All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s02e10_English

♪

As a fan of Owen Hart,
pioneer of all pioneers...

You know, one of the best.

I knew that this guy
was gonna make it.

You can tell.

When I grew up, I wanted
to be just like Owen Heart.

He was really
the chosen one.

Owen, he just had
a very nice aura.

He was always just
trying to spread the joy.

And he was cast in
the role of a lifetime.

Owen Hart was a
naturally gifted wrestler.

He was born into a legendary wrestling dynasty,

but he put family
above all else.

Despite his
success in the ring,

he was always searching
for a way out of it.

On May 23rd, 1999,

during a live
Pay Per View event,

Owen Hart's hopes for a
life after wrestling

were tragically cut short.

Ladies and gentlemen,
when you're doing

live television, a lot of thingscan happen and

sometimes they are not good.

Is this really real?

And then I remember hearing
a gasp from the crowd.

It was shocking. Like, "What
do you mean, Owen fell?"

He goes, "Owen just fell!"

It was Owen. He was
like laying in the ring,

like, face up.

I just heard them screaming,
"It's not a fake!

Get a real EMT back here!"

If he fell,
he's gotta be dead.

Owen Hart fell from the
ceiling during an event

in Kansas City.

Someone doesn't just fall
from the top of an arena.

Something's wrong here.

Her husband flew to Kansas Cityto go to work and

never came home again.

Mere days after
Owen's death,

his widow Martha vows to
uncover what happened

that night in Kansas City.

There will be a day of
reckoning and this is

my final promise to Owen.

It was out of
respect for Owen.

I can't let everything
that our life was

just be all for nothing.

♪

-[singing] Happy birthday to you.
-Happy birthday to you...

From the earliest days of
professional wrestling,

it has been traditionally
a family business.

We are the greatest
combined force

in the World Wrestling
Federation!

Few compare to the impact of the Hart family in Calgary,

who has spawned generations
of in-ring icons.

Despite being the
youngest of 12 siblings,

Owen Hart was
considered a true prodigy.

Number 1, baby!

But with the circumstances
surrounding his death,

his legacy has
become more complex.

In this episode, his family
comes together to share

memories of the husband and father they lost all too soon.

I don't think you can talk
about pro wrestling history

and not incorporate
the Hart's into that

conversation very early.

I'm Jim Ross, 2007 member
of the WWE Hall of Fame,

the NWA Hall of Fame, and
The National Hall of Fame.

And, one of the athletesthat I worked with very closely

is the late, great
Owen Hart, one of the best.

Stu Hart had a dozen kids,

and all of the boys
became wrestlers,

and all the girls grew
up to marry wrestlers.

So, the extended Hart family
was almost 20 people

involved in the professional
wrestling industry.

I'm Jim Cornette.
For almost 40 years,

I've been a promoter,
a matchmaker, announcer,

manager, historian,

all things related
to professional wrestling,

and I also managed
Owen Hart.

The Hart family was almost a
dynasty in wrestling because

of the respect that Stu Hart
had as a promoter,

and the fact that when
the boys got started

becoming wrestlers,
they were all good.

And, the Hart family,
over a period of time,

became one of the royal familiesin professional wrestling.

It was like a nice Sopranos.

They didn't kill anybody,
but they stuck together and

they helped each other, and
everybody got a chance to

pick the brass ring off the
wrestling merry-go-round.

All of his sons began to wantto follow in his footsteps.

Bret Hart was, obviously,
the biggest star worldwide.

Some of the other sons -
Ross and Keith -

were stars as well.
And, then the son-in-laws,

Davey Boy Smith
"The British Bulldog",

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

So many of them got to be
stars that at one point,

there was a Hart
family member in

half the territories
in wrestling.

Owen was the youngest brotherto get involved in wrestling,

but when he started,
he was a prodigy, instantly.

Owen Hart, as a rookie,
he was spectacular.

His acrobatics were amazing.

He could flip
backwards off the ropes.

He could land on his
feet from every direction.

I saw this guy doing all of
these things I'd never

seen before: back flips
off of a guy's back,

he had blond hair,
he looked cool.

He kind of looked like a
bigger version of Johnny

from The Karate Kid.

I just thought,
I want to do this.

I want to do it
with that guy,

and I used to draw pictures
of me and Owen Hart as

the tag team
champions, in Stampede.

I just really was,
was influenced by him.

You could tell
Owen was a natural.

You didn't have
to teach him.

He'd already picked
it up by osmosis.

I'm thinking, within hours
of his debuting,

he's as good as
anybody in the territory.

