Rest in Peace, Stu
I don't know if any of you guys and gals are wrestling fans.
I wanted to pass this along, though.
Stu Hart, patriarch of the Hart clan (whose ranks included Bret and the late Owen), has passed away, at the age of 88.
Stu came from a time when Pro-Wrestling was little flash and little glamour, and more often than not, the performers could actually wrestle, to some degree. Not the punch and kick stuff, but actually utitlizing strength and leverage to bend and stretch you into submission. Yeah, it was still show and the finishes were pre-determined. But a few of these guys could really, really hurt you were you to actually wrestle with them.
Fellows of Stu's kind were (and still are) called hookers (because they'd hook an arm or a leg and pull it painfully), and these men would occasionally be called upon use their expertise in the ring to put a cocky pretender in his place.
There's a great documentary on Bret Hart called Wrestling with Shadows, and it includes a tour into the legendary "Dungeon" of Stu Hart. It is there that Stu trained countless men (and women) in the ways of the squared circle. And in Wrestling with Shadows, Stu (who at this point must be somewhere around 82, 83) gets down on the mat and bends the arm and knee of a much younger man until the young man cries out in submission (all the time, calling Stu "sir").
His sons, Bret and Owen, were big in the WWF. And they were throwbacks to Stu's day, when performers were actually rewarded on the basis of their ring ability.
Bret was a five-time World Champion, who had his career effectively ended by the sloppy ring-work of another (Bill Goldberg, who wouldn't last a second in a legitimate catch-as-catch-can wrestling match with a stretch-artist like Bret, or even Stu).
Owen (who was one of my favorites), infamously, died in the ring. You may remember. At one of the WWF's pay per views, he was to be lowered to the ring by a harness. The harness broke, and Owen fell to his death.
I'm rambling. You can read the Star article.
I was just sorry to hear the news. Stu was very nearly the last of a dying breed. Don't know that there are many more like him around.
I don't know if any of you guys and gals are wrestling fans.
I wanted to pass this along, though.
Stu Hart, patriarch of the Hart clan (whose ranks included Bret and the late Owen), has passed away, at the age of 88.
Stu came from a time when Pro-Wrestling was little flash and little glamour, and more often than not, the performers could actually wrestle, to some degree. Not the punch and kick stuff, but actually utitlizing strength and leverage to bend and stretch you into submission. Yeah, it was still show and the finishes were pre-determined. But a few of these guys could really, really hurt you were you to actually wrestle with them.
Fellows of Stu's kind were (and still are) called hookers (because they'd hook an arm or a leg and pull it painfully), and these men would occasionally be called upon use their expertise in the ring to put a cocky pretender in his place.
There's a great documentary on Bret Hart called Wrestling with Shadows, and it includes a tour into the legendary "Dungeon" of Stu Hart. It is there that Stu trained countless men (and women) in the ways of the squared circle. And in Wrestling with Shadows, Stu (who at this point must be somewhere around 82, 83) gets down on the mat and bends the arm and knee of a much younger man until the young man cries out in submission (all the time, calling Stu "sir").
His sons, Bret and Owen, were big in the WWF. And they were throwbacks to Stu's day, when performers were actually rewarded on the basis of their ring ability.
Bret was a five-time World Champion, who had his career effectively ended by the sloppy ring-work of another (Bill Goldberg, who wouldn't last a second in a legitimate catch-as-catch-can wrestling match with a stretch-artist like Bret, or even Stu).
Owen (who was one of my favorites), infamously, died in the ring. You may remember. At one of the WWF's pay per views, he was to be lowered to the ring by a harness. The harness broke, and Owen fell to his death.
I'm rambling. You can read the Star article.
I was just sorry to hear the news. Stu was very nearly the last of a dying breed. Don't know that there are many more like him around.
posted by Tommy at
00:11
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