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00:01As a fan of Owen Hart, pioneer of all pioneers, you know, one of the best.
00:07I knew that this guy was gonna make it, you can tell.
00:11When I grew up, I wanted to be just like Owen Hart.
00:14He was really the chosen one.
00:16Owen, he just had a very nice aura.
00:19He was always just trying to spread the joy.
00:21And he was cast in the role of a lifetime.
00:24Owen Hart was a naturally gifted wrestler.
00:27He was born into a legendary wrestling dynasty, but he put family above all else.
00:33Despite his success in the ring, he was always searching for a way out of it.
00:38On May 23, 1999, during a live pay-per-view event, Owen Hart's hopes for a life after wrestling were
00:47tragically cut short.
00:49Ladies and gentlemen, when you're doing live television, a lot of things can happen and sometimes they are not good.
00:55Is this really real?
00:57And I remember hearing a gasp from the crowd.
01:00It was shocking, like, oh, oh, what do you mean Owen fell?
01:03He goes, Owen just fell.
01:04There was Owen, he was like laying in the ring, like, face up.
01:07I just heard them screaming, saying it's not a fake, get a real EMT back here.
01:11If he fell, he's gotta be dead.
01:13Owen Hart fell from the ceiling during an event in Kansas City.
01:17If someone doesn't just fall from the top of an arena, something's wrong here.
01:22Her husband flew to Kansas City to go to work and never came home again.
01:26Mere days after Owen's death, his widow Martha vows to uncover what happened that night in Kansas City.
01:33There will be a day of reckoning, and this is my final promise to Owen.
01:38It was out of respect for Owen.
01:41I can't let everything that our life was just be all for nothing.
01:50Happy birthday to you!
01:54Happy birthday to you!
01:58From the earliest days of professional wrestling, it has been traditionally a family business.
02:04We are the greatest combined force of the World Wrestling Federation.
02:08Few compare to the impact of the Hart family in Calgary, who has spawned generations of in-ring icons.
02:15Despite being the youngest of 12 siblings, Owen Hart was considered a true prodigy.
02:22But with the circumstances surrounding his death, his legacy has become more complex.
02:28In this episode, his family comes together to share memories of the husband and father they lost all too soon.
02:37I don't think you can talk about pro wrestling history and not incorporate the Hart's into that conversation very early.
02:43I'm Jim Ross, 2007 member of the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, and the National Hall
02:50of Fame.
02:50And one of the athletes that I work with very closely is the late, great Owen Hart, one of the
02:56best.
02:57Stu Hart had a dozen kids, and all of the boys became wrestlers, and all the girls grew up to
03:02marry wrestlers.
03:03So the extended Hart family was almost 20 people involved in the professional wrestling industry.
03:09I'm Jim Cornette. For almost 40 years, I've been a promoter, a matchmaker, announcer, manager, historian,
03:15all things related to professional wrestling, and I also managed Owen Hart.
03:20The Hart family was almost a dynasty in wrestling because of the respect that Stu Hart had as a promoter
03:25and the fact that when the boys got started becoming wrestlers, they were all good.
03:29And the Hart family, over a period of time, became one of the royal families of professional wrestling.
03:35He was like a nice Sopranos. They didn't kill anybody.
03:38But they stuck together, and they helped each other.
03:41And everybody got a chance to pick the brass ring off the wrestling merry-go-round.
03:46All of his sons began to want to follow in his footsteps.
03:50Bret Hart was obviously the biggest star worldwide.
03:53Some of the other sons, Ross and Keith, were stars as well.
03:57And then the son-in-laws, Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog, Jim the Anvil Neidhart.
04:02So many of them got to be stars. And at one point, there was a Hart family member in half
04:07the territories of wrestling.
04:09Owen was the youngest brother to get involved in wrestling.
04:12But when he started, he was a prodigy instantly.
04:15Owen Hart, as a rookie, he was spectacular.
04:19His acrobatics were amazing. He could flip backwards off the ropes.
04:22He could land on his feet from every direction.
04:25I saw this guy doing all of these things I'd never seen before.
04:28Backflips off of a guy's back. He had blonde hair and looked cool.
04:32Kind of looked like a bigger version of Johnny from The Karate Kid.
04:35I just thought, I want to do this. I want to do it with that guy.
04:38And I used to draw pictures of me and Owen Hart as the tag team champions in Stampede.
04:42I just really was influenced by him.
04:45You could tell Owen was a natural. You didn't have to teach him.
04:48He'd already picked it up by osmosis.
04:51I'm thinking, within hours of him debuting, he's as good as anybody in territory.
04:54You could see it. Just get him in the game.
04:57He's going to be a star, and he was.
05:01Please, Owen, I'm going to cut the tape.
05:03Oh, hang on.