You can see it.
Just get him in the game...

he's gonna be a star.
He was.

Please, Owen.
I'm gonna cut the tape.

No, hang on.

Well, why don't you say
something to the camera,

you egomaniac!

Hello there.
[laughs]

I am Martha Hart.

I am a doctor for the
University of Calgary and

Alberta Children's Hospital.

I'm the founder of the
Owen Hart Foundation

and I'm a mom.

That's my whole title.

I started dating
Owen when I was 15.

For me, he was just
very striking, you know,

he had this blond hair
and really well built,

and I thought he was a
bit of a scrapper because,

well, first of all,
he was an amateur wrestler.

But then, as it
turned out, you know,

he was actually quite a
gentle giant underneath.

He was a really secure,
grounded person.

Even though he ended up beinga very world famous wrestler,

he didn't feed off of
that fame.

He really wanted to have
this very normal life.

He wanted to have,
you know, a normal job.

He wanted the
white picket fence.

- Hi, Owen.
- Hi, Martha.

What ya doin'?

I'm just walking
with my boy Oje, here.

Owen was an amazing father.
He loved being a dad.

- Hi, Oje.
- Hi.

My childhood was phenomenal.

I loved every second.

I'm Oje Hart, and I
am Owen Hart's son.

My mom's love for my
father was unexampled.

They had the love that could
only get stronger with time.

I love trains. Trains are my
favorite thing on earth,

especially toy trains.
Every year,

a train show would
come to Calgary and

I only wanted to go with dad.

And, I remember he said
he was going somewhere,

like a big trip, but I think
what he did was

he actually rebooked it.

That was him stiff-armingthe show and saying, you know,

"Kids come first, and this
weekend I cannot miss.

And, this one's for my son."

But, I remember that
when he was there,

it was us there together,
and mom and Athena.

Athena, do you like that?

- Wee.
- Yeah.

Him taking me to the zoo.
That was, like, our thing.

And, I don't have
very many memories,

but that's like the one that'salways stuck and it's just,

yeah, it makes me
happy 'cause the short time

that we had together,
that was my favorite.

I went to school where my
dad went to school and so,

everyone always knew me as
the wrestler's daughter.

Hey, daddy wins.
Who did he beat?

Uncle Bret.
He turned his head!

Owen loved the
wrestling business.

He wasn't a lifer like
some of the other guys.

He wanted to save his money,
devote it to his family,

and get out at an early age.

At the age of 23,
Owen signs with the WWF,

where his older
brother, Bret,

is quickly rising through
the ranks as an

up and coming star.

I remember going to the
Winnipeg Arena to see a

WWF show and this guy comes tothe ring wearing -

I knew what Stampede Wrestlingtights looked like,

they had lightning bolts on
the side and three stars

on the ass, except
for he had a mask.

I'm like, wow,
I wonder if--

that guy looks like a
Stampede Wrestling guy.

Who is it? And then
he did the bum flip,

and I was like,
that's Owen Hart.

Owen had a
great personality,

but he didn't have an
over-the-top personality

that translated on
television for the style of

the WWF at the time.

By 1993, the Blue Blazer
persona is phased out,

and Owen enters a story line portraying Bret's jealous

little brother,
looking to prove himself.

Bret Hart, you're nothing
but a selfish person!

Your ego is too big!

You only worry
about yourself, Bret!

Their feud builds towards a
highly anticipated match

at WrestleMania X.

There's a lot of great
matches I would watch.

One of them would
definitely be in the Garden,

WrestleMania X,
Owen and Bret,

because here's the deal:
two brothers from Calgary,

two sizes, too hard,
came into New York city,

Madison Square Garden,the world's most famous arena,

and stole the show.
Bottom line.

- Oh, wow!
- [match bell]

I think it was a testament toBret that he went along with it

because it was really
designed to help Owen.

Owen wasn't over yet.
He was getting there,

he was getting the route.
Bret was the star.

Arguably, the biggest
star that we had.

So, Bret doing this was
really brotherly love.

He helped his brother
get recognized and

get the spotlight on him.

After his win
at WrestleMania,

Owen Hart comes
into his own,

achieving accolades beyond
the shadow of his brother.

But for Owen's family,
his growing success

means a more rigorous
travel schedule.

He was gone over
250 days a year,

and he would go ten days on
and then three days off.

Just on my way to go wrestle atthe Nashville Municipal party.

It was just a
revolving door of, you know,

he was home and thenhe was gone, and home and gone.

