Today marks 20 years since we lost wrestling legend Owen Hart.
On May 23, 1999, Owen Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during WWF Over the Edge ’99. Hart had been doing a revival of his old “Blue Blazer” gimmick, and the intention was to lower the Blazer into the ring from the ceiling via harness and grapple line for an Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather. There was supposed to be a Mission: Impossible-style joke where Owen would be lowered almost all the way into the ring, but then get “tangled up” and fall a short distance onto his face. He’d done a similar stunt before Survivor Series. This time something went wrong, and Hart fell 78 feet onto the top rope.
This all happened to a darkened Kemper Arena that was watching a Godfather video on the big screen. Hart never got to his feet again. They tried to revive him at a local hospital, but it didn’t work. The announce team was forced to share the news during the live broadcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2-IQ81eiuw
A lot has been written and said by people who actually knew and worked with Hart, but from a fan perspective, he was about as good as you could be. He was a former WWF European Champion, 2-time Intercontinental Champion, and 4-time Tag Team Champion. He won the King of the Ring. He carried around two Slammy Awards, but won three. He’s part of what makes the legendary Hart Family legendary, and we’ll never forget him. 20 years gone, far too soon.
