5 WWE Superstars you didn't know trained at the Hart Dungeon
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.
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.