Harts split on WWF deal
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Local wrestling legend Stu Hart and his son Bruce showed up for the big show at the Calgary Saddledome during RAW is WAR May 28, 2001. -- Calgary Sun photos by Carlos Amat and Al Charest
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By NOVA PIERSON -- Calgary Sun
A bitter rift has opened up among Calgary's royal wrestling family
after an olive branch was extended to the World Wrestling Federation.
Family patriarch Stu Hart and three of his children attended Monday's Raw
is War event in Calgary and met with owner Vince McMahon.
But Bret Hart reportedly remains adamantly against a coalition with the
organization his brother Owen worked for when he died performing a dangerous
stunt.
"It's time to set aside the bitterness and acrimony," said Stu's daughter
Ellie Neidhart, who works for her brother Bruce, the man who has revived his
dad's Stampede Wrestling.
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Who was at ringside?
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At the invitation of Vince McMahon, twenty Hart family members and friends
were given front row seats at the show. Those in attendance (and shown on
camera) include:
Stu Hart
Bruce Hart
Bruce's sons Bruce Hart Jr. and Torrie
Two of Bruce Jr. & Torrie's friends
Ellie Hart
Ellie's daughter Natalie
Smith Hart
Smith's son Matthew
Diana Hart
Blake Norton (Stampede Press Agent)
Natina Schulz
Dungeon trainees Neil, Dave Swift, Apocalypse
-- courtesy Stampede Wrestling
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"I was glad I went. I've never had any arguments with anybody in the
wrestling business," said Stu Hart, who built up Calgary's Stampede Wrestling
organization and is scheduled to receive the Order of Canada tomorrow in
Ottawa.
Neidhart said a future deal with WWF is a possibility.
"Our family was born into wrestling and we don't know any other way of
life," she said.
"I feel strongly none of us have done anything to compromise Owen's death."
But Owen's widow, Martha Hart, has said that's a slap in the face to the
memory of her husband.
Owen Hart was killed when a high-wire stunt went awry in a May 1999 bout in
Kansas City.
Martha sued the WWF and got an out-of- court settlement worth $18 million
US.
