Jimmy Hart "The Mouth Of The South" Media Man Australia

Jimmy Hart "The Mouth Of The South"

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Jimmy Hart will be part of Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania wrestling tour to Australia in November 2009

Jimmy Hart is one of the greatest minds in the music and professional wrestling business of all time.

"The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (also known as "The Colonel") (born January 1, 1943 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a professional wrestling manager, executive, composer and musician. He has worked in Memphis Wrestling, the WWF, WCW, XWF, WrestleXpress and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He has managed many notable professional wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Ric Flair and The Honky Tonk Man.

Before wrestling, Jimmy was part of a band in the 1960s called The Gentrys who had a million selling record “Keep on Dancin”. Before becoming The Gentrys, there were known as just "The Gents". Their production manager told them that if they did not change their name, then they wouldn't succeed in the music industry. Later, after the leader of the group Larry Raspberry left Jimmy took over and they had a few minor hits.

After being asked to sing back-up with Jerry "The King" Lawler, Jimmy was asked to be an announcer and then to manage Jerry. He also managed King Kong Bundy, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Lanny Poffo, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Ox Baker, Kamala, Randy Savage, and Eddie Gilbert; this stable was known as "Hart's First Family of Wrestling", or simply "The First Family". After Lawler broke his leg, Jimmy brought in talent to take the title from Jerry. In 1982, Hart earned national headlines doing a program with comedian and television star Andy Kaufman. Hart, "The King," and Kaufman would continue this feud for over a year. Around this time, Hart became known as "The Wimp", a nickname given to him by Lawler and chanted by fans, and was the subject of the song "Wimpbusters", which was sung by Lawler to the tune of the popular hit "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.; a music video was also made featuring Lawler, legendary announcer Lance Russell, and wrestlers such as Savage, Jimmy Valiant, Dutch Mantel, Tommy Rich, and Rufus R. Jones, along with footage of "The King" beating Hart and his "First Family" (a young Brian Christopher also made an appearance as a young child and another youth is seen wearing a replica of Tully Blanchard's West Texas State football jersey).[1] Then in 1983 and 1984, Hart led Austin Idol, Masao Ito, and Gilbert to CWA (Championship Wrestling Association) International titles. After this success, Hart was hired by the World Wrestling Federation.

1980s

While in the WWF, Jimmy managed many wrestlers. His first acquisition was Greg “The Hammer” Valentine in 1985, then the Intercontinental Champion. At Wrestlemania I, Hart managed King Kong Bundy as he defeated S.D. ("Special Delivery") Jones, allegedly in 9 seconds. Jimmy Hart would later trade King Kong Bundy's contract to Bobby “The Brain” Heenan for the Missing Link and Adrian Adonis.

Also in 1985, Jimmy managed Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. After Valentine lost the Intercontinental Title to Tito Santana Hart briefly co-managed the Dream Team (Valentine & Beefcake), until he phased out and gave full control to “Luscious” Johnny Valiant. In 1986, Hart took the Funk Family under his wing. The Funks included Terry, Hoss, and Jimmy Jack. Then Jimmy managed Adrian Adonis and helped him use the gimmick of “Adorable” Adrian Adonis.

Also in 1986, with the appearance of Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Jimmy teamed him up with Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart to form The Hart Foundation. On January 26, 1987, Hart guided his new tag team past the British Bulldogs for the WWF World Tag Team titles. Hart led the Hart Foundation and former referee Dangerous Danny Davis over the British Bulldogs and Tito Santana at Wrestlemania III in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. When the Honky Tonk Man turned heel, Hart became his manager. The Honky Tonk Man called Hart “The Colonel” in a reference to Tom Parker, the manager of Elvis Presley. With Hart in his corner, on June 2, 1987 the Honky Tonk Man captured the Intercontinental title from Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

Later in 1987, Hart was named Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Manager of the Year. He won the award again in 1994. Also in 1987, Jimmy Hart managed the WWF Women’s Tag Team champions Judy Martin & Leilani Kai, known as the Glamour Girls. At Wrestlemania IV: Jimmy Hart received a haircut by Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. When Jimmy dropped the Hart Foundation in 1988, Hart managed the Fabulous Rougeaus to feud with his former team. At SummerSlam 1988: Jimmy Hart accompanied the Demolition & Mr. Fuji to help retain their WWF Tag titles against the Hart Foundation. Ax used Hart's megaphone as a foreign object to strike one of the Hart Foundation members to secure the victory. The Megaphone became a significant trademark of Hart's throughout the years and was extensively used as a foreign object by the wrestlers he managed and by himself.

Behind the scenes
Jimmy was also responsible for many of the wrestler’s theme tunes in WWF and WCW. He composed: “The Honk Tonk Man,” “Honky Love,” “Sexy Boy,” “Road to Destruction,” Randy and Liz’s Wedding song, “What a Rush,” “We’re All American Boys,” “I’m the Mountie,” “It’s All about the Money,” “Snuka,” “American Made,” the Wolfpac song and many more.

Since the demise of WCW, he became a part owner and one of the founders of the X Wrestling Federation (XWF) along with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brian Knobbs. He also played a key role behind the scenes in the British based WrestleXpress promotion. He had an administrative position in TNA, and was seen from time to time at Universal Studios promoting TNA Impact.

On February 3, 2005, Jimmy Hart was announced as one of the Class of 2005 inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame, and was inducted on April 2, 2005 by Jerry Lawler. (Credit: Wikipedia)

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Jimmy Hart WWE Hall Of Fame website

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