Today, March 23, is a sad day in pro wrestling history as it is the tenth anniversary of the very untimely death of Owen Hart.
As Owen Hart was preparing to lower from the rafters of the Kemper Arena on May 23, 1999, in preparation for an Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather he fell 78 feet into the ring. He died right there in the ring during the unfortunately titled “Over the Edge†pay per view.
Owen was only 34 years old when he passed away. He left behind a lot of family and friends that really knew him, but also left behind a void for wrestling fans that only knew him through his work in the ring. His career was become a major case of “what if†for many fans, including yours truly.
As a quick editorial statement I would like to say that to this day, of all the premature wrestling deaths that have happened over the years, his is the one that has affected me the most. Most wrestling fans have a particular wrestling death that they take especially hard. For a lot of people it was Eddie Guerrero, for others it was Curt Hennig or Brian Pillman or Chris Candido. But for me it was always Owen. The way it happened, the circumstances around it; it was tough.
Life
He was the crown prince of Calgary and grew up into wrestling royalty. He was the youngest of twelve children, all of whom ended up having some sort of ties to the wrestling business. Despite being the youngest, Owen Hart may very well have been the best in-ring athlete of the entire bunch, and that’s no knock on his brother Bret.
Like the rest of his brethren, Owen started out in his father’s infamous “Dungeon†training facility and then began working for the family’s Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. He naturally worked his up through the family promotion thanks to his flashy, high-flying style.
His skills got him noticed worldwide. He won the 1987 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year award and found success in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and picked up the prestigious IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship quickly. Owen was the first “gajin†(non-Japanese wrestler) to hold that belt and one of only two Canadians to this day who has earned it.
After his stint in Japan he ended up the World Wrestling Federation. It was in 1989 after his father had sold the Calgary territory to Vince McMahon. His older brother Bret was already an established performer in the WWF at this time so he came in under the masked superhero gimmick The Blue Blazer, so as to not cause confusion or need any storyline explanations. His unique look and style made him popular with fans but he just didn’t fit with the mold of the top card guys at the time, and he disappeared midway through 1989.
By late 1991, Owen was back in the WWF, wrestling under his real name. He was paired with his brother’s old tag partner Jim Neidhart as The New Foundation. Following the dismissal of Neidhart and a brief singles run, Owen joined up with fellow high-flier Koko B. Ware as High Energy. The pair teamed for the better part of a year before Owen went solo, as “The Rocket.†His relationship with brother Bret, who was now a top star in the WWF, was played up more and they became part-time tag partners.
It was in 1994 when Owen finally turned on his big brother that his star began to rise. Owen played the jealous little brother role to perfection. After pinning Bret clean at WrestleMania X, the pair embarked on months long family feud over the WWF Championship. They put on a tremendous steel cage main event at SummerSlam ’94 and continued their rivalry through 1994. This run against Bret really put Owen on the map as a legitimate superstar finally out of his brother’s shadow.
By this point Owen was a big star in his own right and became one of the WWF’s most reliable villains, and by the summer of 1997 Owen reunited with his brother Bret, and along with brothers-in-law “British Bulldog†Davey Boy Smith and Jim “The Anvil†Neidhart and Brian Pillman, the five men formed a new Hart Foundation. The group’s status was unheard of at the time as they were clear-cut bad guys to American audiences, but were wildly popular and over as heroes around the rest of the world and especially in Canada.
During this time Owen had a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin that led to the now infamous SummerSlam ’97 match where Hart legitimately dropped Austin on his head during a botched piledriver attempt. Austin’s neck was badly damaged, and that injury actually ended being the catalyst for a lot of changes in the WWF in the future.
