Over the Edge 1999 with KB

[klunderbunker]

Over the Edge 1999
Date: May 23, 1999
Location: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 16,472
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

This is the Owen Hart show. I’m going to completely skip the Owen incident until after the review. In the review I’ll say that it happened but my thoughts etc. will come at the end and I’ll make it a separate post.

The opening video is all about Taker, as Taker vs. Austin is the main event. For some context we’re about 2 months after Wrestlemania 15 and the feud is the demon Undertaker vs. Austin as the Higher Power is lurking and about to reveal himself. It’s so scary to think that in about 45 minutes everything would change. Also on the card tonight we have the short lived Union vs. the Corporate Ministry in a Survivor Series style match. Apparently on Heat Vince got his ankle crushed by Mideon.

WWF Tag Titles: X-Pac/Kane vs. Mark Henry/D’Lo Brown

This is another one of those standards of the Attitude Era: weird tag teams that are really successful. The tag titles are more or less meaningless already as the Dudleys haven’t shown up yet to save it for awhile. Ross says the fire Kane shoots up could burn down the walls of Jericho. Jericho wouldn’t debut for about 3 months. Henry is Sexual chocolate at this point. Pac and Brown start us off.

Brown was getting better and better at this point and would get the European Title very soon. He also had lost about 100 pounds inside of a year as he used to be about the size of Ezekiel Jackson and got down to about the size or Orton. Thankfully he avoids the Bronco Buster as I freaking hate that move. Henry is somehow more useless here than he is now. He’s wearing a black shirt and what looks like black jeans.

Allegedly he could dunk a basketball on an NBA rim. Something about that comes off as factually challenged to me. Basically everyone runs from Kane who comes in and cleans house. This just isn’t interesting at all and I’d say the fans would agree considering they’re barely moving let alone seeming to enjoy themselves. Brown gets one of those three counts where the referee is going to four for some reason and there’s nothing for the three that goes down. I can’t stand that.

In a cool looking spot Kane dove off the top and landed on all of the other three guys. I liked that. He follows it up with his more traditional flying clothesline. And now we get the damn Bronco Buster. That has to be the dumbest move of all time. Kane gets a decent chokeslam on Henry to get the pin.

Rating: D+. This was WAY too long. It was nearly 15 minutes. Can you imagine these four going at it for 15 minutes? I just had to freaking sit through it. It just wasn’t good and really needed to be about half as long. It would have made it WAY better.

Vince might not be able to referee tonight.

Al Snow’s friend Pierre the Moose got beaten up by Hardcore Holly. They let Holly talk. What were they thinking?

Hardcore Title: Al Snow vs. Hardcore Holly

Holly of course jumps him fast. These two feuded for months over the Hardcore Title and nothing ever really came from it. Why do we have so many cookie sheets under the ring? Do the little people use it for bake sales? We’re in the crowd already as this is just another run of the mill hardcore match. We’re out in the concession stand and we get a reference to the legendary Tupelo Concession Stand brawl.

That more or less made hardcore wrestling cool in case you’ve never heard of it. We go into the women’s restroom but we don’t get the cameras in there. After a shot with some funnel cakes we’re back in the arena. There just happens to be a cotton candy salesman there and he gets his merchandise stolen and sees Holly get nailed with it. And it’s table time. There’s no point to trying to make jokes here as the whole thing is just a clusterfuck anyway.

Holly hits the Falcon Arrow but according to JR it’s the Hollycaust. I’ll go with Falcon Arrow as that’s what No Mercy said. Holly replies by kicking out of the Snow Plow. Mind you that means Snow kicking out of the Falcon Arrow. Snow powerbombs Holly through a table to end it. This was your usual mess.

Rating: C. It was an average hardcore match. What else do you really need to say here?

Vince is still injured and might have a broken ankle.

We get a recap video of the Blue Blazer as Ross says yeah we know it’s Owen Hart which was the running joke of the character.

Ross throws it to an interview earlier in the day and says we’ve got big problems out here. This is legitimately hard to watch and type about.

Blazer says that Godfather is his arch nemesis and is everything that’s wrong with the company.

