Profile of Owen Hart on Famous Like Me

Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian professional wrestler and entertainer. He competed under the ringname Owen Hart and had many nicknames such as The Rocket, The King of Harts, The Blackhart, The Blue Blazer and the derogatory term Nugget.

He was born in Calgary, Alberta, the youngest of 12 children, all of whom were involved with wrestling in some way; one of his brothers is the well-known wrestler Bret Hart. His father was the wrestling promoter Stu Hart.

Wrestling Career

Owen entered wrestling by working for his father's Stampede Wrestling. Wrestling however was not Owen's first choice for a career; as Martha Hart, his widow, would explain in her book Broken Harts, that Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling. Those attempts were unsuccessful, and Owen began his WWF stay as The Blue Blazer in 1987. The Blue Blazer was at that time a generic masked wrestler gimmick who was a high flying technician, but made its return in 1999 to be portrayed as a stereotypical over-the-top superhero; some argue this was done to punish him for refusing to take part in lurid storylines of the WWF Attitude Era. Owen would later team alongside Koko B. Ware in the early 1990s as High Energy. Eventually he was pushed as a singles competitor and feuded with his brother Bret. They competed at WrestleMania X and later in a Cage Match at SummerSlam 1994. They are both considered two of the greatest matches of the 1990s. Owen combined high flying and technical mat skill for a very sound style; he was also quite adept at playing a sneaky, smarmy heel, as evidenced by his King of Harts gimmick (he took the nickname after winning the 1994 King of the Ring).

Hart's WWF career included Intercontinental, Tag Team and European gold; he teamed with the 600-pound Yokozuna and his brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog, at various points in his career. He was also infamous at this time for the errant piledriver at SummerSlam 1997 which severely injured Stone Cold Steve Austin and ultimately led to Austin's retirement in 2003. When his brother Bret lost his WWF Title in controversial fashion at the 1997 Survivor Series in Montreal, Smith and Jim Neidhart, another Hart brother-in-law, responded by joining Bret in WCW. Owen tried this as well, but elected to stay put in the WWF when faced with breach of contract issues. This was the start of his Blackhart gimmick which had a great deal of potential; however Shawn Michaels, the WWF Champion in the wake of Montreal, suffered a career-ending (at the time) back injury and additionally managed to convince WWF owner Vince McMahon not to put that potentially hot feud together. As such Owen floundered for a bit, turning heel again and joining the Nation of Domination, a black militant themed stable. Obviously, this was not a good fit for Owen.

In early 1999, Owen began teaming with Jeff Jarrett and again captured tag team gold; however he was also in a storyline involving the Blue Blazer character; this, again, was rumored as punishment for Owen not wanting to do a storyline which suggested a sexual affair with Debra, the valet for the team. Of course, Owen was a happily married family man and wanted no part of this. It was the Blue Blazer gimmick which led to his untimely and unfortunate death at the Over the Edge PPV in May 1999.

Death

Hart died in Kansas City on May 23, 1999, during the WWF's Over the Edge PPV event. His death occurred while he was being lowered into the ring from a catwalk of the Kemper Arena for a match with The Godfather (a wrestler with a pimp gimmick). This entrance was originally planned to be a "comedy stunt" entrance, in keeping with the buffoonish character of the Blue Blazer; indeed, Owen had perfomed the stunt successfully before. Owen, in Blue Blazer regalia, was to be lowered to just above ring level, at which time Owen would release himself from the safety harness, drop to the ring, land on his feet...and then fall flat on his face. However, for reasons never revealed, the release was triggered early, and Owen fell 90 feet into the ring, smashing his chest on a ring turnbuckle. The viewers at home did not see the incident, as the WWF was transmitting a promotional package for the Hart/Godfather match. Upon the return to live action, the cameras focused on the crowd and the announcing team (Jim Ross and a visibly shaken Jerry Lawler) as paramedics tried to revive Owen. The crowd, believing that this was "part of the act" (despite Ross stating repeatedly that it was not), cheered with a standing ovation as Owen was carried out. Owen was transported to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he died a short time later; the cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma. Despite the tragedy, the show continued.

The next night on Monday Night Raw, the WWF mounted a two-hour televised tribute to Owen (see RAW is Owen), featuring the company's biggest stars (most of whom were in shock or in tears) - which concluded with a "beer toast" from Steve Austin (many found this controversial due to the animosity that existed between Austin and Owen). The Over the Edge event name was retired immediately, and the WWF tried to distance itself from the in-ring events. However, the Hart family (as well as sports radio talk show host Jim Rome) was furious with the WWF for continuing the PPV, with Bret accusing McMahon of murder.