After his brother Bret’s “screwjob†at Survivor Series ’97, Owen became the remaining Hart family representative in the WWF. He went through a variety of gimmicks and storylines and remained in an integral part of WWE television. In late 1998 Owen worked with former mixed martial arts fighters Ken Shamrock and then Dan Severn. They worked a storyline with Severn where Owen “injured†Severn, playing off his real injury against Austin a year earlier. This led to Owen “quitting†the WWF and masked The Blue Blazer returning in his place. They played a game of Owen denying he was the one under the Blazer mask, and he often appeared side-bys-side with a bogus Blazer to show he in fact was not the Blue Blazer. This storyline also coincided with Owen “returning†and forming a successful tag team with Jeff Jarrett. The pair, loosely known as “Canadian Country,†won the WWF Tag Championships during their time together.
Death
It was ultimately this comedy angle with The Blue Blazer that led to Owen’s very unfunny demise. As Owen, dressed in his Blue Blazer costume, stood high above the Kemper Arena in preparation to be lowered down to the ring much like a superhero. Unfortunately he was rigged up with a quick-release mechanism that would allow him to do a “funny†pratfall as he neared the ring. While we will never know what actually happened it is safe to assume that the quick release mechanism was released early and Owen fell 78 feet to his death.
At the moment of his fall the pay per view audience was watching a video package of the upcoming match and saw nothing. When the package ended, the cameras only cut to commentator Jim Ross at the broadcast table and wide shots of the audience. Ross had the unenviable task of reiterating to the viewing audience that this was not an angle or a storyline and that Owen legitimately fell to the ring. Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma.
In a bold move by Vince McMahon he decided to continue the pay per view as Owen’s match was only the third of a scheduled eight-match card. Owen’s best friend, tag partner and travel companion Jeff Jarrett was unfortunately scheduled in the next match and was forced to go out in put on a show in the very ring that his friend died in fifteen minutes earlier.
Naturally McMahon and WWE officials received an incredible amount of flak for continuing the show, and even endd the event with the guy called “The Undertaker†winning the WWF World Championship.
Later in the show Jim Ross had the unenviable task of delivering the bad news to viewing public. “Ladies and gentleman, earlier tonight here in Kansas City tragedy befell the World Wrestling Federation and all of us. Owen Hart was set to make an entrance from the ceiling and he fell from the ceiling, said Ross. “I have the unfortunate responsibility to let everyone know that Owen Hart has died. Owen Hart has tragically died from that accident here tonight.â€
The next night Monday Night RAW emanated live from St. Louis, MO, on May 24, 1999. The show opened with all staff and personnel standing atop the ramp with black armbands while ten bells sounded and Vince McMahon narrated a tribute video for Owen. The night’s show was celebration of life for Owen with ten matches booked on a volunteer basis and other talent getting a chance to talk about Owen candidly.
The two most memorable performer tributes (in my opinion) were those of Jeff Jarrett, who gave his very heart-felt memories of Owen and breaks down while speaking. Then a young Edge talked about looking up to Owen and the “Canadian mafia†that all the northerners had backstage. He also mentions that he wrestled Owen in his last match, as he and Christian fought Jarrett and Owen in a tag match on Saturday at a house show, the night before his death. He said that Owen was in a very fun mood that night, wearing his Blue Blazer trunks and wrestling very out of character and trying to get everyone around him to crack up.
The show ended with commentators Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler finally getting a chance to say their goodbyes to Owen followed by Steve Austin coming out to toast Owen’s memory with a couple of cold ones without saying a word.
This was one of the most memorable episodes of RAW ever, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. The show was light on wrestling but that wasn’t the point, it was just a way for the man’s co-workers to express their feelings and maybe release a little of their stress or anger.
Legacy
The true in-ring wrestling tribute to Owen came in October of that year when his brother Bret (who was wrestling in World Championship Wrestling at the time) wrestled Chris Benoit and they put on a thirty-minute wrestling clinic when WCW Nitro came to Kansas City.
He came from wrestling royalty and died well before his time. His story seems like something found in a Greek tragedy or something. And as a professional he was one of the best. In the ring he was phenomenal as an aerial artist, scientific technician, and he could hold his own in a brawl. He was decent on the microphone, but had a wicked sense of humor that helped his in-ring characters. He was the type of in-ring talent that any promoter would dream to have under their employ.