05:05Why don't you say something to the camera, you egomaniac?
05:08Hello there.
05:10I am Martha Hart.
05:12I'm a doctor for the University of Calgary and Alberta Children's Hospital.
05:17I'm the founder of the Owen Hart Foundation, and I'm a mom.
05:22That's my whole title.
05:25I started dating Owen when I was 15.
05:28For me, he was just very striking.
05:31You know, he had this blonde hair and really well-built,
05:35and I thought he was a bit of a scrapper
05:38because, well, first of all, he was an amateur wrestler.
05:41But then, as it turned out, you know,
05:43he was actually quite a gentle giant underneath.
05:46He was a really secure, grounded person.
05:50Even though he ended up being a very world-famous wrestler,
05:54he didn't feed off of that fame.
05:57He really wanted to have this very normal life.
06:02He wanted to have, you know, a normal job.
06:05He wanted the white picket fence.
06:07Hi, Owen.
06:08Hi, Martha.
06:10What you doing?
06:12I was just walking with my boy, Oge, here.
06:14Owen was an amazing father.
06:17He loved being a dad.
06:20Hi, Oge.
06:21Hi.
06:21My childhood was phenomenal.
06:25I loved every second.
06:28I'm Oge Hart, and I am Owen Hart's son.
06:33My mom's love for my father was unexampled.
06:36They had the love that could only get stronger with time.
06:40I love trains.
06:42Trains are my favorite thing on Earth, especially toy trains.
06:44Every year, a train show would come to Calgary, and I only wanted to go with Dad.
06:50And I remember he said he was going somewhere, like a big trip.
06:55But I think what he did was he actually rebooked it.
06:57That was him stiff-arming the show and saying, you know, kids come first.
07:01And this weekend I cannot miss, and this one's for my son.
07:05But I remember that when he was there, it was us there together, and Mom and Athena.
07:13Athena.
07:14Do you like that?
07:15Please.
07:16Yeah.
07:17Him taking me to the zoo.
07:19That was, like, our thing.
07:21And I don't have very many memories, but that's, like, the one that's always stuck.
07:24And it's just, yeah.
07:26It makes me happy, because the short time that we had together, that was my favorite.
07:32I went to school where my dad went to school, and so everyone always knew me as, like, the wrestler's
07:38daughter.
07:38Hey, Daddy wins.
07:40Where did he beat?
07:41See you, too.
07:42Welcome back.
07:43He drives his head.
07:44Owen loved the wrestling business.
07:47He wasn't a lifer like some of the other guys.
07:50He wanted to save his money, devote it to his family, and get out at an early age.
07:54At the age of 23, Owen signs with the WWF, where his older brother Brett is quickly rising through the
08:02ranks as an up-and-coming star.
08:04I remember going to the Winnipeg Arena to see a WWF show, and this guy comes to the ring wearing,
08:09I knew what stampede wrestling tights looked like.
08:11They had lightning bolts on the side and three stars on the ass, except for he had a mask.
08:16I'm like, wow.
08:16I wonder if that guy looks like a stampede wrestling guy.
08:18Who is it?
08:19And then he did the bum flip, and I was like, that's Owen Hart.
08:22Owen had a great personality, but he didn't have an over-the-top personality that translated on television for the
08:29style of the WWF at the time.
08:30By 1993, the blue blazer persona is phased out, and Owen enters a storyline portraying Brett's jealous little brother looking
08:40to prove himself.
08:41Brett Hart, you're nothing but a selfish person. Your ego is too big. You only worry about yourself, Brett.
08:47Their feud builds towards a highly anticipated match at WrestleMania X.
08:53There's a lot of great matches I would watch. One of them would definitely be in the Garden, WrestleMania X,
08:59Owen and Brett.
09:00Because here's the deal, the two brothers from Calgary, two sides of Sue Hart, came into New York City, Madison
09:05Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, and stole the show. Bottom line.
09:13I think it was a testament to Brett that he went along with it, because it was really designed to
09:18help Owen.
09:18Owen wasn't over yet. He was getting there. He was in root.
09:21Brett was a star, arguably the biggest star that we had.
09:25So Brett doing this was really brotherly love. He helped his brother get recognized and get the spotlight on him.
09:33After his win at WrestleMania, Owen Hart comes into his own,
09:36achieving accolades beyond the shadow of his brother.
09:40But for Owen's family, his growing success means a more rigorous travel schedule.
09:45He was gone over 250 days a year, and he would go 10 days on and then 3 days off.
09:52Just on my way to go wrestle at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.
09:56It was just a revolving door of, you know, he was home and then he was gone and home and
10:01gone.
10:01It's a rough life, but one day I'll have, hopefully, some money to pay for all the aches and pains
10:07that I've done.
10:08I can enjoy myself at home with my wife and family.
