Question about Owen's death

[Guest BrokenWings]

Not that I feel the actions of that night were justified, but when they discussed it beforehand, apparently Austin asked if he would fall on his knees, and Owen just smiled and said, "No, I land on my ass". So it's not like Austin was 100% unprepared. However, if they couldn't agree on how the move would be done, it shouldn't have been a spot, simple as that.

 

Back on topic, I agree in that I disliked the way Raw is Owen ended - especially after realising how clean cut Owen was.

[Guest Stunt Granny]

Even Bret has come out and said that Owen could've done a little more for Austin following the accident. I'm not saying that he should've been upset with him, I don't think his hard feelings towards Owen were completely unjustified.

 

Maybe Owen didn't buy Austin a bunch of flowers and some "Get Well Soon" baloons, but I'm sure Owen felt horrible about it. I can understand Austin having some hard feelings immeadiatly after the accident and Austin was not a main event superstar at the time he was a midcarder though on the cusp of superstardom he wasn't a maineventer. But to STILL be pissed off about it a year later when you became a superstar and everything turned out to be just FINE and your career wan't ruined in anyway was very childish and unprofessional on Austin's part.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Point the finger at Shawn Michaels about Owens lack of push too. Shawn easily could've done a trade off with him before Austin got the title, but he didn't.

 

Austins career ended only about 5 years later. At the time, he had no real injuries, except for the 1 knee brace. after that, Austin was more of brawl-brawl-brawl than ever, and in 1999 he needed spinal surgery because of the injury, because he put it off too long. He returned in late 2000, had another good year or so, than was getting injuries again, and left. He came back in February last year, had 2-3 matches, and retired for good.

 

Austins neck injury could've been avoided and his career could've gone on for longer than it has.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Even Bret has come out and said that Owen could've done a little more for Austin following the accident. I'm not saying that he should've been upset with him, I don't think his hard feelings towards Owen were completely unjustified.

 

Maybe Owen didn't buy Austin a bunch of flowers and some "Get Well Soon" baloons, but I'm sure Owen felt horrible about it. I can understand Austin having some hard feelings immeadiatly after the accident and Austin was not a main event superstar at the time he was a midcarder though on the cusp of superstardom he wasn't a maineventer. But to STILL be pissed off about it a year later when you became a superstar and everything turned out to be just FINE and your career wan't ruined in anyway was very childish and unprofessional on Austin's part.

Stunt, that neck injury significantly shortened his career and limited what he could do in the ring, and what moves he could take. remember why the WWE banned ddt's and piledrivers?

[CanadianChick 0]

WWE banned DDTs? I never realized that. When did that ban get lifted?

[Papacita 0]

I don't think they ever banned DDTs. Rock and HHH have been using them forever.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Any DDT I've seen in WWE recently are SUPER-SAFE. But Piledrivers are no-nos. Kane's protected ones looked horrible, and if thats what we have to deal with, I'd just say none at all.

[JoeDirt 0]

Any DDT I've seen in WWE recently are SUPER-SAFE. But Piledrivers are no-nos. Kane's protected ones looked horrible, and if thats what we have to deal with, I'd just say none at all.

And sadly it was a running powerbomb that crippled Droz.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Any DDT I've seen in WWE recently are SUPER-SAFE. But Piledrivers are no-nos. Kane's protected ones looked horrible, and if thats what we have to deal with, I'd just say none at all.

And sadly it was a running powerbomb that crippled Droz.

Oh...the Ligerbomb. Sorry, I like to use that name for it when it's a running one.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

I don't think they ever banned DDTs. Rock and HHH have been using them forever.

No they were "Banned". DDt's and Piledrivers were considered to risky due to the way that they compress the spinal cord, just like how UT stopped doing the Tombstone for sucha long time.

 

They've loosend the stance on DDT's but there was a time when even Raven wasn't using a DDT.

[iliketurtles 0]

There was actually some discussion going around that Austin says something to the extent of "Well, you broke my fucking neck..." during his toast to Owen.

