Owen Hart

Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

He received most of his success in the WWF, where he wrestled under both his own name and the ring name The Blue Blazer.

A member of the Hart wrestling family, he was born in Calgary, Alberta, the youngest of twelve children of Stampede Wrestling promoters Stu and Helen Hart.

Owen was born on May 7, 1965, in Calgary, Alberta into the Hart wrestling family and was the youngest child of Stu and Helen Hart.

He grew up in a household with eleven older siblings: Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Ross and Diana.

He was of Greek descent through his maternal grandmother and Irish through his maternal grandfather.

His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent, but also had Scottish and German ancestry.

Because his mother, Helen, was born in New York, Hart held American citizenship in addition to Canadian citizenship, which he acquired due to birth in Canada to a Canadian-born father.

Hart first gained wrestling experience in the amateur wrestling division at high school, through which he met his wife, Martha.

Hart continued amateur wrestling for the Dinos at the University of Calgary.

He placed 4th at the 1984 Canada West championships in the 76 kg weight class.

Wrestling was not Hart's first choice for a career; as Martha explained in her book Broken Harts, Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling.

Owen is quoted as saying, in the WWE Home Video "Owen Hart of Gold" that "during his time in the University, he wrestled incognito (under a mask) as the original British Bulldog. Then, after he graduated from the University, he wrestled as "Bronco" Owen Hart at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. As those attempts were unsuccessful, Hart was trained in his father's Hart Dungeon and worked for his father's federation, Stampede Wrestling and in England for Max Crabtree's Joint Promotions in matches that got broadcast on ITV's World of Sport. He remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills. During 1986, Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship. The success of the team and Hart's in-ring skills earned him Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year Award in 1987.

After he and Bassarab lost the tag team title, he feuded with Johnny Smith and Dynamite Kid.

In 1987, Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on several tours.

In NJPW, he wrestled Keiichi Yamada, both before and after he debuted the Jushin Liger gimmick.

On May 27, 1988, Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the title.

His reign would end nearly a month later, as he lost the title to Shiro Koshinaka on June 24, 1988.

Hart's success in Japan and Stampede's working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the summer of 1988.

Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Hart's younger brother, the WWF decided to create a masked "superhero" type gimmick for him which played to his high-flying style.

He broke into the WWF as The Blue Blazer (initially The Blue Angel), with his early appearances seeing him defeat the likes of Terry Gibbs, Steve Lombardi and Barry Horowitz.

The Blue Blazer made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series '88, teaming with The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Brunzell and Sam Houston against The Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Outlaw Ron Bass, Bad News Brown and Dangerous Danny Davis.

The Blazer was eliminated by Valentine, but his team went on to win the match.

He continued to wrestle in the midcard, defeating enhancement talent but often falling short against other name talent; he lost to Ted DiBiase on the March 11, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XX and was defeated by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V.

Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without the Blue Blazer gimmick.

He also returned to Stampede, until it shut down in December 1989.

In 1990 he went to Germany and worked Catch Wrestling Association.

In 1991, Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a mascara contra mascara match against Mexican wrestler El Canek, and would not utilize the gimmick again until 1998.

He also returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

Hart debuted in World Championship Wrestling's self-titled TV show on March 16, 1991, the first of five TV matches he competed in, all of which were against preliminary talent such as Mark Kyle.

One of the bouts saw him team with Ricky Morton.

Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company's headquarters in Atlanta.

Instead, he signed with the WWF for a second time.

In the WWF the popular Hart Foundation, composed of his brother Bret and real-life brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, had split up; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly.

When Neidhart returned from a storyline injury, he joined Owen to form a team known as The New Foundation.

Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers.

Among other accolades, Owen was a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWF European Champion, and a four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion, as well as the 1994 WWF King of the Ring.

He headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF, and was widely regarded as one of the company's best in-ring performers.

Hart died on May 23, 1999, during his entrance from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

The equipment that was lowering him to the ring malfunctioned and he fell to his death in front of a live audience and live on Pay Per View during WWF's Over the Edge event.