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Was The Hart Foundation (1997) the greatest stable ever? (Besides the nWo)

13K views 38 replies 32 participants last post by  promoter2003 
#1 ·
They had all the belts.
Bret- World
Owen- IC
Bulldog- Euro
Owen + Bulldig- Tag Team

Arguably the greatest wrestler of all time in Bret

3 HOFers (1 for sure, 2 should be) in Bret, Owen, and Bulldog

A 2x Slammy Award winning wrestler in Owen



 
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#9 ·
Though I disagree about the MOD as being the best entertainment-wise, I do agree that there were more entertaining stables than Hart Foundation, though they were certainly very accomplished.


At the time, Pillman was the only one from the group that I liked. Now, as I watch his older matches, I can appreciate Bret as well.

Though I can see how people liked him, Owen never did anything for me (except during his feud with Bret after turning heel); Bulldog did less for me than Owen; and I downright couldn't stand Anvil in any shape or form.

I respect what they all contributed, but for me personally, they were the first stable that consisted solely of guys that I didn't care about seeing (with the exception of Pillman).

I'm currently watching old episodes of Raw, and I'm right around March/April 1997, so maybe seeing it again after all these years will change my perspective. I haven't really watched anything Hart Foundation related since it aired live, so maybe I'll appreciate the faction more as an adult.
 
#6 ·
Four Horsemen, New World Order and Dangerous Alliance would be my top three for my own personal enjoyment and importance to their company at the time, I think anything else would be subjective but whilst I enjoyed The Hart Foundation a lot their six or seven months together was nowhere near enough for them to be considered the greatest stable ever in kayfabe or real life.
 
#12 ·
They had all the belts.
Bret- World
Owen- IC
Bulldog- Euro
Owen + Bulldig- Tag Team

Arguably the greatest wrestler of all time in Bret

3 HOFers (1 for sure, 2 should be) in Bret, Owen, and Bulldog

A 2x Slammy Award winning wrestler in Owen



The Horsemen will always be #1 for me. No question about it. Not even close.

But when thinking of the Hall of Fame one group always comes to mind: The Dangerous Alliance.

Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zybysco, Paul Heyman and Madusa. Seven members, and ALL SEVEN are either already in the Hall of Fame, will be in the Hall of Fame or deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

Not just WWE's Hall of Fame, but ANY wrestling Hall of Fame.

They may not be the greatest stable ever, but no greater group of talent was ever assembled in a single group.
 
#14 ·
ive only seen clips of the dangerous alliance on the wwe network countdown shows but im so interested in them. it seemed like such an underrated stable. idk if it was because of their time period or the fact each member had done or went on to do greater things but they looked awesome
 
#13 ·
going by your criteria you could say evolution is arguably the greatest. other than the quality of talent i dont really remember any standout moments with the hart foundation other than calgary stampede.


personally my fav stable is dx
 
#16 ·
I believe longevity is the main thing that works against this particular stable being considered one of the best. They were realistically together for roughly 6-8 months(something very close to this at least...). Had they been around longer they most likely would have done more things where they would be brought up more often all these years later.

Either way they are one of my personal favorites, just for the USA/Canada story lines. It was entertaining programing all through the Summer of '97.
 
#20 ·
I actually really liked The Shield, but as they are relatively new and current they get missed out of these conversations.

I think the guys had a very special chemistry between them that is very hard to find, I know it's a bold statement but I actually do put them up there alongside the Four Horsemen when it comes to the chemistry and the impact that they had, The Shield just didn't have the longevity but it's not needed and doesn't happen in today's WWE anyway.

But yeah, I think people tend to forget about The Shield in these conversations simply because they're not seen as in hindsight yet, but I absolutely think they're up there.
 
#21 ·
I'm a huge fan of the Hart Foundation and would definitely put them in my top 5 stables. Unfortunately, I just don't think they just weren't around long enough to be considered the greatest.

