WWE Controversy and Major Dispute: Reflecting on Owen Hart’s Death

7 Min Read

Owen James Hart, a Canadian American professional wrestler, competed for several organizations, including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999). He found the majority of his success competing in the WWF under the ring names The Blue Blazer and his own name.

What Really Occurred in the Death of Owen Hart, According to Those Who Were There

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When his contract expired, Owen Hart told Slam Wrestling he would soon be leaving the sport: “When my contract is up, I’m out of wrestling. I have plans. My financial decisions have been wise. I’ll be okay financially. I want to spend a lot of time with my family. I’ve acquired some land near a lake. I’m going to go fishing and boating a lot. I want to maintain my physical fitness. Who knows, maybe I’ll spend ten weeks a year in Japan. Something that will merely spur me on to maintain my health and involvement while avoiding having to deal with the current politics and pressures.

I’ve now put in twelve years of retribution. If I go on for five more, I’ll have worked fairly hard for seventeen years. At that point, I believe my family—my wife and my children—had suffered enough compromise.

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“I’d like to essentially vanish from the perspective of wrestling supporters. I don’t want to ignore the fans’ contributions. They’ve helped me out and stuff, but I’d like to just move on. I don’t want to be clinging to my wrestling career like one of these sixty-year-old wrestlers. Abandon it. Make some money from it, then move on. Performing in public is an art. I hope that when people think of me, they think of a guy who would go out and entertain them with good matches. Not simply the same old trash every week…”

The Act That Caused Owen Hart to Pass Away

“The entire concept just began so innocently. The Blue Blazer, Owen’s previous gimmick, had been brought back. He was intended to be a superhero spoof in order to truly appreciate Owen Hart’s comedic brilliance. The Friday before the show, most likely. I get a call from Steve Taylor, the WWF’s vice president of operations, saying the show is already written. He says, “Look, I just received a call from the crew that rappelled Sting from the rafters [in rival WCW].” They confirmed their attendance at our pay-per-view.

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They are interested in learning if there is anything they might be able to do for the WWE. So, as he’s telling me this, I’m watching the show and I spot Owen. I respond, “Well, that’d really elevate Owen’s character; that’d be something really special and cool for Owen.” Why don’t we rappel down The Blue Blazer?

“Now that the pay-per-view is over, Owen Hart approaches me and says, “I practised rappelling from the ceiling, but when I rappel down, it takes me a while to get my harness off.” If I rappel and have to take this harness off after [Owen’s opponent] The Godfather enters the ring first, The Godfather could beat me. He asked, “Could my entrance come first, THEN have The Godfather come out” because everyone was saying, “Real, real, real, reality,” at that moment. I responded by saying, “Owen, no problem — I’ll make the changes, no problem.” It ended there. That was the end of our exchange.”

“I was shocked and taken aback by Owen when my son Shane and I were practising a physical routine we had to perform that evening earlier that day. Like a typical Owen, he was screaming and raising hell as he approached the ring. He was a notorious practical joker and one of the biggest ribbers, as they are known in the industry. Once, he and Davey Boy Smith brought goats into my office and made sure they were well fed. You can only imagine how it smelled. But in the WWF, things operate that way, and they did with Owen as well. Many jokes…”

“Vince Russo came up with the idea of turning Owen into a “superhero” because he didn’t think that he was interesting enough just by himself. Owen wasn’t comfortable with it, but he had already declined a few things that he wasn’t comfortable with, and he didn’t want to be Negative Nancy and be known as the guy who kept saying “no,” so he went along with it, and it didn’t go well.

“The same applies to men. They are putting their lives in danger, but that stunt was totally unnecessary. Owen was asked to perform a task that he did not feel confident performing. I still hold Vince Russo responsible for Owen’s death, as do many other people. For those who are unaware, instead of allowing Owen to make a typical entrance into the ring and participate in a wrestling match, which is risky enough, they decided that he would make a superhero entrance and be lowered into the ring in this outrageous costume that Russo had booked him to wear. He was also lowered by a rigging company that didn’t check the rigging or whatever.”

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