 

By the way, that site with the Owen pictures is fucked...up.

[JoeDirt 0]

By the way, that site with the Owen pictures is fucked...up.

Is it one of those sick internet sites that has you pay so sickos can look at pictures of JFK, Daniel Pearl, etc?

 

To be honest, though, I'm surprised no Owen video has ever surfaced on the "underground". And I'm glad.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

It's a site where a guy who was at the PPV basically tells you what happened and shows the pictures he took. I don't know if I'd call it sick, but it's definitely not pleasant

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Even Bret has come out and said that Owen could've done a little more for Austin following the accident. I'm not saying that he should've been upset with him, I don't think his hard feelings towards Owen were completely unjustified.

 

Maybe Owen didn't buy Austin a bunch of flowers and some "Get Well Soon" baloons, but I'm sure Owen felt horrible about it. I can understand Austin having some hard feelings immeadiatly after the accident and Austin was not a main event superstar at the time he was a midcarder though on the cusp of superstardom he wasn't a maineventer. But to STILL be pissed off about it a year later when you became a superstar and everything turned out to be just FINE and your career wan't ruined in anyway was very childish and unprofessional on Austin's part.

Guess what...

 

The soon-to-be Biggest Star in the history of Pro Wrestling's opinion was worth a hell of a lot more then the card advancement of a guy who was really (at that point) expendable in the grand scheme of the WWF. It's a shame that it happened to him, but Austin SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO WORK A PROGRAM WITH A GUY HE DIDN'T FEEL SAFE WITH. Period.

[Guest Stunt Granny]

I see what you're saying, but it's not like Owen was a total botch machine. It's refered to as a "freak accident" because no one would have guessed that a wrestler as skilled as Owen would fuck somebody up that badly. I could understand Austin being a little uneasy around Owen in the ring since he was almost paralyzed, but he should have been a little more professional about it realizing that wrestling is a high risk business and yes Mr. Austin you can get hurt. Chris Benoit could accidently drop Randy Orton on his head confining him to a wheel chair for the rest of his life tomarrow, should that get shunned by everybody in the business for it? It could have been anyone in the ring with Owen that night and they could have gotten dropped, but unfortunatly for Owen he did it to one of the biggest primadonnas the wrestling world has ever seen.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Why not bitch about Shawn Michaels? Him and Owen could've EASILY feuded for a few months, trading the title a la Rock/Mankind leading up to Wrestlemania XIV. Gives Owen a main event run, gives him a title reign, and he completes the "cycle"/.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I watched the show live on PPV and my grandfather still has it on tape. Without quoting anybody I'll hit a few subject matters I saw in this thread.

 

Somebody said they thought Owen had passed away when he lifted his head up in the ring while the EMTs tended to him. This is false. Owen broke his neck on impact when he hit the turnbuckle head first. This however was not the reason he passed on. When EMT's took him from the ring and wheeled him to the back he gave the fans a thumbs-up to indicate he was alright. He later died en route to the hospital due to a brain aneurysm caused by a blockage to the artery in his brain from the impact.

 

Discussions of him being fired if he did not go through with it are accurate. Bret Hart has said if he was still with the WWF at the time it wouldn't have happened. Owen conveyed that he had a gut feeling something wasn't right and told Vince Russo beforehand. Russo let McMahon know and McMahon told Russo to deal with it. Thus Russo told Owen if he didn't perform the stunt he had the ok to fire him on the spot. Both Bret Hart and Roddy Piper have spoken out on this subject matter as they were told from Harley Race.

[Guest BrokenWings]

Owen broke his neck on impact when he hit the turnbuckle head first. This however was not the reason he passed on. When EMT's took him from the ring and wheeled him to the back he gave the fans a thumbs-up to indicate he was alright. He later died en route to the hospital due to a brain aneurysm caused by a blockage to the artery in his brain from the impact.

Again, I'll have to disagree based on reports of what I've read, and seen, though you may be correct.

