Owen Hart Bio 2021 – Greatest Moments of The King of Harts’ Career

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The art of true living in this world is more like a wrestler’s than a dancer’s practice.

Marcus Aurelius
Owen Hart Bio
A young Owen Hart.

Owen Hart Bio 2021 – Greatest Moments of The King of Harts’ Career

Hello everyone! Here at Against the Ropes, we decided to make a series of biographies of some of our favorite pro wrestlers that somehow, someway left us way too early, but not without leaving behind a true legacy within the wrestling industry.

To start things out, I decided to bring you the bio of one of my favorite wrestlers while growing up, “The Rocket” Owen Hart.

As you might know, Owen Hart’s death was involved in such tragedy, drama, and disbelief that most of the time, that event completely overshadows Owen’s accomplishments as a professional wrestler.

I feel that already exist many (maybe too many) articles, videos, and documentaries that focus on that particular part of Owen Hart’s career. However, that’s not the aim of this post!

Instead, I prefer to celebrate Owen’s highlights and achievements, meaning I will not detail all the bad blood between WWE and the Hart family – in particular Owen’s widow, Martha – from the moment of his dead onwards.

So if you feel – like me – that the world needs more posts highlighting Owen’s career and giving him the due recognition for his achievements in the square circle, you come to the right place! 🙂

Before jumping on the sauce, I must tell you that Owen Hart had a massive influence on how I used to watch pro wrestling at the time.

As a young lad, I used to cheer the babyface and boo the heel- has it was supposed – although, with Owen Hart, it was different.

After seeing Owen Hart turning on his older brother (Bret Hart), I rather got behind him than turn on him due to his actions.

Although I was aware that Owen’s actions were questionable, I really enjoyed seeing how cool and badass Owen Hart was with this new persona.

So basically, Owen Hart was the first heel I truly supported as a pro wrestling fan. So, therefore, I feel that it makes sense to start our series of bios with him, Owen Hart, one of the greatest pro wrestlers that ever graced the square circle!

So without further ado, let’s jump on our Owen Hart Bio and take a look at some quick facts from The Rocket itself.

Owen Hart with his wife and child
Owen Hart & his family.

Quick Facts

  • Birthday: 05/07/1965
  • Born In: Calgary, Canada
  • Height: 5’10” / 178 cm
  • Weight: 227 lbs / 103 kg
  • Beginning of in-ring career: 1983
  • End of in-ring career: 23/05/1999
  • Place Of Death: Kansas City, Missouri, United States
  • Cause Of Death: Internal Bleeding
  • In-ring experience: 16 years
  • Wrestling Style: All-rounder, Technical, High-Flyer
  • Trained at: Hart Family Dungeon
  • Trainer: Stu Hart

Nicknames:

  • Shining Star
  • The Rocket
  • The King Of Harts
  • Slammy Award Winner
  • The Lone Hart
  • The Black Hart

Signature moves:

  • Belly to belly suplex
  • Diving elbow drop
  • Diving headbutt
  • Diving splash
  • Dragon sleeper
  • Enzuigiri
  • Gutwrench suplex
  • Jackknife pin
  • Leg grapevine
  • Moonsault
  • Spinning heel kick
  • Superkick

Finishing moves:

  • Bridging Northern Lights suplex
  • Missile dropkick
  • Sharpshooter
  • Reverse piledriver
  • Rocket launcher (with Jim Neidhart)

Title reigns:

  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship – 28 days
  • Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship – 286 days
  • Stampede International Tag Team Championship – 55 days
  • Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship – (2x) 403 days
  • USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship – 14 days
  • World Tag Team Championship – (4x) 491 days
  • WWE European Championship – 55 days
  • WWE Intercontinental Championship – (2x) 132 days

Major accolades:

  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated: Rookie of the Year 1987
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Best Flying Wrestler 1987 and 1988
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated: Feud of the Year 1994
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Feud of the Year 1997
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated: Stanley Weston Award 1999
  • George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame: 2018

