Martha Hart Issues Statement Over Mr. McMahon Docuseries & Still Continues to Hold WWE Responsible for Owen Hart’s Death

Netflix’s recently released Mr. McMahon docuseries featured a variety of topics about WWE and former WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon. One of the topics discussed included Owen Hart’s tragic death at WWE’s Over The Edge event in 1999. In response to Hart’s death during the show, McMahon stated in the series that “these people came to see a show. They didn’t come to see somebody die” for his reason why he did not cancel the rest of the show.

In a recent official statement to Daily Hive, Hart’s widow Martha Hart gave her thoughts about Netflix’s docuseries portrayal of her husband’s death and stated that she was not contacted by anyone involved in the making of the series for comment or to obtain an accurate perspective. Hart also stated that she still continues to hold WWE responsible for her husband’s death.

“Netflix’s Mr. McMahon documentary series portrays the death of my husband, Owen Hart, as a mere accident. 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. 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. As a result, the riggers used incorrect equipment that caused Owen to fall to his death. It was pure negligence that killed my husband.

What the documentary fails to mention is that the equipment used was never meant for a rappelling stunt. Instead, a harness meant for dragging stunt people behind cars on movie shoots was used with a sailboat clip meant to release on load with only six pounds of pressure. Had the WWE hired qualified riggers who followed proper protocol that included redundancy, as is typical practice, and used the correct equipment, Owen would not have died that night.

To be clear, no one involved in the making of this documentary attempted to contact me for comment or to obtain an accurate perspective. 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.”