10:11Oh, that's too nice.
10:13In 1997, Brett's controversial departure from the WWF to rival company WCW shakes up the entire industry.
10:22In an incident known as the Montreal Screwjob, Brett is stripped of his championship belt following creative differences with the
10:30company.
10:31Fans witness real-life backstage drama unfold as Brett is left stunned on live television.
10:39The Montreal Screwjob was a double cross on Brett Hart, and Brett was hot. He was mad.
10:46Even though Owen didn't share the same sort of philosophy or view of wrestling that, you know, Brett had, he
10:53knew it was important to his brother, so he knew his brother was going to be crushed.
10:56So, as soon as that happened, he went right to the ring and told Brett, don't worry about it. It
11:00doesn't matter. It's, you know, it's all garbage anyway. But for Brett, it was a stab in the heart.
11:06This thing was taking on a life of its own, and it was starting to look bad and reflect poorly
11:12on the WWF, and they wanted to keep one member of the family.
11:16The fact that we knew Owen was going to be a star, big star, not a star. He was already
11:21a star.
11:21But to get to the next level, we gave Owen a new contract.
11:25And you can't lie to people. It had nothing to do with Montreal. Bullshit. It had a lot to do
11:30with Montreal. Come on.
11:31But that's not bad. It's just what it is. We knew what we had, and he was so motivated from
11:37being Brett's little brother to being Owen Hart.
11:40And with Brett gone to another team, it helped facilitate that.
11:45It has been said that anything can happen here in the World Wrestling Federation, but now more than ever, truer
11:50words have never been spoken.
11:52Vince McMahon wanted wrestlers to start being actors at this point, and he couldn't understand why they didn't want to
11:57go along with it.
11:58Because the way that wrestlers had always been portrayed was, you're not playing a character. This is you.
12:02Surely the era of the superhero who urged you to say your prayers and take your vitamins is definitely passé.
12:10In the new entertainment attitude era, they didn't know what to do with Owen, because he was just a great
12:15professional wrestler.
12:16They kept trying to find something to plug him into. Well, let's get him in an affair with somebody. Deborah
12:22McMichael.
12:23Owen was the one guy that was always pushing back. You know, I don't want to do this angle. I
12:29don't want to look like I'm cheating on my wife with Deborah.
12:33It was that tipping point that we reached at that time between we're not going to use great wrestlers just
12:39because they're great athletes and they're great wrestlers.
12:41They have to be willing to put on goofy outfits and do skits.
12:46Check this out. Owen Hart, man. His head is not in this at all.
12:51So that's why when they came to him with a revival of the Blue Blazer as a comedy gimmick.
12:57Okay, sure. At least that's not going to make my family look bad, right? It's just stupid.
13:01Here it comes.
13:02He's Owen Hart! The Blazer is Owen Hart!
13:06You got one of the top four or five workers in the world and you want to put him under
13:09a mask, an unknown mask, the Blue Blazer.
13:13It didn't work. Bottom line is really simple.
13:16Creative couldn't find a better idea to utilize one of the best technical workers in the entire world.
13:22And I found that to be embarrassing.
13:30In 1998, the WWF reprises the Blue Blazer character, a campy superhero gimmick Owen Hart portrayed a decade earlier.
13:40Take your vitamins, say your prayers, and drink your milk.
13:44Whoo!
13:45They were also trying to spoof Sting, who was a wrestler in the WCW.
13:51And he would come down, descend into the ring.
13:54And so I think they were competing with WCW.
13:57And that was one way that they could almost make fun of them too, in a sense.
14:02He's stuck! The idiot is stuck in the harness!
14:06The company that had rigged Owen was a top rigging company that had rigged Elton John, the Rolling Stones.
14:13They also had worked for Disney and MGM in Las Vegas.
14:17So they were really renowned.
14:19You know, Owen didn't have control over any of the stunt.
14:22He was locked in with what they call a locking carabiner,
14:26which they feel is the only safe apparatus to use if you're doing these types of descent.
14:32They can't get out of the harness! This is nonsense!
14:35Six months later, the aerial descent of the Blue Blazer is revisited
14:40for an upcoming pay-per-view event called Over the Edge.
14:44Owen was on his way home.
14:46He was just flying in and I was literally just walking out the door to go pick him up from
14:51the airport
14:51when I got a call from someone that worked at the WWF.
14:55And they said, well, you know, we need to get his measurements for a vest
14:59because we're doing this drop-in this weekend in Kansas City and we need to get his measurements ASAP.
15:07And I remember thinking, you just had him. He was just with you guys.
15:12Why didn't you just, why didn't you get it?
15:14And I asked her that and then she said, well, we just decided. We just wrote it in.