Family

  • Spouse: Martha Hart (1989–1999)
  • Children: Athena Christie Hart, Oje Edward Hart
  • Father: Stu Hart
  • Mother: Helen Hart
  • Siblings: Allison Hart, Bret Hart, Bruce Hart, Dean Hart, Diana Hart, Elizabeth Hart, Georgia Hart, Keith Hart, Ross Hart, Smith Hart, Wayne Hart
Young Owen Hart

Early Life

Owen James Hart was born on May 7, 1965, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Son of Stu and Helen Hart, Owen was the youngest in a household composed of twelve siblings – Allison, Bret, Bruce, Dean, Diana, Elizabeth, Georgia, Keith, Ross, Smith, Wayne, and Owen.

Being the son of the legendary Stu Hart – founder of the (in)famous Hart Dungeon and Stampede Wrestling promotion may make you feel that following a career as a pro wrestler was a natural choice, but that was not the case.

Although Owen Hart practiced amateur wrestling in high school – through which he met his future wife, Martha – he tried his luck outside wrestling.

According to Martha’s book titled “Broken Harts,” Owen Hart was unsuccessful in his attempts to break through outside the wrestling industry, in which his family held great prestige.

That lack of success led Owen Hart to fulfill his father’s wishes when he joined The Dungeon to start his training to become professional wrestling.

By the time Owen Hart joined The Dungeon, he was not completely strange to the square circle, since during his spell at university, he fought as the original British Bulldog, a masked wrestler. After graduation, he wrestled as “Bronco” Owen Hart at Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

Adding his amateur wrestling experience to his experiences as a pro wrestler when Owen Hart joined The Dungeon, he was already a refined wrestler overall.

Nevertheless, like any other person that graduates from the grueling and relentless Hart Family Dungeon, Owen Hart was another breed of athlete and professional wrestler once his training ended and was ready to make a name for himself in the world of professional wrestling.

Owen Hart with a award
Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year Award 1987.

Owen’s Rookie Year

From the Dungeon’s graduation until Owen’s debut on his father’s promotion, Stampede Wrestling was a short step. Then, on April 28, 1986, Owen Hart debuted in a tag team match with his brother Bruce that the Hart brothers won.

In the same period, Owen Hart wrestled for Joint Promotions (UK) in matches that got broadcast on ITV’s World of Sport.

Upon Owen’s debut, Stampede Wrestling was struggling to survive as a promotion. Nevertheless, Owen and his brothers tried unsuccessfully to revive the promotion in all sorts of ways.

Owen Hart went to win with Ben Bassarab, the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship, yet in 1986, with Owen Hart being highly regarded as a high-flying, technical wrestler that relied on his in-ring skills rather in sheer force or oversized look.

Still, in Stampede Wrestling, Owen had some relevant feuds after losing the International Tag Team titles, most notably with Johnny Smith and Dynamite Kid.

That didn’t go unnoticed, with Pro Wrestling Illustrated recognizing Owen Hart with the Rookie of the Year Award in 1987.

After an incredible debut year, Owen Hart toured in Japan while working for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). In Japan, Owen had memorable feuds with Keiichi Yamada before and after debuting the Jushin Liger gimmick.

On May 27, 1987, Owen Hart made history after becoming the first non-American pro wrestler to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in a winning effort against Hiroshi Hase.

However, on June 24 of that same year, Owen dropped the title on a losing effort against Shiro Koshinaka.

Owen Hart as The Blue Blazer
Owen Hart as The Blue Blazer on his first run at WWF.

Blazer’s First WWF Run

Owen’s performances were noticed by (at the time) WWF, which had a working relationship with Stampede Wrestling. Therefore, opening to the young prospect WWF’s door and the chance to display his craft in the biggest wrestling promotion at the time.

In order to hide his true identity from the fans – Bret Hart little brother – WWF presented him as a masked wrestler named The Blue Angel (changed shortly after to The Blue Blazer).

As The Blue Blazer, Owen was able to show all his high-flying skills and a goofy side. Then, the Blazer went to pick some wins against some bonafide jabronis like Terry Gibbs, Steve Lombardi, and Barry Horowitz.

