Who is part of the Hart family?

The Hart family is one of the most iconic in professional wrestling for not only the considerable stars it produced in its direct bloodline, but the noteworthy names who married into the family, as well as the legacy of Stu and later his sons training men who went on to great success in the business in their infamous Dungeon.

Many members of the Hart family—and particularly those who thrived in WWE’s worldwide spotlight—are no longer with us. Nonetheless, the family looms as one of the influential, popular, and talented ones that the wrestling business has ever seen.

This article takes a moment to break down the family tree, looking at all of the individuals connected to the family in various ways, and what exactly those relationships are. That spans at least three generations, depending on how one counts them, and fans have to wonder if the youngest Harts of today may well carry forward the family tradition and find themselves in the ring one day, too.

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#5 The Patriarch: Stu Hart

The Hart family starts with Stu

Stu Hart was a bona fide legend of Canadian wrestling. Sure, he was an in ring star in his own right who used the foundation of a distinguished amateur career to succeed as a wrestler.

He’s better remembered, though, for his endeavors in later in life. Stu ran the Calgary based Stampede Wrestling promotion, a successful outfit that Vince McMahon went out of his way to acquire for its top talents during his original North American expansion.

Additionally, Stu is one of the most famous trainers in wrestling history, credited with preparing not only his famous sons and son-in-laws for lives in the ring, but also legends like Billy Graham, Nikolai Volkoff, and Greg Valentine to name just a few. Thus, while Stu himself never became a worldwide wrestling attraction himself, his influence most certainly was felt across promotions, and particularly in WWE when its popularity exploded all over the globe.

#4 The Hitman: Bret Hart

Bret Hart became a world champion in WWE and WCW.

Stu’s most famous protégé and son is no doubt Bret Hart, who would not only become one of the most technically proficient wrestlers who ever lived, but also world champion in WWE and WCW, and a particularly popular wrestler internationally.

Indeed, while many Hart family members from Bret’s generation became stars in WWE, Hart was the lone one to reach the highest levels of the business as a main event fixture for the largest wrestling companies in the world. Tragically, his career was cut short during a disappointing stint with WCW that included concussion issues.

Hart would add a coda to his career in 2010, getting back in the WWE ring for several carefully protected appearances, including a WrestleMania match with Vince McMahon, beating The Miz for the US Championship, and joining in on the WWE vs. Nexus feud. Hart would never be able to see things through his best years, though, to retire purely on his own terms like he deserved to.

#3 Bret’s Cohort

Alongside Bret Hart arose several individuals from the Hart family. Perhaps most famous of all was Owen, Bret’s youngest brother who was an accomplished high flyer and technical wrestler, who demonstrated remarkable personality to boot when he got the chance at a heel turn, and particularly the opportunity to feud with the Hitman.

Bret also had two WWE brother-in-laws who’d married his sisters after training in the Hart Dungeon. One was Hart’s famous tag team partner with whom he first established himself with the WWE audience—Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.

The other was The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith, whom Hart worked against in tag teams early in their WWE tenures, before later working a number of excellent singles matches together. Davey Boy’s cousin, The Dynamite Kid, also gets an indirect nod as related to the family by his tag team partner’s marriage.

A number of the these distinguished stars joined Bret and Brian Pillman for an all too short, but excellent run as the Hart Foundation stable.

#2 The Current Generation

The Hart Dynasty represented some of the best of this generation of the family.

Given how widely the Hart family stretched into Bret’s generation of wrestlers, it’s little wonder that we’d see them have children who’d grow up and become a part of the business themselves. Perhaps the most prominent among them is, interestingly enough, the first female member of the family to reach worldwide acclaim.

It’s Natalya, the daughter of Jim Neidhart and niece of Bret Hart.

Natalya has since married Tyson Kidd, who trained with the Harts and was considered as close as family to begin with. On top of that, the current generation includes DH Smith, the son of Davey Both Smith, nephew to Bret, and cousin to Natalya. Despite his disappointing run in WWE, he has gone onto work hard at pursuing his career with smaller promotions and in Japan.

Finally, there’s Teddy Hart, the son of Bret and Owen’s sister Georgia. He was an undeniable talent, who got opportunities in WWE’s developmental system and worked on projects like MTV’s Wrestling Society X. Unfortunately, word is that attitude issues have been his undoing, costing him a shot at a mainstream wrestling career.

#1 The Remainder

Men like Roddy Piper claimed more spurious connections to the Hart family, and a number of other relatives only appeared sporadically in WWE.

As is the case for many a large family, there are some spurious connections out there to the Harts. Most famously, Roddy Piper claimed to be Bret Hart’s cousin, those there’s little to suggest they were actually blood relatives, and this may have been a more metaphorical statement as to how close Piper was to Bret and his relatives.

There are also a number of more direct, clear Hart family members who have less famous wrestling careers.

Most notably, Bruce Hart was a star for his father’s Stampede Wrestling promotion, before becoming a trainer and promoter himself. Bruce led a band of non-full-time WWE Hart brothers in joining Bret and Owen for an elimination tag team at Survivor Series.

Diana Hart, Bret’s sister and Davey Boy Smith’s wife, also played a recurring role on WWE television, typically when the two men were at odds or closely allied with one another.