Over The Edge 1999 is the Chris Benoit of Wrestling Events (Is It Fair?)

[SickJames]

I read some recent threads on Owen Hart and then I saw a thread that said bad event good memories and that just brought into my mind Over The Edge. Just the title of that thread made me think, here's an event in wrestling that had a very bad thing happen that scarred an event that had a lot of good action in it.

I really dont want to discuss Owen's death here. It's pretty much been discussed in every way in other threads although I must admit I like the new twist on honesty in a recent one on if he hadnt died what do you think of him etc. Because really I wanna talk about the opposite of what was the talk in that thread of most believing Owen should be in the HOF because he died and how he really hadnt done nothing but be Bret's brother and a great tech wrestler. Aside from that thread though I feel like the other side of that (the praise of Owen after his death) is the like abandoning of Over The Edge from the momories of wrestling fans as an event. We still bring up Owen's death in threads and it always will be brought up, but I wanna say why cant we ever talk about anything else?

Why must one bad egg spoil the bunch and kill that show as if it wasnt still a great event despite that accident.

I just have always wondered why people seem to do to that event what WWE has done to Beniot. It's almost like we wipe the event itself from history save for Owen's death. It's like the small bits WWE still acknowledges of Beniot without actually making reference to him like when they say two men have won the Rumble being the 1st entrant but always only name Shawn Michaels in the opener so you look it up yourself. That's how it is with the Owen/Over The Edge event.



The event was still a great event aside from the death and I think fans of wrestling have been cruel to it even if inadvertantly, as well as WWE to almost glance over it and never praise anything from the event. It makes me really want to see how people wouldve acted if it were to have occured at WrestleMania 15 instead.

You still hear shit about every Mania to this day as its the biggest event of the year, if a person died at Mania you couldnt throw the event itself under the rug and mention the death lightly here and there without acknowledging more. WrestleMania would still be talked up, Rock/Austin etc etc. Especially if it happened at a WM17 or 20 or more popular one like that.

People would never sweep a Mania under the rug and act like speaking the name of the event is speaking Voldemort's name in a Harry Potter book


So I just wanna say (in response to the majority of people "Benioting" Over The Edge as an event) What The Fuck WWE and wrestling fans worldwide?

 

[Ken_Shamrock]

Interesting thread and am not just saying that because you name checked my bad event good memories thread...

Anyway, I had to even google the event to see what actually happened at it. I don't remember anything from the event at all except Owen's death and the taker winning the title. If the event was good it certainly bellies the card which was woeful: Val and Nicole Bass v JJ and Debra being a definite match that sticks out as being potentially drivel.

Like I just said in my thread, '99 is a year where events don't stand the test of time. Am sure the fueds played out at this event were important and well built up to at the time but looking back, none really jump out as anything I can be bothered doing any reading on to refresh my memory of.

I hated the corporate Ministry stuff too. The Ministry was a great concept at the time but was weakened by the addition of folk like the Bossman etc who was a good few years past his prime by then. Start of the 90s he was a good big man in the WWF but by the end of that decade he wasn't.

 

[The Brain]

Let's pretend Owen didn't die at Over The Edge. Look at the rest of the show. It's just not memorable. Like just about every ppv in 1999 the show wasn't very good. When something as shocking as someone dying in the ring occurs naturally it is going to overshadow everything else. I highly doubt people would ever talk about this show had Owen not died. It's not like people always talk about Fully Loaded 99. Mediocre shows don't get much attention here.

 

[SickJames]

Let's pretend Owen didn't die at Over The Edge. Look at the rest of the show. It's just not memorable. Like just about every ppv in 1999 the show wasn't very good. When something as shocking as someone dying in the ring occurs naturally it is going to overshadow everything else. I highly doubt people would ever talk about this show had Owen not died. It's not like people always talk about Fully Loaded 99. Mediocre shows don't get much attention here.

I highly agree with you on a bit of that. This is why I stated if it had occured at a Mania it wouldnt have casts a shadow so bad that we'd never speak of anything in that event again. It's not like I feel we should have 93 threads a year on the event, but it should not get what it seemingly has gotten and that's erased as an event save for Owen's death.

