Ross Hart On The Hart Dynasty's Long Beach Roots, Stampede Wrestling & More - "Paltrocast" Exclusive

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The Hart wrestling family -- as sometimes also known as the Hart Dynasty -- is a Calgary, Canada-rooted family with a significant history within professional wrestling. The patriarch of the family was wrestling legend Stu Hart, founder of Stampede Wrestling, whose trainees would ultimately include future legends "Superstar" Billy Graham, Fritz Von Erich, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Abdullah The Butcher, Brian Pillman, Edge, Junkyard Dog, Mark Henry, Roddy Piper, Masahiro Chono, and his own sons Bret Hart and Owen Hart.

As if that training roster was not enough... All eight of Stu Hart's sons would go on to be professional wrestlers. Now into the third generation of wrestling, Harts, Stu's granddaughter Natalie "Natalya" Neidhart is a WWE mainstay, as is her husband Tyson Kidd, who currently works for WWE behind the scenes as a producer. And that goes without mentioning the extended Hart family including Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, "The Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington or Teddy Hart.

The second youngest son of Stu and Helen Hart was Ross Hart. The godson of wrestler and promoter Jack Pfefer, Ross Hart made his in-ring wrestling debut in 1985. His list of opponents in Stampede Wrestling would include Drago Zhivago, The Cuban Assassin, Chris Benoit, Steve Blackman, Great Gama, George Skaaland and brother in-law BJ Annis. Hart also wrestling in WWF -- including multiple pay-per-view appearances alongside brother Bret and matches against Ted DiBiase, Demolition, The Orient Express and Power & Glory --and on the UK's World Of Sport and later transitioned to being a promoter and booker behind the scenes. He was inducted into the Canadian Wrestling Hall Of Fame as part of its Class Of 2001 and the Prairie Wrestling Alliance Hall Of Fame as part of its Class Of 2010.

As mentioned earlier, the Harts are generally thought of as Calgary royalty, yet the roots of the family actually include my hometown of Long Beach, New York. I first explored this within my 2016 interview with Ross Hart's older brother Smith, who sadly passed away in 2017. When I mentioned my interest in the Harts' history with Long Beach to Pain & Passion: The History Of Stampede Wrestling author Heath McCoy, McCoy kindly connected me with Ross Hart, who generously spoke with me via Zoom -- as embedded above -- about the Harts, Long Island and even Van Halen. More on Hart can be found via IMDb and McCoy's well-regarded book.