It has been eleven years today since Owen Hart died.

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On May 23rd 1999, the wrestling world lost a great man when Owen Hart, under the guise of the Blue Blazer, fell to his death in a tragic accident at the Over the Edge 1999 Pay Per View. It is hard to believe that it was that long. I didn't watch the Over the Edge Pay Per View live but I heard about the accident from some friends at school that did and I could not believe it. Once I had gotten home, the tragic news was that Owen Hart had died. It was a shock, as to this point, Owen Hart was someone who I had seen every week on Monday nights as I watched television. Most of the other wrestling tragedies to this point had been wrestlers who had competed before my time as a fan. So yeah, it was sad, as it was a freak accident and not the common wrestling death of "enlarged heart brought on by years of steroid abuse or painkiller overdose." I know there was and still is a lot of controversy whether the event should have been stopped. I don't think there is any easy answer to this. Morally it was the right thing to do but I think that stopping a show in midstream might not have been all that feasible, especially a Pay Per View. It is very easy to look back now and say that the show should have been stopped. I just think of some of the great matches and moments that Owen had prior. His feud with his brother Bret obviously highlights this, with the great match they had at Wrestlemania X. Also, I thought he was impressive as part of a tag team with the British Bulldog and he was a huge part of the beginning of the renaissance of the WWF product with the Hart Foundation. Even towards the end, he formed a pretty entertaining tag team with Jeff Jarrett that had some fun matches. I just wonder what might have been if Owen had not gone up there to do the stunt or the accident could not have happened. I believe he was only going to compete for a couple more years, but if he was around until at least 2001 or so, we had Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho coming in later that year, and then the next year, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. Any of those four men against Owen would have torn the house down on a Pay Per View or at least an extended match on Smackdown. Of course, Owen was one of the better tag team wrestlers and he might have been in a tag team. I think Owen Hart and Lance Storm would have been a rather fun tag team. If Owen had stuck around into the brand extension era, we could have had Owen Hart against Rey Mysterio which would have been awesome. Or maybe Owen Hart against Brock Lesnar as well. Several interesting dream matches for sure. Also, Bret might have come back for a guest appearance sooner than he did, had his brother not gotten killed. Sadly, that was never to be because of the tragic events of May 23rd, 1999. So feel free to share your memories of Owen Hart on the anniversary of the tragic accident that claimed his life.