We come back to a shot of just the arena and Ross talking. Ross says this isn’t part of the show and this is indeed real. I don’t think anyone knew what was going on. I remember listening to the scrambled version of this and not really being sure what was going on but I knew it was bad.

We recap Val/Debra/Bass/Jarrett. In short, Bass wants Val, Val wants Debra, Debra might want Val, Bass goes after Debra because Val wants Debra, and Jarrett is pissed because Debra might want Val and Val wants Debra. My kingdom for a flow chart. Note to self: get a kingdom.

Back in the arena we have Ross put in an incredibly difficult place as he is the person made to explain what’s going on to the PPV audience. Lawler I’m assuming is in the ring helping the paramedics. You can hear him breaking up on the microphone and luckily for him King comes back to the booth.

The fans applaud as he’s taken out of the ring. They make a point to say that they’re not going to put it on camera, which has never once been done. This was never released on video. What I have is a tape that someone in Canada made of the live broadcast that I got my hands on over the years for my collection.

And now we go to Jeff Jarrett, who apparently is one of Owen’s best friends, and Debra, who have to talk about their tag match. You can tell Jarrett’s mind and heart aren’t in this at all but to his credit he tries. Jarrett has to talk about puppies of all things. Debra starts crying as she leaves.

Jeff Jarrett/Debra vs. Nicole Bass/Val Venis

The referee runs out to the ring just in front of the heels. Debra is Women’s Champion here. Lawler has nothing. Ross says this thing about how it’s a soap opera like atmosphere with these four and all Lawler can say is wow. I don’t have a single issue with anyone being off mind you.

I’m not attempting to be critical or anything at all and for anyone that reads these recaps for my attempts at humor and overblown nitpicking, I highly doubt there’s going to be much in here as you simply can’t grade the rest of the show fairly as it’s unlikely that anyone is in the proper state of mind. We get the bowling shoe ugly line, which is Ross for “we know this match sucks but it’s all we’ve got”. Val slips up and calls Kansas the Show Me state.

Lawler is getting back into it here. The fans are really quiet here with complete understanding of course. This is still about 90% Ross though. From the neck down Debra looked pretty good. There’s very little to say about this match. Jarrett hits the Stroke which gets two as he hasn’t gotten it perfected yet. As we get the required brawl, Debra hits Nicole on the back with the guitar and it just stops dead. Naturally Debra loses her top and the Money Shot ends Jarrett.

Rating: C. It’s ok at best all things considered. I’m going to give this the benefit of the doubt as this was five minutes after what happened. In reality it was about a D+, but I’ll give this a break.

Vince is wheeled into an ambulance and Shane taunts him.

Send in your bill and get a pendent.

I said in the Lockdown review that that show was the first time the Outlaws ever fought. Apparently that wasn’t the case. We recap the feud which is over Gunn saying that he wants the spotlight, which makes sense. Naturally he kept getting pushed. We get this match here instead of in the King of the Ring final which would make sense.

Road Dogg says that he’s praying for Owen and that Gunn better be ready. He steals the mic from Kevin Kelly to do his intro.

Road Dogg vs. Billy Gunn

You can tell Roadie is extra hyped up here. Gunn cuts a pretty damn bad promo, saying he carried the team. Just based on the opening here, we have a far better match here than we had in 2008. For one thing it’s 9 years younger and they can actually move out of the ring which helps a lot. Road Dogg is face here mind you. Billy hits the Jackhammer which is called a vertical suplex here.

They’re far more energetic this time too and the crowd is more into it. Also there’s no cage which is helping a lot. Lawler is back to himself now. I think the idea of out of sight and out of mind is helping here. I think Gunn wins the award for world’s worst sleeper ever. We get the comeback and it’s a pretty decent one.

The fans are freaking responding to this. On the floor Gunn hits Roadie in the head with the timekeeper’s hammer. Yeah this is over. Oh shit I would have bet on that being the finish. Gunn gets a shot to the throat with some tape before the Famerasser ends it.

Rating: C+. FAR better effort here. This was a pretty good match I thought and at least the ending worked pretty well. It’s not great but it’s not bad at all. Roadie’s energy was off the charts as always and it worked pretty well. The crowd was into it also so I can’t complain.

