Over the Edge (1999)

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Over the Edge
Kemper Arena
Attendance16,472
Buy rate430,000[1]
Pay-per-view chronology
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Over the Edge chronology
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—

The 1999 Over the Edge was the second annual and final

event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE). It was held on May 23, 1999, at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The first Over the Edge event was held under the In Your House
series in May 1998, but following the discontinuation of the In Your House shows, a second Over the Edge event was scheduled as its own PPV, thus being the first former In Your House event to do so.

In the

Big Boss Man and the Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq
)).

The event is infamous for the fatal accident involving wrestler Owen Hart, who was scheduled to face The Godfather for the WWF Intercontinental Championship during the event. Wrestling under his Blue Blazer gimmick, Hart was to make a superhero-like ring entrance, which would have seen him descend from the arena rafters into the ring. He was, however, released prematurely when the harness line malfunctioned, and fell more than 78 feet (24 m) into the ring and died.

Criticism later arose over Vince McMahon's decision to continue the show after Hart's accident. In court, his widow Martha, children and parents sued the WWF, contending that poor planning of the dangerous stunt caused Hart's death. The WWF settled the case out of court, with the McMahon family paying US$18 million (equivalent to $32 million in 2023) to Hart's surviving family. Due to the accident and controversy surrounding the event, the Over the Edge name was retired and its PPV slot was replaced by Judgment Day in 2000. The event was also not released for home video viewing until the launch of the WWE Network in 2014, where an edited version of the show that displays a tribute to Hart at the beginning but otherwise removes any mention of his involvement was released.

Production

Background

World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE) in May 1995. The In Your House branding was retired following February 1999's St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House event, as the WWF moved to install permanent names for each of its monthly PPVs. The company then announced that Over the Edge would return on May 23, 1999, as its own PPV and would be held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.[2] It was the first of the In Your House events to be held as its own separate PPV.[3]

Storylines

Stone Cold Steve Austin as WWF Champion.

The main angle for Over the Edge continued the events that unfolded at

wrestling organization. His plans were thwarted, however, by the WWF Champion, Steve Austin, who rescued Stephanie and denied The Undertaker his ransom.[5] This set up a feud between the two wrestlers, which was settled in a title match at Over the Edge in which both Vince and his son Shane, who had aligned himself with The Undertaker, served as the guest referee.[6] Originally Shane had named himself the sole referee of the match, but WWF commissioner Shawn Michaels
made Vince the co-referee in order to level the playing field.

The WWF further hyped the rivalry between The Undertaker and Austin by having them attack each other on WWF programming prior to the showdown. On May 3, The Undertaker threw Austin off the stage, and two weeks later, the WWF Champion handcuffed his title's challenger to a crucifix, which was raised above the ring.[7][8]

Another feud culminating at Over the Edge involved Triple H and The Rock, who met each other in a match at the event.[6] Triple H had interfered in one of The Rock's matches,[9] and later threw him off the stage,[7] leading The Rock to wearing his (kayfabe) injured arm in a plaster cast. Shane, acting as co-owner of WWF and ally of Triple H, further aggrieved The Rock by forbidding him to wear the cast for Over the Edge.[10]

The PPV event contained the rivalry among two

eight-man elimination tag team match between both groups at Over the Edge.[10]

Event

Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
English
commentators
 Jim Ross
Jerry Lawler
Spanish commentators Carlos Cabrera
Hugo Savinovich
Interviewer
 Kevin Kelly
Michael Cole
Ring announcer Howard Finkel
Referees Mike Chioda
Earl Hebner
Theodore Long
Tim White
Jimmy Korderas

Before the PPV event began and aired

Mideon fought to a no-contest, when the Corporate Ministry attacked Vince and broke his ankle (kayfabe) in order to prevent him from refereeing the main event match.[13][14]

Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco.[15]

Preliminary matches

After Sunday Night Heat, the PPV event began with a tag team match, in which the

Hardcore Holly. Holly and Snow began their match in the ring but moved their brawl into the arena stands. From there, they proceeded to the backstage area, and into the concession stands before returning to the ring. The fight was decided when Snow lifted Holly onto his shoulders and threw him through a wooden table. Successfully covering and pinning Holly, Snow retained the WWF Hardcore Championship.[13]

Owen Hart fell to his death before his Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather

The next scheduled match was a singles match for the

Val Venis and Nicole Bass against Jeff Jarrett and Debra. At one point, Jarrett attempted to hit Bass with a guitar, but Venis took the guitar away, dropped Jarrett on the mat and pinned him.[16][17] In the fourth match of the evening, Billy Gunn defeated his former tag team partner Road Dogg, after hitting him with the time keeper's hammer.[13]

Main event matches

Bradshaw, a member of the Corporate Ministry

The fifth match was the eight-man elimination tag-team match between The Union (

Mandible claw.[13] It was at this point that the viewers at home were told by Jim Ross
that Owen Hart had died.

