Torch VIP members have access to past Torch Newsletters, including the Torch's in-depth coverage of Owen Hart's death ten years ago today when a stunt during the WWE "Over the Edge" PPV went wrong. Printed below is Torch editor Wade Keller's five-page cover story on Owen's death.

Torch Newsletter #550 - cover dated May 29, 1999
HEADLINE: Owen Hart: 1965-1999
SUBHEADLINE: Stunt goes wrong, Owen plunges 60 feet to his death during PPV; he was nervous about stunt, but practice descents went well earlier in the day
By Wade Keller, Torch editor

Owen Hart liked being a pro wrestler, but he wasn't consumed by it. Unlike the late Brian Pillman, Louie Spicolli, Rick Rude, Art Barr, and several others in recent years, he wasn't a casualty of the darker elements of the wrestling business. Owen Hart, age 34, died on May 23 at a WWF pay-per-view event because of an apparent fluke mix-up on a stunt, a stunt performed in similar fashion at NBA games, concerts, and circuses every day. He is survived by his wife of 9 years Martha, his 8-year-old son Oje, his 3-year-old daughter Athena, and his parents Stu and Helen.

The local police department is investigating whether the equipment malfunctioned or human error led to Owen's fall. Members of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were on hand to see if they had jurisdiction to investigate. Initial reports by authorities indicate that Owen either inadvertently pulled the release mechanism, perhaps out of nervousness or perhaps while trying to adjust his cape just as he began to be lowered toward the ring, or that he was never hooked up properly and fell to his death immediately upon stepping off of the catwalk.

It's become perhaps the most widely reported story in pro wrestling history. Not since 1969 when "Iron" Mike DiBiase (Ted DiBiase's father) died of a heart attack in the ring has a prominent wrestler died in a ring in the United States. Enrique Torres died in 1976 in a hospital from complications of an in-ring injury in Omaha, Neb. In the last ten years there have been several deaths in the ring elsewhere in the world. Oro died in Mexico from a bad bump on his head. American wrestler Larry Cameron died of a heart attack in the ring in Europe. Two women wrestlers have died from complications of injuries suffered during matches.

What adds frustration to the sadness of Hart's death is that he didn't die from a usual risk that pro wrestlers accept as part of their jobs. Had he died taking a bump where he knew the inherent dangers but had trained to avoid them, his friends and colleagues could have said, "He died doing what he loved." He didn't die doing what he loved.

He died attempting to drop from the rafters of an 18,000 seat building. He wasn't a trained stuntman. In fact, he had expressed to his friends that he wasn't crazy about doing the ceiling drop. He did not, though, express to management his apprehension over doing the stunt. As one wrestler friend of his said, "He didn't want to come across as a pussy." So he went with the program. He may have been a bit gun-shy to veto the idea since he also had just turned down another storyline idea presented to him by the WWF's scriptwriters.

The proposal he turned down weeks earlier was to start flirting with Debra, which would lead to tension with his tag team partner Jeff Jarrett. Hart didn't want to do it. Management granted Hart his wish. They then presented him with the return of the Blue Blazer, which some thought was management's way of punishing Owen. Contradicting that theory, though, is that Blazer was scheduled to win the IC Title at Sunday's PPV. In any case, Owen wasn't crazy about the gimmick, but he decided he would make the best of it. He was especially unhappy that his ring entrance would include drops from ceilings, but he went along with the plan, not wanting to be overly difficult.

At the Nov. 16, 1998 live Heat broadcast before the Survivor Series in St. Louis, Mo., during his last brief stint under the Blue Blazer mask, Owen had successfully dropped from the ceiling. Well, sort of. As planned and as part of the "goofiness" of his pseudo-superhero gimmick (making fun of Hulk Hogan's '80s WWF character), he dangled helplessly eight or ten feet above Steve Blackman, who punched him like a pinata. On Sunday he was going to drop into the ring for his Intercontinental Title match against Godfather. He had practiced his descent from the ceiling successfully three times that afternoon. The stunt coordinator was the same person who oversaw dozens of Sting descents on Nitro and PPVs in WCW in 1998.

Something went terribly wrong. As most fans were turned toward the entryway to see which wrestler would come out next, Owen Hart fell from the rafters. It appeared perhaps to be a mannequin, maybe a spoof of the Blue Blazer character's clutziness or corniness. As a pretaped interview aired with Blazer, Ross could be heard to say, "Ah, we've got big problems out here." Jerry Lawler rushed to the ring, realizing Owen had fallen from the rafters.

Fans in attendance who didn't have their backs turned to the ring saw Owen plunge about 60 feet from the rafters to the ring, hitting his head on one of the top turnbuckles (or the top rope near the turnbuckle). His body flipped over, his feet clipped the referee standing in the ring, and he landed on his back. The referee told people afterward Hart screamed as he fell, warning the ref to get out of his path. When he lay motionless in the ring, eyewitnesses say his neck was in an unnatural position. His body was limp instantly and his skin changed from normal color to ash to blue over the next minute. He had a gash on his arm, but it wasn't bleeding - a strong sign that his heart instantly stopped pumping when he hit the mat. Gravity had settled the blood to the bottom of his body. All signs were he died upon impact. His eyes were open, but lifeless. An autopsy Monday revealed he died of "internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma."

