(Owen Hart. Picture credit: The Independent)
This is one of those moments in wrestling history that will forever bring a wave of sadness over any wrestling fan and that is the shocking, untimely death of Owen Hart. Owen's legacy is very much carved into wrestling history and so it should be. As the son of a wrestling legend (Stu Hart) and the brother of a WWF/WWE Superstar (Bret Hart) he was born on the 7th of May 1965 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, into a wrestling dynasty. It was like the Hart family had a special wrestling gene that ran through their veins.
We have a few famous wrestling families but the Hart family were on their own level. Owen's father had trained future wrestling superstars, when it came to wrestling and bringing out the best in athletes, Stu Hart was nothing short of a genius. Owen James Hart, who was the youngest of 12 children to Stu and his wife Helen, would watch in awe as a child as his father would take ambitious future wrestlers down to the family's basement of their mansion which had been converted into what they called 'The Dungeon', it wasn't fancy or full of gym equipment but what was learned down there was the making of true wrestling. Basically you'd train with Stu and his colleagues, Mr Hito and Kazuo Sakurada and you'd go in there wet behind the ears, be put through your paces and if you were strong enough you would come out of it with the potential to be a wrestling superstar. Ambitious boys who'd maybe done some training in a gym and thought they knew it all would go to the Dungeon and go through hell physically and mentally and come out of it as men. It was the toughest bootcamp but it produced results and every ambitious wrestler wanted to train with Stu. Stu reportedly didn't take any money from the people he trained, he just did it all because he was so passionate about wrestling.
I could write many posts on the Hart family alone because of the remarkable things various members of the family have achieved but my aim in this post is to focus mostly on Owen's story but give you the background of how he came to be in wrestling. Being born into this extraordinary family as the last of the Hart children to amazing parents. I've mentioned how Stu helped shape wrestling legends but Owen's mother was an incredible force in his life too, Helen would work all the hours that she could to help manage the family's wrestling business. Stu and Helen were the owners of legendary Stampede wrestling which Stu had founded in 1948 in Calgary, Canada. Stu had worked his way up through poverty and all of his years of struggling and working hard had paid off. He was very much a family man as well as being devoted to wrestling, his sons had all followed him into the business and Owen was said to have been like his father in so many ways especially when it came to family.
When Owen was growing up his father wasn't as active in the business but was still involved and doing some training, in between this he would take care of the children and the house whilst Helen was busy working. Stu was very hands on with the cooking, cleaning and both Owen's parents had the perfect balance of discipline and love when it came to raising their children. Owen watched his father and studied him, growing up to hugely admire him.
Stu Hart was an incredible role model in so many ways with his commitment to wrestling, his devotion to family and the down to earth values he bestowed upon his children.
Growing up in a big house full of so many relatives with various people coming and going, it was no surprise that although Owen was very close with his family, when he had gotten a bit older and met his true love, Martha, all he wanted to do was lead a quiet and private life. But when he was a teenager, although he claimed he wasn't forced, it was kind of expected that he would also have a wrestling career. He had gotten involved in amateur wrestling in high school which was in huge part to impress his father because it had been a personal dream of Stu's to have made accomplishments in both the amateur and Olympic field. Wrestling was never Owen's passion but it's often been said about Owen over the years that he didn't choose wrestling, wrestling chose him.
Uneducated people tend to scoff at wrestling and think that it's all easy and fake but the truth is, is that it is a lot of hard work, a LOT of hard work, it takes over an individual's life and requires commitment, blood, sweat and tears as well as a lot of time away from loved ones. Horrific injuries can occur, numerous surgeries are often required and in many cases we have seen a lot of very tragic times when someone has passed away.
Owen had a natural ability to be an incredible performer in the ring and he had a real presence about him. For someone who's heart wasn't really in wrestling, he really gave it his all and as well as being an incredible athlete and being able to perform risky stunts as well as being very entertaining at promos, he was a great actor as well as having a great sense of humour. He was known for being the life and soul of the party, someone who would tell jokes and play harmless pranks on people. His sense of humour was not malicious, in many ways he was like a big kid and that would probably explain why he was also so great with children and would go on to be an incredible father.
Despite being a natural at wrestling and accomplishing many goals, he still wasn't comfortable with living his his older brother Brett's shadow. With the rise of WWF (World Wrestling Federation) it was agreed that Owen would follow his brother not only for the sake of his career but for financial reasons. Owen had high hopes for his time at WWF but it wasn't what he was expecting, the character they wanted him to portray was ridiculous to him and part of the role was that he would lose matches and come across as an imbecile. Owen wasn't comfortable with any of this and decided just to go home and start another chapter in his life with his sweetheart Martha.