It's a rough life,
but one day I'll have,

hopefully, some money to pay
for all the aches and pains

that I've done and I can
enjoy myself at home with

my wife and family.

[Martha]
Hm, that's nice.

In 1997, Bret's controversial departure from the WWF

to rival company WCW shakes up the entire industry.

In an incident known as
The Montreal Screw Job,

Bret is stripped of his
championship belt following

creative differences
with the company.

Fans witness real life
backstage drama unfold

as Bret is left stunned
on live television.

The Montreal Screw Job was
a double cross on Bret Hart

and Bret was hot.
He was mad.

Even though Owen didn't
share the same sort of

philosophy or view of
wrestling that, you know,

Bret had, he knew it was
important to his brother,

so he knew his brother
was gonna be crushed.

So, soon as that happened,
he went right to the ring

and told Bret, "Don't worry
about it. It doesn't matter.

It's, you know,
it's all garbage anyway."

But for Bret, it was
a stab in the heart.

This thing was taking on a
life of its own and it was

starting to look bad and
reflect poorly on the WWF,

and they wanted to keep
one member of the family.

The fact that we knew Owen
was gonna be a star -

big star, not a star,
he was already a star -

but to get to the next level,we gave Owen a new contract.

You know, you get a
lot of people say,

"Oh, it had nothing
to do with Montreal."

Bullshit. It had a lot to do
with Montreal, come on.

But that's not bad,
it's just what it is.

We knew what we had, and
he was so motivated from

being Bret's little brother
to being Owen Hart.

And with Bret gone
to another team,

it helped facilitate that.

It has been said that
anything can happen here

in the World
Wrestling Federation,

but now more than ever,

truer words have
never been spoken.

Vince McMahon wantedwrestlers to start being actors

at this point, and he
couldn't understand why

they didn't want to
go along with it.

Because, the way that
wrestlers had always been

portrayed was, you're
not playing a character.

This is you.

Surely, the era of the
superhero who urged you to

say your prayers and take yourvitamins is definitely passé.

In the new entertainment,
Attitude Era,

they didn't know what to
do with Owen because

he was just a great
professional wrestler.

They kept trying to find
something to plug him into.

Well, let's get him in
an affair with somebody,

Debra McMichael.

Owen was the one guy that
was always pushing back,

you know, "I don't
want to do this angle.

I don't want to look like I'mcheating on my wife with Debra."

It was that tipping point thatwe reached at that time between,

we're not gonna use
great wrestlers just 'cause

they're great athletes and
they're great wrestlers.

They have to be willing to puton goofy outfits and do skits.

-[Commentator] Check this out.
-Owen Hart, man,

his, his head is not
in this at all.

So, that's why when they
came to him with a revival

of the Blue Blazer, as a
comedy gimmick, "Okay, sure.

At least that's not gonna
make my family look bad,"

right, it's just stupid.

[Commentator] Here it comes!
It's Owen Hart!

The Blazer is Owen Hart!

You got one of the top four
or five workers in the world

and you want to put him
under a mask,

an unknown mask,
the Blue Blazer.

-Didn't work.
-Bottom line is really simple:

creative couldn't find abetter idea to utilize one of

the best technical workers
in the entire world,

and I found that
to be embarrassing.

♪

[Narrator] In 1998,
the WWF reprises

the Blue Blazer character,
a campy superhero gimmick

Owen Hart portrayed
a decade earlier.

Take your vitamins,
say your prayers,

and drink your milk.
Woo!

They were also trying
to spoof Sting who was a

wrestler in the WCW and,
he would come down,

descend into the ring.

And so, I think they were
competing with WCW and that

was one way that they couldalmost make fun of them, too,

in a sense.

He's stuck. The idiot is
stuck in the harness.

The company that had riggedOwen was a top rigging company

that had rigged Elton John,
The Rolling Stones.

They also had worked for
Disney and MGM in Las Vegas

so, they, they
were really renowned.

You know, Owen didn't havecontrol over any of the stunt.

He was locked in with what they
call a locking carabiner,

which they feel is the only
safe apparatus to use

if you're doing
these types of descent.

He can't get out
of the harness!

This is nonsense!

Six months later, the aerial descent of the Blue Blazer

is revisited for an upcoming Pay Per View event

called Over the Edge.

Owen was on his way home.

He was just flying in and I
was literally just walking

out the door to go pick him upfrom the airport when I got

a call from someone that workedat the WWF and they said,

"Well, you know, we need to
get his measurements

for a vest because we're
doing this drop-in

this weekend in
Kansas City and,

we need to get his
measurements ASAP."

