Teddy Hart


Edward Ellsworth Annis is a Canadian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Teddy Hart. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit. He is one-half of the RCW Tag Team Champions with Steven Styles. He wrestled on a National scale for Major League Wrestling as the leader of The Hart Foundation, where he held the MLW World Middleweight and MLW Tag Team championships. He has also wrestled for AAA, the short-lived Wrestling Society X, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Dragon Gate USA. He operates a wrestling school in Edmonton. He is the son of Georgia Hart of the Hart wrestling family and wrestler B. J. Annis. He is also the nephew of former professional wrestlers Bret Hart and Owen Hart. Hart achieved an early degree of fame when he became the youngest wrestler to be signed to the World Wrestling Federation. His subsequent release, controversial actions while wrestling on the independent circuit and various legal problems have earned him a measure of infamy.
Outside of the ring, Annis has been a mentor to several young wrestlers and has been a trainer at wrestling schools. Among his trainees are Jack Evans, Pete Wilson and his younger cousin Matt Hart. Annis is also a cat lover and breeder of Persian cats which he has used sometimes in storylines and brought with him to matches.

Early life

Annis is the oldest male grandchild of Stu and Helen Hart and the second oldest overall. His mother is of Greek descent through her maternal grandmother and Irish through her maternal grandfather. His maternal grandfather was of Scots-Irish, English and Scottish descent. On his father's side he is part Italian. He is the nephew of former professional wrestlers Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart, Keith Hart, Smith Hart, Ross Hart, Dean Hart, and Wayne Hart. Annis holds dual citizenship with Canada and the United States.
Annis grew up with three siblings, two sisters named Annie and Angela, as well as a younger brother named Matthew who died of necrotizing fasciitis in 1996. Annis is the cousin of fellow professional wrestlers Natalya Neidhart, Mike Hart, Matt Hart, Harry Smith, Bruce Hart Jr. and Torrin Hart as well as wrestling personalities Lindsay Hart and Georgia Smith.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1995–1998)

Hart debuted in July 1995 at Rockyford, Alberta, where he teamed up with his brother, Matthew, and defeated his cousin Harry Smith and T. J. Wilson. In the Calgary, Alberta-based Stampede Wrestling promotion, Hart teamed with Smith, Wilson and Jack Evans. In 2000, he wrestled for and was a key creative figure in the Matrats promotion. At the age of 16, he wrestled in the opening match of a World Wrestling Federation house show in Calgary, teaming with his cousin Harry Smith against Andrew Picarnic and T. J. Wilson as a tribute to his brother, Matthew, who had recently died.

World Wrestling Federation (1998–2002)

In 1998, Hart became the youngest person ever to be signed to a World Wrestling Federation developmental contract, and was sent to train with Dory Funk, Jr. at the "Funkin' Conservatory". However, he was later released by the WWF, due to alleged attitude problems.

Ring of Honor (2003)

On September 20, 2003, Teddy wrestled for Ring of Honor in Philadelphia on their September event Glory by Honor II, where he defeated partner and friend, TJ Wilson. Backstage, however, the Special K faction confronted Hart, and mocked him for not being a good high-flying wrestler. On November 1, 2003, Hart competed at a Ring of Honor show in Elizabeth, New Jersey as part of a Scramble Cage match. After losing the match, he began to perform moonsaults and executed a shooting star press from the top of the cage rather than selling the moves he had taken. Hart then vomited at ringside. His actions attracted the ire of many wrestlers, as he endangered some wrestlers by performing moves on them which they were not anticipating. Hart attributes his actions to a concussion suffered during the match, and has since only wrestled at two ROH shows, At Our Best, on March 13, 2004, and Final Battle on December 19, 2009, against Jack Evans.

NWA Total Nonstop Action (2003–2004)

Hart made several appearances with NWA Total Nonstop Action. In August 2003, he defeated Jonny Storm and then lost to Juventud Guerrera in the course of the Super X Cup Tournament. He returned in March 2004 as a member of Team Canada, and represented them as its original captain in the second America's X-Cup, where Hart defeated Mr. Águila in the first match. He was released from the promotion following an altercation in a restaurant with CM Punk stemming from the Elizabeth ROH show, where Sabu had to separate the two.

Major League Wrestling (2004)

The Hart Foundation stable would later compete in Major League Wrestling, where Hart teamed with Evans as The Hart Foundation 2.0, as well as being labeled "The New Hart Foundation". MLW's TV series, MLW Underground would be the first appearance for Hart, Smith, Evans and TJ Wilson on a major cable television network.
On January 9, 2004, Hart defeated Bryan Danielson in a match billed as "Shawn Michaels' top protégé vs. the last student of the Hart family dungeon ”, playing up the Montreal screwjob and bitter real-life rivalry between Michaels and Bret Hart.

