Blog #1: The Kids Wrestling Association
The KWA ring
What kids grow up with a wresting ring their yard? Harts! Whenever there wasn’t snow, my grandfather Stu had a ring set up outside, facing his kitchen. It was the perfect place for the Hart grandkids to…wrestle!
KWA was born…the first wrestling promotion that I’ve ever worked for.
Kids Wrestling Association was the brainchild of Tyson Kidd, Harry Smith and brothers Matt and Teddy Hart. I happened to just be one of the girl Hart grandkids to jump along for the ride. I had an important role in the success of the promotion…because you know girls always have to be front and center! I was a spoiled diva even back then.
The Motley Crue of KWA
I participated in many battle royals that the Hart grandkids competed in on Sundays, where our family dinners were held. I was a manager, a bell ringer and a referee, too! (I remember Tyson and Harry ignoring all of my rules when I was a ref, which led to tears and fights and the kitchen door being slammed as I stormed off!) Tyson, Harry, Matthew and Teddy all had the duty of booking the matches they were in for the shows that were held every Sunday dinner. The entire family would attend. We would set up chairs on the front lawn and used all the old supplies from Stampede Wrestling.
The boys carefully plotted storylines (many drawn from what Bret, Owen, my dad and Davey were doing on tv). Prior to some of our shows, my mom would try and sabotage high flying maneuvers we had planned (that were taught to the boys by my uncle Owen). She would see Teddy practicing top rope moonsaults and hurricanranas and she would flip out! It drove us nuts. This did not stop Owen from teaching us all the high flying moves he knew! My mom was fighting a losing battle.
We had invented our own titles, in which we made out of foam from my grandfather’s old wrestling mats. Stu still wanted the foam that we cut up, which was very costly, but how were we to know? My grandfather saw one title we were proudly carrying around made from his precious wrestling foam – he was livid! (He never found out we actually made four titles.)
We had tag teams with names such as “The Canadian Cougars” and “The Hideous Idiots.” The Canadian Cougars were the good guys! My uncles Davey and Owen had lent out their old boots and wrestling gear to help the boys out, but as you’d imagine they were a little big.
Little did we know back then that the KWA would teach us valuable life skills that we still have and use today. We learned about team work, creativity, coloring outside the lines and breaking a few rules to be better than everyone else! The best part was realizing that as a family our Harts beat better together.
-Nattie
Setting up the ring.
The Canadian Cougars ready for action!
