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Owen Hart - 13yrs today


Jetta's G-string

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I think I must have heard about his unfortunate death from either GMTV or BBC Breakfast on the morning.

 

It was definately in the newspaper the following day. All of them had that picture of Owen lying in the ring, surrounding by paramedics.

 

I also remember that WWF.com had a big, massive BMP picture of Owen Hart on its front page.

 

RIP. 13 years?!?! Scary.

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Even though I imagine it's been done 12 other times, a "memory of the day" thread is probably more interesting than some sort of tribute thing.

 

I used to set my alarm for 5 on post-PPV Mondays so I could watch the show before school. On that particular morning, my Dad was already up, and he fucking spoiled the Intercontinental Title match and the whole thing by saying "Owen Hart is dead. It was on the main sports page on Teletext". Worse than Facebook, he was. It was trending at school that day too, shit loads of Owen Hart talk and absolutely everybody who knew I was into wrestling asking if me it was just a storyline.

 

13 years on and still wish I could see it. No longer bothered if I'm judged for it too.

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I woke up hearing my mom on to my phone to my dad saying "Shall i tell him.."

 

Anyways she did and then i turned GMTV on and saw it being reported on the news.

 

Very sad but i wasn't his biggest fan wrestling wise.

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Jill Jarrett died on May 23, 2007 as well. Shit date for poor Jeff, that.

 

I just watched the interview that Jarrett and Debra did minutes after Owen was stretchered out a few days ago and it is such tough viewing. Owen came before I got into WWF but watching old tapes and the 1997 Raws most recently, he was a great combination of comedy and wrestling ability. There is one interview where they're teasing dissension with Bulldogg and when asked if Owen is the leader of the team, Owen goes 'Yes, yes I am but anyway...' and then goes on about something else. I'm not doing it justice but it was pretty funny. I think the first footage I saw of him was beating up Jason Sensation while in the Nation for doing that impression of him.

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I first saw Owen at mania 8 taking on Skinner! I hated him in his feud with Bret. But I was supposed to. The Hart foundation run in 97 will probably always be my favourite time in wrestling. Owen was great. I was watching live when he fell. Was sad for days.

 

Years on, got to visit Calgary and paid my respects at his gravesite. Probably the saddest more horrible pointless thing to happen in the business.

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I woke up hearing my mom on to my phone to my dad saying "Shall i tell him.."

 

Anyways she did and then i turned GMTV on and saw it being reported on the news.

 

Very sad but i wasn't his biggest fan wrestling wise.

 

No, it was whether to tell him he was adopted.

 

 

 

I was in London that day attending an exam for entry into the RAF and on the way home I had the radio on and heard it on there. Couldn't believe it, but when they said "After the break, more on the WWF wrestler who died at a pay-per-view last night". Immediately I thought "I bet it's Owen Hart". Sadly when they come back on, I was right.

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I finally got ahold of Hart & Soul the other day, and it really reminded me that every time I see a different interview about Owen or the fateful evening in question, it brings it all back like it was yesterday. And hearing JR make his announcement really makes me struggle to hold back a tear, to this day.

 

It was actually the first pay per view I stayed up to watch live, at the time I was perfectly able to function during a day on about 4 hours sleep as long as I got an early night the day after. To describe it as horrible, surreal and unforgettable is an understatement. I was so shocked and devastated that the feeling of "they really should have stopped the show" didnt kick in until a few days later. I cried my bastard eyes out. Bret had always been my hero, and I'd grown to love his little brother too. Round about the time he put Shawn on the shelf and started taking credit for "ending his career" I started getting the impression he was playing everything for laughs, and his cheesy over the top way of doing virtually everything was one of the joys of keeping up with the WWF. His Slammy acceptance speech, his commentary on King of the Ring 96, his reliance on his cast, his antics in tandem with Davey... he was a fucking riot.

 

Don't listen to dem wans who think he was better than Bret because he had a bigger MOVEZSET and did the HIGH FLYING and won the IWGP title and wrestled Liger etc, on the big stage in terms of delivering long-remembered singles matches which inspired emotional connection from the viewers, he really only excelled when opposing his brother, brother-in-law or Shawn. What he was was a truly great tag team wrestler, one of the best and most reliable midcard talents of all time, and a bloke who could be funny as fuck on camera and by all accounts more so off it. "I'll tell them Test said to cancel the show" still makes my best mate crack up on demand. What a sad and tragic waste of life.

 

13 years on and still wish I could see it. No longer bothered if I'm judged for it too.

 

I've still got Over The Edge on tape, PM me if you want I could get my mate to do a DVD rip for you.

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My hearing of the news was also being awoken and told by my mother who had seen the story on GMTV. This being the height of the Attitude era as it was, my (and other local) mother/s were already quite up in arms about the lunacy of some of the wrestling we were watching as teenagers and assumed he

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My older brother was up watching it. I think it was the day after the FA Cup final, where everyone in Sunderland were happy at another Newcastle loss. My brother said to me the morning after "Owen Hart died. He fell from the top of the arena". He had work the next morning and was completely knackered because he couldn't switch it off after hearing that. I know some people have said "I initially thought it was a work", but if Road Dogg and Jeff Jarrett were that good at play acting, they would be doing something far better than wrestling for a living. They looked heartbroken. It was absolutely tragic. The next day at school, I'm not exaggerating, thats all most lads were talking about. It was a genuine topic of conversation among lads you never even spoke to. Granted it was never mentioned again after 3.40 that day, but it was still a talking point.

 

His death is typical of how pointless wrestling can be. The fact he was up there without any training and for an angle that didn't even matter, made little sense. It was a sad night.

 

The funeral looked like a good piss up, though. Especially Bruce and Hogan as the Mega Powers 2.0 on the far left:

OwenFuneral.jpg

 

This would have been a decent stable as well:

hogan_owenfuneral.jpg

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That raises the question; what was the best Owen Hart match which didn't involve any of those three? - WM14, Summerslam 97? One Night Only?, Royal Rumble '92?. Ideal opportunity here for someone to remind us of some obscure RAW classic that's been forgotten...

 

This probably goes against the grain, but I tended to prefer Owen as a babyface, I wish he was a goodie more often. I especially would've liked a decent feud with HBK in early 98, and a more prominent push with some high profile matches in the months prior to Survivor Series 93 as baby blue rocket. I'm sure I read somewhere that he was actually supposed to have upset Bam Bam at some point, possibly in their (only?) televised match where he injured his knee.

 

Not that it's anything close to important in the grand scheme of things, but the Blue Blazer thing would probably have been loads of fun too, and could have re-energised him somewhat after a pretty shite year or so, relatively speaking.

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Even though I imagine it's been done 12 other times, a "memory of the day" thread is probably more interesting than some sort of tribute thing.

Yup, you can always guarantee that this thread along with ''x' years ago today Summerslam was held at Wembley Stadium' will make their obligatory annual appearance on the UKFF.

 

For what it's worth, was at University in Chester and watched the show live with a bunch of mates (we always gathered to watch the live wrestling and boxing PPVs).

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