Owen Hart Owen James Hart ( May 7 , 1965 – May 23 , 1999 ) was a Canadian professional and amateur wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling , New Japan Pro Wrestling ( NJPW ) , World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) , and most notably , the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . A member of the Hart wrestling family , Hart was born in Calgary , Alberta , Canada the youngest of 12 children to Stampede Wrestling promoter and WWE Hall of Fame r Stu Hart and Helen Hart . Among other accolades , Hart was a one - time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion , two - time WWF Intercontinental Champion , one - time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion , one - time WWF European Champion and four - time WWF World Tag Team Champion . He was also the winner of the 1994 WWF King of the Ring . Cited by a number of peers as one of the WWF ' s most talented professional wrestlers , Hart died on May 23 , 1999 when an equipment malfunction occurred during his entrance from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City , Missouri , U . S . , at the WWF ' s Over the Edge pay - per - view event . Professional wrestling career . Early career ( 1986 – 1991 ) . Hart first gained wrestling experience in the amateur wrestling division at high school , through which he met his wife , Martha . Wrestling was not Hart ' s first choice for a career ; as Martha explained in her book " Broken Harts " , Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling . As those attempts were unsuccessful , Hart was trained in his father ' s Hart Dungeon and made his professional debut in 1986 for his father ’ s federation , Stampede Wrestling . He remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills . During 1986 , Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship . The success of the team and Hart ' s in ring skills earned him Pro Wrestling Illustrated ' s Rookie of the Year Award in 1987 . After he and Bassarab lost the tag team title , he feuded with Johnny Smith and Dynamite Kid . In 1987 , Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling ( NJPW ) on several tours . In NJPW , he wrestled Keiichi Yamada both unmasked and later under the Jushin Liger gimmick . On May 27 , Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship . Hart ' s success in Japan and Stampede ’ s working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the fall of 1988 . He debuted at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in August 1988 under a mask called the Blue Angel . Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Hart ’ s younger brother , the WWF decided to create a masked " superhero " type gimmick for him known as The Blue Blazer . The Blazer was eliminated at Survivor Series , lost to Ted DiBiase on the March 11 , 1989 edition of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " , and was defeated by Mr . Perfect at WrestleMania V . Shortly after WrestleMania , Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without the Blue Blazer gimmick . He also returned to Stampede , until it shut down in December 1989 . In 1991 , Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a " mascara contra mascara " match against Mexican wrestler El Canek , thus bidding farewell to the Blue Blazer gimmick . In 1991 , Hart appeared on World Championship Wrestling shows , teaming with Ricky Morton . World Wrestling Federation ( 1991 - 1999 ) . The New Foundation ( 1991 – 1992 ) . Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck , as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company ' s headquarters in Atlanta . Instead , he signed with the WWF for a second time . In the WWF the popular Hart Foundation , composed of his brother Bret and real - life brother - in - law Jim Neidhart , had split up ; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly . When Neidhart returned from a storyline injury , he joined Owen to form a team known as The New Foundation . Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers . They then had their only pay - per - view match at the Royal Rumble in January 1992 where they beat The Orient Express . Neidhart left the WWF shortly afterward , and Hart set out on a very short run as a singles wrestler , including a match at WrestleMania VIII against Skinner . Shortly after WrestleMania , Hart was teamed up with Koko B . Ware to form the duo known as High Energy . They had only one pay - per - view match as a team , at the Survivor Series where they lost to The Headshrinkers . The team was quietly dropped at the start of 1993 with Hart starting a singles career . Feud with Bret ( 1993 – 1995 ) . In the middle of 1993 , when Bret Hart ’ s feud with Jerry Lawler ignited , Owen stood by his brother ’ s side and fought against Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association where most of the WWF talent were considered the heel s . Owen won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Papa Shango . Owen ’ s participation in the WWF vs . USWA feud was cut short when he suffered a knee injury in the summer of 1993 and was forced to take some time away from the ring . Hart returned to the WWF ring in the fall of 1993 , at a time when Bret ’ s feud with Lawler was temporarily sidetracked . Bret , along with Owen and their brothers Bruce and Keith , were scheduled to face Lawler and his team at Survivor Series . However , Lawler was unable to make it to the show , and as a result could not appear on WWF television . Lawler was replaced with Shawn Michaels . During the match Owen and Bret inadvertently crashed into each other , causing Owen to be eliminated from the team . Owen showed up after the match and had a heated confrontation with Bret , while Keith , Bruce and Stu tried to calm things down . This confrontation resulted in Owen leaving the ring to boos while his brothers and father watched in dismay and mother Helen cried at ringside . The