Owen made his PPV debut in the 1988 edition of Survivor Series in a 10-man tag team match – The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Brunzell, Sam Houston, and The Blue Blazer Vs. The Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Outlaw Ron Bass, Bad News Brown, and Dangerous Danny Davis.

Although Greg Valentine eliminated the Blazer, his team won the match, making him victorious on his PPV debut.

Things were going well for Owen Hart, establishing himself as a mid-card prospect and obtaining victories over enhancement talent.

However, The Blazer falls short when fighting more prominent names in the company, like losing for Ted Dibiase on Saturday Night’s Main Event XX and later against Mr. Perfect at Wrestlemania V, the biggest stage Owen Hart had performed until that date.

Shortly after Wrestlemania V, Owen Hart left WWF and started to tour the world, sometimes under The Blue Blazer’s moniker, sometimes under his real name.

Owen Hart returned for Stampede Wrestling when, unfortunately, the promotion shut doors in December 1989. After that, he made some appearances at NJPW and wrestled for the german promotion Catch Wrestling Association (CWA).

In 1991, Owen Hart decided to drop the mask gimmick. Its farewell match was a Mask Vs. Mask match against Mexican luchador El Canek, which Owen lost, dropping the blue mask.

After dropping the mask, Owen Hart, under his real name, made his WCW victorious televised debut in 1991 against Keith Stark.

Owen fought a total of five matches for World Championship Wrestling. However, he was not pleased with the idea of moving to Atlanta, so instead of signing with WCW, Owen Hart decided to re-sign with WWF.

Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware
Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware, known as High Energy.

The Rocket Has Arrived

Upon his return to WWF, Owen Hart was introduced under his real name and the moniker The Rocket. During that period, the tag team of his real-life brother, Bret Hart, and his real-life brother-in-law, Jim Neidhart, was dismissed for giving Bret his first run as a singles competitor.

After returning from a kayfabe injury, Jim Neidhart joined forces with Owen Hart forming The New Foundation. They feud with the likes of the Beverly Brothers and The Orient Express, in which they come up victorious.

Shortly after, Jim Neidhart left WWF, and as a result, Owen had a brief run as a singles competitor, with the highlight of that short-run being Owen’s first win at Wrestlemania VIII in a match against Skinner.

Owen Hart got the W in only 96 seconds, making it one of the fastest matches in Wrestlemania history.

After his short stint as a single competitor, Owen Hart was paired with Koko B. Ware, forming the duo known as High Energy.

The team didn’t last long, and after only one PPV appearance (Survivor Series) in a losing effort against The Headshrinkers, the team of Hart and B. Ware was dismantled. By early 1993, Owen Hart started his second run as a singles wrestler.

1993 was a year of ups and downs for Owen Hart. In March, Owen injured himself in a match against Bam Bam Bigelow and had to stop for two months.

Upon return from injury, Owen Hart was involved in a feud between WWF and USWA (United States Wrestling Association) which saw him winning the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Papa Shango.

Things seemed to align in The Rocket’s favor until a new injury occurred throughout the summer of 1993. As a result, the Rocket was sidelined once again.

When Owen Hart returned, the feud between his brother Bret and Jerry “The King” Lawler suffered some unforeseen events. As a result, in an 8-man tag team match scheduled for Survivor Series between Owen, Bret, Bruce, and Keith Vs. Lawler and his knights saw Shawn Michaels taking Lawler’s place.

Although the Hart brothers won the match, Owen and Bret collided inadvertently during the bout, which resulted in Owen’s elimination.

Once the match was over, Owen Hart joined his brothers on the ring and argued with his brother Bret, holding him responsible for the elimination.

With his brothers and father, Stu, trying to calm him down while his mother Helen cried at ringside, Owen stormed out the ring under a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance, dropping the first seeds for a memorable feud between brothers.

The night that followed the Survivor Series’ events, Owen Hart debuted his black and pink attire, the iconic pink shades used by Bret, and even used the sharpshooter as a finisher in that night.

Owen Hart vs Bret Hart at WM X
Bret Vs. Owen at Wrestlemania X

The King of Harts

An angry Owen issued a challenge to his older brother, which Bret declined. Then, during the summer of 1993, the brothers seemingly buried the hatchet and started teaming up regularly.

