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Hart fell to his death at Kansas City on May 23, 1999, during
the WWF's Over the Edge PPV event. His death occurred while he was
being lowered into the ring from a catwalk of the Kemper Arena for
a match with The Godfather (a wrestler with a pimp gimmick); later
reports revealed that Owen was booked to win the Intercontinental
Championship from The Godfather in that match. His entrance was
originally planned to be a "comedy stunt" entrance, in keeping with
the buffoonish character of the Blue Blazer. Owen, in Blue Blazer
regalia, was to be lowered to just above ring level, at which time
Owen would release himself from the safety harness, drop to the
ring, land on his feet...and then fall flat on his face. Though he
had performed the stunt before, Owen was wary about performing the
stunt at the Kemper Arena due to the height involved (Owen had a
fear of heights). However, Owen performed a practice stunt earlier
in the day, the stunt went forward on the show as scheduled. His
wife Martha suggests that, by moving around to get comfortable with
both the harness and his cape on, Owen triggered an early release
and fell 78 feet (24 m) into the ring, smashing his chest on a ring
turnbuckle. The viewers at home did not see the incident, as the
WWF was transmitting a promotional package for the Blue
Blazer/Godfather match, plus WWF pay-per-views are delayed 10-15
seconds in case of emergencies, accidents etc. Upon the return to
live action, the cameras focused on the crowd and the announcing
team (Jim Ross and a visibly shaken Jerry Lawler) as paramedics
tried to revive Owen. The crowd, believing that this was "part of
the act" (Ross stating repeatedly on TV that it was not), cheered
with a standing ovation as Owen was carried out. Owen was
transported to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he
was pronounced dead on arrival (he actually passed away about six
minutes after the fall, while still lying in the ring); the cause
was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma.
The WWF continued the event despite the tragedy, which drew a great
deal of criticism over the following weeks. The next night on
Monday Night Raw, the WWF mounted a two-hour televised tribute to
Owen (see RAW is Owen), featuring the company's biggest stars (most
of whom were in shock or in tears). On this show, Jeff Jarrett
would beat Test using Owen's finisher, the Sharpshooter, as a
tribute to Owen. The show concluded with a "beer toast" from Steve
Austin; many found this controversial, due to the animosity that
existed between Austin and Owen after the 1997 piledriver incident.
The Over the Edge event name was retired immediately, and the WWF
tried to distance itself from the in-ring events. However, the Hart
family (as well as sports radio talk show host Jim Rome) was
furious with the WWF for continuing the PPV event, with Martha
accusing McMahon of murder. In the weeks that followed, much
attention focused on the harness Owen 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 Owen'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 Owen to unlatch himself. In addition to not having
safety backups, the harness Owen used was designed for sailboats
and required only six pounds of weight to trigger the quick release
mechanism; Owen weighed about 227 pounds. An out-of-court
settlement between Owen Hart's family and the WWF has prevented the
release of any information about the harness. Owen left a widow,
Martha, and two children, Oje and Athena. His widow now runs a
charity called the Owen Hart Foundation with the money gained from
her out-of-court settlement with the WWF from a wrongful death
lawsuit (as a result of the settlement, what truly happened on May
23, 1999 was never revealed). Martha wrote a book about Owen's life
in 2002 called Broken Harts. Owen's last match was on May 22, 1999
in Chicago. He and Jarrett won a tag team match against Edge and
Christian. On the October 4, 1999 edition of WCW Nitro, Owen's
brother Bret wrestled Chris Benoit in an Owen Hart tribute match at
the Kemper Arena.
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