10 Years Later

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

Where has time gone? You would have been a champ and retired by now.

[Super Leather 0]

I remember when the blurb about Owen flashed across the screen on Raw. I was getting tattooed in my friend's kitchen, and jumped out of the chair and ran over to the TV to see what happened. My friend was screaming at me because I nearly fucked up the tattoo royally, and I was screaming at him because Owen Hart was dead and I wanted to know what happened.

 

Somebody in another thread commented that Chris Jericho's current character would have been perfect for Owen Hart, and I can't say that I disagree.

 

Rest in peace, Owen. I wish things turned out better for you and your family.

[JimmyHendricks 0]

Having been there in the arena that night, it brings back horrific memories. I can still remember thinking that he had just fallen from the lighting above the ring, until I saw a police officer giving him CPR. I knew right then that it wasn't good at all--essentially Lawler's reaction when he came back to the announce table while J.R. was announcing.

 

I most definitely does not feel like 10 years have passed. My, time goes by fast. I truly believe Owen would have gotten out of the business within a couple of years. I hear people talk all the time about how he could have been a World champion, etc. That was never going to happen. In fact, if Bret would have still suffered his concussion and retired as he did, I think Owen would have followed right along with him. He certainly wouldn't be a HHH or Kane and still be wrestling today.

 

It's a shame, but despite hateful, spiteful fans, it WAS an unfortunate accident, and Vince McMahon is not a "murderer", either.

 

It was about 8:40/7:40c or so when he fell. I will say a silent prayer in about a half hour.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

What were people around your section saying when it happened? Did everybody think it was a dummy? Bad stunt? Wikipedia claims that Foley wrote in his book that Owen tried to sit up after falling to the mat but fell right back down after trying to sit up. Is that true?

[JimmyHendricks 0]

We were having a blast. We left to go get food just as the show was starting, and saw an oddly placed funnel cake stand in the middle of nowhere. It was fully operating, so my friend bought one. We arrived back at our seats as the Hardcore Holly/Al Snow "falls count anywhere" match was starting. And wouldn't you know it, they ended up fighting at that exact same funnel cake stand, hitting each other with them. Now were knew why there was this one isolated stand. Heh!

 

Then it was time for The Godfather to face the Blue Blazer. They put the "next match" screen up on the TitanTron. Many have mistakenly said that THIS was when Owen fell, since the crowd reacted in some form. I think it truly was the crowd popping at the sight of an upcoming Godfather match, and that meant the Ho's would be appearing, which was always a cheap pop.

 

The arena was then darkened, since a video montage was playing, so while I was watching the TitanTron, I saw a mass falling from (what ended up being) the ceiling. I saw him flop into the ring. I immediately thought it was a dummy, since Sting would send a mannequin down to distract the nWo before appearing on the other side, or coming up through the ring, etc. I actually said, "Whoops! That wasn't supposed to happen!".

 

Within 5 seconds or so, I could see that Owen was moving, like he was trying to sit up. He was able to lift his arms a foot off the canvas, and tilt his bent legs back and forth as well. After about 15 seconds, this stopped, his legs straightened out, and he never moved again.

 

Earl Hebner was the referee in the ring, looked at Owen, did the whole "shocked referee" look (hands on head), then ran to the announce table side of the ring, frantically waving his arms at King and J.R. to get help. Everything was quite morbidly silent (save for the video) for the next 40 seconds or so, as medics came down. At this point, it looked just like an injury angle from TV. Coupled with Hebner's reaction, I initially thought it was a work. I noticed a police officer (a real KC one, recognized the uniform) was with them.

 

At this point, the now infamous "Take my vitamins and Drink my milk" interview with Owen was playing, and I began to think that it wouldn't make sense for them to work an angle while a video package was playing. I now started to believe that it was an accident. The interview ended, and we saw J.R. on the Tron, but with no audio. It was exactly what was on TV, complete with "fell from the ceiling" motions. A note on the lack of audio: Many have said that it was to keep the crowd from knowing, so not to bum them out, but I think the opposite. It would quite odd to hear J.R. speaking over the speakers as Owen was dying in the ring.

 

Suddenly, I see the police officer giving Owen CPR. It then hit myself (and others): He's DEAD. We started to wonder if it truly was Owen or not, since there had been multiple people playing the Blazer over the last few months (Owen, Jarrett, even some African-American guy). A woman had a program (remember those?) with a printed match listing that Kemper Arena had inserted, and it plainly said, "Godfather vs. Owen Hart" on it, no Blazer mention. I never figured that one out, but it clarified who it was in the ring.