And, and I remember thinking,you just had him.

He was just with you guys.

Why didn't you just,
why didn't you get it?

And I asked her that,
and then, she said,

"Well, we just decided.
We just wrote it in."

So, I actually asked on
the phone about, you know,

who'd be rigging him and
the girl on the phone said,

"Oh, you know,
don't worry.

We have the top riggers
from LA coming in,

so don't worry about that.
Yeah, it's totally safe."

He never questioned,
ever, his safety because

he assumed that this
billion-dollar company was

certainly going to make sure
that they hired

the best in the business...

Which they did not.

Life on the road is
never-ending for Owen and

his family, and on
May 22nd, 1999,

he travels to Kansas City
for Over the Edge.

It was a Saturday
when he left.

He was rushing out
the door, you know,

just embarking on
another long,

10-day journey away from home.

He decided that he was gonna
take Oje to the airport and

he'd pick up my mom.

She'd drive Oje
back to the house.

It wasn't very common whereI would take dad to the airport,

but this occasion
was different.

And, the last thing
he said to me was, like,

"You look after your mom.

Take care of your mom and
take care of your sister."

And then, he was
walking in with his bag

over his shoulder
into the airport.

I wasn't sure
what that meant.

I honestly didn't
think anything of it.

Just seemed like
something you'd say

when you were saying goodbye.

My name is Jimmy Korderas
and I am a former referee

with the WWF, slash, WWE.

We got there,
we set up the ring.

We got our
match assignments,

which was Blue Blazer,
Owen, versus The Godfather.

They happened to be together
at ringside and I went over

and got with him,
got the finish to the match.

And, that was basically it.
It was business as usual.

I am The Godfather,
WWE Hall of Fame, Godfather.

I remember hanging
out with Owen that day.

We talked about the match,
we talked about the finish.

Just normal stuff,
hanging out.

We were sitting in the arena
and he said that he was

getting ready to
practice one of the things,

and he did that
and I watched him.

I had a feeling that day
that Owen was not his

normal, exuberant,
enthusiastic self about

what he was doing that night.

And I remember
saying something about,

-you know, "Better you than me.
-I don't like heights."

He said, "I don't either."

I think that he was a
little concerned and, look,

he's the one
that's gotta do it.

There's nobody that
can do it for him

'cause 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 nottotally down with this thing.

♪

On May 23rd, 1999,

Over the Edge takes
place at Kemper Arena

in Kansas City, Missouri.

The event plays to a sold
out crowd and airs live

to hundreds of
thousands at home.

In preparation for
his dramatic entrance,

Owen Hart makes his way
to the top of the arena.

That night, myself and Mark
Henry worked Kane and X-Pac

for the tag titles
in the first match,

and I believe Owen was like
the third or fourth match.

I remember talking
to Kane and X-Pac,

and seeing Owen walk by,and this was before our match.

From the rafters, Owen changes into his Blue Blazer costume,

and the rigging crew readies him for his descent.

We were
clearing out the ring.

I had my left hand on the toprope and I was kicking debris

out of the ring and I was
moving towards the corner.

At that time, there was a
promo playing on the screen

of the Blue Blazer.

Oh, The Godfather,
just saying his name

makes my blue blood boil!

Hanging in the air, over 80 feet above the ring,

he waits for his cue.

And then, here comes the
time for the entrances and

I'm looking at my monitor,
looking at my paper...

And all of a sudden,
Lawler gives me the elbow.

I looked up, and I just
caught Owen

come into my line of vision.

A blur, phoof.

♪

And, I just...

I thought I heard screaming.

And then, I felt something
brush against the side of

my head and my shoulder,
and at the same time,

the top rope that I washolding pulled out of my hand

and came back and, like,
jammed my fingers.

And, I'm thinking in my head,what the heck was that?

And when I turned
and looked, there was Owen.

He was like layingin the ring, like, face up and,

I just started
screaming for help.

I thought he hit theturnbuckle or the ring post...

'cause it really
sounded sick... sick, sick.

That's when, you know,things kind of went sideways.

Ah, the Blue Blazer as we know
is Owen Hart, was going to

make a very spectacular
superhero-like entrance from

the rafters, and something
went terribly wrong here.

I was watching
the Pay Per View,

as I did at the time, and thenthey go to Jim Ross and

Jerry Lawler, said that
Owen Hart has had

a bad fall or
whatever they said.

And, "We'll keep you posted."I'm like, "What?

What do you mean?"

And they're not
showing the ring.