Lawler rushed the ring and helped take off Hart's mask so CPR could be performed on him. EMTs rushed the ring and within two minutes of his fall, trained medical personnel were trying to get his heart pumping again. Ten minutes later he was taken away from the ring on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, the whole time his chest was being pounded on by EMTs. He was taken to the nearby Truman Medical Center, less than four miles away, where he was pumped full of fluid that doctors hoped would restart his heart. His heart didn't restart. He was pronounced officially dead.

Former WWF wrestler Harley Race, who lives in the area, attended the event. He followed the ambulance with Owen to the hospital. "Fifteen seconds hadn't gone by before the doctor came out and asked me how to get in touch with Owen's wife," Race told the Kansas City Star. "He told me Owen was dead." (Race remembered joking with Owen before the match, telling him, "Make sure your rope don't break." He said Owen laughed at his comment before walking to the catwalk.)

The WWF did not show on PPV Hart's body lying in the ring. After the pretaped Blazer interview aired, they showed a wide shot of the crowd. The fans were standing, many not sure whether they were looking at a real-life accident or a "well-orchestrated" wrestling angle. (It would not be without precedent. WCW, on the Nov. 24, 1997 Nitro in Saginaw, Mich., had dropped a Sting dummy from the ceiling and it crashed through the ring. Only seconds later, after some hearts skipped beats and as Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan bashed it over the head with a baseball bat, was it revealed to be a dummy.)

The PPV cameras then focused on announcer Jim Ross at ringside. "Ladies and gentlemen, when you're doing live television, a lot of things can happen and sometimes they are not good," he said. "Owen Hart was going to make a very spectacular superhero-type entrance from the rafters and something went terribly wrong here." Ross explained as best he could that this was not an angle, but a real life accident. "This is not a part of the show," he said. "I don't know any better way to put it. This is not a wrestling angle. This is real life." As Owen was taken from the ring by the EMTs, fans stood and applauded, then chanted, "Owen, Owen." Lawler soon rejoined Ross at ringside. Lawler had been with Owen in the ring and went with him as he was put into the ambulance. He quietly said, "It doesn't look good at all."

Backstage there was a mixture of fear and panic. Initially Bruce Prichard began screaming that Hart had fallen from the rafters. That's when the EMTs ran from the back to the ring. In the moments that followed, word spread among the wrestlers that Hart was hurt. Nobody at the time knew how seriously. As they played another pretaped feature on the PPV broadcast, the WWF suits got together and had to decide quickly whether to continue the show. They knew Hart was seriously hurt, but they didn't know he would soon be pronounced dead. Or at least they hoped he wouldn't be. They decided to continue the show. Jeff Jarrett and Debra were rushed into the interview area. They were told to "shoot" if they wanted to. They clearly knew Owen was seriously hurt. Debra began crying during the interview. They said they were praying for him. They went out and had their match, the third match of the night.

The buzz backstage changed from curiosity over what happened to grave concern for Hart's chances of living. In a separate room Vince McMahon called Hart's wife Martha at home in Calgary to explain what happened. He gave her the news that Hart had died. Many wrestlers sensed in the faces of members of management pacing backstage that they had already received terrible news and were merely waiting for clearance to inform the wrestlers. Once Martha received the news, the wrestlers backstage were then officially told Hart had died.

SHOULD THE PPV HAVE BEEN STOPPED?

There was another intense discussion among the WWF suits: Now should the show be stopped? There were differing opinions expressed. There was little time to rationally discuss the pros and cons. "Would Owen have wanted the show to continue?" was asked. No one knew the answer for sure. They decided logistically it would be best to finish the show as planned. They would be occupied enough with the police investigation of Hart's fall and mourning his death, so why add a logistical nightmare to the mix of issuing refunds to arena and PPV customers. The decision to continue the show would turn out to be criticized on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and various newspapers and radio stations across the country.

"How could they stop it?" Race told the Star. "It's easy for people to say, 'They should've just refunded everybody's money.' But if they tried to do that, they'd be here from now until this time tomorrow trying to make all those people happy. Plus, what about all the thousands of people who paid on pay-per-view? They couldn't have stopped."

Needless to say, the wrestlers' hearts were not in the matches for the rest of the night. Some wrestlers disagreed with the decision to continue the show, saying that "it felt wrong." Others thought it was the right thing to do. No one felt so strongly against it that they refused to go out for their match as scheduled. If anything, Owen's death had not yet sunk in and they were numb. Several made comments about Owen during their pre-match interviews or over the house mic in the ring.

Kemper Arena manager Alan Schmelzle told the Kansas City Star that Hart's colleagues were deeply saddened by his death, but their attitude was, "The show must go on." McMahon also defended the decision. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Owen's family," he said in a statement. "We have to be strong for Owen. He was an extraordinary human being and consummate performer. The highest tribute that we can pay is to go on entertaining the fans he loved so much."

