The Samoans vs the Hart's.

[CCS]

This thread is about the Samoan wrestling family(I think they're the Fatu's) vs the famous Hart wrestling famlily. Here's a brief summary of the 2 families.


The Hart Wrestling Family.
Notable members - Stu Hart , Bret Hart , Owen Hart , Davey Boy Smith , D.H. Smith , Teddy Hart , Jim Niedhart , Natalie Niedhart.

They are one of the most influential families in pro wrestling history. They operated their own Wrestling school and own wrestling promotion (Stampede Wrestling) out of their hometown of Calgary Alberta Canada. In their school they have trained some of the greatest wrestlers ever (Chris Benoit , Chris Jericho , Lance Storm , Dynamite Kid) And Stampede Pro Wrestling was most canadians only source of wrestling during the 50's and 60's. To my knowledge the only Hart that has held a world title is Bret Hart. He is a multiple time WWE and WCW champion. Some people even consider him one of the greatest wrestlers ever. Combined the Harts have 5 WWF world title reigns , 2 WCW world title reigns , 5 Intercontinental title reigns , 4 United States Championship reigns , and 6 WWE/WCW tag title reigns . They're without a doubt one of the greatest wrestling families ever.


The Samoan wrestling family
Notable members - The Rock , Peter Maivia , Rocky Johnson , The Wild Samoans tag team , Umaga , Rikishi , Rosey , Yokozuna , Manu.


The Samoan wrestling family is one of the most succsesful families in pro wrestling. The patriarch of the family is Peter Maivia. He held multiple regional NWA titles and after retiring he bought the NWA Polynesian wrestling promotion in Hawaii. The most popular wrestler in the family has to be Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. He is one of the greatest wrestlers and entertainers of all time. He held multiple WWE titles and is one of the few wrestlers to transcend the buisness and move on to mainstream stardom. Heres a list of the Familes accomplishments. 9 WWE title reigns , 2 WCW title reigns ,5 intercontinental title reigns , and over 10 WWE tag team title reigns.


So you've read the facts and you've seen a brief history of both families. Now , Who's the betters family ?

 

[Checkmate]

Well, you could also look at the hispanic side of things. They produced the Guerreros, Mysterios, the Colons, and many others like Pedro Morales.

However, between the two, it is very hard to say, but I'd have to give the edge to the Harts. I think the Harts produced more technical wrestlers than the Samoans, and more main event level competators. With the exception of the Rock, I'd say the Harts win things hands down, but they also have the numbers game on their side.

I don't have anything against either family, if anything I have a great respect for both. Without either, the world of wrestling wouldn't be the same today.

 

[klunderbunker]

First of all, a few people that are members of the Samoan family that were left off were Samu, Rosey (of 3 Minute Warning) and Yokozuna, also a former two time WWF Champion as well as a two time tag champion.

To me, it's the Harts, but not by much. Let's get something out of the way fast: Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia are two of the most overrated wrestlers of all time, bar none. They are known for the grandson/son, and that is the only reason they are Hall of Famers. Rikishi would also fall into this category of overrated beyond all belief. Now, this leaves us with the founder, Afa, his partner Sika, The Rock, Yoko, Umaga, and also Afa Jr., more commonly known as Manu on Raw. Now, these people would be matched up against Stu, the Hart Foundation of Bret and Jim, Davey, Owen, and the younger generation of Teddy, Natalia, D.H., and TJ Wilson, who is apodpted into the family.

So, let's break this up a bit.

To begin with, we look at the patriarchs: Afa vs. Stu.

Afa is equally known as a wrestler as well as a trainer, having trained the likes of Yokozuna, Umaga, Batista, Rikishi and Billy Kidman, among many other big names. His time as a tag wrestler is often forgotten, but he and his brother Sika wrecked havoc on tag team wrestling for a long while. Easily belongs in the Hall of Fame, but not as much as Stu. Very little is known about his time as a wrestler, but he shined after retiring. Stu Hart might be the greatest trainer of all time. I won't list off all of his students because there are far too many, but there are names like Edge, Jericho, Storm, Bret and Owen Hart, Fritz Von Erich who went on to train his whole family, Chris Benoit, and one of the IWC's darlings, the Dynamite Kid. Another of his students was indeed Afa himself, so how can you not give the advantage here to Stu.

Winner- Harts.

Solo star: The Rock vs. Bret Hart. Now to begin with, Bret Hart may very well be the best pure wrestler of all time. I would even put him ahead of Kurt Angle as far as in ring skill. I defy you to find me a bad Bret match not having a gimmick attached to it. THis guy could get a good match out of anyone and has had more classics than anyone else. However, his charisma always lacked a bit to me. The Rock on the other hand might be the second most charismatic wrestler ever after Hogan only. To say he was mega popular is an understatement. While his in ring work wasn't the best, it was definitely passable and he was more over than Austin during Austin's time as the top man in WWE. Based on being a more complete package, I'll go with the Rock, but I won't offer much argument if someone chooses Bret.

Winner- Samoans.

Now onto the tag teams- Bret/Jim or Owen/Davey vs. The Wild Samoans or the Headshrinkers. Wow this is a tough one for me. I was always a Headshrinkers mark growing up, and I love the Wild Samoans stuff, but I have to go with the Harts here. Either of those two combinations are power and speed, which I have always felt is the best mix for a tag team. Throw in that they also have great technicians, and this one is getting more one sided by the minute.

Winner- Harts.

Not quite biggest star- Owen or Davey vs. Yokozuna or Rikishi. Now here, I'm going to say something again that is just going to get me in trouble: To me, Yokozuna is one of the most overrated big men of all time. I get that people like him, but he was just dull to me. Yes he was totally dominant, but he bored me to death. He was too big for most people to get a good match out of him, and he beat Hogan, my hero at the time. Rikishi has offered next to nothing to the business, so this one almost goes to Owen and Davey by default.

Winner- Harts.

Finally, the next generation- Teddy and D.H. vs. Umaga and Manu. This one is the Samoans in a walk for me. D.H. has been on tv what, 5 times? He should have been in priceless, but the job went to Manu, which means that's one for the Samoans. Then do you really want to compare Teddy to Umaga? Teddy can't keep a job, and Umaga is potential World Title material.

Winner- Samoans.

So in a grading system that I made up as I went, the Harts win 3-2, but a lot of these are very, very subjective.

 

[Fizzy]

Klunder you basically summed up what I would have said. The only one I disagree with is the tag-teams. I thought the Headshrinkers were far more entertaining then Bret and Jim. Sure Bret was entertaining but Jim to me just was boring. It takes both members to make a tag-team good and while the Harts were a good tag-team I enjoyed the Headshrinkers far more. Their gimmick entertained the hell out of me like when Afa would come out with a turkey. It always got a good laugh out of me. So yea I agree for the most part except for tag-team.