-They're just panning the crowd.
-What's going on here?

I said, "Something's wrong."

I was at the gorilla station
behind the curtain and

somebody said, "Owen fell.
Owen just fell."

And I went, "Owen fell? What?"He goes, "Owen just fell!"

I kept getting these
alerts in my headset,

"We need another update,"

but I'm not getting any
updatable material.

And JR's, you know,filling time on live television

while a guy's laying
there in the ring, dying.

Well, it's one of the mostshocking things I've ever seen.

This is not a-- your typical
wrestling story line.

This is a real situation.

I said, "Fuck, I've never
seen anything like that...

not on any
wrestling program,

not on any
television program.

It's never happened before."

It was Jerry Lawler
who came back,

he came through the curtain,
and Jerry was,

he was as white as a ghost.
And his exact words were,

"I think he's dead."
And we're like, "Who?"

And he was like, "Owen."

And then it was
just like: [gasp]

Jerry Lawler back
joining me here.

King, I was just
reiterating to the fans

this is not a part of the show.

We're here to
entertain and have fun,

but this is neither.

No, it's...
it doesn't look good at all.

I knew something was
wrong because Lawler,

his face just
became ashen white.

Like he had just seen death.

And, they wheeled Owen past usto go to the ambulance and...

♪

[sighs]

♪

That's, that's not even an
image I want to even

bring up in my head anymore.
Just, it's...

that was not what
I wanted to see.

When they wheeled him
through the curtain and

-they put him in the ambulance,
-I remember just being in shock.

When they did
wheel him back,

he was like blue,
and I remember that.

And I remember crying too.

They didn't want to
stop the show so,

Jeff Jarrett, who was
real close with Owen,

did a promo
and he was in tears.

Owen Hart,
I'm praying for you, buddy.

And I am, too.

In the chaos, Kevin Dunn,
Executive Producer,

thought that I
had been told that,

what the deal was.

And, I said, "Kevin,
nobody's told us anything.

What is the update?"
And he said...

"He's dead.
And you're back in 10, 9..."

[cheering]

And, I have the...

unfortunate responsibility
of letting everyone know

that Owen Hart has died.

Owen Hart has tragically
died from that accident...

here tonight.

On the camera,
what people saw,

was a result of 10 seconds
of preparation.

Didn't know what to say.
And it wasn't story line.

I got very numb
after that night.

My hands were shaking,
my stomach was hurting.

I was just, I was...
damn, man.

And they went on
with the show.

When Owen was-- Shit.

♪

When Owen was falling,
everybody that was there

said the last thing that
he yelled was, "Look out."

A guy's falling from 100 feet,and he knows he's done,

and the last thing
he's thinking is, "Look out.

I don't want to hurt you."
You know, that's--

It was fucking foolish,
it was unnecessary.

It didn't need to happen.

♪

[Narrator] During a live
Pay Per View event,

Owen Hart was set to make
a dramatic entrance

from the rafters of
Kemper Arena...

when something would
go terribly wrong.

The phone rang and it said,
"Unknown Caller,"

which was always like
kind of code for, like,

that's Owen on,
on the road.

And so, then I picked it up ina hurry and I was like, "Hello?"

And then, you know, I heard
this voice, like, "Martha?"

And I said, "Owen!"
And then he said,

"No, this isn't Owen.
This is Vince McMahon."

You know, Owen was
such a prankster,

and I'm like, "Oh, Owen..."

And he's like, "No, it,
it's Vince McMahon."

And then he said,
"I'm calling you because,

you know, I have to tell
you that Owen's had a fall."

"Well, what do you mean?"
Like, "How far did he fall?

What's wrong with him?
Is he conscious?"

Like, and then he was like,"I don't know. I don't know."

"Well, I need to talk
to somebody

who's got some answers."
And so, then he said,

"Well, someone will be
calling you right away."

Then, the next call that I
got was from the doctor from

the Truman Medical Centre.
So, the doctor, you know...

♪

So, the doctor, he said,

"Are you home alone?"
And I said, "Yes."

And, he said,
"Well, you know...

we should really fly youdown to get this kind of news."

And, you know, he was
kind of going through all of

these details, and then,
I said to him,

"You know, doctor, could you
just get to the end and just

tell me what the
end result is?"

And he said...

"I, I tried. I did everything Icould to save his life,

but I couldn't."

He said, "I'm so sorry,
but your husband has died."

And then, I just, you know,
I just doubled over and

I just screamed, "No, no, no!"

You know, of course all the
"no's" in the world

weren't going to
change anything.