Members of the Hart family disagreed with continuing the event. "It was the only thing that disturbed us," said Owen's older sister, Ellie Hart. "We never did get any answers about that. When my dad spoke with Vince last night he never really gave us any explanation. We just assumed they would stop the show if it was as serious as it was. When they didn't we all wondered why that didn't happen. I know my brother Owen, being the kind of person he was, would have wanted Vince to continue. That's the nature of wrestling, but I think it was something that should have been stopped."

The PPV audience was eventually told that Owen had died, but not right away. After the fifth match, Ross reported the news. "Tragedy befell the WWF and all of us," he said deliberately, his voice cracking. "Owen Hart was set to make an entrance from the ceiling and he fell from the ceiling. I have the unfortunate responsibility to let everyone know Owen Hart has died. Owen Hart has tragically died from that accident here tonight."

The fans in the arena were not told that Hart had died, probably because it would have completely killed off any fan heat for the final matches. As it turned out, it came across on PPV as rather macabre that the crowd was cheering and booing like normal for the matches just after Ross said Owen had died. Many media outlets have been highly critical of the WWF for not informing the crowd. Fans at the arena have been interviewed saying they were upset they weren't updated.

Monday morning the WWF announced plans to cancel the scheduled replays of the PPV event and all house shows through the end of the month, four of which were in Canada.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE FALL

A number of differing versions of how Owen lost his balance were circulated in the hours and days following his death. Initial reports out of the locker room said that the stunt coordinator had just lowered Owen about five feet down at which point Owen either adjusted his cape or got nervous and in the process triggered the release mechanism, sending him to the mat. One WWF employee who saw Owen just before he fell told people backstage that Owen stepped off the ledge and fell immediately to the ring. As with any disaster or tragedy, eyewitness reports often differ drastically in detail.

The initial Associated Press report that night sourced Michelle Hindorff, a paramedic and dispatcher for the city ambulance service. "It didn't get hooked on to him," she said. "He thought it was hooked on." Meanwhile, the Kansas City Star that night reported Owen was being lowered from the rafters "when some part of the guide snapped."

On Monday the Calgary Sun quoted Jim Bradbury, a spokesman for the local fire department in Kansas City. "He was up on some scaffolding above the ring," he said. "They were going to lower him down on some sort of cable and apparently the cable wasn't hooked up. He landed in the ring."

Owen's wife Martha told the Calgary Herald she wanted an investigation. "From both of us there was deep concern about safety, definitely," she said. "Owen was not a reckless person. He was very careful. I really want to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."

The Kansas City Star reported in Tuesday's paper: "Police investigators said Monday it appeared that Hart had lost his balance, a misstep that started a still-unclear chain of events leading to the only known performance-related death at the arena. Investigators are zeroing in on the wrestler's body harness attached to the cable, which did not break. The harness had a quick-release devise that Hart could use to free himself from the cable." The story also said eyewitnesses believed Owen "struggled to lift his head. His arms rose slowly, about a foot off the mat, then he collapsed onto the canvas." Other eyewitnesses said Owen did not move at all. Medical reports would strongly indicate Owen was dead upon impact and thus didn't move.

Kemper arena manager Alan Schmelzle said city policy allowed "proven professionals (using their own equipment) to rappel from the Kemper catwalk." He said three men were on the catwalk at the time of the accident. Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 31 were hired by the WWF for the event according to union steward Jay Lewis.

McMahon said at a Monday press conference that he believes Hart accidentally pulled the release mechanism. Older brother Bret Hart disagreed with the idea that Owen accidentally hit a release mechanism. "He was too smart for that kind of mistake," he told the Calgary Sun. "He was a professional and it really sticks in my craw that they've suggested that."

The Tuesday Calgary Herald reported that, according to police chief Floyd Mitchell, homicide detectives on Monday inspected the rigging that was to lower Hart and talked to the stagehands to determine what went wrong. Mitchell said the cable did not break and detectives believe something went wrong when Hart's harness was being hitched to the cable. "The people we've talked to say he was hooked up and they don't know if he accidentally hit the quick-release," said Kansas City police Det. Jeff Cowdrey. Cowdrey told the Herald that the police department has interviewed several people - including WWF employees and the local Teamsters Union "riggers" - who were near Hart as he stood on the catwalk waiting to descend to the ring. All insist Hart was properly linked to the rope.

There are two explanations circulating for what led to Owen's fall from the rafters. One, as the Herald story suggested, because the lights were much dimmer during the show than during rehearsal, Hart could have been disoriented and lost his balance or he could have thought he was hooked on, but wasn't. The Herald said some witnesses said Owen had begun to be lowered before he detached and fell. The report quoted Cowdrey saying police have determined Hart fell the entire 60 feet. The story going around the locker room was that Owen had begun to be lowered before he fell - but that he was only lowered a few feet, then was waiting for the cue to be lowered all the way to the ring. One theory, apparently backed by one of the riggers, is that Owen, perhaps out of nervousness, fumbled with his cape and in the process may have activated the release. Others are suspicious of that explanation because it sounds too much like a cover story for negligence on the part of the experts overseeing the stunt.

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