 

I recall a fan saying, during the A&E Biography, that fans began to chant "Owen, Owen..." as he was wheeled out by EMTs, hoping they'd "see the thumbs up like the football players usually do......but it never came from Owen."

 

I also remember them saying that his aorta (spelling?, sorry. One of the heart muscles) being ripped off the heart itself, filling his chest with blood, which ultimately led to his demise.

 

I'm really not sure if there's a concrete answer on all of these things; though I wish there was, simply so the speculation could end and he could rest in peace.

 

However, in addition to that, the brain aneurysm story does sound familiar, so that may have happened in addition to what I mentioned.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I see what you're saying, but it's not like Owen was a total botch machine. It's refered to as a "freak accident" because no one would have guessed that a wrestler as skilled as Owen would fuck somebody up that badly. I could understand Austin being a little uneasy around Owen in the ring since he was almost paralyzed, but he should have been a little more professional about it realizing that wrestling is a high risk business and yes Mr. Austin you can get hurt. Chris Benoit could accidently drop Randy Orton on his head confining him to a wheel chair for the rest of his life tomarrow, should that get shunned by everybody in the business for it? It could have been anyone in the ring with Owen that night and they could have gotten dropped, but unfortunatly for Owen he did it to one of the biggest primadonnas the wrestling world has ever seen.

Well Benoit did break Sabu's neck. But that's offtopic. Anyways as much as Austin had a right to feel bitter towards Owen, I agree the beer bash wasnt the right way to end the show, HELL, Austin wasnt even the right person to end it anyways.

[Scroby 0]

You know, I'm sitting here reading this and I gotta say its FUCKED up that people are sitting here and defending Austin over a fucking slip up! This is diffently the wrong thread to do it, espically since the same argument is in a completely different thread, one I've been very vocal in. Now to get away from that...

 

I remember that moment in the PPV very well. I was at my friends house watching it on his tv, he and his son were in his room watching racing or whatever. The match was about to start and they were showing a interview shot by Owen about the Godfather. As soon as they got back, the crowd was pretty much silent as JR quietly said "Owen has fallen from the rafters, and is laying in the ring, as officals and EMT's attend to him." As he informed us on what was going on, the camera's showed the crowd shots, as King was also in the ring. Every once in awhile, a camera shot of the ring was shown with King and few others who I can't really remember who were in the ring checking over Owen, all circled around him. I beleave WWE showed this shot because Owen was really covered up by the surronding bodies. WWE then returned to the crowd shots, every once in awhile, barely showing the ring. I sat there in total shock on what was going on. I couldn't beleave it. After a little while, King returned back to the table to talk about what was going on, while Owen was taken out of the arena and to the back. A match or two went by and JR informed us that Owen had died. I went out and got a newspaper article from the accident and its pinned to my wall with thumbtacks, representing the Canadian colors of the flag (red and white).

 

The next night, I watched the "Raw is Owen" show from my friends house, in complete shock. It was so surreal watching this all happen in just under 30 hours. Everytime I see a clip from that show, or even hear the 10 bells, I start crying. I'm very passionate about wrestling, and I respect everyone who gets into that bussiness, and its a sad thing about how fucked up the wrestling buissness really is. There isn't one damn thing wrong about showing how you feel about the buissness or someone involved in it. Hell I even stood up and clapped after the Bret Hart vs Beniot tribute match to Owen Hart..even through I was in my room alone, I still did it because I love the wrestling buissness! And I for one am very happy that no one has gotten some sort of movie up with Owen falling. Its a very sick thing. And for those who think the way the show ended was bs, just be happy that Austin at least did something for Owen in some sort of way, probably the best way he knows how. I really wish a dvd or tape would be released for the "Raw is Owen" tape, it would be nice, but I don't think that would happen. And on a final note Fuck Vince Russo.

[Enigma 0]

They had done this entrance with Owen as the Blazer before on an edition of Sunday Night Heat in December 1998 during his feud with Steve Blackman. Basically, his gimmick was that he was a clutz, and about a yard before he hit the ground, he would get stuck and eventually just fall down to the floor.

