Owen Hart Memorial RAW
by Sean Swift

Dear Friends:

In light of recent events, I would like to mention that this review was written quite a long time ago, but was postponed due to DJC's absence. When I found that the site would be updated soon (including this very review), I felt that it would not only be appropriate, but necessary to explain something that needs to be said. While I still find the death of Owen Hart to be a tragedy and a low point of professional wrestling, I am only all too aware that the death of one man (albeit a great one, by all accounts) pales in comparison to the horrifying atrocity committed against all of us. Just please keep that in mind as you read this. Now, please enjoy, and wish and hope for not just America, but all seven billion or so of us that inhabit this planet (minus those repsonsible for this, of course).

You know, some people might wonder why I review this, after many have perhaps forgotten about the man to whom this Raw was dedicated to. That, right there, should answer your question. It's been over two years since Owen passed on...hard to believe, isn't it? And, I'll tell you something...I still miss Owen. I'm not going to be like one of those idiots that talk about Owen as if they were close, personal friends with him. I can't say I miss Owen because of how nice a guy he was, or how good of a father he was, or anything like that. I simply miss Owen as a wrestler. It disgusts me that so many untalented slugs are working in the same ring that he used to perform in. Basically, this is just my way of perhaps returning Owen to people's consciousness, if only for at least one more passing thought.

One final note before I begin: My thanks go to Wrestleline's Denny Burkholder for sending me the tape with this on it. Out of the 24 hours of stuff he sent, this was the 2 that I really wanted. Thanks, dog!

The Owen Hart Memorial Raw: 5/24/99 Kiel Center, St. Louis

The show starts with a somber JR informing us again of Owen's death the night before. The WWF roster has amassed on the stage, in a typical (but still classy) show of respect. However, there's one thing I have a huge problem with here. Guess who is front and center? If you said the McMahons, then give yourself a pat on the back. I disagree with those that say McMahon killed Owen, but on the other hand, I agree with those who say he just should have stopped the goddamn show. The mentality of "the show must go on" is fine if someone breaks a leg, or there's a fight in the stands, or whatever. But, a performer died that night. To me, that's crossing the line. And, for Vince to be out there at the vanguard of the roster directly after that show of disrespect is simply a second one added to the first. After an Owen chant from the fans, Finkel asks for a 10-bell salute. Except for a few random idiots, the crowd is silent.

Next comes a video tribute to Owen. Vince provides the voiceover, which serves to irritate me more. They should have had Mick or another of his close friends do the honors. Other than that, though, it was quite serviceable. By the way, if you're wondering, the author didn't get through it with dry eyes.

At the least, they start with Mick Foley in the video vignettes. He talks about his son's love for Owen, and then goes into basically what he said in Have A Nice Day.

Commercials.

Jarrett comes out for his match, and simply says that Owen wasn't a nugget.

1. Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) vs. Test Some timeline help for you. Debra was the Women's champion, and Test was representing the Union. Jarrett jumps him right off the bat, but Test comes back with the big boot and a fireman's carry flapjack (why doesn't he do stuff like that anymore?). He continues the assault with some usual power stuff. Jarrett gets the boot up on a top-rope move, though, and hits a single-arm DDT. Test hits a Doctor bomb, but gets distracted by Debra. She slaps him, allowing Jarrett to hit the Stroke. In honor of his tag partner, the Sharpshooter finishes at 2:40.

Mark Henry reads a poem.

Commercials.

Droz talks about Owen the prankster, then mentions the irony of a wrestler who loved to wrestle dying in a wrestling ring. Sadly, the same irony would visit him not too much later...at least he's still alive, though.

2. X-Pac/Kane vs. Edge/Gangrel Yes, that was a huge face pop for X-Pac. The other thing I note is that as someone who's a bit of a goth-boy himself, I really, REALLY miss the Brood's music and entrance. THAT is how you come to the ring. Edge and X-Pac kick it off. An Edge leg lariat wins the opening sequence. X-Pac returns the favor in the second chain with a spin kick. Both guys tag out. Kane no-sells a double-DDT from the Brood, then cleans house on both guys. Kane thankfully tags back out, and a Brood beatdown seemingly leads to a face-in-peril bit. A few nanoseconds later, X-Pac's spin kick goes into a Race to Tag. Again, Kane takes on everyone by himself. Bronco Buster for Edge, chokeslam for Gangrel, and their usual finish (Kane press slams X-Pac onto the opponent) keeps Gangrel down at 4:00. It would have been a better match without Kane, but what can you do?

Chyna shares her memories, including their contest to see who can get their hair to do crazier things. Triple H pauses a long time, then says how in this business, you often see the worst of everyone and everything, but Owen was always one of the best. He tells a story from the Royal Rumble where Owen got him in a backslide and wouldn't let him out.

Commercials.