15:18So, I actually asked on the phone about, you know, who would be rigging him
15:25and the girl on the phone said, oh, you know, don't worry, we have the top riggers from LA coming
15:30in,
15:30so don't worry about that. Yeah, it's totally safe.
15:33He never questioned ever his safety because he assumed that this billion-dollar company
15:39was certainly going to make sure that they hired the best in the business, which they did not.
15:47Life on the road is never ending for Owen and his family.
15:50And on May 22, 1999, he travels to Kansas City for Over the Edge.
15:58It was Saturday when he left. He was rushing out the door, you know,
16:03just embarking on another long 10-day journey away from home.
16:08He decided that he was going to take Oge to the airport and he'd pick up my mom.
16:12She'd drive Oge back to the house.
16:14It wasn't very common where I would take Dad to the airport, but this occasion was different.
16:19And the last thing he said to me was, like, you look after your mom.
16:22You take care of your mom. You take care of your sister.
16:24And then he was walking in with his bag over his shoulder into the airport.
16:28I wasn't sure what that meant. I honestly didn't think anything of it.
16:32It just seemed like something he'd say when he were saying goodbye.
16:35My name is Jimmy Corderas and I am a former referee with the WWF slash WWE.
16:41We got there, we set up the ring, we got our match assignments, which was Blue Blazer, Owen versus The
16:46Godfather.
16:47They happened to be together at ringside and I went over and got with him, got the finish to the
16:52match.
16:52And that was basically it. It was business as usual.
16:57I am the Godfather. WWE Hall of Fame Godfather.
17:01I remember hanging out with Owen that day. We talked about the match. We talked about the finish.
17:07Just normal stuff, hanging out. We were sitting in the arena.
17:10And he said that he was getting ready to practice one of the things.
17:13And he did that and I watched him.
17:16I had a feeling that day that Owen was not his normal, exuberant, enthusiastic self about what he was doing
17:22that night.
17:23And I remember saying something about, you know, better you than me.
17:26I don't like heights. He said, I don't either.
17:28I think that he was a little concerned.
17:30And look, he's the one who's got to do it. There's nobody who can do it for him.
17:34So there's no stunt double. Just a couple little things he said.
17:36And maybe more specifically, what he didn't say led me to believe that he's not totally down with this thing.
17:50On May 23, 1999, Over the Edge takes place at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.
17:57The event plays to a sold out crowd and airs live to hundreds of thousands at home.
18:03In preparation for his dramatic entrance, Owen Hart makes his way to the top of the arena.
18:10That night, myself and Mark Henry were Kane and X-Pac for the tag titles in the first match.
18:14And I believe Owen was like the third or fourth match.
18:18I remember talking to Kane and X-Pac and seeing Owen walk by. This was before our match.
18:25From the rafters, Owen changes into his blue blazer costume and the rigging crew readies him for his descent.
18:33We were clearing out the ring. I had my left hand on the top rope and I was kicking debris
18:38out of the ring and I was moving towards the corner.
18:41At that time, there was a promo playing on the screen of the blue blazer.
18:45Ooh, the godfather. Just saying his name makes my blue blood boil.
18:50Hanging in the air over 80 feet above the ring, he waits for his cue.
18:55And then here comes the time for the entrances. And I'm looking at my monitor, looking at my paper, and
19:01all of a sudden Lawler gives me the elbow.
19:04And I looked up and I just caught Owen coming into my line of vision. A blur.
19:13And I just, I thought I heard a screaming. And then I felt something brush against the side of my
19:23head and my shoulder.
19:25And at the same time, the top rope that I was holding pulled out of my hand and came back
19:29and like jammed my fingers.
19:31And I'm thinking in my head, what the heck was that?
19:36And when I turned and looked, there was Owen. He was like laying in the ring, like face up. And
19:42I just started screaming for help.
19:46I thought he hit the turnbuckle or the ring post. Because it really sounded sick, sick, sick.
19:54That's when, you know, things kind of went sideways.
19:58The blue blazer, as we know as Owen Hart, was going to make a very spectacular superhero-like entrance from
20:04the rafters.
20:05And something went terribly wrong here.
20:07I was watching the pay-per-view, as I did at the time.
20:10And then they go to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler saying that Owen Hart has had a bad fall, or
20:15whatever they said.
20:15And we'll keep you posted. I'm like, what? What do you mean?
20:21And they're not showing the ring. They're just panning crowd. What's going on here?
20:25I said, something's wrong.
20:27I was at the gorilla station behind the curtain.
20:31And somebody said, Owen fell. Owen just fell.
20:34And I went, Owen fell. What? He goes, Owen just fell.
20:38I kept getting these alerts in my headset. We need another update.
20:42But I'm not getting any updatable material.
20:45And JR's, you know, filling time on live television while a guy's laying there in the ring, dying.
20:52Well, it's one of the most shocking things I've ever seen.