[Owen] Whose belt is that, Oje?[Oje] Dad's.

-[Owen] Dad's. And what is it?
-What kind of belt?

[Oje] Champion belt.
[Owen] Champion belt.

World Tag Team Champion.

My memory of May 23rd begins
in my basement of my house.

♪

I was with my one neighbor
and they said

my mom was crying,
and really crying.

And I was like, "Well, what
is my mom crying about?"

And, she said... I don't
know why your mom's crying,

but she's crying a lot.

I went upstairs and I
opened the door and

I walked through the foyer
and into the kitchen,

and there my mom
was screaming,

"What am I going to do?"

And, I really did not have
any conclusions drawn about

why she was so
hysterically sad.

[Martha] And I just remember,like, it was just such a

moment of truth where, I just,like, saw so clearly like

there were just two
paths in front of me.

One total destruction and
one of like reconstruction,

you know, and I was like,
I can't let this destroy

everything that
we've worked for and,

and let everything
fall apart.

You know, all I could
think of were Oje and Athena

because I was like,
their whole lives are

gonna be different now and
all they have is me.

That's it. They're three and
seven years old so,

I need to make sure that,
you know, somehow,

I survive for them.

[Oje] Then, mom has to take meupstairs 'cause it's bedtime.

And, we sit at thefoot of the bed, on the side.

Nobody prepares for this,
but she did it.

And, she said,
"Your dad's dead."

She said, "He's died.

He fell and he died,but he didn't feel any pain."

[sighs]

That memory has played in
my mind millions of times.

I remember that night,
all three of us slept in

the same bed and I just
looked at the roof.

[sighs]

I just looked at
the roof and

I tried not to hear
my mom sniffling.

I don't think either
of us slept that night.

Martha and her family begin
to make final preparations

as Owen's body is
transported to Calgary.

I remember the
funeral director saying,

you know, "Are you ready?
Are you ready?"

And I said,
"Yep, I'm ready."

Soon as he opened the door,
I just remembered being

absolutely horrified by
what Owen looked like.

I screamed so loud and
I tried to run away,

and Bret just bear hugged me
and then we just sort of

did this weird little, like,inch dance towards the casket.

And then, you know, I just
took it all in and then

I was comforted by his hair'cause his hair was the same,

and then, I just thought,
"Oh, you know what,

the person that I loved in life,you know, I loved in death too."

And then I just
wasn't afraid anymore.

On May 31st, 1999,
Owen Hart is laid to rest.

[News] Owen Hart, known as theBlue Blazer in the ring,

was killed last week when a
stunt went horribly wrong

at a match in Missouri.

Taking part in a tearful
farewell were the

sports' superstars, politicians,and a huge crowd of fans.

We were riding in the
funeral procession and there

were Canadians pulled off
on the side of the road,

letting us pass,like Owen was a head of state.

It was amazing to see how
revered he was in that town,

in that country,
and in our business.

There were so many people
that came to the service and

we didn't have room
for everybody inside,

but there were over
1,000 people outside of

the funeral home just to listen.

We, we broadcast it, we pipedit out through speakers.

[Martha at funeral] I am a
very forgiving person,

and I'm not bitter or angry.
[sniffles]

But there will be a
day of reckoning,

and this is my
final promise to Owen.

[Martha] When you live in a
world of make believe and

something so real happens,you want to hammer that home.

Although I didn't know exactly
what had happened yet,

that I was gonna
get to the bottom of it,

and that I would have
my day of reckoning.

♪

After Owen Hart's funeral,
his widow, Martha,

travels to Kansas City to
try and piece together

the events surrounding
her husband's death.

I saw my mom transform into acompletely different person,

but she became
a fighter.

That means I have to
go to Kansas City,

I have to see the arena
that he plummeted in.

We actually went
up on the catwalk.

[Oje] She needed to
see it firsthand.

She needed to,
as hard as it was, to know.

And she had to go and take usso that we would never

have to wonder, and that
we would never grow old

or thinking,
"Ah, if only I'd known."

[Martha] I really didn't want toleave any stone unturned so,

I consciously chose to go on
that catwalk and to walk to

the exact spot
where he fell.

From my understanding,
Owen had to make his way

down that little catwalk
to get to the point

where he needed to be.
We walked right to the spot.

You're literally right
at the top of the arena.

[Oje] And when I looked
over that cliff,

into the abyss
down below, I saw...

Distance between where
we were and the ground,

and knowing that
he just, like,

that he went out there.