It's almost as if no one wants to remember the event for anything else and I think it's unfair to the wrestlers who competed that night as well Again imagine had that been a Mania, any Mania.

Rock/HHH had a decent match and so did Austin/Taker and Road Dogg/Billy Gunn wasnt bad and the Hardcore bout was nice between Holly and Snow

It's just the fact that we do bring up PPVs not as popular but never this one, at all. Even December to Dismember gets recognition

and that's considered the worst PPV of all time, really you'd think that'd be as low as an event could get, but not when you erase an event from history. I compare it to Beniot because it's exactly what happened to this event as far as it being erased from history save for a few subtle bits of it.


That's why I think it'd be interesting to see if ppl actually treated a WrestleMania like that.

A house show would be different, but Over The Edge shouldnt get Benioted as an event.

You'll never see mention of a single match from that event in any Wrestler DVDs, nothing.

All threads dont have to talk highly of an event either. It's like a wrestler though. A reaction from the crowd is good postive or negative, but no reaction is bad. Any mention is good, because you're talking about it but no mention is awful moreso in the case of an event (or wrestler in Beniot's case) that's been wiped (or attempted to be wiped) from history

 

[chipandcheese58]

I remember the one match that I wanted to see from that event, that I have never seen, was Road Dogg vs. Billy Gunn. It was right as DX was breaking up. Triple H had left for the Corporation, Billy Gunn then began to turn his back on Road Dogg and X-Pac. I always wanted to see that match.

 

[The Brain]

I highly agree with you on a bit of that. This is why I stated if it had occured at a Mania it wouldnt have casts a shadow so bad that we'd never speak of anything in that event again. It's not like I feel we should have 93 threads a year on the event, but it should not get what it seemingly has gotten and that's erased as an event save for Owen's death.

It's almost as if no one wants to remember the event for anything else and I think it's unfair to the wrestlers who competed that night as well Again imagine had that been a Mania, any Mania.

Rock/HHH had a decent match and so did Austin/Taker and Road Dogg/Billy Gunn wasnt bad and the Hardcore bout was nice between Holly and Snow

It's just the fact that we do bring up PPVs not as popular but never this one, at all. Even December to Dismember gets recognition

and that's considered the worst PPV of all time, really you'd think that'd be as low as an event could get, but not when you erase an event from history. I compare it to Beniot because it's exactly what happened to this event as far as it being erased from history save for a few subtle bits of it.


That's why I think it'd be interesting to see if ppl actually treated a WrestleMania like that.

A house show would be different, but Over The Edge shouldnt get Benioted as an event.

You'll never see mention of a single match from that event in any Wrestler DVDs, nothing.

All threads dont have to talk highly of an event either. It's like a wrestler though. A reaction from the crowd is good postive or negative, but no reaction is bad. Any mention is good, because you're talking about it but no mention is awful moreso in the case of an event (or wrestler in Beniot's case) that's been wiped (or attempted to be wiped) from history

If it happened at mania people would probably still talk about other parts of the show just because of the mania legacy. Over the Edge had no legacy. It just blended in with all the other lesser ppvs of the time. It was only the second event called Over the Edge. That card in particular would just blend into that era anyway. Both Triple H vs. Rock and Austin vs. Taker took place at several other ppvs and much better ones at that. Even if Owen hadn't died I doubt these matches would be mentioned on any dvd. Austin vs. Taker from SummerSlam 98, Rock Bottom 98, and even Cold Day In Hell 97 are more memorable and noteworthy. Triple H vs. Rock from SummerSlam 98, Fully Loaded 98, or any of their main event matches from 2000 are more memorable and noteworthy. If a classic match took place on that show I think people would talk about it. It's just that nothing special took place which is understandable as everyone had their mind elsewhere during the show.

 

[SickJames]

If it happened at mania people would probably still talk about other parts of the show just because of the mania legacy. Over the Edge had no legacy. It just blended in with all the other lesser ppvs of the time. It was only the second event called Over the Edge. That card in particular would just blend into that era anyway. Both Triple H vs. Rock and Austin vs. Taker took place at several other ppvs and much better ones at that. Even if Owen hadn't died I doubt these matches would be mentioned on any dvd. Austin vs. Taker from SummerSlam 98, Rock Bottom 98, and even Cold Day In Hell 97 are more memorable and noteworthy. Triple H vs. Rock from SummerSlam 98, Fully Loaded 98, or any of their main event matches from 2000 are more memorable and noteworthy. If a classic match took place on that show I think people would talk about it. It's just that nothing special took place which is understandable as everyone had their mind elsewhere during the show.