Having said that, the whole rivalry with Austin and the Canada/U.S program is probably my favorite time in all of wrestling. Overall the show was not always great but I just really enjoyed everything involving the Hart Foundation at the time, especially with Brian Pillman who added another dimension to the group.

Once of my favorite moments was when they were searching the arena to find Austin. I remember at one point they find some bald guy who they think is Austin and start beating him down only to realize that it's not him. After realizing that it's not him they pause for a brief second, then just continue beating him for no reason. :lol That shit killed me
 
#22 ·
I was going to write a response here about longevity in regards to things here ... but it inspired me to start a thread on it as I'd be interested in people's different vibes and thoughts in regards to this .... there is no right or wrong, but just a case of how important do we feel that it is or isn't ... which I'd love you guys to add some vibes in, considering this thread inspired me : http://www.wrestlingforum.com/gener...ty-plays-regards-cementing-career-stable.html

It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with me, I'm interested in other people's thoughts and feelings on it, so feel free to add some input if you like as it could be a good discussion :)
 
#24 ·
They were an awesome stable and my personal favorite but since they weren't around long enough, most would rank the nWo and Horsemen ahead. However in my personal opinion the Hart Foundation is easily a Top 4-5 stable and also they are among the select group of stables in wrestling that worked really well together.
 
#25 ·
In an era of stables with Hogan, Michaels, Vince McMahon, Undertaker all having groups as well within that couple year span it just wouldn't come close to my top 5. NWO and DX are the top 2 stables of the Monday Night Wars. Horsemen have a legitimate claim to top stable of all time too.

Like everyone has pointed out it was very well done but time just wasn't there. Would of loved to see it pick back up in WCW opposed to Hart joining or half joining NWO or whatever the crap they did there.
 
#29 ·
It's a really interesting question from a potential perspective, especially. The Hart Foundation were an integral aspect of the top storyline or lines, if you will, of the companies programming at the time. A timeframe, as well, that many consider, myself included, to be the very peak of the professional wrestling business during the Monday night war era. An era that was not only among the very best wrestling has ever seen but arguably the very best of all, period. The Hart Foundation played a crucial role in Steve Austin's ultimate achievement as the pinnacle of the WWF's success of the Attitude era as well as the emergence of DX, another flagship aspect of that success. Not to mention their role in the birth of mega star the Rock, who benefited from working with them on at very least a casual level and of course how much of his success was born from his work with the aforementioned Austin and DX, HHH specifically. So the enormity of their influence on the three top primary pillars of the very bones the Attitude era was built upon is undeniable, alone. None of that even begins to mention their actual literal accomplishments. 5 hall of Fame wrestlers (yes that includes Neidhart even if it is just for his run with bret in the original foundation which were absolutely a hall of Fame tag team in the 80's), 4 of which were bonded by being family, all of which were trained and molded from the same legendary source. Holding every available championship of the time during their modest around 7 months of existence, almost simultaneously not to mention. WWF Champion, Bret Hart, Intercontinental Champion, Owen Hart, European Champion, Davey Boy Smith and World Tag Team Champions, Owen and Bulldog. Admittedly, the one thing lacking is a long list of legendary moments but again they only had a very modest run, in terms of length of their existence as a stable. But the pedigree of the Hart Foundation '97 all things considered is staggering. The horsemen is the only other stable that competes, which themselves are incredibly compromised by their numerous incarnations of members and even in their best form, giving all due credit, were not collectively on the level of the Hart Foundation in terms of collection of individual caliber talents.
 
#31 ·
Way too short lived and ultimately unimportant. I'd easily rank them behind the Horsemen, Heenan Family, Hart's First Family, Army of Darkness, DX, Dudleys, Raven's Nest, Nation of Domination, Dangerous Alliance, Corporation and of course the Freebirds.

Holding every available championship of the time
Basically just shows in what bad state the WWF was back then before the likes of Austin, Rock and Foley exploded into the Main Event.
 
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