Six years on, since the death of Owen Hart !

maxtrax

It's been six years ago on May 23rd.... (Don't time fly) since an accident in a stunt that was part of a basically meaningless match designed to fill time on a WWF PPV at Kansas City's Kemper Arena... took the life of one of the most respected performers in our generation, Owen Hart, he was only 33.

In the years since that horrible accident, tragedy after tragedy has happened to the Hart family, including:


The death of Hart family matriarch Helen Hart, from complications due to diabetes on November 4, 2001...


The death of Davey Boy Smith from a heart attack in Fairmont, B, May 18, 2002...


The stroke suffered by Bret Hart on June 24, 2003, the effects of which he is still recovering from...


The death of Stu Hart on October 17, 2003 following pneumonia, a stroke, and kidney failure...

More tragedies than can be remembered have happened within the wrestling industry since that day....with all too many wrestling performers and personalities leaving this world far too soon by accidents, by their own carelessness, or by their own hand.

But despite all those other tragedies, this tragedy still stands out for wrestling fans years later.

Just to say as a fan, I miss Owen Hart.............

Brow

Youre not the only one. Owen gave his all every match he partook in. He was one of the guys who you could tell instantly loved the business. Time has flown since then.

Lamar

I was going to come on and in the next few days put up a thread bout it....just shows that there are alot of people out there that miss Owen and we'll see it over the next few days when people leave their comments on this thread.......
6 years have flown by, it feels like it happened at the last ppv or something..anyway just to say that he is sadly missed...I guess all we can do is look back at his old matches and stuff to see what he would have become had he lived on.
RIP owen, you are sadly missed

redmosquito

Man, I remember watching that PPV but fell asleep before the accident, woke up for school the next morning and it was on SKY News, turned on my video (had it recorded) and just the look on JR and Jerry Lawler's face after it happened was scary. It was an unbelievable tragedy, something ill never forget, time has flown since. Remember when he beat Bret clean at, was it Wrestlemania 10, at MSG

seanironmaiden

Yea, I remember that. King and JR were completely in shock.. King ran into the ring and when he came back he was as white as a ghost. The ring was stained with Owen's blood for the rest of the PPV. Jeff Jarrets match was next, that must have been real tough for him. what a horrible coincidence that the show was called "Over The Edge"

Fozzy

Real sad. I was just checking something out there though, The Owen Hart Foundation website seems to have disappeared.. Last year I read a news article from 1999 that said that the guy who owned OwenHart.com never handed the rights over to Owen's wife, even though he said he would. I managed to get in contact with him, and he agreed to give the domain to the Owen Hart Foundation, I think they were OwenHart.org. I just thought it would be a good thing to do because last year was the 5th anniversary of his death, and I thought a lot of people would go looking for his site. But the whole thing seems to be gone now....

TOPDAWG

Was just watching the wwe Survivior series 1st ten years video yesterday and the Harts featured a fair bit on it. So sad that a family that brought so much to so many people (i always remember bouncing around the sitting room as ten yr old when bret won the title back at wm10) has had so much bad fortune in recent years.

Man i went thro a stage of about a month where everyday id come home from school and put on the bret hart razor ramon match from some royal rumble years ago.

Anywho, its when ya watch both their old matches ya realise how much talent we're missing from todays lineup.

maxtrax

sad day for the Hart family!

SprostonGreen

I've just done a search and found this thread.

I was just thinking recently about this, I have a question.

After the death of Owen Hart, did the rest of the event continue?

At the time I remember reading that owner of WWF(Vince McMahon, I maybe way off on this!) told the rest of the wrestlers that they would not get their fee, if they cancelled their fights.

This seems a bit callous, but as I say its more of question really. Surely if your friend and colleague is dead in the dressing room, the last thing on your mind would to continue working?

I'm not a wrestling fan, I used to be and went to an event at the Point in 1991.

Stalfos

He didn't die at the event afaik. He went to hospital and died there. The rest of the PPV did continue though. No one ever saw it on TV though. It cut to an ad.

Owen Hart really did love the business.

J.R.HARTLEY

maxtrax wrote:

Just to say as a fan, I miss Owen Hart.............

i just want to say i agree 100% with your sentiment here. i really miss the good old king of harts.

Mossy Monk

i remember watching that PPV and thinking wtf. thought nothing more of it then heard on Today FM the following morning that he died. very sad

Glenman

Yeah, we all miss Owen.
Just goes to show that a fake sport like this can be so dangerous.
My brother and I used to have wrestling matches when we were younger, we'd practice all the finishing moves, power bomb and tombstone etc, looking back at it was really dangerous. I'm sure young people are still doing this despite the "Please, don't try this at home" warnings

Keith C

I watched it live & remember all the wrestlers half hearitly doing their promos before their matchs but throwing in at the end that they were praying for Owen. Jerry Lawlor announced just before the end of the PPV that hart had died.
Would've been hard to wrestle that night!

