10 Wrestling Road Stories You Won't Believe
3. Owen Hart Gets One Over On His Dad...
When it comes to backstage ribbing, Owen Hart will always be considered the undisputed champion. Stories of Owen's relentless p*sstaking are legendary, but it is the tales of his notorious prank phone calls that we like the best.
In his first autobiography, Mick Foley described Owen phoning him and pretending to be the manager of the hotel they were staying in, demanding extra money for the room before calling wrestling fake.
Because he edged slowly into the calls, and adopted utterly convincing fake accents, Hart was able to drive people completely crazy by the time they realised who it really was on the other end of the phone.
In one interview, Ahmed Johnson talked about a mysterious phone call he received, telling him that he was going to appear on The Tonight Show. Accordingly, Johnson went out and spent thousands of dollars on new clothes and jewellery, hoping to look the part for his big appearance. He was waiting outside for his limousine when the penny finally dropped. Owen asked him, "isn't your limo supposed to be here at 8.00?" and "Ahmed thought how'd you know about my limo?" directly before he realised he'd been had...
In another instance, Val Venis recalled doing an autograph session where a greasy-haired fanboy had tried to get him to sign a huge stack of photos. When Venis refused, reasoning that the guy just wanted to sell them on eBay and that it would take time away from the real fans that were waiting in line, the autograph seeker left. Later on that day, as Venis attempted to catch some sleep, he received a pair of phone calls, apparently from the autograph seeker. The first call demanded that he come down and sign the stack of photos. When he refused and hung up, the second challenged him to a fight. Venis rushed downstairs, furiously searching for the guy, but was unable to find him. Six months later, he learned that it had been Owen on the phone the whole time.
Not even Owen's family was safe from his constant ribbing. Not content with irritating the crap out of his older brother Bret, Owen also singled out his father, the legendary Stu Hart, for some punishment as well.
Stu had accompanied his sons to a WrestleMania event and was relaxing in his hotel room with Bret when the phone rang. Apparently, it was Reg Park, a former bodybuilder and pro wrestler, who was also known for designing championship belts. Reg and Stu had been good friends for years, so the conversation was easy and informal.
However, after a fairly long chat, Reg suddenly became argumentative, stating that Hart never had the balls to face him in a real fight. You never had the balls to try me, insisted the counterfeit Reg. Now, he was challenging Stu to a fight then and there, in the lobby of the hotel. According to Bret, Stu was furious, insisting that Park could have tried him at any time and that he was still welcome to do so.
Finally, after really blowing his peak, Stu slammed the phone down and sat on the bed, dejectedly.
It was Owen...The little b**tard got me, was all he said.