The duo put on a couple of wins, and by January 1994, at the Royal Rumble PPV, the two brothers were scheduled to fight The Quebecers for the WWF Tag Team Championship.

Things were going well until Bret injured his knee. Due to the severity of the injury (kayfabe) and Bret being unable to tag his brother Owen, the referee stopped the match.

And that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. A raged and frustrated Owen lost his temper, kicked Bret on the injured knee, and went backstage.

After Bret left the ring with the help of some WWF officials, Owen appeared on the Titantron, accusing his brother of selfishness and holding him down.

Owen went to admit that it felt good taking out his brother, saying, “that’s why you’re sitting there in a bad leg, and that’s why I kicked your leg outta your leg.” Yeah, a real gem from The Rocket. 🙂

From there, the two brothers started a memorable feud that had his first big encounter at Wrestlemania X. Bret was scheduled to face Yokozuna for the WWF Championship at the main event on the same night. Hence, the bout between brothers was the first match of the night, and oh boy, if they delivered!

Many (me included) considered the best opening match in Wrestlemania history; Owen Hart pinned his older brother clean, making him the better man that night.

Despite multiple reasons to be happy for his winning over Bret, Owen was fuming due to his brother’s victory over Yokozuna by the end of the night.

Bret had again reached the top of the mountain by winning the most prestigious title in the company at the biggest stage of them all, Wrestlemania.

With Wrestlemania X on the books, Owen focused on the King Of The Ring tournament (KOTR). Owen won against Tatanka, the 1-2-3-Kid, and then – with the help of the recently returned Jim Neidhart – Owen defeated Razor Ramon in the finals, becoming the new King of the Ring winner. From that moment onwards, Owen Hart started to refer to himself as The King of Harts.

Despite his victory at Wrestlemania X over his brother Bret, the feud between brothers didn’t end, and throughout the summer of 1994, there were multiple confrontations between brothers.

At the co-main event of 1994’s SummerSlam, Owen challenged Bret for the WWF Championship in a steel cage match. Despite the loss, both brothers ended up winners as this match was even highly regarded that their previous encounter at Wrestlemania X. The match was so well received that even Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer rated this match with five stars.

Then in the same summer in August, in a lumberjack match, Owen initially defeated Bret for the WWF Championship, though the match was restarted due to interference. In the end, Bret was able to retain his title once again.

Later that year, at Survivor Series, Owen Hart convinced his mother Helen – that was assisting to a WWF Title match between Bret and Bob Buckland – to throw the towel for Bret, costing him the title.

In January 1995, at the Royal Rumble PPV, Owen Hart interfered in the match for the WWF Title between Bret And Diesel, costing his brother the chance to regain the championship that Owen had costing him previously.

Shortly after the events of the Royal Rumble 1995, the two collided for the last time. Bret Hart exited victorious from the match, ending for the time being the beef between brothers.

Owen Hart & Yokozuna
Yokozuna & Owen Hart as WWF Tag Team Champions.

Tag Team Success

With the feud with his brother Bret on the back, The King of Harts focuses his attention on the WWF Tag Team Championship.

At Wrestlemania XI, Owen Hart challenged the WWF Tag Team Championship holders, the Smoking Gunns, for a match on which a mystery partner would join Owen.

That partner was none other than the ex-WWF World Champion, Yokozuna. The duo got the gold that night and kept the WWF Tag Team Championship for over five months – while being managed by Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji – when they dropped the titles to Diesel and Shawn Michaels at In Your House 3.

The titles were then handed back to Owen and Yokozuna shortly after, which they eventually lost to the Smoking Gunns.

After adding Owen’s real-life brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith and Vader to the heel faction, Camp Cornette, Owen kept fighting in the tag team division.

Owen had a couple of matches teaming up with Vader, though it was with Davey Boy Smith that he found more success.

During that period, Owen won a Slammy Award for knocking out Shawn Michaels earlier in that year, starting to refer to himself as the “Slammy Award Winner.”

