Owen Harts Fall pics + How it happened...

[.ultimate]

R.I.P - Owen Hart

"We have no answers" - Vince McMahon, in a statement made on May 24th, 1999

Five years later, we have some answers, we have settled lawsuits worth $18 million in compensation, but we still have no justice.

Here is the story of what we know.

In the early months of spring in 1999, Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart had been building a reputation as a strong tag team, with Debra as their manager. Management had planned the team to eventually split up, and Owen begin to lust after Debra, infuriating Jarrett, which would in turn plant the seeds for a bitter and very personal feud.


Owen, happily married in real life, didn't want his young children to see him cheating on his wife every Monday night, so he outright refused the angle. It was an honorable, if stubborn decision.

The result, was that Owen was saddled with the Blue Blazer gimmick. It was a persona he'd donned early in his career as a glorified jobber, and one he was forced to revisit. It was punishment for declining a well thought out angle, orchestrated to humiliate Owen, who has to don a superhero persona and spend much of his time mimicking the wrestlers in WCW.

While staring as the Blue Blazer, Owen Hart's talents were still obvious. And at "Over the Edge" 1999, he was booked to win the WWF Intercontinental Title. After that, Owen was booked to break free of the Blue Blazer gimmick, and would go onto be called "The Game", and enter into a program with Edge.

Owen Hart arrived at the 19,500-seat Kemper arena around 12pm on Sunday, the 23rd of May. Wrestlers are encouraged to enter the arenas they are performing in at around 2pm. Centuries of professional wrestling, and there is still no precise time given to superstars for when they are expected to turn up at work.

Many wrestlers weren't expected to turn up for preparation for the night's pay-per-view for a few hours. But Owen's night was planned to be a little bit different from everybody else's.

As Owen sat eating lunch with some friends, he was introduced to Bobby Talbert, a rigger from Orlando, Florida, hired specifically by the WWF to coordinate a stunt where Owen would be lowered into the ring from the rafters. Talbert, in part, was hired because he had helped Sting perform the very same stunt in World Championship Wrestling year's prior. Because of his proven track record for such an unusual stunt, he was typically the man promoters turned to.

Owen Hart had performed the stunt on two previous occasions in his career. Six months ago, Owen repelled from the ceiling at the 1998 Survivor Series in St. Louis. According to many, Vince McMahon was frustrated with how Owen's entrance came across on TV, as the "Blue Blazer" noticeably stalled and fumbled on the ground to break free of the contraption that had helped lower him. To the perfectionist in Vince McMahon, that simply wasn't good enough.

Bobby Talbert specially bought a quick-release snap shackle for this occasion, allowing Owen Hart to easily break free once he had landed on the ground. Talbertt bought the equipment from a company called Amspec Inc., and all Owen would have to do is tug lightly on a release cord that would disengage the rappelling line from his harness. Upon landing, in one motion Owen would be able to break free and continue his superhero façade without any slip-ups. It was easy, at least that's how Talbert made it sound.

Bobby requested that Owen would rehearse the stunt, seeing as how the two had never worked together before. Owen declined. It was clear that he hated the stunt, and didn't want to do it for any more times than it was necessary. It is reported, that Owen tried to persuade management being lowered from the rafters wasn't essential to his character in the days leading up to the pay-per-view, only for Vince McMahon to insist otherwise.

As Owen was eating his lunch with friends, and Bobby Talbert was talking Hart through the protocol of the new quick-release system, Steve Taylor, the WWF's VP of Event Operations, interjected and told Owen he would have to do a dry run. Owen was reassured the equipment had been thoroughly tested earlier in the day, as Talbert had successfully lowered a 250-pound sand bag, and his assistant Matt Allmen, in two earlier attempts.

Owen was suppose to turn up to the middle of the arena to rehearse the stunt at 2pm. But, unbeknownst to anybody, he sneaked out of the arena to catch some fresh air, and didn't return until 3.30pm. It was clear he left to avoid having to practice the stunt, and thought his absence would go unnoticed and management would quickly forget their orders.

But they didn't. And they weren't happy with Owen either.

The test run went perfectly, right up until Owen landed, when Owen inexcusably forget Talbert's earlier specific orders. He didn't pull the release cord, which caused a few WWF officials to get visibly annoyed at Owen. He was asked to do the whole thing again, but declined, and avoiding any potential argument, he walked forcefully back to his locker room. To those that saw Owen that afternoon, it was clear his mind wasn't focused on wrestling.

Among wrestlers who noticed Owen's anxiousness, was Dustin Runnells, who reassured Owen he would "be alright".

Before the pay-per-view began, the WWF filmed a scene with Vince McMahon where he was attacked by the Corporate Ministry, and led out of the arena in an ambulance. Owen watched on backstage, as his match drew closer and closer.

It was 6.30pm now, and Owen quickly got dressed into his Blue Blazer attire, and taped a promo that would air later in the evening, just before his match.

At 7pm, "Over the Edge" began with an Undertaker video, promising "Tonight, darkness will seize the land, destroy all you hold dear ...". The first match saw X-Pac and Kane defending their tag team title belts against D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry

At the same time, Owen changed into overalls, making sure to dress in clothes that would help him blend into the audience, as he made his journey through the crowd. He weaved his way to the basement, and got in an elevator that took him right up to the top of the arena, going to a place known as Section 221.