Ad for King of the Ring.

Shane is glad Vince is hurt.

Corporate Ministry vs. The Union

Boss Man, Viscera, Bradshaw, Farrooq
Mankind, Test, Shamrock, Big Show

DAMN Vince needs to go back to the original No Chance in Hell. This one was far better. The Union was a stable that lasted all of four weeks as Vince became the Higher Power and Mankind got hurt anyway. They got together because they got tired of the Corporate Ministry beating the hell out of them. This is Survivor Series rules mind you. Test is wearing bright blue tights which are very funny looking on him.

He’s a total rookie here and no one cares about him. Somehow within five months he would be the hottest act in the company. Bradshaw hits a spear and lands some solid shots on the cranium of Test. The opening here just feels like they’re kind of lumbering around looking for something to do. He hits that sweet top rope elbow on Bradshaw as we finally get more faces in there. The Clothesline From Hell connects on Test to pin him as Shamrock was just visiting before.

Bradshaw taps in about a minute. This has no heat at all but I can’t blame anyone for that at all. It’s Big Daddy V vs. Shamrock now. I think Shamrock tried a crucifix but Viscera was just too damn fat for it to work. Shamrock gets the ankle lock on Farrooq but snaps and suplexes the referee which gets him out. Show gets an AWESOME chokeslam on Farrooq, holding him up there forever. This match is the living definition of a clusterfuck.

It’s Show and Foley vs. Boss Man and Viscera. Something tells me this is a one sided affair. Boss Man drops an F Bomb on Mankind before getting drilled by Show. This was back when Show could MOVE. He freaking goes off on Boss Man but gets caught with a low blow which I’m not wild on.

Apparently the two of them are counted out soon thereafter but it’s not really made all that clear. That’s simply not a good sign at all but whatever. So Foley beats Boss Man in about 2 minutes after that. Yeah that’s really it.

Rating: D-. This was just bad. I mean there was nothing at all here and while the crowd was reacting, they were far from interesting in the slightest. This felt like they forgot to tell anyone anything other than the ending which simply isn’t going to work. Their minds were there I think, but this was just a mess.

We’re told that Owen has died. They don’t really go to the next segment but rather the next segment just kind of starts.

We recap HHH vs. Rock which is about Rock falling off the stage and breaking his arm. If there’s ever been a triple threat that should have main evented Mania, it was Rock vs. Austin vs. HHH. This was where HHH became the Cerebral Assassin and went full insane with the sledgehammer. As Rock is about to cut a promo HHH and Chyna jump him but Mankind makes the save.

HHH vs. The Rock

HHH says Rock is scared to stall a bit and that goes nowhere. Rock has a big cast on his arm which is a controversial point. Rock doing commentary during his matches is one of my all time favorite bits. I freaking love that. HHH somehow knocks the cast off Rock’s arm. That’s a bit odd but I’ll go with it. They go back and forth for a long while until Rock hits the floor right next to Chyna like a freaking IDIOT and she takes care of him.

After a brief comeback, HHH works on the damn arm. That’s for wasting that much time to finally get to it buddy. What follows is HHH just trying to be as evil as possible to Rock and seriously injure the arm. The problem is he’s really new at this whole evil psycho thing so it doesn’t go as well as he would probably like it to. He gets a chair but Earl takes it away from him, only to get punched which for no apparent reason doesn’t draw a DQ.

Finally he gets in the chair shots but Chyna tries to help him and fucks everything up. Somehow there hasn’t been a DQ yet. Rock comes back but HHH just beats the hell out of him with the chair after a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow. The chair shots finally get the DQ and Mankind runs out about 10 minutes too late with a steel pipe to make the save.

Rating: D+. Definitely not the best they’ve ever done as Rock had main event experience but not enough to be ready to permanently be there and HHH was fresh out of the midcard and into the upper midcard to really get anything going. It’s not a terrible match, but by the standards they had already set and would set later, this was nothing.

We get a LONG recap of Austin vs. Taker. This is more or less the culmination of their entire feud as Taker is evil and demonic and Austin is the hero that is supposed to save the world from evil.

