WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts has shared his opinion on Vince McMahon’s decision to continue the 1999 Over The Edge PPV following Owen Hart’s tragic death.
Roberts believes that Vince McMahon’s decision to not stop the Over The Edge PPV on the night of May 23, 1999, when Owen Hart passed away, was a huge mistake and disrespectful to his family.
On a recent episode of “The Snake Pit” featuring a Q&A, Roberts shared his thoughts on the tragic incident and stated that a death in the ring should stop everything out of respect for the person involved. Hart was supposed to face The Godfather, but he fell from high up in the area while rappelling to the ring.
Following the death of her husband, Hart’s widow, Dr. Martha Hart, cut ties with WWE and pro wrestling. She founded the Owen Hart Foundation in his honour, and it has been successful in carrying on his legacy.
Recently, AEW partnered with the foundation to create the Owen Hart Cup tournament, and the winner of the 2022 tournament, Adam Cole, revealed that the company’s reverence for Owen is genuine.
AEW has also featured Owen as a playable character in the recently-released AEW Fight Forever video game, making it the first time that he is a playable character since 2004 when he was a character in the game Showdown: Legend of Wrestling which was developed and published by Acclaim.
What Did Owen Hart Do In Wrestling?
Owen Hart was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and was a member of the legendary Hart family. He was the youngest of Stu and Helen’s twelve children and trained with his father Stu in the legendary Hart family dungeon.
At the beginning of his career, Hart wrestled for his father’s promotion Stampede Wrestling, as well as wrestling in the UK and Japan. Hart signed for Vince McMahon’s WWE in 1988 where he had a short stint with the company before leaving in 1989.
Hart returned to the WWE in 1991 and enjoyed a huge amount of success in his second run with the company, he had famous matches with his brother Bret Hart including a cage match which received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
Owen remained with the company despite the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” incident which saw most of his family members and friends leave the company to go and work for WCW. Owen continued to work for WWE until his tragic death at the young age of 34.