Entering the King of the Ring 1996 tournament, Owen was the color commentator for the event due to a supposed “injury” sustained on his right forearm.

Owen was one of the night’s highlights, with his incredible bias commentaries, cheering his Camp Cornette teammates while bashing all the babyfaces. Priceless!

Owen fought with a cast on his right forearm for several months due to the “injury” that ruled him out of the KOTR 1997 tournament, which he used multiple times as a weapon.

In 1996, at the In Your House 10, Hart and Bulldog won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Smoking Gunns. Another important event that happened that night was the duo dropping Jim Cornette as their manager to the detriment of Clarence Mason.

There were already some signs of tension between Owen and Davey Boy, though when at the Royal Rumble 1997, Owen eliminated Bulldog accidentally, the cracks started to appear.

When both men faced each other at the finals for crowning the new WWF European Champion in Germany, the anticipation and expectation were great, and boy, they didn’t disappoint!

After a hard-fought battle, Owen came up short, with the Bulldog being crowned the first-ever WWF European Championship holder.

The duo was indeed the WWF Tag Team Champions, though Owen was determined to win the WWF European Title from his tag team partner, the Bulldog.

On March 31, 1997, edition of Monday Night Raw, the two men went to battle with the WWF European Championship on the line.

It was a vicious battle, and when things started to look ugly and it seemed that there wasn’t turning back for the two brothers-in-law, behold it appears in the aisle, Bret Hart – which had turned heel recently.

Once in the ring, Bret tried to appease things between Owen and Davey Boy, remembering both men that there are things more important than their rivalry, things like family values.

Not only did both men bury the hatchet, but they joined Bret Hart to form the new Hart Foundation, with Jim Neidhart and family friend Brian Pillman joining the ranks of this new sometimes heel, sometimes babyface faction.

The Hart Foundation
The Hart Foundation.

The Hart Foundation

An interesting fact concerning the Hart Foundation was their status. A heel faction while working in the United States and babyfaces when working in Canada.

Shortly after the faction’s creation, Owen Hart won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Rocky Maivia, making Owen Hart both Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion.

During a period, aside from the WWF Championship, the Hart Foundation held all the gold in the WWF, establishing the stable as top heels in WWF.

But not all are roses, so in May 1997, Owen and the Bulldog lost the Tag Team Titles to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. That led Owen to start to feud with Steve Austin.

Owen and Bulldog eventually got a chance to regain their titles, though they fell short in a bout against Steve Austin and Dude Love.

At the SummerSlam 1997, Owen was booked against Steve Austin in a “Kiss My Ass” Match, on which he was supposed to drop the Intercontinental Title to The Rattlesnake.

He did drop the title to Austin, but unfortunately, Owen dropped Austin on the top of his head in a botched piledriver, which resulted in a severe neck injury.

Although the accident’s nature, WWF tried to capitalize on the occurred and got the most heat possible to Owen. An excellent way to do it was Owen using a t-shirt that read “Owen 3:16/I Just Broke Your Neck.”

Due to the gravity of Austin’s injury, the Intercontinental Title was vacant, and a tournament was created to crown a new champion.

Owen found his way to the finals and was scheduled to face Faarooq for the vacant title at the Badd Blood: In Your House PPV. But, surprisingly, Austin interfered in the match in Owen’s favor, claiming that he wanted Owen to become and remain champion until his return since he wanted to be the one to beat Owen.

Owen Hart defended a couple of times successfully the Intercontinental Championship until the day of redemption for Austin arrived.

At the Survivor Series 1997, in Montreal, Canada, Owen was booked against Austin, and like in their first match, Austin got the W, winning the Intercontinental Championship for a second time.

On that same night, the Montreal Screwjob took place, and, on the direct result of that event, Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart left WWF.

That killed the Hart Foundation and left Owen Hart as the only member of the Hart family working for Vince McMahon’s WWF.

Owen Hart sunglasses

A Black Hart Emerges

Following the Montreal Screwjob, as previously referred, Vince McMahon granted quick releases from their contracts to Jim Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith, though the same didn’t happen with Owen Hart.

