RIP Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart

[KawadaSmile]

It was confirmed by family and close friends.  Maybe he rest in peace, brothers.

[Cornette's racket]

Link ? I've not seen an official confirmation from his family. 

 

Edit: WWE have confirmed it since I made this post. RIP. 

[KawadaSmile]

Sean Ross Sapp just confirmed it after initial doubt regarding his death.

WWE just confirmed it too.

[CarpetCrawler]

WWE has now confirmed it as well.   Getting his LJN doll was one of my favorite things in the world as a kid because it meant I could play as my favorite tag team.  He was incredible with Bret.  RIP.

[Log]

When I was a kid, I thought Anvil was going to be the big star to break out of the Hart Foundation.

He had one of those looks where it seems like he was made to be a pro wrestler.

RIP Anvil.

[gordi]

Damn it... They are just dropping like flies recently.

Neidhardt is definitely a guy who entertained the hell out of me (and so many other fans) in his day.

[Coffey]

Being a lifelong professional wrestling fan, that worst part about getting older is having to see all of the wrestlers you grew up watching pass away. Also, I really hope that Nattie found out via family, not Twitter notifications. Everyone that was tweeting about Anvil was tagging her in the posts. That would be a horrible way to find out about your father passing away. 

We just lost Masa Saito, Brickhouse Brown, Brian Christopher & Big Van Vader. Now apparently The Anvil as well. Sometimes wrestling is tough. You know professional wrestling has you jaded when a wrestler dies at sixty-three & your first thought it "at least he didn't die young" despite that being young for normal death. In the world of wrestling it feels like you're lucky to make it past forty-five.

The Hart Foundation is one of my earliest childhood tag team memories. For some reason, I always think about them squashing The Bolsheviks at Wrestlemania.

 

[gordi]

...and Rayo de Jalisco, too. 

edit: and Nikolai Volkoff. 

Damn it...

 

[Jmare007]

Damn it man, last couple of months have been brutal. RIP.

[C.S.]

I wasn't expecting this one.

I started watching wrestling after The Hart Foundation split up, but I caught their matches on tapes and was blown away by them.

I may be the only one who thought The New Foundation with Anvil and Owen was incredible, and I was gutted when it morphed into the decidedly low energy High Energy with a past-his-prime Koko B. Ware.

The Attitude Era Hart Foundation stable was amazing and a nice last big run for the Anvil.

This one hurts.

[joeg]

WWE sent out an anouncement on their app about 20 minutes ago. Any word on cause?

[NintendoLogic]

He'd been battling Alzheimer's for a while, so it might be related to that.

[El-P]

Tough summer for the pro-wrestling community. Neidhart was quite the efficient tag team wrestler, always fun to see him pop up on WWF TV in the 90's (and now I always hear that damn Stu Hart impersonation by Prichard about "giving the big fucking rhino a chance").

[SirEdger]

8 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

He'd been battling Alzheimer's for a while, so it might be related to that.

First reports suggest that it's actually similar to how Dusty Rhodes died: he apparently fell and hit his head and succumbed from his injuries. I don't know if it's official yet but that's what I've read.

This one hurts a bit because my uncle and I were huge Hart Foundation fans. Jim Neidhart was his favorite wrestler ever. I told him the news and he was as sad as I was.

RIP Anvil.

[flyonthewall2983]

I have gotten a lot of enjoyment lately out of watching the WWF tag scene from the time they and the Bulldogs started with the company, really right up until the Road Warriors were brought in. I started as a fan after they split up, but there is little doubt for me that The Hart Foundation might be the greatest tag team Vince ever pushed. For 3 years their best heel tag team, and arguably the best face team for the next 3. Jim had those hyped, non-sensical promos that fit right in with what Hogan and Warrior were spouting off every week. He could also move pretty fast for a guy his size. I love the slingshot move they broke out every once in awhile where Bret would torpedo Jim over the top rope onto someone. And their finish might be the tag team equivalent of Arn Anderson's spinebuster.

 

 

[sek69]

Looks like the word is he had a grand mal seizure that was the cause of death.

[SPS]

Very sad to hear the news, Jim was such a great talent in his team with Bret. Sad to see him pass so young, I remember when I was training in Calgary I got to meet him briefly while I was doing ring crew at the Hart Legacy Wrestling show at the Calgary Pavilion.

After meeting Jim, one of the older guys there who knew him for years told me a story of him bumping into Neidhart at the grocery store in Calgary and Neidhart had like 12 of those 24 flats of eggs in his cart and when he asked Jim why he had so many eggs Jim replied it's the best source of protein you could buy and  that he would eat a dozen or more in 1 go. Me being the skinny and poor aspiring wrestler I took this advice and started eating a dozen eggs a day and gained like 20 lbs in 3/4 months of solid mass so he wasn't bullshitting.

My condolences to the Hart family and especially Natalya (also a sweetheart when I met her briefly), they were good people to support Jim and want the best for him despite all his struggles with addiction.

[cm funk]

This sucks.  Feel terrible for Nattie

Was a huge fan of the Hart Foundation as a kid.  Even loved him and Owen as The New Foundation.  And of course the 97 stable was great.  It's so sad that out of the 5 of them Bret is the only one left

[Shrike02]

Loved the Anvil's promos as a kid. Another part of my childhood gone. Sad news.

[peachchaos]

I also really enjoyed his promos as a kid, since they provided a wildman contrast to Bret's contained athletic confidence. Always thought Jim was underutilized in a sense because of his height but by the 90's it was pretty clear that ring work didn't click with him. That being said, Anvil was perfect in the early days under Watts' tutelage, being pushed as a serious athlete due to his success in track-and-field. 

Strongest recommendation to check out:

Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83)   (finished 9th on the DVDVR Mid South poll)

Jim Neidhart & Rick Rude vs. Eddie Gilbert & Tommy Rich (Memphis 5/5/1984)

Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (WWF Summerslam) (8/29/1988)

Hart Foundation vs. Brain Busters (WWF Summerslam) (8/28/1989)

Hart Foundation vs. Team USA (WWF In Your House: Canadian Stampede) (7/6/1997)

[cm funk]

I LOVE that Foundation Busters match.   Thanks for posting

And yea, Canadian Stampede is one of the best, just for the time period and crowd heat alone

[sek69]

They put a nice collection up on the Network for Anvil, pretty good stuff.

[BruiserBrody]

The Hart Foundation was one of my favorites after their face turn in '88. My neighbor and I wrestled 100's of backyard matches as them as we knocked around invisible warriors.  I kept up as a fan through the New Foundation and his WCW run that lasted a hiccup in 93. I really don't remember if I fell out of love after his 94 heel turn. 

On the other hand, one of the Hart's dirt books said he drugged his wife in order to rape her and taught  Davey Boy Smith how to do the same. 

His passing was probably a blessing though as watching a loved one suffer is not something anyone enjoys. Neidhart was always a big badass athlete, so I'm sure being physically compromised was horrible for him.