Dave Hebner describes Owen as a special person, and talks about how he always kept everyone up. He remembers how Owen used to tie his shoes together when he went down to make a count.

3. Hardy Boyz (w/Michael Hayes and old music) vs. Kaientai The Hardyz win the opening brawl, but TAKA comes back with a vicious spinebuster on Matt. Ahh...the KDX camel clutch dropkick spot. Matt counters a Tornado DDT attempt, and tags in Jeff. He draws TAKA to the outside, and nails a baseball slide, followed with the Swanton Bomb to the outside (I don't think it was his finish then). Poetry in Motion is followed with a double-flapjack. Jeff misses a corkscrew moonsault, allowing TAKA to hit the Michinoku Driver. Tag to Funaki, who takes out both Hardyz. Matt clotheslines Funaki to the outside, right into the arms of Hayes. In a neat spot, he whips Funaki into the path of a springboard dropkick from Jeff. TAKA, though, is right there with a springboard plancha, wiping out both Matt and Jeff. Back in, Matt hits the Twist of Fate on Funaki out of nowhere to win at 3:18. Best match of the night by far.

Bruce Pritchard shares his thoughts.

Commercials.

Dustin Runnels talks about Owen the family man and prankster. Then, he remembers how every time they went to Kansas City, they went to Harley Race's place for chili. One time, Owen dumped a whole bottle of hot sauce into the chili. Harley pulls out a stun-gun, and scared the crap out of him.

4. Ken Shamrock vs. Hardcore Holly Shamrock starts quickly, hitting a Northern Lights suplex for 2. They do some chain wrestling, culminating in a suprisingly good rolling cradle by Shamrock for another 2. Holly abandons wrestling for brawling, but again, Shamrock is too much for him, getting a flying forearm, leg lariat, and hurricanrana in quick succession. Shamrock goes to a Fujiwara armbar, but a second later, switches to the anklelock. Holly taps at 1:48. This was a decent squash, but it could have been quite good if Holly had gotten any offense.

Faarooq runs through his thoughts very quickly, but does bring up what a lot of people probably don't realize...when these guys leave their families go out onto the road, the rest of the people in the locker room become your other family...so, they lost a family member when Owen died.

Commercials.

Test tells a story from a double-shot in Chicago. Bad weather cancelled the first show, and when they were waiting to hear if the second was cancelled, he got a call from someone saying he was the head guy at the stadium where they were supposed to be wrestling. He said that he heard that Test was the guy to talk to, and after repeated attempts to convince him otherwise, the last words the guy said were "Well, I'll tell them Test said to cancel the show." The next morning, of course, he found it was Owen. He thanks Owen for the memories.

5. Mankind vs. Mr. Ass Like I did with Chyna, I'll refrain from Billy Gunn jokes. "If you're not down with Owen Hart, I've got two words for you...suck it!" Well, the spirit was there. JR talks about how Owen stole his hat three straight shows while the combatants lock up. Gunn throws lots of punches, and then moons Mankind. Hey, let's honor Owen by showing everyone my ass! Jerkoff. Anyway, Mankind fires back, and a Cactus clothesline sends Gunn out. Gunn comes back with a dropkick to the knee, and goes to work on it. He gets a chair, but Mankind is putting on the sock in the meantime. Mankind wins the race, and despite the fact that Gunn was on the outside, they still count the submission at 3:00. Mick gets the mike, and dedicates the win to Owen.

Jeff Jarrett talks about how there's a lot of acquaintances, but very few friends in the wrestling business. He says Owen was one of the friends, and that he saw him more than his family. "Now that he's gone, you look at it almost selfishly. I don't have my buddy and my friend with me anymore." He said the business is cold, self-serving, and a fantasy world, but Owen was real, and a man's man. He says integrity in the business is few and far between, and also talks about what he meant to his family and the locker room. He promises that he'll let Owen's kids know what their father was like.

Commercials.

Edge talks about how Owen was the leader of "The Canadian Mafia", and how he was a guru to him. He smiles when he thinks of Owen. He wrestled Owen in his last match (Edge and Christian vs. Owen and Jeff Jarrett, and shares his thoughts about wrestling him all over the world.

6. D'Lo Brown/Mark Henry (w/Ivory) vs. The Acolytes JR brings up the Nation connection between Faarooq and Henry. Faarooq clips Henry's leg, but is caught with a powerslam. Tag to D'Lo, who runs into a jawbreaker, allowing Bradshaw to come in. Bradshaw dominates for a while, even hitting a Russian legsweep for 2. Meanwhile, the announcers discuss how Owen just laughed while Bradshaw and Steve Blackman came to blows at the airport in Kansas City. Faarooq comes in, but gets caught with a facebuster. D'Lo's signature legdrop follows, but he gets nailed with a DDT. A heel kick from D'Lo sets up the Race to Tag. Henry comes in, but gets taken out himself. D'Lo gets a blind tag, but falls prey to a backdrop suplex/neckbreaker combo (the one the Dudleys now use) for 2. However, Bradshaw mistakenly kicks Faarooq, and gets rolled up by D'Lo, which is good for the 3-count at 4:00. Very watchable match.