The final match on the

undercard pitted Triple H against The Rock. Triple H targeted The Rock's injured arm. Towards the end of the match, Triple H asked Chyna, his valet, to retrieve a folding chair. The referee, however, took it away from him, which led to an argument between Triple H and the referee; Triple H pushed down the referee, for which he was disqualified, giving The Rock the victory.[13] After the match, Mankind ran in to save The Rock from Triple H and Chyna.[13]

In the main event,

Pat Patterson, to prevent Shane from helping The Undertaker. Patterson, however, could not continue after the Undertaker chokeslammed him.[13] The Undertaker and Austin wrestled inconclusively until Austin hit The Undertaker on the head with a folding chair. As Austin went to cover the Undertaker, Gerald Brisco, another accomplice of Vince, came down to the ring to replace Patterson and counted the unsuccessful pinfall attempt by Austin. Like his partner Patterson, Brisco was attacked by the Undertaker.[13] Vince then came down to the ring to act as referee, but when Austin forcefully executed a stunner on the Undertaker, Shane prevented Vince from performing a three count.[13] As Vince, Shane and Austin, argued, Shane shoved Vince into Austin, who fell into a roll-up by The Undertaker. Shane performed a fast count to give Undertaker the victory and the WWF Championship.[13][18]

Owen Hart accident

This is not part of the entertainment tonight. This is as real as real can be here.

—

play-by-play commentator for the event[19]

When

Sting's ring entrance by descending from the arena rafters in a suspended harness, stopping a few feet above the floor, at which point the suspension mechanism would "malfunction" and drop him unceremoniously onto the ring.[21][22] The entrance was successfully tested on the November 15, 1998 episode of Sunday Night Heat (that year's Survivor Series pre-show) using a different harness configuration;[23] however, during his descent at Over the Edge, a cable disengaged from the safety vest he wore, and he fell more than 70 feet (21 m) from the rafters into the ring. As he fell, he landed chest-first on the top rope.[20]

The accident was not seen by television viewers. A pre-recorded promo and interview video was shown at the start of Hart's descent, and when the broadcast returned live, the cameras quickly turned away from the ring to the audience. Soon afterward,

Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.[24][27]

At 7:59

femoral line. After four minutes, he was still unresponsive. CPR was performed in the final few minutes of his life but the doctors determined that all resuscitation efforts were futile. Thirteen minutes after arriving at the medical center, 33 minutes after the fall, all work on Hart was stopped. At 8:12 P.M., Hart was pronounced dead at the age of 34.[27]
The cause of death was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt force trauma to the chest. The impact of Hart landing chest-first on the top rope severed his aorta, resulting in Hart bleeding to death internally just minutes later.

After the incident, the event was halted for 15 minutes, until Vince McMahon and other WWF Corporate officials decided to continue the event. Hart's coworkers, professional wrestlers, and other miscellaneous workers appeared somber after Hart's fall as they continued to perform.[24][28] An hour after the event restarted, Ross informed viewers that Hart had died. The fans in attendance were not told any information about what had happened to Hart, and they did not hear the announcement of his death.[29]

Here at Kansas City, tragedy befell the World Wrestling Federation and all of us. Owen Hart was set to make an entrance from the ceiling, and he fell from the ceiling. And I have the unfortunate responsibility to let everyone know that Owen Hart has died. Owen Hart has tragically died from that accident here tonight.

— Jim Ross, play-by-play commentator for the event, informing viewers of Owen Hart's death.[13]

Aftermath

After the event, in response to Owen Hart's death, the WWF canceled the encore presentation of Over the Edge via pay-per-view, and they also canceled four

Raw is Owen. For the WWF tribute show, all storylines and rivalries were stopped, and wrestlers were given the option to wrestle or not. The show also included interviews and testimonies from his coworkers and highlights of his professional wrestling career.[29]

Owen Hart's funeral service was held on May 31, 1999, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and it was attended by family members, friends, and over 300 wrestlers who were acquainted with him. Following the funeral, Hart was buried in Calgary's Queens Park Cemetery later that day.[34] Three weeks after the event, his widow, children, and parents sued the WWF for causing Owen's death with a poorly planned stunt; they claimed that the harness system was defective.[35] After the court case had extended one-and-a-half years, a settlement was reached on November 2, 2000, when the WWF agreed to pay his widow, children, and parents US$18 million.[36][37] The manufacturer of the harness system had also been named as a defendant in the case but was dismissed from the case after the settlement was reached.[35]

After Over the Edge,

Triple Threat Match, to earn a WWF Championship match against the Undertaker.[38] At King of the Ring, the Undertaker defeated The Rock to retain his title.[39] Steve Austin engaged in a rivalry with Vince and Shane McMahon in retaliation for their interference during his match at Over the Edge. Austin lost the match at King of the Ring, and his (kayfabe) 50% control in the WWF, but before that he scheduled himself in a title match against the Undertaker on June 28. Austin won the match and the title.[40] Eventually, a feud developed between Austin, Mankind, and Triple H over the WWF title, which led to a match at SummerSlam.[41] There, Mankind won the WWF title.[42]

