Bret Hart is ready to talk about the death of a beloved wrestler gone too soon. Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart died in August at age 63.
Many wrestlers, former and current, mourned his loss online and WWE put on a touching tribute for Neidhart at Raw shortly thereafter. But the Hitman, who started The Hart Foundation with the former tag team champion, remained mostly mum on the loss of his friend and teammate.
On Tuesday, though, Hart finally addressed the death of Neidhart with a touching tribute to his departed companion on Instagram. The post is a photo of the two standing next to one another in wrestling gear. Starting the post with a Cormac McCarthy quote, Hart apologized for the delay in him responding but said the death was a difficult thing for him to address.
“No loss has ever dimmed the light in my heart as this one,” Hart wrote. “I loved Jim as more than a brother. He was a one-of-kind character.”
The post is full of stories about his time with Neidhart and the impact he had on his career and his outlook on life. Hart said Neidhart helped him through some “dark” times and thanked him for his positive attitude and loyalty.
“Someday but far enough away, I hope to have a joyous meeting with the many friends and loved ones gone before and, when I make that crossover, I pray God will lead me straight to the Anvil,” Hart wrote.
Pro wrestling is an industry full of people gone too soon, and when wrestlers have to deal with loss publicly it can be a very emotional thing. For Hart, who worked so closely with Neidhart and shared so many memories with him, it was obviously hard for him to make a statement on the loss. It was worth the wait, though, and a fitting tribute to a good friend.