Arenas aren't built to make the very top easily accessible. The final part of Owen's journey involved him travelling up a narrow staircase, then climbing a ladder to a catwalk.

Not wanting to be late, Owen briskly negotiated the catwalk, taking a right turn and walking along a narrow pathway for 30-feet. Now at the center, directly 100-feet or so below was the WWF ring. Surrounding that, were around 18,350 fans who were watching on as Al Snow fought Hardcore Holly for the WWF Hardcore Title. But Owen, could simply not let himself look down, because he had been afraid of heights his whole life.

Owen began to get ready. He took his costume out of his bag and began to get dressed, but didn't put on everything until he hooked himself into the harness. Chief rigger Talbert, made sure Owen was correctly fitted, and helped him position his awkward cape too, that had been straggling Hart in rehearsals.

Once Talbert attached the rope to the lowering mechanism, the lights were dimmed, and Owen was seconds away from his descent. He had trouble properly positioning himself onto the scaffolding, before getting a final helping hand from Talbert's assistant. For a couple of minutes, Owen hung there, in the air, floating. He was holding onto the railings as Talbert made sure not to release him until he got his cue.

No matter how much you think you love somebody, your instinct is to step back when you see a pool of their blood edge up too close... Similarly, when a tragedy occurs, it's easier to move away and forget, than it is to stick around and help clean up the mess.

As the backstage interview of the Blue Blazer was airing, Owen extended his elbows away from his body and tried to once again manoeuvre his cape.

It was then that Owen accidentally triggered the quick-release. And it was then, that Owen fell 78 feet to his death, screaming all the way down, until he violently landed on his left side, shattering his left arm and causing fatal internal injuries, as the audience watched on in horror.



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Owen Hart 5/23/99
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO

Here is the ladder that goes to the catwalk just behind where I was sitting. Owen went up our aisle to get to the access point.



Here is a picture of the catwalk above me and Owen and his escort wearing street clothes over his wrestling outfit. You can barely make out his blue wrestling boots from his Blue Blazer costume. He is heading over to the rigging to prepare for his repel down to the ring. When Owen walked up my aisle I didn't even notice he was there. The girl in front of me said to her boyfriend she thought Jeff Jarrett was coming up our aisle. Then the boyfriend as well as me and my friend looked at the guy and saw it was Owen Hart. This may be the last known photo of Owen before he died.





In the next picture I have circled the curtain in the rafters. This is the area where Owen removed the street clothes he was wearing over his wrestling outfit. This is also where he was put in the harness to be lowered out down to the ring. He would step off the catwalk, hang for a second and then fall after the trigger that releases the harness accidentally gets tripped by something and the latch snaps.



I took this picture just seconds before Owen Hart fell. I have circled where the curtain is that he is standing behind. You can see on the screen they are still showing a clip of Owen hart talking with Kevin Kelly from an earlier interview. That video was also playing on the Titan Tron.



Just after I took the last picture Owen Hart fell to the ring. These are immediately after he fell out of the rigging when he stepped off the catwalk and fell. His head and legs hit the ropes right by the turnbuckle and then he bounced over into that position. At this moment he's been laying there for about 3 or 4 seconds maybe less.



At this point I had taken the last picture on my roll of film and was having to wait for it to rewind so I could change it out for a new roll. Maybe up to a minute of time passed. Before I was able to get these pictures of the emergency crew attending to Owen Hart. In this first one you can see Jerry Lawler standing outside the ring in front next to the man in the red shirt. Jim Ross sits alone at the announce table.





In the photo below Lawler has climbed in the ring and is looking on right in front of the referee (Jimmy Kordaris) with his hands on his head. That is also the ref that Owen supposedly yelled at as he fell to move so he didn't land on him. Any time I see him referee a match today I always think of this picture.





At this point they are preparing to move Owen out of the ring.





After the PPV was over I took this picture so I could have some perspective as to how far he fell. This shows approx where he fell from. I have circled where the curtain in the rafters was located. He supposedly was traveling 80 Kilometers/hour (50 mph) when he hit according to the court transcripts. The reported actual distance is 78 feet. This coincides with my original estimate the night I saw it happen that it was between 70-80 feet. In the early days after it happened, information ranged from anywhere between 50 to 100 feet.



This picture is from November 1998 at Survivor Series 1998 in St. Louis, MO. I took it during Sunday Night Heat right before the PPV started. Owen is performing the stunt he would die from 6 months later.

[XXKSXX]

Thats to bad about owen. He's was pretty damn good. But nice post thanks.

[JHR]

Very sad story

[Will]

I was never a fan of Owens, but I always respected his dedication to the business,his family, and to entertaining the fans. The sport lost a great role model and ,most importantly, a family lost a great father and husband that night.

[chillaxman]

That's a great post, Owen Hart was very loyal to his fans and was a genuine nice guy.

[Spawn]

Ya no kiddin what a great post *Adds Rep*

[silentwullie]

yeah gr8 post such a sad story

[Neo Corey]

thats a sad story

[M-J]

now thats a cool post... thnx man and R.I.P OWEN HART.

[xCoNtroL SpazMx]

R.I.P. owen. you deserve it