WWF Title: Steve Austin vs. Undertaker

Shane is the guest referee. I think Austin got messed up on an elbow shot as he goes all the way to the floor and is all shaken up on just a basic elbow. He comes off the top with a clothesline that wasn’t half bad at all. So basically everyone is worried about Shane and what would be called fair officiating by anyone else is called biased here.

Patterson is the other referee subbing for Vince but he’s gone in about 5 minutes. Both guys work on the legs which is kind of odd when you think about it. There is WAY too much laying around here. I don’t get the lack of chemistry these two had. Next to Orton and HHH they might have the worst I’ve ever seen. Bearer finally gets knocked on his ample ass.

Naturally this turns into a brawl as they hit the crowd and then go outside for a good while. They’ve been in the ring maybe 4 out of ten minutes. They spend a LONG time fighting up near the entrance. Why do they need to spend so much time up there? The match isn’t going to end there but they insist on doing it anyway. I don’t get that. Shane just blatantly cheats now.

Taker is thrown into the referee and there’s you Stunner. Brisco comes running out in a referee shirt as he’s replacing Patterson who hasn’t been mentioned in the better part of ever. And there he goes too. Naturally Vince hobbles down to be referee anyway and the fight is on as we are REALLY low on time.

Another Stunner hits but Shane breaks up the pin. Shane shoves Vince into Austin and Taker kind of rolls him up while Shane fast counts him to give the belt to Taker. Seriously, all other things aside, THAT’S the ending? We sit through 20 minutes for THAT? That was freaking bad. And Vince would announce that he was the Higher Power in like 8 days.

Rating: D. This just wasn’t interesting at all. For whatever reason, these two simply can’t have a good match. The ending was freaking stupid and it was overbooked as all hell. This was the biggest soap opera time period in wrestling history and this is a great example thereof. Awful match.

Overall Rating: N/A. It simply wouldn’t be fair to grade this like any other show. The guys were obviously shaken as hell and I find it odd that the rest of the matches after the accident all sucked. Something about that just doesn’t add up to me so there you are. This would have been a bad show anyway but with everything else going on, this was doomed from the start. I won’t recommend it, mainly because it’s very difficult to track down.

 

[klunderbunker]

Honestly I had to get myself together to do this. It’s honestly hard to imagine having to write about a show where a man died. I’m writing this before I watch the show and based just on what I know coming into it but I’ll likely add in things after it. Vince was wrong to continue the show, period. The idea of the WWF was an entertainment company. Let’s say 15,000 people just saw a man die.

How do you just move on from that? How do you explain to a child in the audience what just happened? How do you ask your workers to go out there and stay in character? How do you ask them to go out there and work safely? I mean someone that they all know very well and travel up and down the roads with every day is either dead or likely will be dead very soon. As I watch this, the first talent other than Ross or King on camera is Jeff Jarrett along with Debra.

Debra more or less stays in character but you can see that Jarrett is forcing himself through every word he says, which are in character as well. I can’t imagine how hard this is for them to do, especially given how close Jarrett and Owen were. Now on the flip side, I can see where Vince was coming from in a few ways. Number one, he panicked.

That’s totally understandable. If someone that worked for you passed away or was in a serious accident like that, you have to make a split second decision and Vince very well may not have been in his right state of mind. I’m currently watching the show and the time between Ross saying we’ve got big problems out here and the time where it’s confirmed that the show will be continuing as we go to the next video package about the mixed tag team match is approximately two minutes.

In other words, Vince had approximately two minutes to determine what to do while at the same time figuring out what was going on with Owen and wondering how serious his injury was. Look at the size of this post.

It could possibly take two minutes to read. In that length of time, you have to make a decision about tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars while someone on your payroll may be severely or even critically injured as the entire company and 15,000 people that paid their money to you in exchange for you to entertain them for an evening waits for your decision.

In that case, I can certainly have a bit more understanding for perhaps a rash decision. I can also understand someone like Bret Hart that says that the show should have ended immediately. Number two, while Owen’s death was certainly tragic, Vince at the end of the day is a businessman. His first knee jerk reaction could have been that he didn’t want to have to refund everything and worry about legal issues with the PPV company.

