NFT: WWE: 20 years since Owen Hart fell to his death

I can still see the look on Jerry Lawler's face when he returned to the announcer's desk and sat down. It was chilling. He said something like, "It's not good," or "It doesn't look good," something like that. My buddy and I looked at each other and we were both like, he's dead.

I was running the machine shop at the time and one of the machinists had talked about going all week. That Monday at work he said nobody in Kemper had any idea what had happened. Just seemed like a screw up of some sort and they moved on with the rest of the show. He said it looked like someone fell but had no clue it was from that high up. Said he was completely shocked when he found out what happened.

Just after it happened and not realizing how serious it was, a friend of mine quipped "he must've cracked his nugget". It was stupid and we all laughed. And felt pretty awful a little later when Jim Ross announced that he had died.

Or even if he was in the ring at the time. I just remember being psyched to see Hart make his entrance, like HBK or Sting would. But just as you figured he'd start to come down, the camera cut away to a wide shot of the crowd...away from the ring completely.

It stayed that way for a few minutes and we were like, what the heck is going on? You knew something had to be very wrong. I kind of remember Jim Ross saying something like, "There's been an accident." You could tell from his voice that he was pretty shaken up. After a while the camera went back to him at the table, sitting by himself.

It was surreal, for lack of a better word.

I was at one of my best friends' house for that - we ordered the PPV, there were like 5 of us. We were in 9th grade I think.

I still remember it vividly. At first we thought it was just a stunt - and then pretty quickly we were like... something isn't right here. What the fuck is going on?

Back in those days, I guess that was the "Attitude" era, it was the type of thing they'd have staged as they were doing all types of crazy shit, so it still took a little bit to really figure out what was going on.

Surreal, though. That was around the time that I stopped watching wrestling. I think by 2000 or 2001 I had totally lost interest. But I'll never forget that.

I always thought the WWF took too much heat for continuing with the show.

Ten of thousands in the arena, millions watching on PPV...I dunno how you simply end the show short.

That being said, I wouldn't have put it past the WWF to invoke some type of shitty legal defense that Hart was a "contractor" and could have declined the stunt as a way to get out of civil liability. At least his family received a solid settlement.

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On this week's Grilling JR with WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross & Conrad Thompson, Over The Edge '99 and the tragic passing of Owen Hart are the topics. Hear what was going on in the WWE heading into this PPV, JR's thoughts on the event itself, and having the unfortunate responsibility to be calling the event ringside when Owen fell, as well as having to inform the viewing audience of the truth of what had occurred.

Link - ( New Window )

To be in the arena and witness that live

Is them airing a pre-taped Blue Blazer promo for the TV audience while he was making this grand entrance offscreen and fell. It runs against every single one of Vince's core beliefs of pro wrestling being a spectacle for them to have not shown the entrance live to the paying PPV customer. I guess in a way they were lucky in this regard so as it was never seen by anyone other than the live in person audience, but it was always an odd thing to me.

In comment 14454215 arcarsenal said:

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I was at one of my best friends' house for that - we ordered the PPV, there were like 5 of us. We were in 9th grade I think. I still remember it vividly. At first we thought it was just a stunt - and then pretty quickly we were like... something isn't right here. What the fuck is going on? Back in those days, I guess that was the "Attitude" era, it was the type of thing they'd have staged as they were doing all types of crazy shit, so it still took a little bit to really figure out what was going on. Surreal, though. That was around the time that I stopped watching wrestling. I think by 2000 or 2001 I had totally lost interest. But I'll never forget that.

I began watching WCW in early 1997, maybe even 1996. WWF I think was March or April of 1997.

By the time 2002 rolled around, I just stopped. The nWo was stale enough as it was by that point in time in WCW but then to have it on WWF? I had enough of it. Lesnar was the nail in the coffin as far as the good old days were concerned. Didnt like the timing, his look, his quick push to the championship. I mean it's understandable, he is a bad ass. He just bores me so much. The invasion angle I didnt hate as much as most.

I'll maybe watch for a few weeks every year to see if theres anything good but the last 5 years or so I've been punished for thinking that every single time I watch WWE programming.

Moe,

Yeah. Maybe they wanted to show what should've been the Blazers "dramatic" entrance after the promo package, strongly suggesting to the WWF audience that Owen was being an obvious dope. Trivializing his theatrics, I guess?

Also maybe there was a subtle dig ready for JR or King to take another shot at WCW and how that type of entrance was lame? Keep in mind that was one of their biggest, main event wrestler's big entrance (Sting). Well never know.

I was big into wrestling from 92-99, but I must have stopped watching early in 99 when I discovered weed and girls in Junior High. I found a grainy video of this online just now and man was that a fall... eash.

In comment 14454368 justafan said:

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I was big into wrestling from 92-99, but I must have stopped watching early in 99 when I discovered weed and girls in Junior High. I found a grainy video of this online just now and man was that a fall... eash.