 

I watched the PPV live as it happened. They never showed the ring or Owen once. It was all crowd shots and Jim Ross talking at the desk.

 

For the record, I don't ever believe Owen Hart would have become WWF Champion. He had too much heat with Austin for nearly-paralyzing him, and back in this day, Austin had the final word about everything. Just ask Jeff Jarrett and Billy Gunn.

 

Judging from Austin's book and what he's said in interviews (and I'm saying this assuming he was telling the truth, which I hope he is), he said Owen barely even made an effort to ask how he was doing. I do believe he said something along the lines of, "The guy probably asked me how I was doing one time after it happened, and that was after about three or four weeks. That made me dislike Owen more than the accident, which is what it was."

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Heh...I apologize all the time for making physical contact (or drawing fouls) in basketball. If I nearly crippled someone I'd kiss their ass for a year.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

You know, I'm sitting here reading this and I gotta say its FUCKED up that people are sitting here and defending Austin over a fucking slip up! This is diffently the wrong thread to do it, espically since the same argument is in a completely different thread, one I've been very vocal in. Now to get away from that...

Austin didn't have to work with Owen. Period. He didn't feel safe with him, and the psychological effects of the injury hadn't passed at that point.

 

If the WWE felt that strongly about making Owen a Main Eventer they should have fired Austin for not working with him.

[Guest MikeSC]

It seems like some people are thinking Austin was pissed due to the accident. Austin has said, more than a few times, that the accident was just that --- an accident.

 

He was pissed that Owen didn't check on him.

 

Is anybody pissed at Foley for his confession that he was pissed off at Rock for not checking on him after their Royal Rumble 1999 match?

-=Mike

...And, Owen wasn't over enough to ever be a World Champ. This Owen love is largely because the man tragically died. When he was alive, people didn't give two damns about him.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

...And, Owen wasn't over enough to ever be a World Champ. This Owen love is largely because the man tragically died. When he was alive, people didn't give two damns about him.

False....to me at least. The RAW he fought Shawn Michaels for the World Title (Decemer 97 or January '98, I forgot) I was screaming my guts out for him to win. Either I was having an allergic attack of watching good wrestling, or Owen was over enough since I hardly gave a shit about anyone but Austin.

 

Owen was never my favorite worker, and still isn't, but saying he wasn't over is insane.

[Guest MikeSC]

...And, Owen wasn't over enough to ever be a World Champ. This Owen love is largely because the man tragically died. When he was alive, people didn't give two damns about him.

False....to me at least. The RAW he fought Shawn Michaels for the World Title (Decemer 97 or January '98, I forgot) I was screaming my guts out for him to win. Either I was having an allergic attack of watching good wrestling, or Owen was over enough since I hardly gave a shit about anyone but Austin.

 

Owen was never my favorite worker, and still isn't, but saying he wasn't over is insane.

I can only go by the lack of reaction he inspired.

-=Mike

[LucharesuFan619 0]

The odds that WWE doesn't have this on tape are seriously slim because - as Kurt Angle said in his book - they even go so far as to tape EVERYTHING that goes on backstage in case they want to make a documentary of sorts. Angle said that they got the stuff of him backstage after the incident at SummerSlam 2000 where he got knocked out via the Pedigree through the table. So, if they get everything that happens backstage on tape, then I imagine the same goes for everything in the arena area, too.

 

I have the PPV tape in my hands right now. I'm pretty sure nothing at all is shown of what's happening in the ring.

 

If someone wants, I could attempt to find my copy of the book and get a direct quote... I know it's around somewhere.

 

Could you please do that. That sounds interesting. Could you try to find the book and get that quote?

 

Also, isn't it just a bit wierd that the PPV was called "Over the Edge?" I mean, Owen - in a way - did go over the edge, and if it's true that he didn't want to do the stunt in the first place, then WWE went over the edge in forcing him to do something he didn't feel comfortable doing.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

This thread just brought tears to my eyes.