Note: I am in no way saying that Vince intentionally immediately thought about money as the first thing. I’m saying it might have played a role though. It certainly is something that completely changes the mindset of everyone involved and the problem is that there more or less is no right answer. I mean there are going to be some people that want the show to continue.

Suppose someone had come from say here in Lexington for the show. It’s a four hour drive both ways which isn’t something you can just come back and do again in a few days. Also, a lot of people bought this on Pay Per View as the main event was clearly a big draw. With all of these factors, I think I can see why Vince went with it like he did, but at the same time I would have called off the show. I don’t think Vince did the right thing, but I think I can see what his mindset was, assuming it was sensible at all.

 

[goodlay]

Honestly I can't watch this PPV without feeling sick to my stomach. Yeah the matches were awful, but who could go out there after something like that? I respect the hell out of those guys for even wrestling that night, I have no idea how they did it. I didn't watch this PPV but I'll never forget waking up the next morning and hearing about Owen Hart being dead. I couldn't believe it. I was about 8 years old, so these guys were my heroes.

It was hard to fathom how something like this could have happened. And this wasn't from overdosing on drugs or having a heart attack from steroid use. Owen's death is the definition of a tragedy and a true shame. Owen was so respected by those guys in the locker room, how could you have a problem with this guy? He was the ultimate class act. Not to mention he kept on in the WWE after the screwjob and the rest of his family left for WCW. Add to the fact that Vince gave him a ridiculous gimmick for someone on his level. The tribute show the next day was one of the most emotional things I have ever seen in wrestling. I don't blame Vince for continuing the show that night, because I really doubt anyone was in the right state of mind. Like you said KB, he probably only had 2-3 minutes to make such a huge decision. I know from watching parts of this PPV on the internet, that King was on the verge of just breaking down and crying for a good part of that night. And I remember The Rock getting on the mic during his match with HHH and saying something along the lines of "Owen we love you man." Even almost 11 years later I still can't believe we lost such a great man in Owen Hart to something that could have easily been prevented. It's such a shame, still thinking about it today is very emotional and writing this was difficult to say the least.

 

[NSL]

I remember sitting down and watching this show with family, and crying through the entire second half of it. Years ago (not sure when), I had heard that Stone Cold didn't want to continue the show, and refused to wrestle, so Vince made him, and took the belt off him in the process.

After reading through your thoughts on it, and looking at it from Vince's perspective, I can see where both men would be in the right here. It was all a big mess, and there really was no way to save face with it.

 

[D-Man]

First of all, at this time in my life, that was probably one of the worst things I ever had to sit through. As upset as I was from Owen's passing, as selfish as it may seem, I just couldn't bring myself to stop watching the PPV after the announcement of his death. I guess it was a combination of the car-crash-syndrome combined with my own sheer curiosity as to how they were going to handle the rest of the show and how the wrestlers were going to react on camera, considering the fact that one of their own had just died from a horrific accident.

As much as I never really liked him, it sickened me to see Jarrett have to go through his match after the tragedy occurred. No one deserves Owen's tragedy, nor does anyone else deserve to be in the position that Jarrett was in during that show of having to put on a live, entertaining match afterwards. I commend him for putting his best foot forward and giving the audience the best that he could offer during that horrific time.

As KB mentioned, Road Dogg was the saving grace of that entire PPV. Although it was shit from the beginning, the accident obviously made it worse. But how do you come back from something like that occuring on live PPV for the entire world to watch? Road Dogg's solution was to wipe the tears, walk out of the curtain, and do what he did best... connect with the crowd and suspend their disbelief. And he did a tremendous job. I remember that after Over the Edge 99, I saw the Road Dogg in a completely different light, noticed his contributions towards the show, and built a ton of respect for him. I'm still a fan of his to this day because of what he did for the WWE that evening.

Addressing KB's point about Vince's decision, I hate to say it, but Vince did the right thing. After all, he has a business to run and the show must go on. But it must go on for more reasons than a cliche' saying.