following night Owen adopted the pink and black tights , sunglasses and Sharpshooter finisher to send a message to his brother . Owen , angry with being in Bret ' s shadow , challenged his brother which Bret declined . Instead the brothers seemed to reunite by the holidays . Bret tried to make amends with Owen , teaming with him on a regular basis . Bret even secured the two a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship . They faced the Quebecers for the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1994 . Initially everything was fine between the brothers , but when Bret hurt his knee ( kayfabe ) and was unable to tag Owen in for a long period of time , the younger Hart got frustrated . When the referee stopped the match due to Bret ' s damaged knee , Owen snapped ; he kicked his brother in the knee and then walked off , berating Bret on the Titantron shortly after as Bret was being helped backstage . This started his run as a heel . After the act an infuriated Owen accused his brother of being selfish and holding him down . Owen admitted that it felt good to take out his brother . The two brothers faced off for the first time at WrestleMania X , where Owen cleanly pinned his older brother . Later in the evening , Bret won the WWF Title while Owen stood by and watched in jealousy as Bret celebrated in the ring . Owen won the King of the Ring Tournament with Jim Neidhart ’ s help . After the victory , Owen took the nickname “ The King of Harts . " Owen and Bret feuded throughout the summer of 1994 , clashing many times both in singles and later in tag team matches ( with Bret joined by the returning British Bulldog ) . Two matches stand out in this feud : first , their Steel Cage match at SummerSlam which Bret won . This match later recevied a 5 - star rating from Dave Meltzer . The second was a lumberjack match on August 17 that Owen initially won and was announced as World champion ; Bret won the match after it was ordered to continue due to interference . At the Survivor Series , Owen struck the most damaging blow against his brother as he conned his own mother Helen to throw in the towel for Bret . The ploy cost Bret the world title to Bob Backlund . Owen also prevented Bret from regaining the title at the Royal Rumble in 1995 when he interfered in the match between Bret and new champion Diesel . In the weeks after the Rumble , Bret and Owen clashed again with Bret soundly defeating his brother , thus putting an end to their feud for the time being . Owen rebounded from the loss to Bret by winning the WWF Tag Team title from The Smoking Gunns at WrestleMania XI . Owen , who was joined by a " Mystery Partner " , had challenged the Gunns to a title match ; the partner turned out to be former world champion Yokozuna . After the victory Owen took Jim Cornette and Mr . Fuji as his managers , who already managed Yokozuna . The team defended the title for 5 months until they lost them to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House 3 . They would briefly hold the title a second time when the belts were handed back to them before the Smoking Gunns regained the title . Owen and Yokozuna would continue to team off and on until the end of the year . Team with The British Bulldog ( 1996 – 1997 ) . In 1995 , Owen ' s brother - in - law Davey Boy Smith turned heel and joined the Camp Cornette stable . During the summer of 1996 the two brothers in law started to team up more and more , sometimes alongside Vader who was also a member of Camp Cornette . Owen was also a color commentator for the 1996 King of the Ring ( exhibiting clear partisan support for Vader and Smith ) and during this time wore a cast on his right forearm for several months , feigning a nagging injury to subsequently use his cast as a weapon during his matches . In September 1996 , Bulldog and Hart earned a pay - per - view shot at the tag team title at . Owen and Bulldog left with the gold after defeating the Smoking Gunns . They also left with a new manager as Clarence Mason had conned Jim Cornette into signing over the contracts of the new champions . Signs of dissension , however , slowly started to show . One occasion where this was evident was at the Royal Rumble when Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog . After the Rumble , Bulldog fired Mason , something which did not sit well with Hart . Another bone of contention between the two was the newly created WWF European Championship ; both men had fought their way to the finals to crown the first champion with Bulldog coming out as the victor . After retaining the tag team title against the Headbangers by disqualification on the March 24 , 1997 edition of " Monday Night Raw " , the tension between the two bubbled over . An incensed Hart demanded a shot at Bulldog ’ s European title the next week . The match was booked for March 31 ; on the night , the two went at it with such intensity that many thought the tag team champions had finally gone their separate ways . Then in a shocking moment , the recently turned heel Bret Hart appeared at ringside and stopped the match . Bret appealed to both Owen and Bulldog , talking about the importance of family . They agreed to put their differences aside and join with Bret to form the new Hart Foundation , an anti - American stable that also included Hart in - law Jim Neidhart and Hart family friend Brian Pillman . The Hart Foundation ( 1997 ) . After forming the Hart Foundation , Owen quickly gained singles gold of his own as he pinned Rocky Maivia to win his first WWF Intercontinental title . This meant that the Hart Foundation held every WWF title except the World title , cementing their dominance over the federation . It was not all success for Owen , though , as he and the British Bulldog lost their tag team title to " Stone Cold " Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels . The team also failed to regain them when Michaels got injured and was replaced by Dude Love . At