Jersey All Pro Wrestling (2004–2007)

In 2004, Hart began competing for Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and won the promotion's Tag Team Championship with Jack Evans by defeating The Strong Style Thugs in a steel cage tag team match at Caged Fury, with help from Hart's uncle Jim Neidhart. After being champions for nearly four months, Evans and Hart lost the titles to the Backseat Boyz. Three months later, Hart teamed up Homicide, one of the men he beat for the Tag Team Championship, to defeat the Backseat Boyz for the titles, giving Hart his second reign and Homicide his fifth. A little over a week later, however, they lost the titles back to the Backseat Boyz.
On January 7, 2006, Hart defeated Azrieal to become the new Light Heavyweight Champion in a Gauntlet match at Wild Card II. Four months later, Hart lost the title to Frankie Kazarian in a triple threat match also involving A.J. Styles.
On July 29, 2006, Hart took on Jay Lethal at a JAPW event in Aberdeen, New Jersey. The match culminated with Hart climbing on top of a soda machine and delivering a moonsault onto Lethal. The match was briefly stopped while Hart stepped out into the parking lot to recover. Hart managed to recuperate in time and then returned to the ring, where he won the match.
On October 28, 2006, Hart defeated Homicide, Low Ki, and Necro Butcher at the JAPW ninth Anniversary Show in Rahway, New Jersey to win the vacated JAPW Heavyweight Championship. On January 23, 2007, Hart was stripped of the JAPW Heavyweight Championship due to problems with the promoter and was released from the company.

Return to WWE (2005, 2006–2007)

In 2005, he made several appearances with WWE, wrestling in dark matches, where he was defeated by Harry Smith and working as an enhancement talent on Velocity, teaming with JD Michaels against The Basham Brothers.
On April 1, 2006, Hart and several of his relatives attended the induction of his uncle Bret into the WWE Hall of Fame. After Wrestling Society X folded, Hart moved to Florida in hopes of earning a development deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, which he received. After being re-signed, he was assigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling developmental facility of WWE.
Hart appeared at the July 18 Ohio Valley Wrestling television taping, participating in a battle royal where the winner faced John Cena at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom on July 27. Although he lost, it was announced that he and Harry Smith would face Shad Gaspard and JTG at the same show. The "Next Generation Hart Foundation", began teaming regularly, and would go on to defeat teams such as the James Boys, Charles Evans and Justin LaRouche, Mr. Strongko and Ramón Loco, and Jamin Olivencia and TJ Dalton.
Hart appeared at the debut show for Florida Championship Wrestling, as he defeated Shawn Osbourne and competed in a battle royal and a triple threat match. On September 25, TJ Wilson and Ted DiBiase, Jr. joined the Next Generation Hart Foundation stable alongside Hart, Smith, and Neidhart. On October 2, Hart competed in his last match for the promotion as he and TJ Wilson defeated Mike Mondo and Nick Nemeth. On October 11, Hart was released from the company.

Independent circuit (2006–2012)

On July 1, 2006, Hart made his One Pro Wrestling debut at Fight Club II in Yorkshire, England, and defeated PAC. During the next two months, Hart competed regularly for 1PW, including a 10-man brawl, in which he was eliminated by Abyss after Hart's teammate Steve Corino turned on him.
On September 13, 2006, Hart and Corino wrestled in a grudge match at Pro Wrestling Xplosion's debut show Lighting the Fuse at the infamous ECW Arena. The match ended in a no contest after the referee, who was associated with Corino, claimed that Hart had submitted when he had not. Hart then challenged Corino to a fight in the parking lot, which led to another brawl.
Hart made his debut with AZW Hawaii at their March 29 event Revenge and Retribution. He wrestled in both a singles against SABAKI and a six-man tag team match, where he was partnered with SABAKI and Mark Anarchy against AkuA, DDB and Rocko Shinoda.
He debuted for Florida's Pro Wrestling Dynasty in 2006 as part of "Team Vision" and helped them win in the main event. He also wrestled the next night for Florida's Coastal Championship Wrestling teaming with Rance, defeating Pablo Marquez and J.P. Ace. He also wrestled for UXW Wrestling in Florida on their June 16, 2006 event "Xtreme Havoc", where he defeated Rance.
On December 1, 2007 at All Pro Wrestling, Hart and Markus Riot defeated Dana Lee and Brian Cage in the main event.
On March 22, 2008, Hart and Jack Evans defeated Ruckus and Trent Acid at PWS Majestic Mayhem in round one of the Majestic Tournament to crown the first ever PWS Champion. In the second round, Evans defeated Hart by countout in a 30-minute match which received a standing ovation. A best of five series was made and the two met for their second encounter on May 2 at Belleville Breakdown, where Hart was victorious.
On May 4, 2012, in Rahway, New Jersey Hart defeated Matt Hardy and Colt Cabana in a triple threat match for Pro Wrestling Syndicate.