Iceman78

Just wondering if anyone remembers the first time they saw Owen Hart. I first saw him years before he joined WWF when he was wrestling in Canadian Stampede wrestling. Im sure lots of future wwf wrestlers were in this wrestling but he is the only one i remember.

He was top class back then as a face and i was delighted when i finally saw him join the wwf.

Owen is still missed now.

J.R.HARTLEY

i remember one episode of stampede in particular that i watched in my nans when i was about 7 or 8, basically some guy with a cast took on owen and his buddy was holding owen down when stu got involved and owen pulled the cast off the heel and owen and stu kicked the crap out of the two heels, tying the huge one up in the ropes and using the cast on him, it used to be on super channel i think, i was actually really excitied watching that, but the stampede stuff i've seen since never really matches the nostagligc version i remember.

seanironmaiden

I'll never forget watching that PPV, poor Jeff Jarrett and Debra had to do their promo backstage afterwards, felt so bad for everyone doing their matches with the ring stained with owen's blood

Vince135792003

His wife Martha wrote a book in 2002 on their life. I'm about to read it now but from the reviews I've seen its aparently a really really good book.

Heres just 2 reviews
Never before has a wrestlers life and his tragic death effected me more than Owen's. I was a fan for many years and had the honour of seeing him wrestle many times. When he died, my love for wrestling did also. It's not the same.

This book is a wonderful insight into Owen's life with his wife and two children, and the job which killed him. I learned so much about that fateful night that wasn't made available before, and it makes you wonder just how it was allowed to happen.

A book capable of recieving 10 stars if it were possible, and a book that will have you in tears from the very first page.


And number 2:

Book really portrays the family life and life in wrestling number 1 family and how death can be exploited and how it can split a family to a degree that it hasn't recovered, it is a shame that only bret her brother in law stuck by her through everything and are friends to this day, if the stars went up to 10 this would be a 10 out of 10, I would recommend for any wrestling fan to get an insight of what the wrestling world is like for the wives and children

The link to it for amazon is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/202-4893637-1555852?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=blended&field-keywords=the%20life%20and%20death%20of%20owen%20hart

Huggles

I remember him, what was teh actual cause of death, broken neck or something else?

jimmy jailbreak

I remember the first time i saw owen hart it was on an old tape i have. WM 8 to be exact.

I also kinda feel bad for owen because at the time of his death he was a bad guy. He died on a realy bad note.

johnboysligo

makes you think where would they be now if that hart luck hadnt taken em down

maxtrax wrote:

The death of Stu Hart on October 17, 2003 following pneumonia, a stroke, and kidney failure...

he certainly didnt go down without a fight

come to think of it i remember seeing him wrestle in his (correct me if im wrong) fifthys could have even been his sixtys in a tag match with bret when he still owned stampied
thinking more about him i remember bret saying in a interview ( could have been his latest wwe dvd ) he had a hematoma ( ripped muscle in his leg ) and it was only his wife telling him she didnt want to clean mud off his trousers every day that made him go to the hospital

fatal

johnboysligo wrote:

he certainly didnt go down without a fight

come to think of it i remember seeing him wrestle in his (correct me if im wrong) fifthys could have even been his sixtys in a tag match with bret when he still owned stampied
thinking more about him i remember bret saying in a interview ( could have been his latest wwe dvd ) he had a hematoma ( ripped muscle in his leg ) and it was only his wife telling him she didnt want to clean mud off his trousers every day that made him go to the hospital

wow one tough SOFB for sure

johnboysligo

yep tough people them harts.
anouther thing that stu did in the Hart Dungeon ( when it was in the basement of his house ) he would invite random guys ( wrestlers / football players / guys from the local y to train with him he'd lock them in a hold for hours and make them scream for mercy. he had a pipe going from the training area to the living room so anyone in the house could here there guys crying like babys. And if you think that was bad the hart boys had it worse they were expected to out last these guys and even break the holds.


im no expert almost everthing ive said is taken from the dvd "Bret "Hit Man" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be" if you get a chance buy/borrow/steal it you will learn bucket loads about his career before vince and a good bit after.
Also try "Bret 'The Hitman' Hart - Wrestling with Shadows" ( its a tv show so how you get it is up to you ) it tells alot more about the build up to the infamous screw job and how he ended up in wcw and it doesnt gloss over the facts.