OWEN HART

[JimSteel]

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REMEMBERING OWEN HART - W365 SPECIAL

Owen Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) 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 legendary Bret "Hitman" Hart. His
father was the late wrestling promoter Stu Hart.

Owen entered wrestling by working for his father's Stampede Wrestling
promotion. 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, 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.

Hart's WWF career included Intercontinental, Tag Team and European
titles; he teamed with the 600-pound Yokozuna and his brother-in-law
Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog, at various points in his career;
both of whom have sadly also passed away. He was also infamous at this
time for a piledriver at Summerslam 1997 which severely injured Steve
Austin, causing momentary paralysis, and ultimately led to Austin's
semi-retirement in 2003. When his brother Bret lost his WWF title in
controversial fashion at the 1997 Survivor Series in Montreal, Davey Boy
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
the tag team titles; 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 Hart 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.

Owen died six years ago today May 23, 1999, in Kansas City during the
WWF's Over The Edge pay-per-view. His death occurred while he was being
lowered into the ring from a catwalk of the Kemper Arena for a match
with The Godfather. This entrance was originally planned to be a comedy
stunt entrance, in keeping with the character of the Blue Blazer
gimmick. 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 took a four-storey fall in front of thousands of fans, 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 Hart. The crowd,
most 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 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, the WWF mounted a two-hour televised tribute to Owen
Hart - featuring the company's biggest stars (most of whom were in shock
or in tears) - which concluded with a toast from Steve Austin. The Over
The Edge event name was retired immediately, and the show was never
released on home video. However, the Hart family was furious with the
WWF for continuing the pay-per-view, with Bret going as far as to accuse
Vince 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 Hart'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, Owen was scheduled to win the
Intercontinental Championship from The Godfather.


-- With files from The Calgary Herald and the Kansas City Star


Mike Aldren, Editor-In-Chief
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