Owen Hart may never join the WWE Hall of Fame, and that’s okay
Owen Hart’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame has been a topic for debate for decades now, but his widow Martha has every right to continue nixing such an idea.
This week marks the second season finale of Dark Side of the Ring and as with past episodes, there’s a heavy emphasis on the word “dark.” The finale covers one of the darkest days in professional wrestling that still leaves a stain on the business (well, at least on WWE specifically) to this very day: the death of Owen Hart.
The incident that took place at Over the Edge 1999 needs no introduction as we all should be aware of the horrible incident that took place. In short, the negligence and mismanagement of a stunt on behalf of WWE ending up costing Owen Hart his life.
It is for that very reason why his wife Martha Hart has refused to even entertain the notion of having him inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. And she has every right to refuse it.
If WWE themselves aren’t pushing the issue, it’s a conversation that gets sputtered out just about every year for the past two decades by wrestling fans themselves. Most fans don’t mean any harm in bringing it up. Most fans just want to see their favorite wrestler acknowledged and posthumously rewarded for the hard work he committed in a career spanning nearly 15 years on a platform that they think, on the surface.
But it’s much more complicated than that. The WWE Hall of Fame is also a means for WWE to make money. Even if there are kindhearted people behind the scenes who genuinely want to honor legends, WWE still benefit from the profits of a Hall of Fame ceremony.
Whether it be by boosting ticket sales from fans to the ceremony by placing Owen’s name on the ballot sheet, or producing documentaries and DVDs about Owen Hart, money is being made off of the late King of the Ring winner’s name. It’s not hard to see where Martha would take umbrage with WWE bringing his name back onto their television screens.
Beyond just what they do with his name brand with a Hall of Fame induction, we cannot ignore the simple fact that a stunt orchestrated by WWE directly led to Owen Hart’s death. Even worse, they continued the PPV after his death, despite even the wrestlers who wrestled afterwards feeling uncomfortable.
I feel like this CBS Sports (h/t WrestlingNews.Co) quote from Martha Hart summarizes that night in a nutshell:
"When Owen died, they scooped him out like a piece of garbage and they paraded wrestlers out to wrestle in a ring that had Owen’s blood, where the boards were broken from Owen’s fall and where the guys could feel the dip in the ring from where he fell. Just that disrespect and lack of respect for a human life that had just been lost."
We should all not only understand where Martha Hart is coming from, but also simply accept why Owen Hart could never and should never be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
While the HOF does include some of the greats of wrestling history, it should not be the end-all-be-all of validating a wrestling’s presence in wrestling lore. Owen Hart not being a Hall of Famer does not invalidate any of the tremendous work he did in his prime.
Not being in the WWE Hall of Fame does not suddenly erase matches against the likes of Bret Hart or Steve Austin, nor does it mean his work in NJPW against guys like Jushin “Thunder” Liger or Kuniaki Kobayashi. It doesn’t mean that he never won tag titles, the Intercontinental Championship, or King of the Ring. It doesn’t mean that the blood, sweat, and tears that Owen Hart poured across 15 years to entertain crowds is suddenly for naught.
It just means that he’ll never be in the WWE Hall of Fame, and that’s okay.
Next. The Revival backtrack after receiving cease and desist. dark
It doesn’t take away from his accolades or accomplishments and we’ll always have an incredible catalog of matches and promos to remember him by. There’s no need to have someone at a podium to tell us how great he was to remind us how great he was.
At risk of beating down an old cliche, Owen Hart was the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. And we’ll never forget it.