Owen left a widow, Martha, and two children, Oje and Athena. His widow now runs a charity called the Owen Hart Foundation with the money gained from her out-of-court settlement with the WWF from a wrongful death lawsuit (as a result of the settlement, what truly happened on May 23, 1999 was never revealed). Martha wrote a book about Owen's life in 2002 called Broken Harts.

Owen's last match was on May 22, 1999 in Chicago. He and Jarrett won a tag team match against Edge and Christian.

On the night of his death, he was booked to win the Intercontinental Championship from The Godfather.

The following night the WWE held a tribute show, later dubbed RAW is Owen.

His brother Bret and longtime friend Chris Benoit had a tribute match in WCW in Kansas City on October 4, 1999.

In Wrestling

Finishing/Signature moves

• Sharpshooter
• Owen-Driver
• Enziguri
• Jumping Calf Kick/Spinning heel kick
• Crescent Kick

Quotes

• "Enough is enough, and it's time for a change!"
• "Owen 3:16 says 'I just broke your neck'."
• "I am not a nugget!"
• "I am the King of Harts!"

"We have no answers" - Vince McMahon, in a statement made on May 24th, 1999

Five years later, we have some answers, we have settled lawsuits worth $18 million in compensation, but we still have no justice.

Here is the story of what we know.

In the early months of spring in 1999, Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart had been building a reputation as a strong tag team, with Debra as their manager. Management had planned the team to eventually split up, and Owen begin to lust after Debra, infuriating Jarrett, which would in turn plant the seeds for a bitter and very personal feud.

Owen, happily married in real life, didn't want his young children to see him cheating on his wife every Monday night, so he outright refused the angle. It was an honorable, if stubborn decision.

The result, was that Owen was saddled with the Blue Blazer gimmick. It was a persona he'd donned early in his career as a glorified jobber, and one he was forced to revisit. It was punishment for declining a well thought out angle, orchestrated to humiliate Owen, who has to don a superhero persona and spend much of his time mimicking the wrestlers in WCW.

While staring as the Blue Blazer, Owen Hart's talents were still obvious. And at "Over the Edge" 1999, he was booked to win the WWF Intercontinental Title. After that, Owen was booked to break free of the Blue Blazer gimmick, and would go onto be called "The Game", and enter into a program with Edge.

Owen Hart arrived at the 19,500-seat Kemper arena around 12pm on Sunday, the 23rd of May. Wrestlers are encouraged to enter the arenas they are performing in at around 2pm. Centuries of professional wrestling, and there is still no precise time given to superstars for when they are expected to turn up at work.

Many wrestlers weren't expected to turn up for preparation for the night's pay-per-view for a few hours. But Owen's night was planned to be a little bit different from everybody else's.

As Owen sat eating lunch with some friends, he was introduced to Bobby Talbert, a rigger from Orlando, Florida, hired specifically by the WWF to coordinate a stunt where Owen would be lowered into the ring from the rafters. Talbert, in part, was hired because he had helped Sting perform the very same stunt in World Championship Wrestling year's prior. Because of his proven track record for such an unusual stunt, he was typically the man promoters turned to.

Owen Hart had performed the stunt on two previous occasions in his career. Six months ago, Owen rappelled from the ceiling at the 1998 Survivor Series in St. Louis. According to many, Vince McMahon was frustrated with how Owen's entrance came across on TV, as the "Blue Blazer" noticeably stalled and fumbled on the ground to break free of the contraption that had helped lower him. To the perfectionist in Vince McMahon, that simply wasn't good enough.

Bobby Talbert specially bought a quick-release snap shackle for this occasion, allowing Owen Hart to easily break free once he had landed on the ground. Talbertt bought the equipment from a company called Amspec Inc., and all Owen would have to do is tug lightly on a release cord that would disengage the rappelling line from his harness. Upon landing, in one motion Owen would be able to break free and continue his superhero façade without any slip-ups. It was easy, at least that's how Talbert made it sound.

Bobby requested that Owen would rehearse the stunt, seeing as how the two had never worked together before. Owen declined. It was clear that he hated the stunt, and didn't want to do it for any more times than it was necessary. It is reported, that Owen tried to persuade management being lowered from the rafters wasn't essential to his character in the days leading up to the pay-per-view, only for Vince McMahon to insist otherwise.