Back home with Martha and away from wrestling was where Owen was his happiest, that's all he wanted was a family life and a steady job. They both had dreams of living in a beautiful big house, raising children and growing old together. The pair married in a beautiful ceremony and worked on plans for their dream home. Owen had previous visions of originally becoming a PE teacher but that didn't work out so he now turned his attention to becoming a fireman. In the process of applying for the role, Martha had fallen pregnant with their son Oje and they couldn't be happier but as time went on, Owen realised that the career as a fireman was just not going to happen and with a family to support and a dream home in the works, he felt that he had no choice but to return to wrestling.
Owen returned to wrestling and at first it took some time before things took a positive turn in his career, he was put in a storyline with his brother Bret and it was one of the most popular angles in wrestling history. Bret was just as good an actor as Owen and the brothers had to portray that they hated each other. As a true Hart would, they played the roles to a tee making sure they were never seen talking to each other outside of the ring or in public. The storyline went on for a year and really boosted Owen's popularity with the fans.
Having grown up with wrestling all around him since the day he was born, Owen had seen the business from all levels and what it all took to not only become a wrestler but what also went on behind the scenes. He knew so much about the business aspect of it as well as from the point of view of a wrestler. Owen may not have wanted to be a wrestler deep down but he still respected the business, it was a huge part of his father's life and his family's life. So when he saw what was becoming of WWF it was beginning to leave a sour taste in his mouth. For a lot of us as fans watching these shows, we all found it amusing but imagine being an actual part of some of these crazy storylines. It was pretty much 'The Jerry Springer Show meets WWF'. Female wrestlers were not taken seriously, there would be bra and panties matches, they would be paraded about in next to nothing whilst the most outrageous storylines would be going on. The ratings were high but the standards were low and Vince McMahon wanted Owen to be part of it. Despite it all being what I call 'adult pantomime', Owen wasn't comfortable with what they wanted him to do. He wasn't happy either at the way his brother Bret had been treated after so many years with the company. Bret was no longer at WWF and the story goes that Bret had previously turned down a very lucrative contract with a rival wrestling company out of loyalty to Vince. Vince then persuaded Bret to sign a contract that would mean less money for him and because being a Hart he was loyal, he signed it.
Vince McMahon for all of his faults is a genius when it comes to being a businessman but he has left a lot of angry faces behind him. Some of what he has done for the sake of money and viewings is appalling. With the situation with Bret Hart, fans of wrestling are divided, there are those who believe that Bret has been treated badly over the years by the company and others who consider him to be bitter and responsible for any issues that have arisen over the years. The story behind Bret being thrown out of WWF was apparently due to his contract being too much money, Vince was concerned going forward that some of his other star wrestlers would notice how much money Bret was being payed and then ask for the same. There was a similar situation with Chyna (who I have previously written about in part three of this series) when she asked for a certain amount of money which was reasonable considering she was a huge draw. She was refused and excuses were made about Playboy and adult film work but Vince didn't seem to have an issue with other female wrestlers who had partaken in similar things outside of the company. If anything, he pushed that sort of display or narrative, the sleazier the better in his book.
So without his brother there and wanting out of WWF himself, Vince refused to let him go and put various storylines to him which he refused to do. Owen began to get worried because of the contract stating that he could be fired if he continued to say no to things. At this point he had two children with Martha (he now had a little girl called Athena) and they were just weeks away from moving into their dream home that they worked so hard for. If he was fired there would be issues with the money and legal problems would come into play and Owen couldn't be bothered with all of the stress of that. Vince put a final idea to him and that was to return to his character The Blue Blazer which Owen felt he had no choice but to agree to. Owen felt that this was Vince punishing him for refusing to take part in the risky storylines (just to give you an idea of one of the storylines, Vince wanted Owen's character to pretend to be having an affair with a fellow female wrestler, Owen didn't feel comfortable with this and didn't want to disrespect his wife who was pregnant at that time).
At this point in his career, Owen had established himself as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and had proven that he had accomplished all of the dreams and goals that his father had for him. He wanted out of it desperately and was never comfortable with the fame. I think the house was the biggest goal for him after marrying Martha and having the children, I think the house would have completed their dream and he would have just left the wrestling world behind for good. It seemed like he was just getting the final bit of money and security together for his family and then that was going to be it.
However, any hopes and dreams that Owen and Martha had planned with their beautiful children was not to become a reality. Vince had decided that Owen would take part in an unnecessary stunt which was to take place at the Kemper Arena on May the 23rd 1999. Owen was not a fan of heights and this stunt was unbelievable if you have actually seen the layout of the arena and the height that he was expected to come down from (which was 80ft). One cannot imagine how terrifying that must have been. Owen may have been a heavily built guy (he was 5ft 10 weighing 230 pounds) but he was very much a gentle soul and had a hard time putting his foot down with certain things. He felt pressured to do this and had vocalised this just hours before he was expected to perform this very dangerous and very risky stunt.
