Anyone who has watched wrestling surely knows of the Hart Family. The patriarch of the family, Stu Hart, had many sons, and they all became wrestlers. His daughters married a lot of wrestlers, so the family became known as one of the best-known families in Canada. They took the wrestling world by storm. Today, many of the Hart children have followed in their fathers and grandfathers’ footsteps and also participate in the wrestling industry.
Like many large wrestling families, they experienced great highs, such as when they won wrestling championships; the family also experienced many heartbreaks, which was the case with popular wrestler, Owen Hart, one of Stu’s sons, according to Sportskeeda.com.
What Happened to Owen Hart?
Owen James Hart was the youngest of Stu Hart’s sons. And like the rest of the family, he followed his dad and brothers into the wrestling ring. Owen had his first professional fight in 1983 and soon became one of the most popular wrestlers of that time. During his time in the ring, he wrestled under his own name, and the personas The Blue Angel and The Blue Blazer. This was a popular tactic during that era of wrestling. Wrestlers would play distinct roles with interesting story lines, which is known as kayfabe.
On May 23rd, 1999, Owen was dressed as his character, The Blue Blazer, and he was scheduled to wrestle The Godfather, whose real name was Charles Wright. The event took place at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.
The character of the Blue Blazer was known as a buffoon-line superhero, who would dramatically enter the ring. He was waiting in the rafters, high above the ring, and would be lowered into the ring in a safety harness. He had done this stunt a few times before, but this time, the outcome was different.
The Last Bout for the Blue Blazer:
The Blue Blazer was going to drop into the ring, pretend to be ensnared in the harness, and fight his way out of it, then proceed to wrestle The Godfather. This was a big match and was shown on pay-per-view. As Owen was descending into the ring, the harness latch was triggered, and he fell, head first, into the ring. Though the lights went out immediately to shelter the fans from this horrible sight, the announcers tried to fill the quiet void. Owen was being worked on in the ring by trauma workers and medical personnel, according to ProWrestlingStories.com.
Owen Hart was taken to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, but he could not be saved. He was pronounced dead from internal bleeding from blunt force trauma at the early age of 34.
A Wish for a New Life:
Just a few months before his untimely death, Owen told Slam Wrestling that he was planning to retire when his contract was up. He had purchased a property on a lake and planned to spend time with his wife Martha and children
Word of his passing hit the wrestling community hard, and memories and prayers flooded in from top performers and executives like The Rock, Jim Cornett, and Vince McMahon. Owen was known as one of the nicest wrestlers on the circuit and is remembered today as one of the industry’s best.