We’re back with another Blemished or Blew It where we look at members of wrestling families who didn’t exactly live up to their predecessors’ goals and achievements and see if they blew their chances of making their mark in wrestling. Or maybe they made their mark in wrestling, met or exceeded those achievements but still dropped the ball down the line. This time we’re looking at the Hart Family’s Teddy Hart.
The Past, Present, and Future of Wrestling: Teddy Hart
Part of the third generation of Harts, I view him as the most athletically gifted of the Harts. Because of his flashy, high flying style in the 2000s, he was sometimes written off as a spot monkey. This was made worse by being a Hart, known first for their technical ability.
He had some steak with that sizzle, though. Teddy was capable of wrestling a technical match and the 2000s had a good number of heavily mat-based wrestlers. However, the ones getting a lot of the spotlight in the early 2000s were mainly the flashy guys—and there was a lot of them.
Perhaps for Hart, the challenge was topping these highly athletic ring magicians. Amazing Red is often considered the pioneer of that style in that wave of the U.S indies but we can’t sleep on Teddy Hart. The man came down from Calgary and was showing out in Jersey All-Pro and other indies in the area. Like Red, he was presenting moves that weren’t regularly seen on the east coast indies.
Of course, he also showed his ass in Ring of Honor during the Scramble Cage match. That match was Teddy in his natural environment so while it rubbed some of the major talent the wrong way, I can’t see anyone saying that it wasn’t expected. This wasn’t even before the rumblings of “There’s something about Teddy.” By this point everyone knew he was a loose cannon.
Still, Teddy Hart got work regularly. That’s even when he was racking up arrests, charges, accusations, and aired dirty laundry. The guy attracted bad press like Shaq attracted fouls.
Blemished or Blew It?
Well, Teddy Hart has done both. He’s blemished the Hart name several times and he’s blown opportunities in promotions even after some companies decided they would work with him regardless. The late 2010s saw him tone it down a bit with the spottiness and he had this second—thri—uh, fifth wind? But yes, he’s both blown it and blemished it.
However, he hasn’t totally blown it. Even with the current climate in wrestling, Teddy is like Impact Wrestling. At one time, Impact would lose a network to air Impact but always managed to find another network. It might not have been the best network accessibility-wise but they always floated.
Teddy is the same. You’d think he’d eventually sink because of how many chances he’s squandered but the guy is a problematic phoenix. As fans and with people in the business “his demons” is often used when a wrestler repeatedly fumbles the bag. No, Teddy Hart is the problematic phoenix, the dumpster fire feline: he’ll crash and burn in the trashiest, most unbelievable fashion but always rises again or lands on his feet.
Verdict: Blemished and blew it but ultimately unburnable
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