Jimmy Hart is looking back at one of the wildest fan incidents of his legendary wrestling career.
During the latest episode of the “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast with Cody Rhodes (full episode below), “The Mouth of the South” recalled the time he was shot with a homemade dart gun during a wrestling event in Louisville.
Hart explained that the incident happened following a six-man tag team match that saw himself, The Dream Machine and Handsome Jimmy take on Jerry Lawler, Jerry Jarrett and Dylan D. After the bout, Hart was being carried to the back selling the effects of the match when something suddenly hit him.
“I didn’t complain or get mad. I loved that when we had people (mad), you know, I got shot one time in Louisville. Everybody has, in the rump with a dart gun. A guy made a homemade dart, hit me right up. They, he got a cheap little straw from Wendy’s or McDonald’s or whatever building this big one made at home, took a little needle, like threading needle, put it in there, put a little thing on it and went as I was coming out because they had me draped over Handsome Jimmy’s shoulder.”
Hart then broke down exactly how the moment unfolded and admitted he initially feared someone had damaged his ring gear.
“It was a six man tag. It was like Jerry Lawler, Jerry Jarrett and Dylan D against me, the Dream Machine and Handsome Jimmy. And I’m leaning over the back. They carried me out. Of course I got beat right. So I’m leaning over the back and all of a sudden I’m going, ‘Oh God’. And I thought, ‘man, I hope nobody burnt my tights’ because we didn’t make a lot of money back then. And so I got back. I went, ‘Oh my, I hope my tights aren’t burnt.’ They go no, look, they went ‘whoa’ And I went ‘what is it?’ They go, ‘look, it’s a dart’. And I went ‘Oh my God,’. Then Miss Jarrett ran, she goes ‘you’ve got to go get a tetanus shot.’”
That realization quickly turned into concern about paying the medical bill.
Quick-hit reaction: wrestling crowds in those territory days were on another level.
“I went ‘Oh my God, it’s going to take my whole payoff to go get a tetanus shot’, you know, but I went and got a tetanus shot.I didn’t have anything, thank goodness, but that’s what happened.”