I can't even imagine the fearthat he would have been

feeling in those
final minutes, like,

those seconds,
but still not forfeiting the

opportunity to bring us
the life that we had.

So, ultimate sacrifice.

[Martha] It was, you know,
very disheartening for me

to know that that's the last
things that he saw,

and how hopeless that
feeling would have been

to know that there's
nothing you could do.

Your life was over
and you knew it.

I have all these nagging
suspicions that, you know,

Owen was the mostcautious person I'd ever known.

He'd never take, you know,any sort of uncalculated risk

and, how did
this happen?

There must be
negligence, like, you know,

someone doesn't just fall
from the top of an arena

and die and,
something went wrong.

Like,
something's wrong here.

And so, what evidence did theKansas City policy show you?

They brought everything in andthey put it all out on a table.

And, then we kind of wentthrough everything slowly and

that's the first
time that I saw the clip.

This is some of the
legal documents and...

this is actually
the clip that...

held Owen.

This is the actual clip.

It's a clip meant for the
sole use of sail boats.

And, how it's designed is,
it's designed to release

on load so, when you
have a load on it,

and then,
when you just click it,

then it just opens -[snaps] - it opens immediately

because the design is to let
the mast down on a sailboat.

It's this quick
release right here,

six pounds of pressure
to release it, like that.

That's it. This is what
was holding him,

-this little thing right there.
-That's it.

When I first saw the clip,the very first time, I gasped.

And, I... was so upset.

It was just appalling.

We looked at statement to
really piece together

what we felt Owen's
last day was like.

Just hours before the Over the Edge Pay Per View event,

Owen was approached by the riggers to rehearse the stunt.

They had approached Owen and
asked him to do a rehearsal

and then he said,"No, it's okay. I, I got it."

Bobby Talbert said, "Well,
but it's a different setup,"

and so, Owen said, "Okay."

To my understanding,
they did it.

I don't know, to this day,
if they did it with the

quick snap shackle or
the locking carabiner.

I have a sense that it was a
locking carabiner because

he didn't release himself.

The way Owen had
been rigged previously,

they felt, was--
looked a bit clumsy,

a bit sloppy and,
what they wanted was this,

[snaps]
like, quick release.

Like, soon as you hit the
ground you just unrelease

and you're ready
to go, immediately.

And so,
that's what they wanted.

It was to save, like,
two seconds of the setup.

Bobby Talbert should
have never been

-in charge of rigging anybody.
-He had no experience.

[Producer] Do you remember
what you came to learn were

the rigger's final
instructions to Owen?

They said, "As long as
you don't pull this cord,

you'll be okay."

And, he never
pulled the cord.

After I'd gathered enough
information about

what had happened, I was so
firm in my belief that

there was absolute
negligence involved,

hand over first.

Everything was
pointing in that direction.

With my full authority,
my legal counsel filed a

wrongful death
lawsuit against WWF,

Vince McMahon, and all
others I believe are

responsible for my
husband's death.

I was suing Vince
in Kansas City,

and he wanted the case moved
to Connecticut because

in Connecticut, there are no
punitive damages awarded.

He chose to sue me,
the widow,

which caused a lot of grief.

And on top of it, he was
manipulating Owen's family.

There were some people in
the family that were for it,

and some people
that were against it

when the lawsuit came up.

I'm sure a lot of shock and
trepidation amongst the core

Hart family that you can't
sue the most powerful man

in wrestling because
their, their family life had

centered around
professional wrestling.

And, there was still a lot ofother people in the family

that probably thought
that Vince McMahon was gonna

be good to them
in the future.

[Martha] The Hart family,
they were...

not supportive of my
lawsuit against WWF.

Some members were silent.

And then, other ones
actively worked against me,

stealing my legal documents,
giving them to the defense.

So, they basically
had our playbook.

So, that was very
heartbreaking for me,

you know, because
I said to them, you know,

"You don't have
to support me,

but please just
don't work against me."

First of all,
I resent your tone.

No, no, I resent
your tone, lady, okay.

You know, this was
a tragic accident.

Her fight for justice
was an uphill battle,

to say the least, a real
David and Goliath story.

I do think that the measurableneglect that had to go into

something so catastrophic
cannot be overlooked.

This tragedy is the magnitudeat which it's at because

it was completely preventable.

This was a guy
who was 240 pounds.

There could have been a
rigging team that knew

what they were doing,
and they didn't because

it was more expensive.

♪

[Narrator] After a
year-long legal battle

between Martha Hart and the WWF,

a settlement is reached in
the amount of $18 million.

For me, I didn't
care about the money.

