The Owen Hart Tribute Tonight

[Guest JimmyHendricks]

Yes, I saw him fall. It wasn't a horrible, gruesome sight or anything, but it was definitely distrubing.

 

I figure someone will want to know eventually, so here's my account:

 

They had just started showing the Blazer video, so the arena was dark. But out of the corner of my eye, I see a black mass falling from the ceiling. Owen's head landed on or near the top turnbuckle, with the rest of his body hitting the top rope. I hate to say it, but he literally bounced into the ring. At first I thought it was a dummy or something. I figured it was supposed to be a joke, having a mannequin fall from the ceiling (like Sting), then Owen would appear. But then I noticed that what I thought was a dummy was moving. The only way I can explain it was that Owen looked like he had just done 100 situps, and was trying for 101, but couldn't make it. Then, he stopped moving.

 

Earl Hebner was in the ring, took one look at the situation, then ran to the ropes, waving his arms and shouting at JR and King. Seconds later the paramedics hit the ring, and began CPR. It was quite disturbing to see all this happening while Owen was up on the Titantron, talking about being a superhero and drinking his milk.

 

Eventually, we all see JR (with no audio) on the screen, obviously talking to the home viewers, but we can't hear any of it. They must have worked on him for at least 10 minutes, then hurried him out on a stretcher. I thought they must have brought him back because they didn't just get him out of there instantly. I figured he had broken his neck and had stopped breathing, but they had brought him back.

 

Again, no one in the arena knew anything because no one said anything live. In the parking lot afterward, everyone was talking about it, but no one knew anything. It wasn't until we were driving home that I called my dad and he asked, "Hey, I saw this thing on the news about Owen Hart. They rushed him to Truman Medical Center where he died."

[Guest HartFan86]

Sounds just like Foley's account. I think I'd be scarred for life if I was there live. Thanks for posting this, dude.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

*agrees with HartFan*

 

Wow.......that's just........

 

Were you in the front row? That'd be extremely disturbing for those ones in front....

 

Eventually, we all see JR (with no audio)

 

Understandable.....sorta. Obviously, I doubt anyone could forget about seeing that, but they (WWF/E) probably wanted the fans to enjoy the show.

[Guest The Electrifyer]

Man, from reading that, JimmyHendricks, I'm just speechless. Thanks for writing that. I can't put my finer on it exactly but for some reason, reading that just makes this whole situation more "real" to me.

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

One of my favorite Owen moments came on IYH: Final Four Feb '97.

 

Owen got his team (w/ Bulldog vs. Furnas / Lafon) DQ'ed when he needlessly bopped either Furnas or Lafon with his Slammy after a REALLY good 15 minute match.

 

So aftewards, Owen and Bulldog were having one of the tifts that they were known for late 1996 - early 1997. Seriously, they reminded me of an old married couple. Gold Jerry, Gold!!!

 

So at one point, Bulldog grabbed the Slammy and dropped it on the mat. And the Slammy BROKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UH OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Owen LOST IT!!! "YOU BROKE MY SLAMMY!!!!!!!!!! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!!!!!!" Shouted Owen.

 

Somehow Owen found it in his heart to forgive Bulldog before the segment was over. What a man!

 

And what an Owen moment!

[Guest packwingfn]

Ill never forget Owen, When I was little, He was my favorite wrestler specially since we have the same birthday (may 7th), When I found that out, he became my favorite...I remember the 94 Rumble, I was there...Ill never forget when he kicked brets leg, I went crazy, and I was only 9 at the time.

 

And yes, the Leg speech was the greatest

 

I miss owen

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Fuck, it's just over 2 hours into the New Year, I'm drunk and I still realize how much I miss Owen. That's some heavy shit.

 

R.I.P Owen James Hart

[Guest HartFan86]

I kicked my leg out of my...leg .

[Guest AM The Kid]

The only way I can explain it was that Owen looked like he had just done 100 situps, and was trying for 101, but couldn't make it."

 

i's heard tha befre...butwhere?

[Guest the r-train]

BTW a very intresting trivia, who was the last guy Owen had a match with, ever (there's your trick part of the question)

I was at a house show the night before Over The Edge in Chicago, and Owen wrestled his last match there. It was he and Jeff Jarrett vs. Edge and Christian.

[Guest HartFan86]

AM The Kid, I remember it from Foley in "Foley is Good." Everything he said reminds me exactly what Foley said other than I never heard about Hebner going insane yelling at JR and Lawler.

[Guest AM The Kid]

I thought that other ref was in the ring...arg, cant remember his name.

