Under the Canvas
By Christopher Joesph
Hello and welcome to first ever edition of ‘Under the Canvas’ with me, Christopher. I decided to start our first coloumn with a bang. Surely, you’ve heard of the tradgic death of Owen Hart. And, you’ve heard how he died in the middle of the ring. Which left us all wondering why the show went on..
Let’s start from the very begining, Owen, or at that time ‘The Blazer’, was scheduled for an Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather, with the Blazer’s new ‘buffoonish superhero’ persona, he was to begin a dramatic enterance, being lowered with a harness and grappline from the rafters nearly 80ft down to the ring. But that one night, during the Over the Edge pay-per-view in Kansas city, Missiouri, a techincall defficlultie went devistantingly wrong.
Hart had performed the stunt only a few times before and was worried about performing the stunt at Kemper due to the height involved. He should have listened to his gut and not done the extremely dangerous stunt. He fell 78ft from the rafters onto the turnbuckle. The tragidy was not shown on PPV broadcast, the monitors darkened the arena. Medical personal quickly atteneted to Owen. Meanwhile, WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what had just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly.
The WWF mamagment controversially chose to continue the event. Later that night, Jim Ross the death of Owen Hart to the home viewers, but not to the thousands in attendance. The show went on, but was never commercially released by WWF home video. In the weeks following, much attention was focused on the harness Hart 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 Hart’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 Hart to unlatch himself.
Three weeks after the event, the Hart family sued the WWF over how dangerous and poorly planned the stunt was, and that the harness system was defective. Which was extremely sensible due to the carelessness that night on the WWF’s part. A year later the Hart family received $18 million dollars. Following that, the WWF managment planned a ‘RAW is Owen’ special. Which was an emotional-filled night fully intribute to Owen Hart. Surprisingly, all the matches were with no angles. Which one of the most memorable nights, in my opinion, being all the superstars were involved, the emotion that night from both the athletes, executives & fans shook the ring.
Even though, all the disagreements are settled now, personally, I still wonder why the WWF/WWE decided to continue that night. I mean, you’d figure after an 78ft fall an average person would pass away. I don’t care how sick this sounds, I believe the only reason it wasn’t officially released by the WWF was to avoid further lawsuits. Which leaves me to the question I asked at first.. Is showbiz that important?
Thank you for reading my debut article, Chris.
Ironically, I’m watching an Owen match at the moment. Anyway…
I’m actually fine with the show continuing, and think the right decision was made in doing so.
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Hey good job on the first write up buddy. There was so much drama involved in that story. Wish I could have read more! Next time throw in some of your own feelings towards the subject so I know if I should agree with you or give you a hard time. 🙂 What do you think? Do you think the show should have went on?
I think it should have kept going, due to the fact that Owen probably would have wanted that. He was a business man, and grew up watching his father run a promotion after all. But, I also would like to know what the damage would have been if they cancelled. If the damage isn’t too much…perhaps it should have been cancelled or refunds offered. The show could have also continued as a tribute type. Touchy, but I’m glad they kept going to show strength within the performers and company.
Do I think the stunt should have even been attempted? Yes. We’ve seen crazier things done that have been successful before. But I don’t think the proper safety precautions were taken. I think any stunts like this, or the Shawn Michaels glide to the ring, or Sting being lowered, or a WrestleMania moment should have so many safety precautions it’s horribly annoying. They should make it so freakin’ safe no chance of anything bad is possible.
Welcome to the site! Can’t wait to check out what you write about next. I like reading about the past and remembering how it’s affected things all the way up to now. Good job again.
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Thanks, brother! 🙂 And, out of respect to Hart, the should should have stopped. The only way a financial matter was involved was the lawsuit against the WWF’s poor work. On the harness, I mean.
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I still say WWE missied the boat with Jarrett after Owen’s death. They had mentioned how close they were, but kept Jarrett a hell. It would’ve been a perfect time for a face turn and the fans would’ve been on his side, knowing how hurt he was. The story writes itself.
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I agree with J and James, it was a better decision to let the show go on, I’m sure Owen would have wanted that, and I’m sure that if it happened to someone else that night that Owen himself would have continued with his match and probably would have gave it a 150% more effort to try ease the crowd back into the wrestling instead of what happened.
Also agree with James about giving your own feelings towards the subject you’re talking about. It’s a blog like site so it’s always good to give opinions. Your opinions can always be used as a hot potato in the comments.
Good first article; welcome to Wrestliiiiiiing Rambles!!
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Thanks, bro. And it might have been a better idea to stop the show, no reasonable management would have wanted the show to go on. Although, Owen may have would made the show go on, it would be a better idea to stop it after an event like that.
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*heel*
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Concerning whether they should’ve gone on or not, that’s a tough call. On the one hand, “the show must go on”. On the other hand, you know that lockerroom must’ve been going through hell and I’m sure it would’ve been hard to focus.
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Anybody hear the news today? All troops out of Iraq by year’s end.
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Really? US and UK forces? Where did you hear this?
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http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/21/world/meast/iraq-us-troops/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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I’ll believe it when I see it. I was a freshman in High School when the war started. My history teacher was a former Marine so once the war started, all he did was talk about the war for the rest of the school year. We did nothing else…just all about the war.
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I remember the buildup to it. When my mom was in therapy for some knee problems(2003), she mentioned that she didn’t like it and the people there treated her like shit.
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Time to pull out Sgt. Slaughter and Hacksaw again. Lol!
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Hey, nice write up mate, would of loved to read more of your thought on this!
This was a very emotional part of the pro wrestling wheel.
Also that is great news Capt. But like Tony said, i’ll believe it when I see it.
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I hope.
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Thanks, boss! I was looking forward to seeing your comment out of everyone! 😉
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I think they should’ve cancel the PPV. You don’t continue doing business doing something like that, could have continued the show the next night on RAW, or at the next PPV. There’s always controversy in the business, but IDK, this is too too personal. Great article and I like how you opened up a discussion on the board. Welcome to the site.
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Thanks, Luke. Your comment is very flattering. Glad you like my material. Because it’s every week now. 😉
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