Tyson Kidd Interview highlights

Tyson Kidd: 'Owen Hart put Ken Shamrocks head through the roof of Stu's Dungeon

By Phil Allely

WWE superstars Tyson Kidd and Natalya Neidhart have spoken out about their experiences training at the infamous Hart family dungeon.

In an article on the WWE's website high-flyer Kidd and his real life partner Natalya have told about their experiences when training at the legendary Hart training school in Calgary. Canadian legend Stu Hart not only ran his own wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling, but he also sired two of the WWE's most respected and best-loved superstars. Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and the much missed Owen Hart. Stu (and later his sons Bruce and Ross) also had a hand in training many of the federations top wrestlers as well. This included DH Smith, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, 'British Bulldog' Davey Boy Smith, Brian Pillman, The Dynamite Kid, 'Superstar' Billy Graham, Greg Valentine, Bad News Allen and even Japanese wrestling legend Jushin ' Thunder' Liger.

The dungeon was one of the industries most famous breeding ground for raw wrestling talent. Stu Hart famously put his students under intense 'shooter' style pressure to ensure they were ready for the career path they had chosen.

As seen in the documentary 'Hitman Hart Wrestling With Shadows' (which has been re-leased this month) the basement training area called the dungeon was a claustrophobic one.

'The dungeon had a very thick musk air to it. When guys hit the mat you'd see dust popping up and start floating in the air. It was really hard to breath. The room was tiny and had very thin padding. There were big pipes hanging from the ceiling. You could guarantee that in the first few weeks of training many trainees would run head first into them.' Said Kidd.

'There were also a lot of holes in the ceiling. Made by peoples head and feet going through it. Actually during the WWE PPV match between Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart (held in the dungeon) Owen put Ken's head through the ceiling.' He added.

Natalya also stated. 'I was one of the few female graduates, we always said if you can survive the dungeon you can survive anything. I do recall there being one other girl there (during training) and we had a heated rivalry, but that was mainly due to us being the only two females there. It was an amazing experience and one that made me who I am today.'

Kidd finished off by relaying who he felt when the Dungeon closed.

'I was there until the very end. It was an experience from all ends of the spectrum, both physically and mentally. When The Dungeon closed down it was very historic, it was really fun to train there.'

Fans old and new can learn more about the Hart Family training school and Stampede wrestling via the numerous WWE and non-WWE DVDs that are avilable.