Diana Hart-Smith will be known and loved by many wrestling fans. The daughter of WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend Stu Hart, the sister of icons Bret and the late Owen Hart, one time wife of the tremendous Davey Boy Smith and mother of the extremely talented Harry or Davey Boy Smith Jr, she has wrestling in her blood. Diana played a key role in some of WWE's best remembered storylines be it Summerslam 1992 or Wrestlemania XXVI and is now adding author to her impressive list of credentials which also includes model, artist and trainer. Cauliflower Heart: A Romantic Wrestler is the first part of a trilogy of books that Hart has written and was on display at the PSI events London Wrestling Convention where we got to meet and talk to her. Find out more about the book, her memories of Owen Hart and views on Davey Boy Smith's Hall of Fame place below. Make sure to order your copy of Cauliflower Heart from her website here.
Tell us about your book, will it appeal to wrestling fans?
Well, it's a trilogy - the first book 'Cauliflower Heart: A Romantic Wrestler' is the beginning of a story of a family involved in wrestling. It might be a bit of a parallel with me but it's not an autobiographical story - although it does come from my heart. It's a romance that takes place in Manchester, England. The reason it's called Cauliflower Heart is because in wrestling, a 'cauliflower ear' gets hard and tough from taking a beating. Love and the heart can get tough and take a beating and in the end you're hoping the characters heart doesn't get too hardened - you'll have to find out! There's a lot of action -articulate, classic wrestling scenes that I had my son Harry help me with but there's also some love scenes and there's a murder too. I'm really proud of it - it's taken five years to get to this point. It's a trilogy and hopefully it will establish a following. It was always written in three parts and my vision was to have it as one book but now people will have to wait a little longer! I had kept journals my whole life and it's not necessarily based on things that went on in my life but things I saw.
We ask everyone for their best rib [practical joke] story and people often say Owen Hart was the best ribber. Do you have an Owen story?
Oh Gosh! Where to begin! I think my whole family maybe has a little bit of that side to them but Owen and Davey when they got going were quite a pair! Their ribs were quite thoughtful though, they weren't malicious. At the time you'd be so mad - some people's ribs were destructive but not theirs. It would be like someone thoughtfully bringing you a rollaway bed in a hotel at 1am because 'you ordered it'. Owen got Mr. Hughes once - that was a funny rib. He'd realised that night that Mr. Hughes had a hotel towel he was using in the dressing room. Everybody does that - and he was going back to the hotel, so he'd probably planned to return it. He'd also seen him with a coffee cup. So Owen called Mr Hughes up pretending to be the hotel manager and demanded he leave the hotel. He says "I know you've been stealing towels and ashtrays and cutlery". Mr. Hughes is like "Oh no, I just had a towel, I took the coffee cup outside". Own told him "we're calling Mr. MacMahon and we want him to know he has a thief in his company and you're a disgrace". Mr. Hughes was so apologetic but Owen was carrying on, "we want you out right now". So Owen told him he'd sleep on it and that Mr. Hughes should come down to talk in the morning before he checked out. The next morning, you see Mr. Hughes walking with two cups of coffee to the hotel manager. I just imagine him saying, "Gosh! That Mr. Hughes! What a nice guy, he brought me coffee this morning and was apologising for taking the towels" - and Mr Hughes never knew!
We all want to see the British Bulldog in the Hall of Fame - when will it happen?
I would love to see him inducted if they were to do a Wrestlemania in England but I don't know if that is possible. I don't really see why the time change would be such a big deal, as they had Summerslam here but I have no idea. They have not given any real response to Michael Finney's relentless efforts with his petition and hashtag #TeamDBS that he did on our family's behalf. I suppose they have a plan but they don't comment, so we don't know and then that causes us to just keep wondering whether they're hearing us. But I would love to see it, I really would. I'd be so proud and Davey really should be in there. I miss him.
You have the new book out - what's next for you?
I sure miss wrestling. The last big thing I did was at Wrestlemania in 2010, when my dad was inducted and it was great to be there but I feel estranged from it right now. My son Harry is in Japan doing a lot - and I don't get over there to be a part of it but the fans have really kept me in the loop and I am so grateful to them. I wish I could be a part of it. I don't know how. I don't know who I could manage. I would have been a horrible wrestler to start with though and there's no point me pursuing that now at the age of 51. I don't know what I could do for Harry except get in his way but he's doing so well. He's such a strong submission wrestler and he just keeps getting better and better. He's got an endless stomach for wrestling and just craves it, like my dad with the submission wrestling. Harrys doing well but I think he hadn't even scratched the surface so maybe I could be a part of something or with my daughter, Georgia. I think keeping Davey's name alive will always be part of something I do with my future.
Charming, interesting and honourable. Diana Hart-Smith is an impressive lady. You can read the proof in the pages of her novel, available online here.
