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wrestler, born May 7, 1965, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The
youngest of twelve children, Owen was one of six brothers
and four brothers-in-law in the Hart family to become
professional wrestlers. The Hart boys studied wrestling from
an early age in a basement studio under the watchful eye of
their father, Stu, himself a talented wrestler. Owen
wrestled at the amateur level and became a Canadian college
champion before making his professional debut in 1986 as
part of his father's Stampede Wrestling tour. After touring
in Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Canada, Hart entered the World
Wrestling Federation in 1988.
As “the Rocket” or “the Blue
Blazer,” Owen became a popular fixture in the WWF. His
fierce—although staged—rivalry with his older brother,
the five-time WWF champion Bret “the Hitman” Hart,
attracted viewers, as did their teaming up to form “the
Hart Foundation” in 1993. Individually, Owen won the King
of the Ring title in 1994 and the Intercontinental title in
1997. After Bret unofficially retired in late 1997, Owen was
the only remaining Hart on the professional wrestling scene.
Over the years, Hart became disenchanted
with the outrageous character of the WWF and especially with
federation owner Vince McMahon. In early 1999, he was
reportedly preparing to retire and spend more time with his
family—Hart had a son, Oje, and a daughter, Athena, with
his wife Martha. He thought of beginning a teaching career.
An accident during a pre-match publicity
stunt on May 23, 1999, at Kansas City's Kemper Arena put an
abrupt and tragic end to those hopes. In front of more than
16,000 fans—most of them totally unaware of the chilling
reality of what they were watching—Hart fell some ninety
feet from a cable affixed to the ceiling, hitting his head
on one of the wrestling ring’s padded turnbuckles. He was
later pronounced dead of internal bleeding. The
circumstances surrounding Hart’s death sparked much
discussion about the increasingly dangerous nature of the
WWF’s publicity tactics and provoked calls for some action
to be taken by the federation to protect its wrestlers.
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