The Hart Dungeon or Hart Family Dungeon, otherwise known simply as The Dungeon, was the gym and wrestling school located in the basement of the Hart mansion. The school was created by Stu Hart, patriarch of the Hart wrestling family and is known for having produced some of the greatest and most successful professional wrestlers of all time.Jump in the Ring at the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame

Location description The room was located in the Hart family mansion basement and had a very low ceiling. For most of the duration of the room being used as training hall there was a wrestling mat located on the floor without any ropes which would be used for training students.

History Hart acquired the former army hospital mansion in 1951 and transformed its basement into his personal training centre shortly thereafter. This was done because Hart needed a training facility after the founding of his first wrestling promotion in 1948. Although, the nickname itself developed over time when Stampede Wrestling became world famous.

Aside from professional wrestlers, the Dungeon provided training grounds for various athletes from strongmen to football players. The majority of Hart's sons trained in the Dungeon and went on to become involved in the wrestling world including Bret and Owen Hart. Other famous Dungeon graduates include Billy Graham, Greg Valentine, Bad News Brown, Davey Boy Smith, Brian Pillman, Jushin Thunder Liger, Ricky Fuji, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Chris Benoit, Justin Credible, Edge, Christian and Mark Henry.

As a teenager, Rhonda Sing approached members of the Hart wrestling family and asked to be trained, but she was rejected as they did not train women wrestlers at the time. Bret Hart, however, claims it had more to do with scheduling conflicts. Nattie "Natalya" Neidhart, daughter of Jim Neidhart and granddaughter of Stu, was ultimately the first woman to graduate from the Dungeon.

One of the first televised acknowledgements of the nickname "Dungeon" was by then WWF color commentator Jesse Ventura. Its first significant exposure was in the documentary Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows. In it, the Dungeon was moderately filmed for the first time and Stu Hart is shown demonstrating wrestling holds on a pupil. Bret also discusses being trained by his father and having submission holds applied to himself, often with graphic descriptions from his father of the holds' impact. A bonus feature on Bret's DVD set also shows him discussing the Dungeon.

Various activities took place in the Dungeon, ranging from weight lifting to Catch wrestling. Bret Hart has described the Dungeon in interviews as having holes in the walls and ceiling from bodies being driven into them. He also noted that practices could, at times, be as intense as MMA styled fighting. In July 1998, the WWF filmed a match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock in the Dungeon for the Fully Loaded pay-per-view.

Reputation During the period when Stu Hart was regularly training individuals at the school, it held a reputation for being one of the harshest wrestling schools in the world. Graduating from it was considered very impressive and something which would be brought up on air on televised wrestling shows. Hart himself also garnered a reputation for being borderline sadistic in his training techniques, and was known to torture his pupils with legitimate submission wrestling holds he had learned as a sports wrestler.Wood, Greg (7 November 1999). "The sadist, the loving father and a knockout end". The Independent. Retrieved 11 January 2014 Buddy Roberts described the place as "like a torture chamber". In contrast to his descendants, Stu never took money for his training services and did it mostly for the love of the artform of professional wrestling.

Trainers Stu Hart Mr. Hito, head trainer after Stu Hart Kazuo Sakurada

List of notable trainees Men

Abdullah the Butcher Al Oeming Archie Gouldie Bad News Brown Ben Bassarab Billy Jack Haynes"DAN SPIVEY, BILLY JACK HAYNES AND BRYAN CLARKE HAVE BEEN GOING BACK-AND-FORTH ON SOCIAL MEDIA". f4wonline.com. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. July 23, 2015. Blake Norton Brian Pillman Chris BenoitLunney, Doug (2000-01-15). "Benoit inspired by the Dynamite Kid, Crippler adopts idol's high-risk style". Slam! Wrestling. Winnipeg Sun via Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2017-02-14. Chris JerichoHaldar, Prityush (October 2, 2016). "Chris Jericho talks about learning from Stu Hart". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 2017-02-14 Christian"Stu Hart Profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved February 20, 2010. Davey Boy Smith David Hart Smith Devon Nicholson Dynamite Kid Edge Eduardo Miguel Perez Fritz Von Erich Gama Singh Gene Anderson George Scott Gorilla Monsoon Greg Valentine Hiro Hase Dean Hart Smith Hart Ross Hart Wayne Hart Bret Hart Keith Hart Bruce Hart"Bruce Hart Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2017-02-14 Owen Hart Jim Neidhart Jason HeltonAltamura, Mike (August 16, 2001). "Jason Helton: Raising hell Down Under". Slam! Wrestling. Canoe.com. Retrieved 2017-02-16. Jake Roberts Jos LeDuc Junkyard Dog Jushin Thunder LigerClevett, Jason (2004-11-03). "The legend of Jushin "Thunder" Liger". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-02-02. Justin Credible Ken Shamrock Klondike Bill Lance Storm Larry Cameron Luther Lindsay Mark Henry Masahiro Chono Michael Majalahti Nikolai Volkoff"Nikolai Volkoff WWE Hall of Fame Profile". WWE. Retrieved 2011-03-30. Paul LeDuc Ricky Fuji"Ricky Fuji Puroresu Central profile". PuroresuCentral.com. Retrieved 2017-02-15. Roddy Piper Ruffy Silverstein Sandy Scott Shinya Hashimoto Steve Blackman Superstar Billy Graham Tyson Kidd Tom Magee Tyler ManeSmith, Caleb (April 30, 2014). "Tyler Mane's movie career all started with wrestling". Slam! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2016-05-15. Viktor Yvon Durelle

Women Natalya Neidhart

Legacy In modern-day being trained in the Dungeon carries a level of status and there have been many attempts to recreate and recapture its glory. In 2005 a documentary directed by Blake Norton (who trained at the school) named Surviving the Dungeon: The Legacy of Stu Hart was released.Elliott, Brian (November 23, 2009). "Hart Dungeon DVD gives rough picture of Stu". Slam! Wrestling. Canoe.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-27."Surviving the Dungeon: The Legacy of Stu Hart". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2016-03-27.Elliott, Brian (November 4, 2009). ""Surviving The Dungeon filmmaker's legacy as much as Stu Hart's". Slam! Wrestling. Canoe.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-27.

Subsequent training camps run by members of the Hart family After their father's retirement some of the Hart brothers managed the school by themselves under the name Hart Brothers Training Camp which was also known by the nickname School of Hart Knocks. Leading up to the Hart House's sale in 2003, the Hart Brothers Training Camp run by Bruce, Keith and Ross was still running three times a week in the basement of the Hart mansion. A very similar training camp remains today at the family's gym, although none of the Hart brothers are involved.

Teddy Hart, Stu Hart's oldest grandson ran a training camp in Texas named Texas Hart Dungeon from around 2012 to 2015. Smith Hart, Stu's oldest son founded a new wrestling school in 2015 named Dungeon Discipline Professional Wrestling School which is run out of Calgary and Berrie in Alberta, after Smith's passing in 2017 the training is mostly handled by Smith's son Matthew.

References

Works cited

Further reading

Bret Hart interview: pg 3 and 4; June 4, 2004, at IGN.com