Dark Side Of The Ring - The Final Days of Owen Hart FULL RECAP
On May 23, 1999 at WWF’s Over The Edge pay-per-view emanating from the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, a devastatingly needless tragedy would occur. In a stunt like that of WCW’s Sting dropping from the rafters, Owen Hart, in his full gimmick as The Blue Blazer would plummet 80 feet from the sky into the ring. While medics feverishly worked to save his life, the WWF chose to continue the show and instead focused on Jim Ross explaining what had happened while Owen was removed from the ring and taken to a nearby hospital where he would sadly be pronounced dead. Inarguably one of the most tragic events in the history of the wrestling business, perhaps only surpassed by the Chris Benoit tragedy that was covered at the beginning of the second season of Dark Side Of The Ring, this season is now bookended by a look into the final days of The Rocket, Owen Hart.
As with all season two episodes, we are treated to narration from Le Champion, Chris Jericho.
Interview subjects include Owen’s widow Martha Hart, Chris Jericho, Jim Cornette, D’Lo Brown, Jim Ross, Charles ‘The Godfather’ Wright, Owen’s son Oje Hart, Owen’s daughter Athena Hart, former WWF referee Jimmy Korderas,
The episode begins talking about the history and legacy of the Hart family and their history within the wrestling business.
Cornette and Jim Ross discuss Stu’s history as a promoter and wrestler and how his sons all became wrestlers, and all his daughters would marry wrestlers.
Chris Jericho discusses seeing him in Stampede Wrestling and how it heavily influenced his desire to become a wrestler and how he wanted to work with Owen more than anyone else.
Martha discusses how she and Owen started dating when she was 15.
She discusses how he never wanted to have the famous life afforded to him through wrestling and he was very grounded throughout his life and career.
Owen’s son Oje discusses his childhood and the immense love his mother and father had.
Oje recalls Owen rebooking himself out of a tour so that he could take Oje to a train show.
Athena recalls her favorite memory of her father taking her to the zoo.
Cornette discusses that Owen loved wrestling but was never a ‘lifer’, stating he wanted to make as much money as he could for his family, then go home and have a regular life.
At 23, Owen signs with the WWF, where his older brother Bret is gaining traction with their brother-in-law Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart as The Hart Foundation.
Jericho recalls going to a show at the Winnipeg Arena and seeing a masked wrestler wearing the traditional Stampede Wrestling tights. He recalls seeing the bump flip and realizing that it was Owen Hart portraying The Blue Blazer.
Moving fast through his career we are moved to 1993 and the beginning of the brotherly feud between Bret and Owen.
JR discusses the opening match of WrestleMania X between Bret and Owen and how it is one of his favourite matches.
JR talks about the brotherly love between Bret and Owen and how Bret didn’t need to do the job to establish Owen, but wanted to.
Martha talks about the rigorous schedule Owen took part in, being gone 250 days a year, usually with 10 days on the road followed by only 3 days off.
Moving ahead to the Montreal Screwjob Martha discusses how Owen went to the ring and did his best to calm Bret down.
At this point, Owen was the only Hart family member to be offered a contract in the hopes of building him into an even bigger star.
Both Martha and Cornette discuss Owen’s hesitance in becoming a ‘character’ in the risqué Attitude Era and how it hampered his career at the time.
Owen refused to partake in a storyline where he would be having an affair with Debra McMichael as he was uncomfortable with looking like he was cheating on his wife.
This would lead to the revival of The Blue Blazer character.
Owen knew the gimmick was a stupid comedy but did it since it would not embarrass his family.
Martha reveals that the rigging company used had worked with stars like Elton John and companies like Disney.
Martha recalls someone from the WWF calling needing to get his measurements for a special vest.
Martha and Oje recall Owen randomly deciding to take Oje to the airport the day before his passing.
Oje remembers the last thing his father saying to him was to take care of his mother and his sister.
Jimmy Korderas talks about being the referee for Owen’s match with The Godfather and going over the finish with the guys during the day.
Godfather recalls sitting with Owen and talking about the match before Owen had to go and rehearse the stunt.
JR was speaking with Owen ahead of the stunt and said “better you than me, I don’t like heights” to which Owen replied that he didn’t either.
JR also states that Owen was not his normal exuberant self that day and seemed concerned about the stunt.
D’Lo talks about being in the opening match and seeing Owen walk by ahead of the match getting ready for the stunt.
Korderas talks about being in the ring with his hand on the top rope clearing debris out of the ring with his foot while a pre-recorded promo of the Blue Blazer played on the TitanTron.
JR was going over his papers and watching the monitor when Jerry Lawler elbowed him just in time for him to see the blur of Owen coming into his line of sight falling to the ring.
Korderas recalls hearing a scream as something brushed against his head and shoulder, and the top rope he was holding slinging out of his hand and coming back up jamming his fingers.
