Martha Hart, the widow of Alberta wrestling legend Owen Hart, son of the famous Hart wrestling family, is expressing her outrage at a new Netflix documentary which, she says, depicts her husband's death as being accidental.
Hart, who was 34-years-old at the time and a father of two young children, died on May 23, 1999, after falling 78 feet from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. The equipment that was lowering him to the ring for a match malfunctioned and he fell to his death in front of a live Pay-For-View audience.
Martha Hart, who still lives in the Calgary area, stated in a letter released to the general public on Friday that she was outraged by the claims made in the documentary Mr. McMahon.
"Netflix’s Mr. McMahon documentary series portrays the death of my husband, Owen Hart, as a mere accident," she states. "It also allows the disgraced former owner and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Vince McMahon, to claim that Owen’s death “wasn’t our fault.” Nothing could be further from the truth."
She goes on to state she feels WWE was directly culpable in her husband's death and negligent.
"The real truth is that on May 23rd, 1999, out of a desire to cut costs and achieve a ‘quick release’ effect that a rigging expert specifically warned against, WWE hired unqualified riggers to arrange a stunt in which Owen was to rappel from the rafters during a wrestling event," Hart states. "As a result, the riggers used incorrect equipment that caused Owen to fall to his death. It was pure negligence that killed my husband."
Hart's widow called WWE's ongoing denial of responsibility for her husband's death as being the utmost "callousness" on their part.
"The documentary underlines the callousness of Vince McMahon’s continuing the wrestling show that night after Owen died," she said. Before later adding: "I continue to hold WWE and its then-management responsible for Owen’s death. I refuse to let Vince McMahon or anyone else rewrite that history. Instead, I remain focused on honouring Owen’s legacy through the charitable good work of the Owen Hart Foundation and via the AEW Owen Hart Foundation Tournament."
In 2000, WWE wrestling concluded an $18 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit of Owen Hart. The money was entrusted to create the Owen Hart Foundation. The WWE has consistently blamed the harness maker for the premature death of Hart.