On May 23rd 1999, the World Wrestling Federation aired ‘WWF Over the Edge 1999’ LIVE on PPV from the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.
This is the infamous pay-per-view during which Owen Hart passed away due to an accident, while making an entrance stunt from the arena rafters into the ring, but due to a malfunction he fell more than 70 feet into the ring and died.
Due to obvious circumstances, this event was never released on VHS or DVD, but can be found on the WWE Network, although without the accident & announcement of Owen’s death by Jim Ross.
After the PPV ended, Vince McMahon addressed the media. You can watch it below:
Vince McMahon addresses the media after WWF Over The Edge 1999, where Owen Hart died pic.twitter.com/G0SMGUI1Iu
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) May 23, 2024
On the season 2 episode of Dark Side of the Ring titled ‘The Final Days of Owen Hart’, legendary WWF play-by-play commentator Jim Ross revealed that Owen raised some concern about doing that unnecessary stunt, that ended up costing him his life.
Here’s what J.R. said:
“I had a feeling that day, that Owen was not his normal exuberant enthusiastic self about what he was doing that night.
I remember saying something like, you know ‘better you than me, I don’t like heights’. He said ‘I don’t either’.
I think he was a little concerned, and look, he’s the one who’s gotta do it. Nobody could do it for him. There’s no stunt double.
There’s a couple little things he said and maybe more specific what he didn’t say led me to believe that he’s not totally down with this thing.”