Pat Patterson has seen a lot of wrestlers in 40 years, but Owen was special. He was good in and out of the ring. He never met anyone that disliked Owen.

Commercials.

Next to talk is Hardcore Holly. He too talks about Owen the ribber, then mentions how three years before, Owen volunteered to put him over in Mobile, his hometown.

7. Road Dogg vs. Godfather Road Dogg stops his usual spiel, instead saying "it ain't about me, it's about the King of Harts". Godfather (who was IC champ, believe it or not) does bring out the Hoes, which I don't necessarily agree with, black dresses or not. However, on the upside, Road Dogg and Godfather decide to share the women and tell Owen stories, which means we don't have to watch them wrestle. Works for me.

Paul Bearer reads a short poem.

Commercials.

X-Pac talks about Owen's sense of humor, and how he was one of his favorites to work with.

8. Triple H (w/Chyna) vs. Al Snow Snow takes the early advantage with a leg lariat (a popular move in this show), and dumps HHH to the outside. He hits a nice baseball slide, but upon coming back in, HHH takes control with a jumping knee. HHH runs through the usual heel playbook (choking, manager interference), and gets a vertical suplex. Kneedrop gets 2. Snow makes a comeback, hitting a clothesline and his trapping headbutts. Snow slams him, but misses the moonsault. JR mentions how he should have went for the Snowplow there. That's funny, because 1999 was probably the last time Snow actually had the chance to hit the Snowplow on anyone. HHH hits the Pedigree, which gets the win at 3:40. Surprisingly competitive, actually.

Road Dogg talks about how he only knew Owen well for 6 months, and how they're both family men. He tries, but he can't get through it, and leaves after about 30 seconds.

Commercials.

Gerald Brisco says he can relate to Owen, as they were both younger brothers of a superstar. He then talks about Owen the entertainer.

9. The Big Show vs. Goldust (w/ The Blue Meanie) Again, I'll be nice to everyone involved. Goldust has the Meanie attack him. Everything is of course no-sold. Show gets caught with a low blow on his first chokeslam attempt, but then after a double-jumping lariat, chokeslams both for the pin at 1:00. Out of respect, I'll just move on.

Debra says the world has lost a great person, and how she wishes the fans had been able to know how funny he was. She feels honored to have worked with him, and goes into how she can't believe he's gone.

Commercials.

Shane McMahon tells a story from 10 years ago in Chicago. Owen went to bed, and him and Bret decided to go up to wake him up. They do it, and the next day, Bret's stuff is missing, and Shane's is in the shower. He talks about how far back the McMahons and the Harts go.

10. Val Venis vs. The Rock Val gets the mike before the match, and says everyone there came to celebrate him. Rock goes through his catchphrases, then says it's Owen's night, and dedicates the People's Elbow to him. Wonderful. Even on Owen's show, it was still all about him. They trade wristlocks, and out of nowhere, it's the Rock Bottom and the People's Elbow. It took just 55 seconds for the entire match. Again, out of respect, I'll say nothing.

JR talks about how he hopes to see Owen again someday, and the King says he's learned to never leave the house without telling your family that you love them.

Austin hits the ring, and cracks open a few in the direction of Owen's visage on the Titantron. And that's the show.

You may have noticed that I relied on a very sparse style of play-by-play for both the matches and the interview segments. There's a reason for that. Even if the matches had contained some kind of deep storyline, it wouldn't matter. The matches weren't important. To the WWF's credit, they didn't worry about changing titles, or settling feuds, or advancing storylines. For one night, people just went out and wrestled. I always thought of Owen more as a wrestler than an entertainer, so I was happy with the decision the WWF made in how to honor him. And, I was sparse with the description of the stories and memories shared in the interview segments, because there's no possible way I could convey what the various parties were actually thinking and feeling.

You see, this isn't a show that is normally fit for a recap. It's not a show you'll pull out and watch over and over again, especially because it's so hard to get through (for me, anyway). However, like I said, I did this for a reason. It's not the best or most interesting or insightful thing I'll ever write. But, if you had happened to forget what effect Owen had on the business and this reminded you, or if reading this gives you an urge to go watch a few of Owen's matches, and remember how goddamn great he was inside the ring, then it was definitely worth the time to revisit. If you're curious, my favorite Owen match was the Wrestlemania X classic. If Owen had done nothing else, he could at least say that he was in one of the best matches in history.

I wish I had the Bret Hart-Chris Benoit match to tack on to the end of this, but I don't have it on tape anywhere.

In Memory of Owen Hart 1965-1999.

Sean Swift
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