20:54This is not your typical wrestling storyline. This is a real situation.
21:02I said, fuck, I've never seen anything like that.
21:04Not on any wrestling program, not on any television program. It's never happened before.
21:10It was Jerry Lawler who came back. He came through the curtain.
21:13And Jerry was as white as a ghost. And his words were, I think he's dead.
21:19And we were like, who? And he was like, Owen. And then it was just like, huh.
21:24Jerry Lawler, back joining me here. King, I was just reiterating the fans.
21:27This is not a part of the show. We're here to entertain and have fun, but this is neither.
21:34No, it's, uh, it's, it doesn't look good at all.
21:38I knew something was wrong because Lawler, his face just became ashen white.
21:43Like he'd just seen death.
21:47And they wheeled Owen past us to go to the ambulance and...
22:03That's, that's not even an image I want to even bring up my head anymore.
22:05It's just, it's, that was not what I wanted to see.
22:10When they wheeled him through the curtain, they put him in the ambulance.
22:13I remember just being in shock.
22:16When they did wheel him back, he was like blue.
22:19And I remember that.
22:21And I remember crying too.
22:23They didn't want to stop the show.
22:25So Jeff Jarrett, who was real close with Owen, did a promo.
22:29And he was in tears.
22:31Owen Hart, I'm praying for you, buddy.
22:34I am too.
22:36In the chaos, Kevin Dunn, the executive producer thought that I had been told that what the deal was.
22:43And I said, Kevin, nobody's told us anything.
22:45What is the update?
22:47And he said, uh, he's dead.
22:50And you're back in 10, 9.
22:56And I have the unfortunate responsibility to let everyone know that Owen Hart has died.
23:06Owen Hart has tragically died from that accident here tonight.
23:12On camera that people saw was the result of 10 seconds of preparation.
23:17Didn't know what to say.
23:19And it wasn't a storyline.
23:21I got very numb after that night.
23:24My hands were shaking.
23:25My stomach was hurting.
23:26I was just, I was, damn, man.
23:31And they went on with the show.
23:35When Owen was falling, shit.
23:41When Owen was falling, everybody that was there said the last thing that he yelled was, look out.
23:50A guy's fallen from 100 feet.
23:52And he knows he's done.
23:53And the last thing he's thinking is, look out.
23:56I don't want to hurt you.
23:57You know, that's, it was fucking foolish.
24:02It was unnecessary.
24:03It didn't need to happen.
24:11During a live pay-per-view event, Owen Hart was set to make a dramatic entrance from the rafters of
24:17Kemper Arena when something would go terribly wrong.
24:22The phone rang and it said unknown caller, which was always like kind of code for like, that's Owen on,
24:28on the road.
24:29And so then I picked it up in a hurry and I was like, hello.
24:32And then, you know, I heard this voice like Martha and, and I said, Owen.
24:37And then he said, no, this isn't Owen.
24:40This is Vince McMahon.
24:41You know, Owen is such a prankster.
24:43And I'm like, oh, Owen.
24:44And he's like, no, it's Vince McMahon.
24:47And then he said, I'm calling you because, you know, I have to tell you that, um, Owen's had a
24:52fall.
24:52Well, what do you mean?
24:53Like, how far did he fall?
24:55What's wrong with him?
24:56Is he conscious?
24:57Like, and then he was like, I don't know.
24:59I don't know.
24:59Well, I need to talk to somebody who's got some answers.
25:02And so then he said, well, someone will be calling you right away.
25:07Then the next call that I got was from the doctor from the Truman Medical Center.
25:14So the doctor, you know, um,
25:39he said, are you home alone?
25:42And I said, yes.
25:43And he said, well, you know, we should really fly you down to get this kind of news.
25:50And, you know, he was kind of going through all of these, um, details.
25:54And then I said to him, you know, doctor, could you just get to the end and just tell me
26:02what the end result is?
26:03And he said, um, I, I tried.
26:09I did everything I could to save his life, but I couldn't.
26:14And he said, I'm so sorry, but your husband has died.
26:18And then I just, you know, I just doubled over and I just screamed, no, no, no.
26:25But, you know, of course, all the no's in the world weren't going to change anything.
26:31Whose belt is that, Osh?
26:33Dad's.
26:34Yes. And what is it? What kind of belt?
26:36Champion belt.
26:37Champion belt. World tag team champion.
26:41My memory of May 23rd begins, uh, in my basement, uh, of my house.
26:49I was with my one neighbor and it said my mom was crying and really crying.
26:54And I was like, well, what is my mom crying about?
26:57And she said, uh, I don't know why your mom's crying, but she's crying a lot.
27:02I went upstairs and I opened the door and I walked through the foyer and into the kitchen.
27:06And there my mom was screaming, what am I going to do?
