For as long as I can remember, I have loved professional wrestling: the pageantry, the storylines, the ability to suspend reality, even for an hour, and immerse myself in the world of powerhouses and body slams.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to appreciate the pressure that professional wrestlers are under to perform, night in and night out. For many people, wrestling is simply “fake”, but it’s more than that. The family of Owen Hart knows all too well about the human cost of the industry, as do thousands of other families.
In 1999, during the WWF pay-per-view “Over The Edge”, Owen Hart was set to portray his comical “Blue Blazer” character, a superhero that would regularly partake in pratfalls. On the day of the pay-per-view, Owen Hart confided in fellow WWF employee and industry legend “JR” Jim Ross that he was uncomfortable with the stunt, citing a fear of heights.
On the night of the show, as Hart prepared to take flight from the rafters, tragedy struck. The harness that he had been wearing malfunctioned before Hart had even left the rafters, dropping him almost 80 feet to the ring below. The referee for the match, Jimmy Korderas, recalled how he thought he could hear screaming while he was in the ring, before the top rope bounced back and hit his hand. Upon turning around, there was Owen, lying on the floor, unconscious.
Owen Hart died that night, at just 34 years old.
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