Not only was Vince not relented to let Owen leave, but Eric Bischoff – Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) – did not have interest in matching Owen’s wages on WWF. Therefore, Owen Hart remained where he was.

After a one-month absence, Owen Hart made his return. At the In Your House: D-Generation X, after Shawn Michaels retained The WWF Championship against Ken Shamrock, Owen jumped Michaels.

With a more mature, reserved, and antisocial attitude, Owen – now babyface – started to go by the monikers “The Lone Hart” and “The Black Hart.”

Throughout his spell at the head of WWF, Vince McMahon had the gift of turning bad situations into the company’s advantage, though I feel that this was one of the cases he completely missed the chance to do it.

Owen already had proven that he could hang out with the best, and he had already paid his dues to the industry. Upon his comeback, The Black Hart was incredibly over with the fans, and considering how Bret Hart left WWF, Owen was in the perfect position for a push that would lead to the WWF Championship.

Things pointed in that direction when followed the attack on Michaels, The Lone Hart challenged for the WWF Championship.

However, after failing to capture the WWF Title due to Triple H’s interference in the match, Owen was derailed for a feud with Triple H itself.

Owen challenged HHH for the WWF European Championship, and he actually won it, though it was against Goldberg dressed as Triple H.

From there, Owen not only dropped the title to Triple H, but he lost a series of matches against Hunter, rather being eliminated by him at the Royal Rumble in 1998 or getting beaten at Wrestlemania of that year.

No matter how many fans were behind Owen or how many storylines and angles that WWF could have explored for mutual benefit, the fact of the manner is that Owen seemed destined to job indefinitely for Michaels and HHH.

Enough was enough, and Owen was determined to change the tides of his career.

Owen Hart The Nation
“Enough is enough, and it’s time for a change.”

Nation of Domination

Weeks after Wrestlemania’s loss for Hunter, Owen teamed with Shamrock against the duo of Mark Henry and Rocky Maivia. Owen turned on his partner (and turned heel), becoming with The Rock the co-leader of the Nation of Domination in the process.

That night Owen Hart claimed that “enough is enough, and it’s time for a change.” The problem is that – in the eyes of many fans – Owen was somehow misplaced in the faction, though I feel that the intention was good and allowed us, fans, to see another side from The Lone Hart.

At the Nation, Owen started (again) a feud with DX. In this period, Shawn Michaels stated that Owen was a nugget of feces in a toilet bowl that, no matter how many times it flushed, it was impossible to get rid of him.

For better and worse, the term “Nugget” would accompany Owen Hart for the remaining of his career.

The feud with DX was put on hold when Ken Shamrock returned from injury due to Owen’s attack and looking for revenge.

With Shamrock, Owen had two interesting gimmick matches. The first is a Dungeon Match at Owen’s father’s basement, and the second is a Lion’s Den Match, held in an MMA cage.

Owen remained with the Nation throughout most of 1998 until the faction slowly disbanded. From the summer of 1998 onwards, Owen started to team up with Jeff Jarrett.

Owen was pitched with the idea of starting an angle on which Owen would have an affair with Jarrett’s wife and team manager Debra. Owen promptly turned down the storyline as he wasn’t comfortable playing that kind of role.

Then, in a match against Dan Severn, Owen “injured” the former and decided to quit WWF. Due to the injury suffered by Steve Austin the year prior against Owen Hart, it wasn’t clear what was storyline and what was real.

The Blue Blazer Owen Hart
The Blue Blazer.

The Blazer’s Final Comeback and Farewell

However, doubts vanished when by the time that Owen quit, The Blue Blazer made his WWF comeback, though claiming that it wasn’t Owen, which, as you might expect, no one bought.

Contrary to the Blazer’s first run on WWF on which Owen portraited a babyface, The Blazer was a heel character this time.

Alongside Jeff Jarrett, the duo made the most of Owen’s gimmick, claiming that Owen wasn’t The Blue Blazer. Sometimes Owen would appear side-by-side with the blue masked wrestler, which Jarrett itself portraited, and sometimes by a black man who was Owen’s old partner, Koko B. Ware.