Really odd post

Vince wrote a big check

I thought it was a work at first.BTW Owen vs Brett @ Wrestlemania 10 was so underrated i just watched it last month and forgot how awesome it was.Also here is a Good Listen from this weeks Talk is jericho with Y2J and Dave Meltzer.
Link - ( New Window )

In comment 14454373 Anakim said:

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In comment 14454368 justafan said: Quote: I was big into wrestling from 92-99, but I must have stopped watching early in 99 when I discovered weed and girls in Junior High. I found a grainy video of this online just now and man was that a fall... eash. Really odd post

He's being a condescending anit-wrestling poster. There is always 1!

for a while and he discussed it at one point. He is still very upset about it to this day.

A couple of things went into why this happened.

The first being that the rafter guys were actually Sting's guys from WCW, so there was an unfamiliarity there and it was kind of rushed into last minute.

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“The whole idea just started so innocently… We had brought back Owen’s old gimmick, The Blue Blazer. He was meant to be like a superhero, but a spoof on a superhero – to really get over the comedic genius of Owen Hart. It was probably the Friday before the show, the show’s already written – I get a call from Steve Taylor [WWF V.P of operations]. He goes, ‘Look, I just got a call from the people who propel Sting from the rafters [in rival WCW]. They said they’re gonna be at our pay-per-view…they wanna know if there is anything they may be able to do for the WWE…’ So while he’s telling me this I’m looking through the show…and I see Owen. And I’m saying, ‘Well, that’d really elevate Owen’s character, that’d be something really special and cool for Owen…what if we propelled The Blue Blazer?”

That's ultimately why Sting stopped coming down from the rafters.

The problem itself was that they weren't using a standard rigging system and instead using a quick release.

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The accident and lawsuit centered around the equipment that failed in the stunt, a “quick release” snap shackle manufactured by Lewmar, a British company specializing in marine equipment. If the danger inherent to using that sort of device for a stunt that involved rappelling 78 feet seems obvious to you, it should—the industry standard was a more secure type of locking system used in mountain climbing. According to Broken Harts, WWE had been using eminently qualified theatrical rigger Joe Branam for three years whenever the occasion called for such a stunt; Branam had decades of experience working with the biggest possible names that could require his services, from Disney to musicians like N’Sync. Hart’s book notes that Branam was struck by how, at least three different times, WWE’s then-VP of Event Operations Steve Taylor communicated to him that Vince McMahon personally wanted Branam to use some kind of quick release for the stunts. Each time, Branam repeated that those weren’t safe for human use in this case. How could some small amount of time saved in getting out of the harness be worth such a risk?

Owen Hart Death: Those Who Were There Tell What Really Happened

After Two Decades, Owen Hart's Death Is Still WWE's Darkest Hour - ( New Window )

In comment 14454505 BigBlueDownTheShore said:

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In comment 14454373 Anakim said: Quote: In comment 14454368 justafan said: Quote: I was big into wrestling from 92-99, but I must have stopped watching early in 99 when I discovered weed and girls in Junior High. I found a grainy video of this online just now and man was that a fall... eash. Really odd post He's being a condescending anit-wrestling poster. There is always 1!

I never could understand posters like this. The need to tell everyone how "above pro wrestling" they are. It's bad enough on a normal thread, but it's really classless on a thread like this.

and it's been under WWE lock and key, for obvious reasons.

he would have fans pick him up from the airport and drive him everywhere and stay at their houses instead of renting a car and getting a hotel room lol

In comment 14454568 BIG FRED 1973 said:

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he would have fans pick him up from the airport and drive him everywhere and stay at their houses instead of renting a car and getting a hotel room lol

He was the HMWG for the Nation of Domination.

lol .

But I remember the next night on Raw when the talent were given a chance to grieve and send their condolences in front of the camera. Everyone was completely broken.

In comment 14454568 BIG FRED 1973 said:

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he would have fans pick him up from the airport and drive him everywhere and stay at their houses instead of renting a car and getting a hotel room lol

Owen was known as a prankster backstage. He was always cracking jokes and playing pranks on people, especially his brother. By contrast, Bret was always the straight-laced, no-nonsense guy.

In comment 14454689 Anakim said:

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In comment 14454568 BIG FRED 1973 said: Quote: he would have fans pick him up from the airport and drive him everywhere and stay at their houses instead of renting a car and getting a hotel room lol Owen was known as a prankster backstage. He was always cracking jokes and playing pranks on people, especially his brother. By contrast, Bret was always the straight-laced, no-nonsense guy.

Middle child syndrome.

In comment 14454505 BigBlueDownTheShore said:

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In comment 14454373 Anakim said: Quote: In comment 14454368 justafan said: Quote: I was big into wrestling from 92-99, but I must have stopped watching early in 99 when I discovered weed and girls in Junior High. I found a grainy video of this online just now and man was that a fall... eash. Really odd post He's being a condescending anit-wrestling poster. There is always 1!

You guys are being way too sensitive. I stopped watching football and playing hockey around this time as well. Things I only started getting back into in my early to mid 20s. I don't have anything against wrestling, I tune in from time to time, but its hard to get back into when you've been out of the story lines for so long. It was hard enough getting back into football and hockey and learning all the new name. Take the post at face value, I'm surprised I didn't know about his death until seeing this post. Sheesh.