 

As we all know, they worked on him for several minutes (10 or so), and I kept thinking that they had revived him, since it didn't make sense to me to keep him there in the ring if his heart had stopped. I saw defibulator(sp?) paddles, but never saw them used. They eventually moved him to a stretcher, and wheeled him out VERY fast. The crowd popped for that. The speed that they rushed him out of there again elevated my suspicions that he was in bad shape.

 

At this point, I, my friend with me, and most of our section thought that the show was over. Seemingly, so did others. I would estimate about 2,000 of the 18,000 sold out crowd left at this point. They weren't going to piss or get nachos, those seats remained empty. I don't think it was out of disgust or shock, we truly thought the show may be over. However, it continued, and THAT made me think that Owen was OK.

 

A few matches later, a backstage segment was shown where Vince was being loaded into an ambulance (I think the Corporate Ministry had attacked him eariler on Heat, but I can't remember). When they showed the ambulance, for a split second the crowd erupted, undoubtedly thinking it was Owen, and that he was OK. Of course, it wasn't Owen, and he was dead by this point.

 

After the Union/Corporate Ministry match, we saw J.R. and King on the TitanTron, again with no audio. It seemed very out of place, and I think we all knew what they were announcing.

 

When Austin came out for his title match with Undertaker, he got a loud pop, but not as loud as Gangrel had gotten to open the night in a dark match. I think we were all bummed out by this point. As we all know, Taker pinned him for the title, and the show went off the air at this point. Austin remained in the ring, grabbed a mic, and said something to the effect of, "If you want to bring that son of a bitch back, give me a hell yeah", to which we responded, of course. I'm assuming he meant Taker. He toasted a couple of beers, and left. The ring announcer (not Finkel) announced that tickets for the next house show would go on sale that Saturday, and it was officially over.

 

Now remember, this was 1999, where cell phones couldn't get a reception very well inside an arena, texting was just a forgotten phone option, and all phones could essentially do was dial/receive calls, and play "snake". Because of this, when we got out of the arena (where EVERYONE was talking about Owen) I called my parents at home, where it was all over the news. I'll never forget asking my dad to turn on the news, but he was a step ahead of me:

 

"Yeah, I saw that on the news--about Owen Hart? (What happened?) That he died! They took him to Truman Medical Center where he died!"

 

The drive home was pretty much a blur. I remember watching KMBC-9 news where funny enough, The Coach (who was employed as a sportscaster at the time) gave a report on the accident, having been ringside (as a fan and correspondent). The next morning, I got up early (well, an hour) to catch all the morning national news programs, which all led with Owen as the story of the day. I still have the KC Star newspapers from the 24th and 25th ("Pro Wrestler Suffers Fatal Fall").

 

I felt that Owen's death would be the biggest (negative) pro wrestling story ever, and of course that would change eight years later. This one, however, remains the most tragic, since Owen by all accounts was genuinely a good guy all around. Yes, they should have stopped the show. We thought they were going to. Do I understand why it continued? Sure--but they could have easily stopped it. But I know they wanted to deliver a complete show so no one could justify asking for their money back. A business decision. While someone died in the ring during the same show. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[JN News 0]

My sister and myself were finishing up our junior year of High School in that point in time of 1999. I chose not to buy that PPV to save money. The next morning on monday, it was time for me to get up for school. As I was getting dressed, my mother called me into her room where she was watching the morning news, and she told me that Owen Hart had been killed at the PPV the night before, and I couldn't believe it, until she told me how it happened. I then saw the news report about Owen's death, and I felt my heart sink. Before this tragedy even occured, I had been hoping that someday, Owen's brother, Bret would actually return to the WWF, despite the obvious past problems with Vince (Montreal Screwjob), and reunite The Hart Foundation with Owen, Bulldog, & Anvil. When I was told of Owen's death, I knew then that any and all possibilities of that ever happening were immediately shattered, forever.

 

 

I'll always miss you, Owen. Godspeed.

[Meni 0]

I remember that night also, for I was in attendence with a good friend of mine. I had some family and friends over to my place to watch it. After witnessing it, we sat and wondered for quite awhile, until I found a pay phone to call home. It just so happens I called and was talking to my cousin about why the match didn't happen and JR annouced that Owen had passed, to me at that time, it was freaky. I remember being one of the many that cheered when they wheeled him out, because we thought he was going to ok. I felt bad once i found out.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Tragedy, just a damn tragedy. I still miss the guy. I hadn't heard anything at all about the accident, and the next morning when I was pulling into the parking lot at school, a guy ran up to me and asked if I heard BRET Hart was killed last night? I said you're fucking kidding, and went on about my way. It wasn't until I was in one of my computer classes, that I pulled up a wrestling site, and Owen's death was the top story everyone was talking about. I was shocked about Owen's passing. God, I miss seeing him perform.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Yeah, sucks. R.I.P Owen, you deserved better.