Hart Foundation re-formed as
26313-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
26492-449: The three of them, delivering the F-5 on Slater twice on the barricade. Two weeks later on Raw , 3MB attacked The Shield, who would quickly turn the tables on them. Team Hell No came to the ring, seemingly to aid 3MB, but The Shield escaped and Team Hell No attacked 3MB instead. Over the next couple months, the group continued being used as part-timers but mostly as jobbers, while doing that on
26671-475: The titles. At Elimination Chamber on February 12, 2017, the duo were the first entrants into the tag team turmoil match for the titles, eliminating Breezango and The Vaudevillains before being eliminated by The Usos. At WrestleMania 33 , Slater and Rhyno both competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal , but neither were able to win. On the April 10 episode of Raw , both Slater and Rhyno were sent to
26850-593: The titles. On the December 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Heath and Rhino lost the tag team championship to The Motor City Machine Guns . At Hard To Kill , Heath and Rhino competed in a Four-way tag team elimination match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship but failed to win the titles. at No Surrender , Heath competed in a Four-way match to determine the #1 contender to the Impact World Championship which
27029-411: The top rope for the win. Immediately after being declared the winner and being awarded a huge trophy, Hart attacked Brown and smashed up the trophy starting his face turn. Neidhart eventually joined Bret's side in the feud with Brown causing a rift between the Foundation and manager Jimmy Hart. As a result, the Hart Foundation were increasingly pushed as fully fledged fan favorites. In the summer of 1988,
27208-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
27387-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
27566-609: The use of Hart's megaphone. They also defeated several tag teams during this time. At SummerSlam 89 , they faced the Tag-Team Champions The Brain Busters ( Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard ) in a non-title match. When the match was made, the Busters, managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan , were not champions and were not obliged to give the Harts a title shot. The Hart Foundation lost the match pushing them further away from regaining their titles. In
27745-469: The victor. On April 15, 2020, he was released from his WWE performers contract due to budget cuts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic , ending his 14-year tenure with the company. On the July 6 episode of Raw , Slater, still under a 90-day no-compete clause, appeared to confront his former 3MB teammate Drew McIntyre , and he demanded a match against McIntyre, which he lost easily. After the match, Slater
27924-459: The victory for the Hart Foundation. On the May 2 Saturday Night's Main Event XI , the Foundation defended their tag title against the British Bulldogs in a Two out of three falls match . In the first fall, they got disqualified because of illegal double-teaming and in the second fall Smith pinned Neidhart. However, the Hart Foundation retained the title due to the disqualification result. On
28103-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
28282-537: The win against Kofi Kingston on Superstars . At WrestleMania XXX , all three members entered the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and eliminated both The Great Khali and Xavier Woods as a unit, before all three were eliminated by Mark Henry. After WrestleMania, 3MB entered a feud with Los Matadores, which saw Hornswoggle ally himself with the trio so as to feud with El Torito. 3MB won their first match since December 2012 after Slater and McIntyre beat Los Matadores on
28461-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
28640-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
28819-521: Was a short-lived team formed in 1991 soon after the original disbanded. This team consisted of Neidhart and Owen Hart , Bret's younger brother. The two also teamed again in 1994, and the New Foundation name would later be used by Neidhart together with The Blue Meanie . The Hart Foundation (sometimes called The New Hart Foundation in this incarnation) was reformed as a stable in 1997, composed of Bret, Owen, their brothers-in-law Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith as well as family friend Brian Pillman . Formed as
28998-542: Was accepted and at the event Rhino and Heath were defeated. At Turning Point , Heath and Rhino lost to Violent By Design (Eric Young and Joe Doering). On the Under Siege preshow, Heath and Rhino defeated Raj Singh and Shera . At Against All Odds , Heath, America's Most Wanted ( Chris Harris and James Storm ), and The Good Brothers ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson ) defeated Honor No More ( Eddie Edwards , Kenny King , Matt Taven , Mike Bennett , and PCO ) in
29177-499: Was attacked by Dolph Ziggler before being saved by McIntyre as the two embraced and shared a moment in the ring together. His no-compete clause expired on July 14, 2020. On July 18, 2020, at Slammiversary , Miller, now known as Heath , made his Impact Wrestling debut, declaring himself as a free agent before being interrupted by Rohit Raju , who insulted Heath before Heath attacked him. Heath would then run in to his former tag team partner Rhino backstage before being told to leave
29356-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
