Fallen Icons - Owen Hart (1966 - 1999)... Owen Hart was loved by both the fans and his peers. In life he was one of the most respected ring workers of his generation, right up there with brother Bret and Shawn Michaels in changing the perception of the WWF from bodybuilders to athletic smaller talents. The athletic Canadian made a name for himself in stunning tag matches with his brother and also singles competition against Bret at Wrestlemania 10 — where Owen won clean. In my opinion he was a much better worker than Bret, but lacked the close friendship that his older sibling had with Vince McMahon. In addition to stellar matches, Owen also made a name for himself as a notorious joker. One time on an overseas trip he stuffed a fish down his singlet, and when he put Bret in a camel clutch he put the fish into his palm so as to make Bret gag for real. Unfortunately, Owen will also be remembered for being the man who broke Steve Austin’s neck, arguably costing the WWF millions upon millions. The plain careless piledriver is undoubtedly the biggest botch in wrestling history. Owen sadly died in the most tragic circumstances. On May 23rd 1999 he was in Kansas, Missouri and due to descend from the kemper arena rafters to the WWF ring, much in the same way as Sting did in WCW. Tragically the harness released Owen early, sending him on a 78 foot fall to the ring. He hit the ropes and bounced into the ring, damaging his aorta and causing internal bleeding. The impact had been too much and Owen died later that night. Controversially the WWF continued the broadcast, although the cameras didn’t show the incident. Owen’s widow Martha settled for $18 million and there have been other legal disputes. My view is that the whole thing was a tragedy. You can visit Owen’s grave in Calgary, he died aged only 34.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 08:45:09 +0000
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