A terrible accident took the life of wrestling star Owen Hart 20 years ago (May 23, 1999).
Hard to believe 20 years have passed. Watching the WWE Over the Edge pay per view event at my girlfriend's house and heard Good Ol' JR commentating about an accident occurring involving the The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart). While being lowered from the ceiling by a harness into the ring, Hart fell nearly 80 feet onto the top rope, chest-first and into the ring. He was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City but was unable to be revived. He died at the age of 34. The cause of death was later revealed as internal bleeding and blunt force trauma. Owen Hart's tragic death at the WWE Over the Edge event was one of the toughest things for wrestling fans to have to grasp over the years. It was so sad. Owen Hart was well regarded as one of the company's best in-ring performers. A member of the Hart Wrestling Family, he was born in Calgary, Alberta and was the youngest of 12 children to Stu and Helen Hart. He was a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWF European Heavyweight Champion, and a four-time WWF World Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, as well as the 1994 WWF King of the Ring.
I saw Owen Hart make his WWE debut with his pre Blue Blazer gimmick as The Blue Angel at the old Mid Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie back in 1988. The gimmick didn't last long and WWE writers quickly changed it to The Blue Blazer. I will always hold that memory in my heart. Check out a great article from The Inquistr on the 20th anniversary of Owen Hart's passing here.