Calgary Stampede Wrestling has a special place in the hearts of pro wrestling fans as it gave us some of the greatest wrestlers in history, but it was also one of the most infamous territories in Canada for roughly 50 years.
It was owned and run by the legendary Stu Hart and had some of the all time greats work there including Andre the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, Davey Boy Smith, and of course Bret and Owen Hart and Jim Niedhart.
Will Bret Hart Revive Calgary Stampede Wrestling?
The end of Calgary Stampede Wrestling wasn’t a legendary as it deserved as Vince McMahon bought the company from Stu Hart for $1 million, but Bret later said Vince never paid a dime.
His reason for buying it was to get it’s stars, and in his book Hitman, Bret said Stu never demanded the money because he was afraid it’d mess up his children’s careers in the WWE.
Eventually, Stu got the company back but it failed to recapture it’s previous glory and didn’t have much success during another attempt years later.
Opportunity knocks
In episode 5 of Tales from the Territories “Stampede: The Hart of Pro Wrestling”, Bret Hart, Abdullah the Butcher, Brian Blair, Bobby Bass, and David Schultz shared stories of their time in Stampede and what it meant to them.
By the end of the episode, they asked Bret why doesn’t he restart the company, and when he sounded unsure of doing it, Abdullah was the first to offer his help since he’ll be in the area soon.
The rest quickly offered their support and help if Bret wanted it, and it was a cool way to close out the show.
There’s been some talk recently about Stampede starting up again, and we’d love to see Bret take charge and build it into his vision of what it should be, which we suspect would mirror Stu Hart’s vision in a lot of ways.
Continuing the legacy
Of course, one the main things is it’d have to remain in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and we have no doubt it would, and it’d most likely return to the pavilion where the weekly shows were help before.
The difference this time is Bret would be able to add to his family’s legacy, and with his name he could attract plenty of big name stars from all over.
It’d be a great homage to Stu as well as rekindling the family legacy that fell to the wayside over the years. We’re excited and hopeful that Bret does take a chance on this.
It’ll be fun to see Calgary Stampede Wrestling back up and running. What do you think of the idea? Let us know in the comments below.
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