Blog: Owen Was One of Those Friends

Special Celebrating Owen Blog Part 1

by Cassidy Ash

Part one of my series of blogs is about how Owen touched the lives of others.
Since Owen has been gone 14 years ago today I felt it was fitting to have some quotes and comments from 14 different people who knew or loved Owen Hart.There are many many more stories out there and more people who knew him but in the interest of not writing a novel here is a good assortment of stories!

Bret Hart: “My life has forever changed after losing you Owen, it’s been an incredibly sad and lonesome world without you and it surely can’t be fair that heaven is echoing in laughter at all the pranks being pulled on the rest of the Angels, and all of us here on earth are left with just our memories” ~From Bret’s Twitter May 23rd 2013

Kevin Nash: “I’m not saying this because he’s gone now, but when he was alive, nobody had a bad word to say about Owen,” Nash said. “Why Owen? He didn’t run around on his wife. He had beautiful kids. They must have needed a first-class angel up there because they got one.”

D’Lo “He was definitely the master of the practical joke. It didn’t matter what mood you were in. He could make you laugh.”

Mick Foley “He was the master. Out of respect you didn’t try to get Owen back. It was considered a compliment to be ribbed by Owen.” (Life and Death of Owen Hart DVD)

Debra who once managed Owen and Jarrett, says she remembers how much fun they had that night in Chicago.
“Owen was purposely wearing one boot that was different, just to see if anyone would notice,” she smiled. “I also remember that night because he drug out a bunch of coat hangers from under the ring, and he was beating up (Edge & Christian) with a coat hanger. I just remember laughing, it was fun.”

Matt Hardy “The night that I wrestled Owen Hart for the first time. I can’t say enough good things about Owen-he was so cool to me that night personally and professionally. The pair of “HITMAN” shades that I have around my neck in this pic were given to me by Owen that night after we wrestled.. It was the same pair of shades that he wore to the ring. It was my honor to be able to wrestle against such a great performer and human being that day.”

Shawn Michaels “Owen is the only guy you could have a 2-hour show for and no one would say a bad word about him.” ~From Shawn Michaels Book “Heartbreak and Triumph”

“Michaels also enjoyed working with the late Owen Hart. He feels that working with Owen was good because the two of them were able to do a variety of things in the ring without a lot of planning. “Owen and I always had a great time because he and I pretty much could do anything.”
~From Slam Wrestling Article (2001) http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBiosM/michaels_13aug01-can.html

Chris Jericho
“I was watching my weekly dose of Stampede Wrestling when a music video Bryan Adams’s “Heart on Fire” began to air. But instead of featuring clips of a pockmarked, greasy-haired, solidly built wrestler performing the most mind blowing, acrobatic moves I had ever seen…and I was completely blown away. The video continued and I watched in total astonishments this guy who couldn’t have been more than five years older than me executed moonsaults, back flips off the top rope and back flips off other wrestlers backs, and the grand finale where he grabbed a guy’s hand, leaped straight to the top rope, sat straight down on the top rope and flipped onto his feet, only to throw the other wrestler halfway across the ring! I was always more into the WWF like the British Bulldogs and Randy Savage, but they didn’t have anybody there who could do this type of stuff. When the video ended, the name appeared on the screen was Owen Hart, and he instantly became my new hero.”
~From his autobiography “A Lion’s Tale”

Jimmy Korderas
“Owen had this calming quality about him. He made everyone feel at ease. I was no different. We got along well right from the very beginning. Maybe it was because we were very close in age, or the fact that we both had an unusual sense of humour. It could have been simply that e were both Canadian and there seemed to be a different camaraderie among the Canuks in the WWF. It sort of exists even to this day. The honest truth is, sometimes you just can’t pinpoint one particular thing that makes people friends, and, in Owen’s case, there were just too many reasons to like the guy. “

“Owen Hart touched the lives of everyone he came in contact with. I felt honoured, humbled, and extremely lucky not only to have known and worked with Owen, but also to have considered him a friend. “
~From his autobiography My Life in Stripes as a WWE Referee

Arda Ocal “Owen Hart’s “King of Harts” shirt was the first WWE merch I ever bought. I can listen to stories of your ribs for hours. #May23 #RIPOwen ~Twitter

Billy Gunn
“Gunn remembers a time when he was watching Owen and Yokozuna take on the “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith and Lex Luger in a match during one of the Federation’s overseas tours. Luger and Smith had a long-time backstage rivalry over who was stronger, and Owen convinced them that they should both try to press-slam him during their match to determine the more powerful of the two.
During the match, Lex tried to pick Owen up, but Owen “dead-assed” him, and Luger couldn’t even pick him up. Eventually, Davey Boy tagged in; this time, Owen was a little more cooperative, and Davey picked him up as if he was light as a feather. Luger tagged back in later, and Owen again “dead-assed” him.
Davey was running around like a little kid, screaming, ‘I’m the strongest! I’m the strongest!’” Billy recalled. “I was just absolutely gut-rolling. Lex got so pissed!”
~From wrestling article WWE Superstars Remember Owen Hart

Edge
“There was a time when he and Jeff (Jarrett) brought clown noses to the ring,” Edge said. “Christian got Jeff in one corner and I got Owen in the other corner, and we started punching them. While we were punching them, they put the noses on. Then we threw them into each other, and when they collided, both noses just flew up in the air.

Jim Ross
“Owen was as warm-hearted as any human being I have ever known. He loved to laugh and he loved to make other people laugh. He had a great spirit, a good soul and a good heart.”

Jeff Jarrett
“In this business you have a lot of acquaintances but very few friends. Owen…he was one of those friends……Owen was truly for real. He was a man’s man. “
~From Interview on Raw is Owen