27:11And I really did not have any conclusions drawn about why she was so hysterically sad.
27:17And I just remembered, like, it was just such a moment of truth where I just, like, saw so clearly,
27:24like, there were just two paths in front of me.
27:27One total destruction and one of, like, reconstruction, you know?
27:32And I was like, I can't let this destroy everything that we worked for and let everything fall apart.
27:40You know, all I could think of were Oja and Athena.
27:42Because I was like, their whole lives are going to be different now.
27:46And all they have is me. That's it.
27:49They're three and seven years old.
27:51So I need to make sure that, you know, somehow I survive for them.
27:59Then mom has to take me upstairs because it's bedtime.
28:04And we sit at the foot of the bed on the side.
28:08Nobody prepares for this.
28:10But she did it. And she said, your dad's dead.
28:15She said, he's died.
28:17He fell.
28:19And he died, but he didn't feel any pain.
28:26That memory has played in my mind millions of times.
28:31I remember that night, all three of us slept in the same bed.
28:37And I just looked at the roof.
28:41I just looked at the roof.
28:43And I tried not to hear my mom sniffling.
28:46I don't think either of us slept that night.
28:50Martha and her family begin to make final preparations
28:53as Owen's body is transported to Calgary.
28:56I remember the funeral director saying, you know,
28:59are you ready? Are you ready?
29:01And I said, yeah, I'm ready.
29:02As soon as he opened the door,
29:04I just remembered being absolutely horrified
29:08by what Owen looked like.
29:11I screamed so loud.
29:13And I tried to run away.
29:15And Brett just bear hugged me.
29:18And then we just sort of did this weird little, like,
29:21inch dance towards the casket.
29:24And then, you know, I just took it all in.
29:28And then I was comforted by his hair
29:33because his hair was the same.
29:36And then I just thought, oh, you know what?
29:39Like, the person that I loved in life, you know,
29:42I loved in death, too.
29:44And then I just wasn't afraid anymore.
29:46On May 31st, 1999, Owen Hart is laid to rest.
29:52Owen Hart, known as the blue blazer in the ring,
29:56was killed last week when a stunt went horribly wrong
29:59at a match in Missouri.
30:00Taking part in a tearful farewell
30:02were the sports superstars, politicians,
30:05and a huge crowd of fans.
30:07We were riding in the funeral procession,
30:09and there were Canadians pulled off on the side of the road,
30:13letting us pass, like Owen was a head of state.
30:16It was amazing to see how revered he was in that town,
30:20in that country, and in our business.
30:23There were so many people that came to the service,
30:26and we didn't have room for everybody inside,
30:29but there were over 1,000 people outside of the funeral home
30:33just to listen.
30:34We broadcast it.
30:35We piped it out through speakers.
30:38I'm a very forgiving person,
30:40and I'm not bitter or angry,
30:44but there will be a day of reckoning,
30:46and this is my final promise to Owen.
30:49When you live in a world of make-believe,
30:51and something so real happens,
30:54you want to hammer that home.
30:56Although I didn't know exactly what had happened yet,
30:58that I was going to get to the bottom of it,
31:01and that I would have my day of reckoning.
31:09After Owen Hart's funeral,
31:11his widow Martha travels to Kansas City
31:14to try and piece together the events
31:16surrounding her husband's death.
31:18I saw my mom transform into a completely different person,
31:21but she became a fighter.
31:23That means I have to go to Kansas City.
31:25I have to see the arena that he plummeted in.
31:28We actually went up on the catwalk.
31:33She needed to see it firsthand.
31:35She needed to, as hard as it was, to know.
31:39And she had to go and take us,
31:41so that we would never have to wonder,
31:45and that we would never grow older,
31:47thinking, ah, if only I'd known.
31:49I really didn't want to leave any stone unturned,
31:53so I consciously chose to go on that catwalk
31:56and to walk to the exact spot where he fell.
31:59From my understanding,
32:01Owen had to make his way down that little catwalk
32:04to get to the point where he needed to be.
32:06We walked right to the spot,
32:09literally right at the top of the arena.
32:12And when I looked over that cliff,
32:16well, into the abyss down below,
32:18I saw distance between where we were and the ground,
32:22and knowing that he just, like, that he went out there.
32:26I can't even imagine the fear
32:28that he would have been feeling in those final minutes,
32:31like, those seconds,
32:32but still not forfeiting the opportunity
32:35to bring us the life that we had.
32:39So, ultimate sacrifice.
32:42It was, you know, very disheartening for me
32:45to know that that's the last things that he saw,
32:48and how hopeless that feeling would have been
32:51to know that there was nothing you could do,
32:53your life was over, and you knew it.
32:55I have all these nagging suspicions that, you know,
32:58Owen was the most cautious person
33:00I'd ever known.
