The Stu Hart's 88th Birthday Celebration (also called Stampede Wrestling 50th Anniversary Show) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

supercard produced by the

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the prom ...

promotion that took place on May 2, 2003, at the Ogden Legion Hall in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. It was initially to be held at the Victoria Pavilion, however, the event was later moved to another venue. The show was held to celebrate

Stu Hart Stewart Edward Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) was a Canadian sport wrestling, amateur and professional wrestling, professional wrestler, wrestling Booker (professional wrestling), booker, professional wrestling promotion, promoter, and ...

's 88th birthday as well as the 50th anniversary of Stampede Wrestling.

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2 ...

, then

Premier of Alberta The premier of Alberta is the head of government and first minister of the Canadian province of Alberta. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the governing United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022. The premi ...

, made a guest appearance at the event to honor the

Hart wrestling family The Hart wrestling family, sometimes known as the Hart dynasty, is a mainly Canadians, Canadian family with a significant history within professional wrestling. The patriarch of the family was wrestling legend Stu Hart (1915–2003). An amateur a ...

. It was second reunion show to be held since the Stu Hart 50th Anniversary Show in 1995. The event featured talent from both the original Stampede Wrestling and Ross and Bruce Hart's version. Seven professional wrestling matches were featured on the card.

Event

Two of the matches on the undercard were Sabu versus

Teddy Hart Edward Ellsworth Annis (born February 2, 1980) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Teddy Hart. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit. He is one-half of the RCW (Real Canadian Wrestling) Tag Tea ...

in a

hardcore match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

, and Bruce Hart versus Principal Richard Pound. Another featured match was a standard wrestling match between

Nattie Neidhart Natalie Katherine Neidhart-Wilson ( Neidhart; born May 27, 1982) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Natalya. She also wrestles on the independent circui ...

and Belle Lovitz. The main event was a tag team match between The Stampede Bulldogs ( Harry Smith and T.J. Wilson) and the team of A.J. Styles and The Black Dragon. Wilson later claimed that their match was a great learning experience for him especially as he was preparing to enter

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

Best of the Super Juniors The Best of the Super Juniors (stylized as the BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. and often abbreviated BOSJ) is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), typically in May or June. Originally known as Top of the Supe ...

that summer.

Results

Reception

The professional wrestling section, ''

SLAM! Wrestling Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' i ...

'', of the

Canadian Online Explorer Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' in ...

website rated the entire event a 10 out of 10 stars.

References

External links

Stu Hart's 88th Birthday Celebration at Cagematch.netStu Hart's 88th Birthday Celebration at Wrestlingdata.com
{{StampedeWrestling Stampede Wrestling 2003 in professional wrestling Events in Calgary Professional wrestling shows in Alberta 2003 in Alberta Stu Hart May 2003 in Canada

Event

Results

Reception

See also

References

External links