[Guest AM The Kid]

I thought that other ref was in the ring...arg, cant remember his name.

[Guest AM The Kid]

I thought that other ref was in the ring...arg, cant remember his name.

[Guest JimmyHendricks]

OK. I admit that I stole the "100 situps" line from the Owen bio on A&E, but it REALLY looked like that, and that's the best way to put it.

 

I was seated in the upper level, about 15 rows up. So anything said by Hebner or the paramedics I didn't hear.

 

Another thing I want to add is that the people in the arena (at least in my section) seemed to be convinced that he fell from the light structure about 20 feet above the ring. So, because of that, no one was really too scared, at least until we saw them giving Owen CPR. Plus, we didn't really even know if it was Owen or not, since there was the whole "multiple blazer" angle going on at the time.

 

Everyone around me was talking about how they were going to get their money back, because we all thought the show would be cancelled. Then we see the interview with Jarrett and Debra. There's no audio, but it's clear they are upset. At this point, people actually start LEAVING, thinking the show is over. But then Jarrett and Debra come out, and the show goes on. Lots of people (including Mick Foley in Foley is Good) have criticized the crowd that night for not showing any sympathy. But you have to understand that we knew NOTHING but what we saw, and since the show went on, I would honestly say 65% of the crowd either believed Owen was ok, or that the whole thing was a joke. So we aren't assholes, we just didnt know.

 

When I got home, it was all over the news. It was the strangest thing to wake up the next morning and watch nationally televised newscasts talking about it. It was kinda like being there when JFK was shot or something. Too surreal.

 

I still have the front page Kansas City star headline from that morning...."Pro Wrestler Suffers fatal fall", with a picture of the paramedics working on Owen.

 

*shudder*

 

Oh, and for all you Vince haters out there, later in the event, when they showed the interview with Vince being loaded into an ambulance (he had been "injured" by the Corporate Ministry eariler in the show), for one brief moment, the crowd erupted, because we thought they were interviewing Owen, and that he was ok. But we saw Vince, and all fell silent. Say what you want about Vince not cancelling the show, but THAT wasn't necessary.

[Guest geniusMoment]

Owen was a great wrestler and from all accounts a great person. But if I had happened to have been there live and if I would have witnessed that event it would not

have scarred me for life. I would still be able to go on and enjoy life, if you are that unstable something is wrong with you.

[Guest HartFan86]

Oh, and for all you Vince haters out there, later in the event, when they showed the interview with Vince being loaded into an ambulance (he had been "injured" by the Corporate Ministry eariler in the show), for one brief moment, the crowd erupted, because we thought they were interviewing Owen, and that he was ok. But we saw Vince, and all fell silent. Say what you want about Vince not cancelling the show, but THAT wasn't necessary.

 

I never saw OTE 99, but that's one of the saddest/disturbing things I've ever heard before.

[Guest HartFan86]

But if I had happened to have been there live and if I would have witnessed that event it would not

have scarred me for life. I would still be able to go on and enjoy life, if you are that unstable something is wrong with you.

So your telling me that you wouldn't be affected by watching a human being plunge to their death from 50 feet? I think there is something wrong with you.

[Guest godthedog]

Owen was a great wrestler and from all accounts a great person. But if I had happened to have been there live and if I would have witnessed that event it would not

have scarred me for life. I would still be able to go on and enjoy life, if you are that unstable something is wrong with you.

i'm sorry, but this has to be one of the dumbest, most hurtful things i've ever read on the board.

[Guest AM The Kid]

Agreed, I'm scarred for life myself just because one of my heroes died. I couldn't even think about how hard it would be to literally watch him die.

What an awful thing for you to say.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

i'm sorry, but this has to be one of the dumbest, most hurtful things i've ever read on the board.

 

Me and godthedog may not be on the best of terms, but I completely, 100% agree with him on this. The fact that those fans saw a person plunge to their death is enough to scar them for life. The fact that it was Owen Hart made it even more damaging.

[Guest HartFan86]

I just watched the clip of Austin toasting Owen and it looks like he says "Well...here's your mother fucking tribute." or "Well...you broke my fucking neck."

 

And I'm not surprised by geniusmoment, cause it seems like it's mandatory to have your asshole in every Owen thread these days.

[Guest geniusMoment]

Why am I the asshole? I would be hurt by watching any man die right in front of me. All I am trying to say is you have to put tragedy behind you and move on with your life. I don't wish death on owen or anyone for that matter. I would always think about owen whenever I went to an event and miss him, wishing he was still alive, but I would still be able to enjoy going to wrestling shows. When my friend died I cried and mourned his loss but I moved on with my life, if you don't move on with your life then you have attachment problems. If I came across as not caring about someone dying thats not what I meant.