As Owen was eating his lunch with friends, and Bobby Talbert was talking Hart through the protocol of the new quick-release system, Steve Taylor, the WWF's VP of Event Operations, interjected and told Owen he would have to do a dry run. Owen was reassured the equipment had been thoroughly tested earlier in the day, as Talbert had successfully lowered a 250-pound sand bag, and his assistant Matt Allmen, in two earlier attempts.

Owen was suppose to turn up to the middle of the arena to rehearse the stunt at 2pm. But, unbeknownst to anybody, he sneaked out of the arena to catch some fresh air, and didn't return until 3.30pm. It was clear he left to avoid having to practice the stunt, and thought his absence would go unnoticed and management would quickly forget their orders.

But they didn't. And they weren't happy with Owen either.

The test run went perfectly, right up until Owen landed, when Owen inexcusably forget Talbert's earlier specific orders. He didn't pull the release cord, which caused a few WWF officials to get visibly annoyed at Owen. He was asked to do the whole thing again, but declined, and avoiding any potential argument, he walked forcefully back to his locker room. To those that saw Owen that afternoon, it was clear his mind wasn't focused on wrestling.

Among wrestlers who noticed Owen's anxiousness, was Dustin Runnells, who reassured Owen he would "be alright".

Before the pay-per-view began, the WWF filmed a scene with Vince McMahon where he was attacked by the Corporate Ministry, and led out of the arena in an ambulance. Owen watched on backstage, as his match drew closer and closer.

It was 6.30pm now, and Owen quickly got dressed into his Blue Blazer attire, and taped a promo that would air later in the evening, just before his match.

At 7pm, "Over the Edge" began with an Undertaker video, promising "Tonight, darkness will seize the land, destroy all you hold dear ...". The first match saw X-Pac and Kane defending their tag team title belts against D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry

At the same time, Owen changed into overalls, making sure to dress in clothes that would help him blend into the audience, as he made his journey through the crowd. He weaved his way to the basement, and got in an elevator that took him right up to the top of the arena, going to a place known as Section 221.

Arenas aren't built to make the very top easily accessible. The final part of Owen's journey involved him travelling up a narrow staircase, then climbing a ladder to a catwalk.

Not wanting to be late, Owen briskly negotiated the catwalk, taking a right turn and walking along a narrow pathway for 30-feet. Now at the center, directly 100-feet or so below was the WWF ring. Surrounding that, were around 18,350 fans who were watching on as Al Snow fought Hardcore Holly for the WWF Hardcore Title. But Owen, could simply not let himself look down, because he had been afraid of heights his whole life.

Owen began to get ready. He took his costume out of his bag and began to get dressed, but didn't put on everything until he hooked himself into the harness. Chief rigger Talbert, made sure Owen was correctly fitted, and helped him position his awkward cape too, that had been straggling Hart in rehearsals.

Once Talbert attached the rope to the lowering mechanism, the lights were dimmed, and Owen was seconds away from his descent. He had trouble properly positioning himself onto the scaffolding, before getting a final helping hand from Talbert's assistant. For a couple of minutes, Owen hung there, in the air, floating. He was holding onto the railings as Talbert made sure not to release him until he got his cue.

No matter how much you think you love somebody, your instinct is to step back when you see a pool of their blood edge up too close... Similarly, when a tragedy occurs, it's easier to move away and forget, than it is to stick around and help clean up the mess.

As the backstage interview of the Blue Blazer was airing, Owen extended his elbows away from his body and tried to once again manoeuvre his cape.

It was then that Owen accidentally triggered the quick-release. And it was then, that Owen fell 78 feet to his death, screaming all the way down, until he violently landed on his left side, shattering his left arm and causing fatal internal injuries, as the audience watched on in horror.

Owen Hart was only 34 years old. He is survived by his wife Martha, his son Oje and his daughter Athena. And on the 7th of May 2004, it would have been his 39th birthday.

Because we need to remember.

Championships and accomplishments

New Japan Pro Wrestling

• 1-time NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 66 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003
• PWI ranked him # 84 of the best tag teams of the PWI Years with Davey Boy Smith
• PWI Rookie of the Year Award (1987)
• PWI Feud of the Year Award, versus Bret Hart (1994)
• PWI Editor's Award (1999)

Stampede Wrestling from Calgary

• 2-time Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time Stampede Wrestling British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champion (with Ben Bassarab)

United States Wrestling Association

• 1-time USWA Heavyweight Champion

World Wrestling Federation

• 2-time WWF Intercontinental Champion
• 1-time WWF European Heavyweight Champion
• 3-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (1-time with Yokozuna, 1-time with Davey Boy Smith, 1-time with Jeff Jarrett)

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