On the day of his appearance (which would sadly be his last) Owen drove to the Kemper Arena, arriving early to prepare himself and take part in a rehearsal. According to Vince McMahon this particular stunt had been performed many times across various venues by other wrestlers and there had been no previous problems. He also claimed that there had been a number of rehearsals that afternoon but according to reports, Owen had a quick rehearsal and went back stage to get changed. When the time came for Owen to perform the stunt, he had a coverall to hide his costume and quickly ran up to the top of the Arena, nobody noticed him at the time, He then climbed a ladder which took him up to a catwalk, he ran across this to riggers who were waiting to hook him up to the rigging device. He took off the coveralls and adjusted his costume before putting on his mask and he was connected to the device where he was gently swung out above the crowds 80ft in the air. The thought of this is terrifying, 80ft is the equivalent of an 8 story building and for someone who was afraid of heights it doesn't even bare thinking about. Something happened up there and the device couldn't hold Owen's weight and the poor man fell to his what what was to be his last moments. He reportedly hit the ropes and the lights came on as crew rushed around him. Owen's blood could be seen on in the on the floor of the ring. A reported said that he saw Owen lying on his back and for a moment Owen briefly lifted his head up but quickly fell back again. He was stretchered out of the arena to the hospital but it was sadly too late. Owen Hart was pronounced dead at the age of just 34.
Other wrestlers as well as the announcers and crew knew that Owen had died but a decision was made to carry on with the show despite Owen's blood still being in the ring. This decision to carry on in what was a very traumatic and very disturbing moment in wrestling history has forever left a huge black mark on the world of wrestling especially Vince McMahon. It goes alongside some of the other things he has done which people have felt to be heartless and in bad taste. The Hart family found this to be hugely disrespectful especially Martha who made a point of inviting Vince to Owen's funeral.
Martha wanted Vince at the funeral to make it clear to him that his extreme desperation for views and money ended up costing a married young father his life. She wanted to show him that the wrestlers he would often chew up and spit out were actually human beings with feelings and they were not robots or invincible. Martha decided to file a lawsuit against WWF and Vince McMahon and all who were responsible for the shoddy set up of the stunt device which on further inspection was no way suitable to hold the weight of a 230 pound man.
Martha and the Hart estate were paid $18 million from WWF for the wrongful death of Owen Hart. Martha used some of the money to establish the Owen Hart Foundation which helps support people from all over the world who are living in poverty and going through hard times.
Forever devoted to her husband and keeping his legacy alive. Martha wrote a book which was released in 2002 called Broken Harts: The Life & Death of Owen Hart
Owen Hart was buried in Queen's Park Cemetery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His beautiful memorial stone has the inscriptions: Oje Loves Dad, Athena Loves Dad, Martha And Owen Forever.
Owen's father, Stu sadly passed away in 2003 at the age of 88, his devoted wife Helen died at the age of 77 in 2001. They had been married for 53 years. They had 12 children, 10 of which survived them and had been the grandparents to 35 grandchildren. Before Helen passed away she was able to enjoy alongside her husband, the joy of becoming a great-grandparent.
In tribute to Owen, the WWE superstar Kevin Owens named his son after the late legend and also included his wrestling surname as a tribute to both Owen and his son.
RIP Owen, Stu and Helen. The Hart family legacy continues and will always be a huge part of wrestling history.
Further Reading & Sources:
If you have made it this far in the post, I thank you, it means a lot to me. The story of what happened to Owen will always be such a sad and tragic memory, at only 34 he had so much still to do with his life with his beautiful family. He deserved to have the life he so desperately wanted and worked so hard for. In the end he died because he put other people before himself as he always did. It was true that he was just like his father, selfless to a fault. We talk a lot about people who dream about becoming a wrestler but what about the people who are born into the world of fame, they are forever under the spotlight expected to achieve the same accomplishments and awards that their parents or siblings have done, it's a tremendous amount of pressure. For Owen he had so many natural talents and one of them was wrestling, it was in his blood and people loved him, his wife, children, family, the fans, his colleagues, he was an entertainer and a real people person. Notice how all of the things he really wanted to do involved helping people, he was just a giver with a heart of gold and the foundation that Martha set up in his honour is a beautiful tribute to a man who gave his all right up to the very last moment. I consider him a true hero not just a wrestler.
I would love to hear read your thoughts on this and your memories of Owen either below or in confidence via my email or on my Socials
Stay safe and I hope you will join me for my fifth instalment in this series x