29535-421: Was decided to not air the title change and that the title would revert to the Hart Foundation. In his book Michaels claims that the Hart Foundation had politicked to keep the title. Michaels claim is contradicted by other claims, including one that the WWF had actually fired Neidhart, and another that his contract had ended and an agreement to re-sign hadn't been reached which forced the title change, but that after
29714-506: Was given a talk show called 'The Happy Hour' during some FCW shows. During one segment, Billy Kidman was the guest; Miller claimed to idolize Kidman but then commented that Kidman's career was declining. This created a feud and led to a series of matches between the two. In January 2008, Miller started defending the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship on behalf of the champion Ted DiBiase, Jr. , who
29893-635: Was injured. DiBiase soon forfeited the belt and Miller was declared the champion. Miller and his tag team partner Steve Lewington lost to John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship on February 15, 2008, at an FCW show. Miller and Lewington then advanced to the finals of a tournament for the inaugural Florida Tag Team Championship in February 2008. Miller and Lewington defeated Brandon Groom and Greg Jackson and The Thoroughbreds ( Johnny Curtis and Kevin Kiley ) to reach
30072-534: Was introduced with the storyline being that the Hart Foundation didn't know which two members they would face until Demolition entered the arena. The two chosen were Crush and Smash. In the first fall, Hart was pinned by Crush but the Hart Foundation won the second fall by disqualification after Crush attacked the referee. Ax then made his way to the ring and interfered in the third fall until the Legion of Doom ( Animal and Hawk ) came to ringside and attacked Demolition,
30251-416: Was knocked out by Golden with brass knuckles, allowing Golden to cheat and retain the title. Miller was one of the main cast members of The JBL and Renee Show from 2013 to 2015 on WWE.com, where he played "Big" Clem Layfield, a storyline nephew of John "Bradshaw" Layfield . Miller was the host of WWE Game Night on WWE.com and WWE's YouTube channel. Miller, as Heath Slater, is a playable character in
30430-650: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
30609-405: Was raised by his mother, stepfather, and grandparents. Miller was trained by Curtis Hughes at the wrestling school of World Wrestling Alliance (WWA4). He made his debut in 2004, wrestling for WWA4 and other Georgia -based wrestling promotions. In December 2006, Miller signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a WWE developmental territory . When
30788-549: Was released from his development contract in October. Eventually, DiBiase, Neidhart, and Smith, after losing the Southern Heavyweight Championship, were all called up to the main roster, albeit on separate shows, as DiBiase and Smith (using the name DH Smith) were sent to Raw and Neidhart to SmackDown , disbanding the Next Generation Hart Foundation. After being drafted to SmackDown, Smith returned to FCW—without ever debuting on SmackDown—and reformed
30967-667: Was reported that Heath's contract had expired. After being released by WWE and while working for Impact, Slater debuted at Lariato Pro Wrestling on September 12, 2020, in Dublin, Georgia defeating Jay Bradley . On November 23, 2024, Slater unsuccessfully challenged Evan Golden for the Beside the Ring Championship in Elizabethton, Tennessee . After E.Z. Money blinded special enforcer Buff Bagwell at ringside, Slater
31146-511: Was scheduled to referee a TLC match between Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin, but during the match Slater took off his referee shirt (with help from Apollo Crews , Bobby Roode , Chad Gable , Finn Bálor , and Kurt Angle ) and attacked Corbin, allowing Strowman to win the match. The next night, the McMahon family (Vince, Stephanie, Shane, and Triple H ) announced that they will collectively be in charge of Raw and SmackDown. Corbin begged to be
31325-459: Was shocked to hear the amount of support he mustered from the crowd ... Slater is very clearly a valuable role-player, and it seems the crowd has a lot of respect for his work. — Pro Wrestling Torch writer Brandon LeClair after Slater's appearance on SmackDown in July 2016. While his fellow Social Outcast members got drafted by the end of the 2016 WWE draft , Slater was the only active Superstar not selected by either show. Slater appeared on
31504-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
31683-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
31862-473: Was unusual at the time as fan favorites rarely faced each other in the ring; also, although no hostilities between the two were apparent at this time, it marked the genesis of what would become a long-running rivalry between Hart and Michaels. Most of these early Hart Foundation-Rockers matches ended in time-limit draws. On the April 28, 1990, Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI , they faced The Rockers in
32041-418: Was won by Steve Maclin . at Rebellion , Heath and Rhino lost to Champagne Singh and Shera during the preshow. At Against All Odds , Heath competed in the 8-4-1 match to determine the #1 contender to the Impact World Championship which was won by Nick Aldis . At Bound for Glory , Heath competed in 20-person Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet which was won by Jordynne Grace . On October 27, 2023, it
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