[Guest geniusMoment]

Damn I wish Scotsman was still posting here. I get layed into for saying while owens death was a tragedy that would no doubt affect me, I would be able to move on. Since when did this board become so politically correct. I would hate to see your guys reactions to some of the things Scotsman did. Everyone must deal with tragedy at some point in their life, it is important for one to mourn and move on. If you live your life in the past you die a little every day.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I also often think of Owen Hart daily. Especially after hearing that it was planned for him to win the Intercontinental title at Over the Edge and go on to feud with Triple H over the World title in late '99. Owen had the makings to become a bigger star than Bret Hart ever was. I wish WWE would make a DVD about Owen Hart, follow him from his career from Canada, to Japan, and finally to America. Show some backstage footage of him talking with other superstars or some of his classic ribs. Show some footage of him at home with his family, including the entire Hart family. Show him in the WWF from '93-'99 including his feuds with Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H, and with the Nation of Domination. Then, show the wrestler's reactions to Owen's death from the Owen Hart Tribute Raw, as well as the ten bell salute. They could also include some of Owen Hart's greatest matches. As well as the Bret Hart-Chris Benoit Nitro match from October '99 because it was a tribute match to him. I would definitely like to see something like this made.

[Guest HartFan86]

If I came across as not caring about someone dying thats not what I meant.

Then I read incorrectly. I had the jist that you wouldn't be affected in any way if you saw someone die in front of your face.

 

And being scarred for life doesn't mean you can't move on with it, I think we are all pretty "scarred" after seeing the footage of 9/11, but we have all moved on.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

I think we are all pretty "scarred" after seeing the footage of 9/11, but we have all moved on.

 

I wasn't affected by that at all, actually.....

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

I think we are all pretty "scarred" after seeing the footage of 9/11, but we have all moved on.

 

I wasn't affected by that at all, actually.....

Is it really necessary for you to post every two seconds, just blabbing whatever tripe occurs to you? We don't want your opinion on every little sub-topic we discuss.

[Guest subliminal_animal]

I read the Broken Harts book written by Martha Hart and I must say, I gained some things after reading it

 

1) More hatred of Vince Macmahon

Isn't that Bulldog's ex-wife or something who wrote the smear book? Or am I thinking of someone else? And what was in the book that made you hate Vince more?

 

I'm sure that if Steph died the PPV would have ended. I don't think that they should have had matches on the raw after either, maybe one or two "tribute matches" like the one WCW had.

Regardless of people's emotions, I don't doubt many would feel they would be getting ripped off if they got zero to two matches.

 

It's great that they did some type of tribute, but I always get mad when I see Austin toasting a beer to the picture of Owen, I don't think Owen would have liked that.

Why not? Also, is it just me, or was there new that came out at the time that management made Austin come out and do the toast, and he really didn't want to because he never really forgave Owen for what happened to him?

 

He was presenting the award for "Best Bow Tie"...he kinda just declared himself the winner and took the trophy.

What was the "Best Bow Tie" award?

 

I think the problems most people had with the Owen tribute was that hardly anyone thought certaint people who made comments were acting and telling bold face lies, especially Triple H, Chyna and Shane McMahon

Huh? Do you mean "some people" instead of "hardly anyone"? And Trips and Chyna aren't that good of actors, so I can't see any doubt their words were genuine. Shane's part I don't remember.

 

(I guess more anti-clique people felt Owen would never associate himself with Trips and Chyna and Bret has since said the story that Shane told never happened)

How would Bret know? Then again, I don't remember Shane's story or when he said it happened ...

 

ive never been bothered by people who were less than friendly with Owen being in the tribute because that happens all the time.

I don't remember anyone being less than friendly in the tribute. Who?

 

OK. I admit that I stole the "100 situps" line from the Owen bio on A&E, but it REALLY looked like that, and that's the best way to put it.

There was an Owen bio on A&E?

 

And one (more) question about the Owen show ... did Mark Henry write that poem, or was it something already published somewhere?

[Guest Passenger]

(I guess more anti-clique people felt Owen would never associate himself with Trips and Chyna and Bret has since said the story that Shane told never happened)

How would Bret know? Then again, I don't remember Shane's story or when he said it happened ...

 

 

 

If I remember correctly, it involved Owen playing some kind of prank on Bret by putting his clothes in the shower or something...So Bret would probably know if it happened or not...It happened late 80's I think he said, Shane was rooming with one of them I think.