33:01He'd never take, you know,
33:03any sort of uncalculated risk,
33:06and how did this happen?
33:08There must be negligence.
33:09Like, you know,
33:10someone doesn't just fall from the top of an arena
33:13and die, and something went wrong.
33:16Like, something's wrong here.
33:18And so, what evidence did the Kansas City Police show you?
33:22They brought everything in,
33:24and they put it all out on a table,
33:25and then we kind of went through everything slowly,
33:28and that's the first time that I saw the clip.
33:33This is some of the legal documents,
33:35and this is actually the clip that held on.
33:43This is the actual clip.
33:46It's a clip meant for the sole use of sailboats,
33:49and how it's designed is it's designed to release on load,
33:53so when you have a load on it,
33:56and then when you just click it,
33:59then it just opens.
34:00It opens immediately,
34:01because the design is to let the mast down on a sailboat.
34:06It's this quick release right here,
34:08six pounds of pressure to release it like that.
34:12That's it.
34:12This is what was holding him.
34:14This little thing right there.
34:16That's it.
34:17When I first saw the clip,
34:19the very first time, I gasped,
34:21and I was so upset.
34:24It was just appalling.
34:27We looked at statements
34:29to really piece together what we felt Owen's last day was like.
34:35Just hours before the over-the-edge pay-per-view event,
34:38Owen was approached by the riggers to rehearse the stunt.
34:42They had approached Owen and asked him to do a rehearsal,
34:46and then he said,
34:47no, it's okay, I got it.
34:50Bobby Talbert said,
34:51well, but it's a different set-up.
34:53And so Owen said, okay, to my understanding, they did it.
34:57I don't know to this day if they did it
34:59with the quick snap shackle or the locking carabiner.
35:03I have a sense that it was the locking carabiner
35:05because he didn't release himself.
35:07The way Owen had been rigged previously,
35:10they felt was, looked a bit clumsy, a bit sloppy,
35:14and what they wanted was this, like, quick release.
35:18Like, as soon as you hit the ground,
35:20you just unrelease and you're ready to go immediately.
35:24And so that's what they wanted.
35:26It was to save, like, two seconds with the set-up.
35:30Bobby Talbert should have never been in charge of rigging anybody.
35:34He had no experience.
35:36Do you remember what you came to learn were the riggers'
35:39final instructions to Owen?
35:41Um, they said, as long as you don't pull this cord,
35:46you'll be okay.
35:47And he never pulled the cord.
35:50After I'd gathered enough information about what had happened,
35:54I was so firm in my belief that there was absolute negligence involved,
35:59hand over fist.
36:01Everything was pointing in that direction.
36:03With my full authority, my legal counsel filed a wrongful death lawsuit
36:09against WWF, Vince McMahon, and all others I believe are responsible for my husband's death.
36:16I was suing Vince in Kansas City, and he wanted the case moved to Connecticut
36:22because, in Connecticut, there are no punitive damages awarded.
36:26He chose to sue me, the widow, which caused a lot of grief.
36:32And on top of it, he was manipulating Owen's family.
36:36There were some people in the family that were for it,
36:39and some people that were against it when the lawsuit came up.
36:42I'm sure a lot of shock and trepidation amongst the core Hart family
36:47that you can't sue the most powerful man in wrestling
36:50because their family life had centered around professional wrestling.
36:54And there were still a lot of other people in the family that probably thought
36:58that Vince McMahon was going to be good to them in the future.
37:00The Hart family, they were not supportive of my lawsuit against WWF.
37:09Some members were silent, and then other ones actively worked against me,
37:15stealing my legal documents, giving them to the defense.
37:19So they basically had our playbook.
37:21So that was very heartbreaking for me.
37:25You know, because I said to them,
37:27you know, you don't have to support me,
37:29but please just don't work against me.
37:31Well, it would appear that there were no precautionary measures taken.
37:34Why not?
37:37First of all, I resent your tone.
37:43No, no, I resent your tone, lady, okay?
37:46This was a tragic accident.
37:47Her fight for justice was an uphill battle, to say the least.
37:51It's just a real David and Goliath story.
37:52I do think that the measurable neglect that had to go into something so catastrophic cannot be overlooked.
37:59This tragedy is the magnitude at which it's at,
38:01is because it was completely preventable.
38:03This was a guy who was 240 pounds.
38:06There could have been a rigging team that knew what they were doing,
38:09and they didn't because it was more expensive.
38:17After a year-long legal battle between Martha Hart and the WWF,
38:22a settlement is reached in the amount of $18 million.
38:26For me, I didn't care about the money.
38:29It wasn't about money for me.
38:30I wanted this case to go to trial.
38:32That was my biggest, you know, thrust from start to finish,
38:38was that I didn't want a settlement.