I hear you, but there are a lot more PPVs that were less entertaining than this one and I feel WWE kicks it under the carpet too. I mean just like Benoit, you'll never see this event on WWE OnDemand or even a match from it in the sections where they just feature single bouts at a time, not entire events.

I feel it's bad really that any other event you can think of has some chance of mention or fair recognition out of a billion, but this has 0 chance out of a billion in ever being brought up again


They moreso than the fans treat it like a bad memory of rape in the mind of a victim.

 

[Ken_Shamrock]

The only way that a match from this event makes a collection dvd is if wwe release a best of either the Road Dogg or Billy Gunn which is reasonably unlikely, no?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The card itself was ok for an IYH style PPV of the day, the reason the show is not viewed is as much out of respect to the talent involved as Owen. Imagine the situation, one of your most popular co-workers has just died in front of you. Your boss (rightly or wrongly) says "Show must go on" and you have to go out in that ring, where your friends still wet blood stains the mat and the live crowd have not been told he has died... The show after that was horrible cos everyone was in shock and no one put forth anything near their best. Even if the match was passable Why would they want that event shown? Their grief splashed across the screen with Owen's blood?

Not to mention Owen's family, do they want ghouls watching the PPV to see Owen's blood on the mat? For WWE to make money off DVD sales? Clearly not, Martha Hart (again, rightly or wrongly) has made that call.

It's wrong to wonder "what if" when it comes to this situation, cos it means someone would have to die... What if Miz HAD caused a death this week? What if Brock had died after that Shooting Star botch? It's a horrid scenario to contemplate, I never want to see anyone die in the ring nor think about the consequences. Comparing it to Benoit is wrong too... He murdered 2 people in cold blood... While it doesn't erase his career, it means the majority don't want to see it.

 

[HenryOGodwin]

Because it was a shitty event. Aside from Owen, all I remember is the 'Taker/Austin match ending with a quick roll up and Jarrett & Debra crying as they had to follow the fall. Also, and most improtantly, you had a Superstar die from falling from the rafters in an event called Over the Edge. Ya, I can see why it's been swept under the rug.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Over the Edge saw a wrestler die. A human being lost their life at that event. It is out of respect for Owen and the Harts that this event was not continued as a PPV series because that tragic incident would follow it forever. As others have stated, Over the Edge wasn't even a big deal as far as PPV events go. It would have been on par with something like Capitol Punishment from today's lineup. A lesser show in between larger ones. Had this incident happened at Wrestlemania or Summerslam then the argument could be made to keep the PPV event series name alive, but they could afford to get rid of it completely with it being a lesser show.

The event will always be remembered for what happened there, unfortunately, but it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint. Why continue the PPV series after what happened? WWE made the right choice and therefore referring to Over the Edge 1999 as the Benoit of wrestling events is fair. It should not be talked about onscreen and Owen should be remembered for the awesome things he did rather than the event where he left us.

 

[Pedigree1]

If it happened at mania people would probably still talk about other parts of the show just because of the mania legacy. Over the Edge had no legacy. It just blended in with all the other lesser ppvs of the time. It was only the second event called Over the Edge. That card in particular would just blend into that era anyway. Both Triple H vs. Rock and Austin vs. Taker took place at several other ppvs and much better ones at that. Even if Owen hadn't died I doubt these matches would be mentioned on any dvd. Austin vs. Taker from SummerSlam 98, Rock Bottom 98, and even Cold Day In Hell 97 are more memorable and noteworthy. Triple H vs. Rock from SummerSlam 98, Fully Loaded 98, or any of their main event matches from 2000 are more memorable and noteworthy. If a classic match took place on that show I think people would talk about it. It's just that nothing special took place which is understandable as everyone had their mind elsewhere during the show.

Totally agree with you on this!! OVer the edge wasnt special just another filler but that unfortunate accident is all people can talk about!! If it did happen at mania god forbid i think people hopefully would talk about other matches not just that one