Reactions

Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation received strong criticism for designing the stunt and allowing the event to continue after Owen Hart's fall. In his weekly column for the Calgary Sun—a major newspaper in Hart's hometown—on May 31, 1999, Bret Hart (who at the time had a very acrimonious relationship with the company due to the Montreal Screwjob a year and a half prior) blamed Vince McMahon for his brother's death. He "question[ed] if this was really necessary" and said, "Shame on you, Vince McMahon."[43] He also claimed that the tribute show "reeked of disrespect," stating, "Yes, the so-called tribute where afterward wrestlers point to their crotches and say: 'Suck it!' It makes me nauseous."[44] Bret Hart later stated that he wished he would have been in the WWF at the time, so he could've talked his brother out of doing the stunt.[45]

Other members of the Hart family also blamed Vince McMahon for Owen's death,[46] claiming that the accident was the inevitable outcome of "an obsession for ratings and revenues."[47] While in Calgary for Owen's funeral, wrestler Hulk Hogan stated, "Hopefully something good will happen. Wrestling's gotten … way too over the top".[48] In reference to McMahon, he added, "I hope he learns a lesson from this horrible accident".[48] Ralph Klein, the Premier of Alberta at the time, expressed a hope that Hart's death would lead to changes in wrestling, stating, "Maybe the various federations will rethink the gimmickry."[49]

Calgary Sun columnist Eric Francis called McMahon's decision to continue the event "sick, disrespectful and wrong. But what else would you expect from the WWF?"[50] He added, "if there's any justice in this world, McMahon will pay dearly for what his organization has done to further pain the Harts".[50] Some fans were also upset with the decision to carry on with the show. One man, who left the event with his children upon hearing that Hart had died, claimed, "It was disgusting. … For kids to see that, for this to be so-called family entertainment, for them to just carry on as if nothing had happened, is just sad."[51] Martha Hart, Owen's wife, refused to criticize McMahon publicly in the immediate aftermath of her husband's death. She said that McMahon "absolutely should be there" at the funeral.[46] She also stated, "I'm a very forgiving person and I'm not bitter or angry, but there will be a day of reckoning".[44] Commenting on the WWF's decision to continue the show after her husband's death, Martha stated, "After he lost his fight for life they just scooped him up and ordered the next match out. Where's the humanity? Would he have wanted the show to go on? Absolutely not."[52]

The WWF received some support from people who felt that the company did the right thing by continuing the event.

The Hart Foundation, died shortly before the Badd Blood: In Your House pay-per-view on which he was scheduled to perform in 1997. After learning of Pillman's death, both Bret and Owen Hart went ahead with their matches on the show. Russo claimed that this showed that "the night he passed away I'm sure Owen would have wanted the same thing."[53] Vince McMahon refused to comment on Hart's death until he felt sufficient time had passed. When asked if he felt responsible for the accident, he replied, "I have a lot to say and I will say it. I promise you that. But this is not the time to do it. … Give me a few days. Give me to the end of the week. Then we'll talk."[44] The day after Over the Edge, the WWF published a message in the Calgary Sun, stating, "We do not have much information as to how it happened and will not know until an investigation is completed. We are all shaken, and to say Owen will be missed is to fall short of a way to fully explain what he meant to us."[54] Although the WWF had no information, they reported that "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Hart family. We have to be strong for Owen; he was an extraordinary human being and consummate performer and knows that the highest tribute that we can pay is to go on entertaining the fans he loved so much."[55]

Reception

In 2013, Dylan Diot of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 4.5 [Poor], stating, "It's hard to review this event considering the circumstances involving the death of Owen Hart. The matches on this show weren't that good and the show looked like it wasn't going to be that good even before the Owen incident occurred. However, I can't fault the performance of anyone that had to follow Owen's accident as it is completely understandable that the guys did not have their hearts in the matches following the incident."[56]

Results

No.Results
special guest referee
22:58
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
H – the match was broadcast prior to the pay-per-view on Sunday Night Heat

References

  1. ^ "WWF PPV Statistics 1999". OSW Review. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  2. ASIN B00RWUNSRS
    .
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  9. ^ WWF Employees (1999-04-26). "WWF Raw is War: April 26, 1999 (#120)". WWF Raw is War. Season 3. Episode 120. USA Network.
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  16. ^ a b c "WrestleView: WWE FAQ". WrestleView. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  17. CNN Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original
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  48. ^ a b Maxell, Cameron (1999-05-31). "Hulkster's plea". Calgary Sun. Calgary, Alberta. p. 4.
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  56. ^ Diot, Dylan (October 28, 2013). "From the Shelf- WWF Over the Edge 1999". 411Mania. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
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