38:40I was looking for justice.
38:41I was looking for accountability.
38:43All my mom was trying to do was preserve the dignity that my dad had
38:47and give her kids the best life they could have.
38:51The settlement provides some closure,
38:53but the WWF's decision to continue the show after Owen's fatal fall
38:58remains controversial to this day.
39:01How did this happen?
39:02He didn't commit suicide.
39:04Was there foul play?
39:06Was it an accident?
39:07We don't know, so leave everything the way it is until we figure this out.
39:10No, we'll just go ahead and have four or five more matches.
39:13That they didn't stop Kansas City was bullshit.
39:16The fact that Vince just discarded Owen like he was a piece of garbage
39:21and scraped his dead body off the mat
39:24and sent wrestlers out to wrestle on a ring where Owen's blood was,
39:29and it even had broken some of the boards, Owen's fall,
39:33so there was a dip in the ring, and they could feel where he fell.
39:37The police should have stopped the show,
39:40and they should have investigated immediately.
39:42This was a potential crime scene.
39:44There's been a death here, and, you know, we can't just let the show go on.
39:49There's nothing that I've ever experienced compares to Owen Hart's death
39:54and having to live with it every day since.
39:58It was the worst moment of my wrestling career.
40:01Maybe the worst moment of my life.
40:02There was a vibrant guy that died unnecessarily
40:06before he could ever get to the peak of his career,
40:08who had a beautiful family and a wonderful mom and dad
40:11who were so proud of him because the youngest Hart had stepped away from the pack,
40:16and he made his own way with his own style, his own uniqueness,
40:20and they were all proud of him.
40:22He was popular everywhere he went, kind of introduced this high-flying style all around the world.
40:27He was a pioneer.
40:28He could be serious.
40:29He could be funny.
40:30He could be a technician in the ring.
40:31He could be a high-flyer in the ring.
40:32He was great at everything.
40:34Had Owen not died in 99,
40:37even though he was getting a little bit disenfranchised with the rest of us,
40:41think about who was coming into the business and coming into WWE at that time.
40:44In less than a year, Guerrero was there, Malenko was there, Edge, Christian, Kurt Angle.
40:52Owen would have had a huge career resurgence
40:55because I don't think anybody could keep up with him in the WWE in 1999.
41:02We'll never know how great he could have been
41:04because he's just approaching that place when he fell from the skies in Kansas City.
41:12If a guy like me is in the Hall of Fame, there's no damn way that Owen Hart should be
41:16in 10.
41:17Owen Hart should be in every wrestling hall of fame there is
41:20because of his talent and because he belonged there.
41:22But he's not in the Hall of Fame because his wife does not want him celebrated
41:27and glorified by the same company that took him away from her.
41:31I would never allow for Owen to be recognized by a company
41:36that actually is responsible for his death.
41:39I would never let WWE put his name on a piece of silver and say that they got that.
41:47We have built a foundation that helps put people in homes,
41:51that helps single moms like my mom was, that let kids go to school.
41:56This is all done in his namesake.
41:59This has all got Owen Hart written all over it.
42:02This is how communities, this is how people, society remembers him.
42:07And that's how we want it to be done.
42:09Yeah, he was a wrestler.
42:11But other than that, he was bigger than that.
42:14That was just part of what he was.
42:16Well, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and we're very grateful that we are as fortunate as we have everything
42:23that we could ever ask for.
42:24And most importantly, our health and our happiness together.
42:28I feel like if my dad had never been in wrestling, he'd still be here.
42:33And so I've always blamed like wrestling for not like everything that's happened.
42:37It's just like all wrestling's fault.
42:39If it never would have like caught his eye, he would have done something else and then we would have
42:44all been together.
42:46And when I think of him, I just think happy trails.
42:51And I would have really liked to have had you around.
42:54Merry Christmas, Oge.
42:56Merry Christmas, Oge.
42:58It would have been a lot of fun.
43:00It was fun.
43:02Thanks for that.
43:07There was one person that always believed in me and that was Owen.
43:10And I think he'd be so thrilled that Oge is a lawyer and that he's going to pursue human rights
43:15law
43:15and that Athena is a journalism graduate and is pursuing that.
43:20When you lose someone that you love because you still have all that love for them.
43:26I took all that love that I had for Owen and I created the Owen Hart Foundation.
43:31Our message is that, you know, be kind to people.
43:34Life is hard.
43:35And everything we do through the foundation is a reflection of the type of person that he was.
43:41His generosity of spirit and the kindness that he exuded.
43:46So I think he would be, you know, clapping and applauding me up there in heaven and saying, well done
43:55you.
44:01With a sense of his willingness to be in on earth.
44:02So I can't wait till you know what I'm saying.
44:02These are people who are going to see things I have.
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