Wasted Youth: The Failure of Mat Rats

Brian Damage

By the year 2001, the landscape of professional wrestling had changed dramatically. Both ECW and WCW had been gobbled up by the WWE and TNA was another year away from existence. The brother of Bret Hart…Bruce Hart got together with a number of investors and started a little promotion that would emphasize a young high flying, aerial product. The promotion would be based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and be taped at one of Calgary’s most famous landmarks….The Palace Nightclub of Calgary. It would be renamed “The Rat’s Nest.”