Vince has SO much responsibility when it comes to PPV's and the WWE. When wrestlers make the card of a PPV, they receive a bonus. When the audience purchases the PPV, Vince owes them a show, no matter what the circumstances. And if he fails to provide it, another Halloween Havoc incident with occur, resulting in MAJOR losses of funds. It takes a ton of money to put on a PPV, let alone giving up your profits resulting from it. And at the time, the WWE was still battling with WCW for the top spot on television and were almost put out of business. If they had a failed PPV and had to eat the losses, they could have been put in MAJOR jeopardy of going out of business.

Vince's responsibilities stretch far beyond his personal morals and obligations. He has to worry about the jobs and lives of all of the workers in his company, including the wrestlers on the roster. I don't believe his decision was selfish. Matter of fact, I feel what he did was FAR from being selfish, considering all parties involved. He avoided lawsuits, loss of funds, possible annihilation of his company, and being responsible for the losses of hundreds of jobs.

 

[Vincent Michaels]

I've wanted to give my comments on this for along time, so here I go:

Before I start KB, but do you ever find it distasteful that you have this on tape, even if it is just because of rare availability?

Anyway, personally I don't wish to see this PPV and don't think I ever will. Even with the knowledge that it's on YouTube in it's entirety I merely don't choose to view it out of respect. Personally i'm glad that no footage of the accident was ever recorded, and if so that it never was and never will be released.

On the topic of Vince McMahon's actions, I agree and disagree in some ways. Vince had to worry about weather or not to continue the show, lawsuits, the condition of Hart ect...but overall I think he made the right decision. He was able to survive what could have put his company out of business and save hundreds of jobs.

The sad fact of this is that even today, his wife is filing another lawsuit for his presence in the "Hart and Soul" DVD because she feels that it's being done completely for publicity, and wants all ties of him and WWE severed, which I say is BS! She needs to accept by now that, even though it's hard, that he's gone from this world, his children will always remember him as a wrestler, and that it will unfortunately never be forgotten by fans, his family, or the men and women that traveled with him his entire career. There's a difference between using someone to make money and making a tribute, although it wouldn't be in bad taste to combine them.

I might watch this some day, but i'll skip over the tragedy that befell one of the greatest wrestlers in history, RIP Owen. Even after 11 years, the "king of Harts" is still missed.

 

[klunderbunker]

No I don't feel guilty about owning it. It was a tragic event, but it was an event nonetheless. WWF didn't profit off of me owning it and it's not taking a dime out of Martha's pocket which seems to be the main thing she's worried about.

As for the lawsuit, it comes off as completely bogus. "I don't want you making a dime off my husband's name. Now pay me a lot of money for you using his name. Yes all of the money from that DVD will do." The DVD was about the HARTS. There were a ton of them and Owen wasn't the biggest name in the family. His kids are at the youngest teenagers and there's no need to not tell them what happened. Martha needs to just go away. It's a frivolous lawsuit as it's not like she owned his soul or something.

 

[DiscipleofWrestling]

I've wanted to give my comments on this for along time, so here I go:

Before I start KB, but do you ever find it distasteful that you have this on tape, even if it is just because of rare availability?

Anyway, personally I don't wish to see this PPV and don't think I ever will. Even with the knowledge that it's on YouTube in it's entirety I merely don't choose to view it out of respect. Personally i'm glad that no footage of the accident was ever recorded, and if so that it never was and never will be released.

On the topic of Vince McMahon's actions, I agree and disagree in some ways. Vince had to worry about weather or not to continue the show, lawsuits, the condition of Hart ect...but overall I think he made the right decision. He was able to survive what could have put his company out of business and save hundreds of jobs.

The sad fact of this is that even today, his wife is filing another lawsuit for his presence in the "Hart and Soul" DVD because she feels that it's being done completely for publicity, and wants all ties of him and WWE severed, which I say is BS! She needs to accept by now that, even though it's hard, that he's gone from this world, his children will always remember him as a wrestler, and that it will unfortunately never be forgotten by fans, his family, or the men and women that traveled with him his entire career. There's a difference between using someone to make money and making a tribute, although it wouldn't be in bad taste to combine them.

I might watch this some day, but i'll skip over the tragedy that befell one of the greatest wrestlers in history, RIP Owen. Even after 11 years, the "king of Harts" is still missed.