During the same period, Jarrett and Owen – as Owen Hart – kept competing as a tag team, and eventually, they won the WWF Tag Team Championship from Shamrock and the Big Boss Man.

At his last Wrestlemania match, Owen and Jarrett defended the titles successfully at Wrestlemania XV, defeating Test and D-Lo Brown, just to drop them a few days later to Kane and X-Pac.

Owen kept wrestling under The Blazer gimmick for a couple of matches. He was booked to win the Intercontinental Championship from The Godfather at the upcoming Over the Edge PPV on May 23, 1999, In Kansas City, Missouri.

Owen was supposed to make his entrance from the rafters, being lowered via harness and grapple line into the ring.

The idea was due to the buffoonish superhero nature of Owen’s gimmick, it would be funny to have him lowered above the ring level.

At that time, he would entangle himself, release the line, and fall on his bum for the audience’s laughs and spectators at home.

Owen Hart had done a similar stunt before, though he was reluctant to do it this time. But, finally, he agreed to do it, primarily because he had recently declined some storylines and angles, like the mentioned above involving Jarrett and his wife, Debra.

With the mind made, Owen prepared himself to execute the stunt. But, unfortunately, during the descent, something went wrong – it appears that the cape got tangled in the harness, activating its release – and Owen fell 78 feet (24m) into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, rebounding after into the ring.

At 34 years of age, Owen Hart died that night due to internal bleeding.

Throughout the PPV, it was announced by Jim Ross that Owen Hart had passed away due to the fall. The world was shocked by the loss of such a beloved wrestler, friend, son, husband, and father.

Owen Hart IC Title
Owen Hart, the Intercontinental Champion & two-time Slammy Award winner.

Long Live The King of Harts

Following Owen’s death, there was a lot of bad blood – which still exists today – between Owen’s family and the now WWE, primarily due to the supposed inadequacy of the harness used in the stunt.

As I stated in the beginning, I do not want to follow that path. So many have been written on the subject, which I feel undermines Owen Hart’s professional path.

Instead, let’s celebrate the life, the career, the legacy of one of the most gifted and charismatic professional wrestlers that ever graced the ring.

Let’s remember how funny it was being around Owen, a practical joker backstage on which no one had a bad thing to say about.

In his Heartbreak and Triumph autobiography, Shawn Michaels notes that “Owen is the only guy you could have a two-hour show for, and no one would say a bad word about him.”

Due to the issues between Owen’s widow and WWE, Owen was never inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and never appeared in any video game from the company.

It seemed that we would never see Owen being acknowledged on tv, but that changed when AEW announced the creation of a tournament in honor of The King of Harts.

Additionally, it appears that The Rocket will have its own wrestling figure and will be in the future AEW video game, something that doesn’t happen since the 1900s.

Owen Hart left us way too early, though he was able to use his time around to positively touch everybody that knew him and left all of us, fans, long-lasting memories that will not be forgotten.

Long live to The King of Harts!

And there you have it, guys, our first of many bios dedicated to all great wrestlers that left us too early.

If you enjoyed our Owen Hart bio, you would most certainly enjoy our ultimate Eddie Guerrero biography – which you can find here.

So, did you enjoy our first bio? Do you think I miss something? Do you want to add something or just give me your thoughts on the subject? Don’t hesitate to superkick me in the comment section below, and I’ll gladly chop you back!

And just before you go, if you’re still here, I want to THANK YOU for your time reading another of our posts and giving us your feedback to help us improve our work continuously! It means a lot to me!

If you like our content – you can find more here – please consider following us everywhere (except on the street, that’s weird:)) and I’ll catch you in our next post; until then, stay strong and keep loving pro wrestling! Amor Fati! : )

Pompeu Pedrosa,

Founder of Against the Ropes.


Bonus Section

As a bonus, here’s a couple of matches from Owen Hart, courtesy of the WWE Youtube channel.

I want to provide you with higher profile matches from Owen Hart, though these were the ones I could bring you without incurring copyright infringement.

Nevertheless, indulge yourself! 🙂

Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart – WWE In Your House 6
Bret Hart & British Bulldog Vs. Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart – Raw

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