SummerSlam the Owen / Austin feud took a nasty turn as a botched piledriver ended up injuring Austin ’ s neck . Owen lost his Intercontinental title to Austin that night . Because of the neck injury , Austin was not allowed to compete and was stripped of the title . Although it was an accident , the WWF decided to make it part of the storyline as Owen began wearing a T - shirt patterned after Austin ' s that read " Owen 3 : 16 / I Just Broke Your Neck " . Hart fought his way to the finals of the tournament to crown the next Intercontinental champion and was set to face Faarooq at In Your House : Bad Blood . Owen beat Faarooq with Austin ’ s help . Afterward , Austin explained that he wanted to beat Hart for the title when he returned and would not allow Faarooq or anyone else to beat him . His wish came true when Austin returned to action at Survivor Series in Montreal . At the event , Owen lost his title to Austin once again . Later that night , the Montreal Screwjob took place . Bret left the Federation after the event and both the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were granted quick releases from their contracts to jump to WCW . This left Owen as the only Hart family member remaining in the WWF , due to his contractual obligations . Unlike Smith and Neidhart , Vince McMahon did not grant Owen a release from his contract and Owen remained with the company . He was skeptical about returning to WCW anyway , as he was not confident that the organization would use him correctly . Bret has said that the biggest reason Owen did not make the move was because WCW president Eric Bischoff " didn ' t think Owen was worth it " and was unwilling to match his WWF contract . The Nation of Domination ( 1998 ) . Hart was not seen or mentioned on WWF programming until he made a surprise appearance after Shawn Michaels retained his title following a disqualification loss to Ken Shamrock at where he attacked Michaels . Now a fan favorite , but with a new edgy , antisocial attitude , Hart became known as " The Lone Hart " and also " The Black Hart " . Owen had a feud with DX and won the European title from Triple H , although not directly . Goldust dressed up as Triple H in an attempt to swerve Hart , but Commissioner Slaughter considered him to be a legitimate replacement . Hart later suffered a kayfabe ankle injury during a match involving Triple H . When Hart joined the commentary at ringside , Triple H managed to draw Owen into an impromptu title match and regained the title in a controversial fashion . Four weeks after WrestleMania , during a tag team match with Ken Shamrock against D ' Lo Brown and Rocky Maivia ( later known as The Rock ) , Hart turned on Shamrock , " snapping " his ankle and " biting his ear " in the process . After the attack on Shamrock , Hart joined the Nation of Domination , claiming that “ Enough is enough and it ’ s time for a change " . The Nation ’ s first big feud after Hart joined was against DX . It was during this feud that D - Generation X parodied the Nation of Domination . The imitation was complete with Jason Sensation dressing up as Hart and coining the phrase “ I am not a nugget " ; this was in response to Shawn Michaels referring to Owen as a nugget of feces sticking to the side of a toilet bowl , and no matter how many times Shawn Michaels flushed , it kept sticking around and he was unable to get rid of it . " Nugget " became a derisive term that followed Hart for the rest of his career . Hart ’ s participation in the DX feud was sidetracked when Shamrock returned from injuries dead set on getting revenge on Hart . The two split a pair of specialty matches on pay - per - view , but nothing was ever conclusively settled between them . Teaming with Jeff Jarrett ( 1998 – 1999 ) . Hart remained with the Nation throughout the year until the stable slowly dissolved . After SummerSlam , he teamed with Jeff Jarrett . Hart and Jarrett had Jarrett ' s manager Debra in their corner . During this time a storyline was proposed that Hart was supposed to have an on - screen affair with Debra , something which Owen turned down . After a match in which Hart " accidentally injured " Dan Severn , he seemingly quit the WWF . Playing off the legitimate injury Hart had inflicted on Austin the year before , the angle blurred the lines between reality and " storyline " . Yet as soon as Hart " quit " , the Blue Blazer appeared in the WWF claiming to in no way be Hart despite it being very obvious who was under the mask . Unlike the first run of the character , the Blazer was now an overbearing , self - righteous heel who treated the edgy Attitude Era WWF with disdain . Hart and Jarrett ended up making the storyline comical . To prove that Hart was not the Blazer , he showed up beside the Blue Blazer , who was a masked Jarrett . In a later attempt to prove that neither Hart or Jarrett was the Blazer , they both appeared next to a man in the Blue Blazer mask ; however , it was obvious that a black man was under the mask ( Hart ' s former tag team partner Koko B . Ware ) . On January 25 , 1999 , in the midst of the Blue Blazer angle Hart and Jarrett defeated Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man for the tag team title . They continued to team together until Hart ' s death in May during the Over the Edge pay - per - view event . Personal life . He met Martha Joan Patterson in 1982 . They married on July 1 , 1989 , and they had two children . Oje Edward Hart was born on March 5 , 1992 and Athena Christie Hart was born on September 23 , 1995 . Death . On May 23 , 1999 , Hart fell to his death in Kansas City , Missouri during the Over the Edge pay - per - view event . Hart was in the process of being lowered via harness and grapple line into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a booked Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather . In keeping with the Blazer ' s new " " buffoonish superhero " " character , he was to begin a dramatic