I agree with everything you said. I honestly can not watch this show. I tried to once on YouTube watch the WWF Championship match between Undertaker and Stone Cold. I think I got through Undertaker's entrance, and I could not bring myself to watch the rest of the video. I've been a big Undertaker fan for a lot of years, but you could tell on his face that he was genuinely affected by the whole situation as was Austin. I don't know if the crowd knew what was going on, but you could tell by the faces on the performers that there was more going on than a storyline.

On Vince continuing the show, I think you could argue either way, and he would have been damned for either one. If he would have stopped the show, people would have still been angry for whatever reasons, and he would have had to recoup all of the money to everyone in the arena and watching.

Martha Hart can't erase all of our memories, despite what she may want to do. We all remember the great memories Owen gave us on a nightly basis, and that's the Owen Hart most of us remember to this day. I carried a sign to WWE Armageddon 2007 which said "Owen for HOF" and I was happy to see the number of fans in my section who approved of the sign. The fans remember the great memories Owen brought us, and it is my firm belief that despite Martha Hart's objections, one day, The King of Harts will find his throne in the WWE Hall of Fame. Long Live the memory of The King of Harts.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

What, no rating for the Owen death? Poor form.

It was a shit show before he died and it was, understandably, a shit show after. However it is one of the most interesting wrestling shows in history. It's the missing piece of my DVD jigsaw, damn you Silver Vision, show some respect to me by releasing it.

Dare I say, I enjoyed this show. Owen Hart's death is one of the most talked about things in wrestling and I have a heart of stone. Tragic? Nah, not really. It could've been easily avoided. A shame? Of course.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I'm very happy that the actual accident was never caught on film. Jackass douche's that get off to seeing people die like that will never be able to be entertained by Owen's fall, as much as they want to. That makes me happy.

I remember I was a big fan of the hart family of wrestlers, and any wrestler that was trained/and or associated with them. I thought the Blue Blazer character was stupid, but I still pulled for Owen.

One of the most charasmatic personalities, and best technichal performers that the industry ever knew. Owen Hart's death was the second incident that led to me losing interest in Profesional Wrestling altogether in early 2001(Montreal Screwjob being the first, ECW folding being the last). I've just recently rediscovered some of my beloved ECW events, and stumbled across this review, and had to read it. Glad I did, because I've always been curious of the other wrestlers performances/match results. This review satisfied that curiosity, and I'm glad, because I also will never sit down and watch this event.

A family lost a father, a brother, and a son in a terrible, terrible accident at this event. The man died while working to pay his bills, and take care of his family at this event. I appreciate the reviewer watching this event, and the tone with which he presented the review, but anyone who tracks down a copy of this show to watch for entertainment, I don't have much respect for you as a human being.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I haven't seen the show, and I don't want to. Knowing what is going to happen/has just happened would make me sick to my stomach and I can't imagine what the other wrestlers must have been feeling when they were requested to go out and perform after Owen's tragic accident.

I remember being told at a Jujitsu class by my trainer that Owen Hart had died and I just froze, it was horrible and I'm so glad that smart phones were not around in 1999 so that no footage of this accdient is available, as knowing modern society it would be all over the internet within minutes if such it happened today.

Should Vince have continued the show? It's a really tough question and my gut reaction is no, as a man's life is more important than money/refunding tickets/PPV purchases etc, but the thing to remember is that Owen's death wasn't announced immediately. Was he classed as deceased as soon as he was taken backstage or were doctors working on him for a while? Because I could imagine Vince was gambling on Owen surviving when he made the decision to continue the show.

I'm still so sad today that something so terrible could happen to such a good person. Owen was beloved by almost everyone who met him, and the sad thing is he was hoping to leave the business alltogether very soon and become a Fireman, as he hated being away from his family on the road. When you see evil people living into old age and something like this happens to a good man, it's just not fair.

Owen should be in the Hall of Fame, no question. He was a fantastic performer, and I hope one day WWE and his family can come to some kind of agreement where he can take his rightful place alongside his peers in the HOF. I understand why Martha doesn't want WWE to exploit the memory of Owen, as she still blames Vince for the tragedy, but a HOF induction would simply be the chance for fans and wrestlers to share their memories of Owen, and remember him for the great talent he was.


R.I.P Owen Hart