It wasn't about
money for me.

I wanted this
case to go to trial.

That was my biggest,
you know,

thrust from start to finish wasthat I didn't want a settlement.

I was looking for justice.

I was looking for
accountability.

All my mom was trying to
do was preserve the dignity

that my dad had,
and give her kids

the best life they could have.

The settlement
provides some closure,

but the WWF's decision to
continue the show after

Owen's fatal fall remains
controversial to this day.

How did this happen?
He didn't commit suicide.

Was their foul play?
Is it an accident?

We don't know so,leave everything the way it is

'til we figure this out.

No, we'll just go ahead andhave four or five more matches.

That they didn't stop
Kansas City was bullshit.

The fact that Vince just
discarded Owen like he was a

piece of garbage and scraped
his dead body off the mat

and sent wrestlers out to
wrestler on a ring

where Owen's blood was...

And, it even had
broken some of the boards,

Owen's fall, so there
was a dip in the ring,

and they could
feel where he fell.

The police should
have stopped the show,

and they should have
investigated immediately.

This was a
potential crime scene.

There's been a
death here and, you know,

we can't just let
the show go on.

There's nothing that
I've ever experienced that

compares to Owen Hart's
death and having to

live with it every day since.

It was the worst moment
of my wrestling career.

Maybe the worst
moment of my life.

Here's a vibrant guy that
died unnecessarily before

he could ever get to the
thick of his career,

who had a
beautiful family and,

and a wonderful mum and
dad who are so proud of him

because the youngest Harthad stepped away from the pack

and he had
made his own way,

with his own style,
his own uniqueness,

and they were
all proud of him.

He was popular
everywhere he went,

kind of introduced
this high flying style

all around the world.
He was a pioneer.

He could be serious,
he could be funny.

He could be a
technician in the ring,

he could be a high flyer
in the ring.

He was great at everything.

Had Owen not died in '99,
even though he was getting a

little bit disenfranchised
with the wrestling business,

think about who was coming
into the business and

coming into WWE at that time.

In less than a year,
Guererro was there,

Malenka was there,
Edge, Christian, Kurt Angle.

Owen would have had a huge
career resurgence because

I don't think anybody
could keep up with him

in the WWE in 1999.

We'll never know how great
he could have been

'cause he was just
approaching that place

when he fell from the skies
in Kansas City.

If a guy like me is
in the Hall of Fame,

there's no damn way thatOwen Hart shouldn't be in ten.

Owen Hart should be in everywrestling Hall of Fame there is

because of his talent and
because he belonged there,

but he's not in the Hall of Famebecause his wife does not

want him celebrated
and glorified by the

same company that took
him away from her.

[Martha] I would never allow forOwen to be recognized by

a company that actually is
responsible for his death.

[Oje]
I, I would never let the...

WWE put his name on
a piece of silver and

say that they, they got that.

We have built a foundationthat helps put people in homes,

that helps single
moms like my mom was,

that let kids go to school.

This is all done
in his namesake.

This has all got Owen Hart
written all over it.

This is how communities,
this is how people, society,

remembers him, and that's howwe want it to be done.

Yeah, he was a wrestler,
but other than that,

he was bigger than that.

That was just
part of what he was.

I want to wish everyone a
Merry Christmas and

we're very grateful that we
are as fortunate as we...

have everything that
we could ever ask for,

and most importantly, our healthand our happiness together.

I feel like if my dad had
never been in wrestling,

he'd still be here.

And so, I've alwaysblamed, like, wrestling for not,

like, everything
that's happened.

It's just all
wrestling's fault.

If it never would
have caught his eye,

he would have done
something else and then...

we would have
all been together.

And when I think of him,
I just think happy trails.

And, I would have really likedto have had you around.

- Merry Christmas, Oje.
- Merry Christmas, Dad!

It would have
been a lot of fun.

It was fun.
Thanks for that.

[sighs]

There was one person
that always believed in me,

and that was Owen.

And I think he'd be so thrilledthat Oje is a lawyer and

that he's gonna
pursue human rights law,

and that Athena's a
journalism graduate and

is pursuing that.

When you lose
someone that you love,

because you still have
all that love for them,

I took all that love that
I had for Owen and

I created the
Owen Hart Foundation.

Our message is that,
you know, be kind to people.

Life is hard and everything
we do through the foundation

is a reflection of the
type of person that he was,

his generosity of spirit and
the kindness that he exuded.

So, I think...

he would be, you know,
clapping and applauding me,

up there in heaven,
and saying,

"Well done, you."