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It may have been sold by the Hart family all the way back in 2003, but the famed "Dungeon" - which existed in the basement of their Calgary home - remains a legendary site in the minds of wrestling fans around the world to this day.
The Dungeon was so named because of the intense training methods employed by Stu Hart when training aspiring wrestlers in the basement gym. Stu's techniques clearly worked, however, as generations of top performers passed through The Dungeon while honing their skills.
Indeed, so highly respected was The Dungeon that the Hart family home in which it was situated was declared a municipal heritage site by the city of Calgary in 2012.
Who trained in The Dungeon?
As you might expect, almost every member of The Hart Foundation trained in The Dungeon at some point. Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Natalya, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Brian Pillman (amongst others) all trained there.
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However, the legacy of The Dungeon extends far beyond the Hart family. Scores of wrestling legends made a visit to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in order to learn their craft - and several of them went on to achieve Hall of Fame status.
Here are 5 Superstars that you may not have known trained at The Dungeon.
#5 Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho may only have spent a brief period at The Dungeon in the early 1990s, but the fact that he is still a leading player in a major wrestling company some 30 years later means that he absolutely deserves to mentioned here.
In a 2016 interview with Chael Sonnen, Jericho recalled being stretched by Stu Hart during their first meeting, after he angered the legendary veteran with his cockiness in The Dungeon. Stu may have been nearing his 80th birthday at the time, but still slapped a submission hold on Jericho for failing to take a back body drop correctly.
"He locked my jaw shut," said the former AEW World Champion of Stu's hold. Despite their initial disagreement, Jericho confirmed that he had great respect for Hart's training methods. The experience certainly did not do "Le Champion" any harm, either, as Jericho has gone on to have one of the most storied careers of all time.
#4 Edge
While The Hart Dungeon saw many top Superstars come through its doors, the trainee who has gone on to have the most World Championship reigns in their subsequent career is Edge.
Having held the World Heavyweight Championship seven times, as well as the WWE Championship on four occasions, Edge has a combined 11 reigns as a World Champion.
Training at The Hart Dungeon
Edge spent some time training in The Dungeon in 1997, alongside his tag team partner Christian. The duo were particularly fortunate, as they actually got to train under Bret Hart, who was out with an injury at the time.
Hart confirmed working with Edge (and Christian) during an interview for WWE.com:
After being signed by WWE, Edge and Christian trained at my house. I had a pool room with an indoor pool and a garden behind it. I took out the garden and put in a wrestling ring...I trained wrestlers for about a year and a half until I punched Vince in the face [laughs]. In fact, Edge and Christian didn’t know what was going to happen to them because they were training with me at the time.
Thankfully for Edge, Hart's November 1997 exit from the company did not hurt his own prospects with WWE. His time training at The Dungeon paved the way for an exceptional career. Inducted into the promotion's Hall of Fame in 2012, Edge made a shock comeback from retirement at this year's Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
The "Rated R Superstar" continues his return this Sunday at WWE Backlash - in what is being hyped as "The Great Wrestling Match Ever" against Randy Orton. It will be interesting to see if Edge dusts off any of the moves he learned in The Hart Dungeon for his upcoming grudge match!
#3 Jushin "Thunder" Liger
The future Jushin "Thunder" Liger trained at The Dungeon while competing for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. Under his real name of Keiichi Yamada, the Japanese icon first worked for the Calgary promotion in 1987, but returned in 1989.
It was around the time of his second stint at The Dungeon that Yamada repackaged himself as Jushin Liger. Debuting under the name on April 24, 1989, Liger sported a full-body costume and his now-trademark mask. The gimmick would transform his career.
Liger would go on to have an astonishing 35-year career, during which he is estimated to have had over 4,000 matches. That The Dungeon had a hand in producing such a legendary performer speaks volumes for its legacy.
Liger's success was not solely limited to Japan either. Throughout the years, Liger made appearances for many wrestling companies, including WCW, TNA and ROH. Liger even made a one-off appearance for WWE at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 2015 - where he defeated Tyler Breeze.
A future Hall of Fame Induction for The Hart Dungeon alumni
Even though he only wrestled one match for the company, WWE announced in March that Liger would be inducted into the promotion's Hall of Fame in 2020. A fitting tribute to a professional wrestling legend.
#2 Ken Shamrock
It takes a special kind of individual to have had the sort of career that Ken Shamrock has to his name. The MMA pioneer is a member of the Hall of Fame in both the UFC and Impact Wrestling. On his way to such success, Shamrock's professional wrestling journey saw him make more than one stop at The Dungeon.
Prior to his WWE debut in 1997, Shamrock trained in The Dungeon under the supervision of both Bret Hart and retired wrestler Leo Burke. The company had a good relationship with the Hart family at the time and liked to send its trainees to Calgary to ensure that they had the necessary grit to handle the demands of being a WWE Superstar.
The Hart Dungeon match: Fully Loaded 1998
Shamrock would return to The Dungeon just over a year later, this time as a fully-fledged Superstar. "The World's Most Dangerous Man" took on Owen Hart in a "Hart Family Dungeon" match as part of the Fully Loaded pay-per-view event in July 1998.
Although Shamrock lost the match due to interference from special referee Dan "The Beast" Severn, his name will forever be linked to The Dungeon as a result of his bout with Owen.
#1 Mark Henry
The Dungeon is known for having produced some of the best technical wrestlers of all time. One man that is definitely not famed for his mat wrestling skills, though, is Mark Henry. However, "The World's Strongest Man" did spend time in The Dungeon - and credits it for some of the success he would have later in his career.
The former two-time Olympian was sent to Canada to train with the Hart Family after a disagreement with Shawn Michaels in 1997. Speaking on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's podcast last year, Henry told of the progress he made whilst at The Dungeon.
I was up there for nine and a half months. Training everyday. Every morning in the ring. Four hours a day. And then Owen introduced me to his dad Stu Hart. I would leave Bret’s house where the gym was and drive over to the Hart’s house and wrestle in the basement in The Dungeon. Stu started teaching me wrist locks and hand holds. Stu was a master in wrist locks and hand holds. He was like, ‘With your strength, you could do things to people that would be illegal. Wrestle like that. I want you to put people in holds that look like you’re going to pop them.’ That’s when a light switch came on and I started to wrestle like that…I felt like after nine months I understood what it was to be a wrestler. They should have done that to me first before putting me in the locker room with seasoned wrestlers.”
From The Hart Dungeon to the WWE Hall of Fame
Henry obviously learned much whilst at The Dungeon and returned to the company with a new attitude. Henry was a fixture in the WWE locker room for more than a decade afterwards and his years of loyal service finally paid off when Henry become the World Heavyweight Champion in 2011.
Having officially announced his retirement from in-ring competition in 2017, Mark Henry was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a year later. Henry may be a surprising trainee of The Dungeon - but he was ultimately a very successful one.
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