entrance , being lowered to just above ring level , at which time he would act " " entangled " " , then release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect — this necessitated the use of a quick release mechanism . It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the " Sunday Night Heat " before Survivor Series in 1998 . Many suspected the harness was made for lowering small tools to carpenters , not for any human being . Hart fell 78 feet ( 24 m ) into the ring , landing chest - first on the top rope , approximately a foot from the nearest turnbuckle , throwing him into the ring . Hart had performed the stunt only a few times before and was worried about performing the stunt at Kemper due to the height involved . He only practiced this stunt one time before . Hart ' s wife Martha has suggested that , by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on , Hart unintentionally triggered an early release . TV viewers at home did not see the incident or its aftermath — at the moment of the fall , a pre - taped vignette was being shown on the pay - per - view broadcast as well as on the monitors in the darkened arena . After , while Hart was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring , the live event ' s broadcast showed only the audience . Meanwhile , WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay - per - view that what had just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly , emphasizing the seriousness of the situation . Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City , where he was pronounced dead on arrival ; some believe he died in the ring . The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from a severed aorta . Controversy and lawsuit . The WWF management controversially chose to continue the event , Later , Jim Ross announced the death of Hart to the home viewers during the pay - per - view , but not to the crowd in the arena . While the show did go on , it has never been released commercially by WWF Home Video . In the weeks that followed , much attention was focused on the harness Hart used that night , especially on the " quick release " trigger and safety latches . When someone is lowered from the rafters in a harness , there are backup latches that must be latched for safety purposes . These backups may take some time to unlatch , which would have made Hart ' s stunt difficult to perform smoothly . Therefore , it was apparently decided that it was more important not to have the safety backups , because it would be easier for Hart to unlatch himself . Three weeks after the event , the Hart family sued the WWF over how dangerous and poorly planned the stunt was , and that the harness system was defective . After over a year and a half into the case , a settlement was reached on November 2 , 2000 , which saw the WWF give the Hart family $ 18 million . The manufacturer of the harness system was also a defendant against the Hart family , but they were dismissed from the case after the settlement was reached . Martha used millions of the settlement to establish the Owen Hart Foundation . Martha wrote a book about Hart ' s life in 2002 called " Broken Harts : The Life and Death of Owen Hart " . In his DVD set " Bret " Hit Man " Hart : The Best There Is , The Best There Was , The Best There Ever Will Be " , Bret said that he wishes he had been with the WWF the night Owen ' s accident happened , as he would have discouraged Owen from performing the stunt . " Raw is Owen " . " Raw is Owen " is the name given to a special live episode of " WWF Raw is War " that aired on May 24 , 1999 , the night after Hart ' s death . It was broadcast live from the Kiel Center in St . Louis . It featured shoot interviews from his fellow wrestlers . According to " Raw Exposed " ( a special that aired before the first " Raw " airing on its return to USA Network on October 3 , 2005 ) , WWF management gave all wrestlers on the roster the option of working or not . Nevertheless , ten matches were booked with no angles . The show began with all the wrestlers of the WWF ( except the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels ) standing on the entrance ramp ; Vince , Linda , and Stephanie McMahon were at the front of the ramp . Howard Finkel called for a ten - bell salute . Hart ' s former Nation of Domination comrades were emotional , most notably Mark Henry , who read a poem that he wrote in memory of Hart . A tribute video narrated by Vince then played on the Titan Tron . Throughout the broadcast , personal thoughts on Hart in the form of shoot interviews with various WWF Superstars were played . Before the first commercial break , such thoughts were aired from Mick Foley and Bradshaw . Foley noted that Hart was his son ' s favorite wrestler and had proudly gotten a haircut like Owen ' s , although he also said his son did not quite understand that " nugget " was not a term of endearment . Bradshaw talked about how Hart spent less money on the road than most wrestlers because he wanted to retire early and spend time with his family . Owen ' s friend and Nation of Domination partner The Rock also made a short speech . The broadcast ended with Steve Austin coming out for a special salute to Hart by climbing the turnbuckle and performing his famous beer guzzling routine , and leaving one beer in the ring ' for Owen ' . The tribute show scored a Nielsen ratings score of 7 . 2 , making it the highest rated show in " Raw " history . Shawn Michaels , in his " Heartbreak and Triumph " autobiography , notes that " Owen is the only guy you could have a 2 - hour show for , and no - one would say a bad word about him . " The next day , WWF taped the episode of " Raw " for May 31 , 1999 . During that show , Jeff Jarrett defeated The Godfather to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship , the title Hart was booked to win at Over the Edge for the third time . Jarrett screamed Hart ' s name as the belt was handed to him .