The next thing he remembers was seeing Owen in the ring laying face up and began calling for help.
JR thought that he hit the turnbuckle or the ring post due to the sick sound the crash made.
Footage is shown of JR from the PPV advising viewers of what had just happened while Lawler had gone to the ring to check on Owen.
Jericho remembers watching the PPV at home and wondering what was happening.
Cornette was in the back watching on a monitor and saw the cameras simply panning the crowd and knowing something was wrong.
Godfather was in gorilla ready to go when everyone was screaming that Owen fell, and him wondering “what?”
Cornette emotionally says he had never seen anything like it in all his time in the wrestling business.
D’Lo says Lawler had come back through the curtain white as a ghost and said “I think he’s dead” to which they asked who, and he replied “Owen”
D’Lo remembers seeing Owen be wheeled past him to the ambulance and not even wanting to think about it.
Godfather remembers Owen literally appearing blue as they wheeled past him and began crying.
Footage is shown of Jeff Jarrett cutting a promo in tears due to his closeness with Owen as they chose to continue the show.
JR was asked by Kevin Dunn to give an update, but he hadn’t been updated on what was happening, to which Dunn advised JR that Owen was dead.
Footage of JR advising the viewers that Owen had died is then shown.
JR had only been given 10 seconds from finding out his friend was dead to advising the crowd.
Cornette speaks on how the last thing Owen was heard saying as he was falling was “look out” because Owen knew he was going to die but didn’t want to hurt anyone in the process.
Martha received a call from Vince McMahon informing her that Owen had fallen.
She then received a call from the doctor advising her that Owen had died.
Oje was in the basement with a neighbor when they heard Martha crying and he walked into the room as she was crying out “what am I going to do?”
Martha took Oje and Athena to bed and told them that their father had died due to a fall and he felt no pain.
Martha talks about first seeing Owen at the funeral home and Bret having to bear hug her.
She recalls that it was his hair still being the same that helped calm her.
Footage from Owen’s funeral is shown as D’Lo talks about being in the funeral procession and Canadians being to the sides of the road like Owen was a Head of State.
Martha recalls them having to pipe out the funeral as more than 1,000 people were outside unable to fit into the church.
Audio is played from Martha’s eulogy promising a day of reckoning as her final promise to Owen.
Oje speaks about Martha becoming a completely different person, a fighter, who needed to get to the root cause of what had happened.
Martha recalls going to Kansas City and going up with the kids on the catwalk in Kemper Arena and seeing where Owen had fallen from.
Police photos are shown, showing blood on the ring canvas where he fell.
Martha shows the clip that was holding Owen that night and how it was a quick-release clip used in sailboats.
Owen was approached in the day to rehearse the stunt as it was a different setup.
Martha reveals that after launching a wrongful death lawsuit against Vince McMahon and the WWF that Vince countersued to have the suit moved to Connecticut where no punitive damages could be awarded.
She also reveals that Vince began attempting to manipulate the rest of the Hart family to his side.
Martha talks about how some members of the Hart family actively worked against her taking legal documents and providing them to the defense.
After a year of legal battles, the suit would be settled for $18 million.
The discussion moves to the controversial decision to continue the show after Owen’s fall.
Cornette states that the show should have been stopped immediately.
Martha feels that it was like Vince just scraped Owen’s body off the mat to continue the show.
JR considers it the worst moment of his wrestling career, maybe even the worst moment of his life.
Jericho talks about the possible resurgence Owen would have had in a year or two as talents like himself, Eddie Guerrero, Edge & Christian and Kurt Angle were all the types of guys who were raised as the same kind of workers that Owen was.
JR says that Owen should be in every single wrestling Hall Of Fame there is.
Cornette believes that Martha does not want Owen celebrated by the company that killed him.
Martha then reaffirms Cornette’s belief as fact.
Oje also believes WWE should never be allowed to celebrate Owen.
Martha and Oje talk about the Owen Hart Foundation and all the good that it does.
Athena believes that if Owen were never a wrestler, he would still be alive.
Martha truly believes Owen would be proud of his children and the paths they have chosen in life.
Much as the second season began with the Chris Benoit story, ending with the Owen Hart story is a wise choice as we learn so many overseen details that nobody knew in regard to the case. It finally gives Owen’s family, specifically Martha and Oje, a voice and tells the story from their side. A wonderful episode to end a fascinating season. Stay tuned to The Signature Spot for an upcoming article with a discussion to which stories could be covered in a potential Season Three.
Note from Chris Toplack: I can attest that the Owen Hart Foundation is an extremely reputable organization that has provided scholarships to many individuals along with a successful homeowner program.
I’ve provided a link to donate. http://owenhartfoundation.org/donate.html <——