The Deaths That Shocked the World of Wrestling (Part 2)
G'day tribe. Yesterday I posted about the deaths of Eddie Guerrero and "Macho Man' Randy Savage which shocked the wrestling world. You can check out the post here. Today I will write about the final two deaths that stunned the world of sports.
2. Owen Hart
Canadian wrestler Owen Hart was the youngest of twelve children and was one of the biggest wrestling draw cards during the 80's and 90's. Recognised as one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time, his accolades include two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion, the 1994 WWF King of the Ring and one-time WWF European Champion.
Hart's death in 1999 shocked the wrestling world as it occurred during a live pay-per-view event. During an Intercontinental Championship match with The Godfather, Hart was being lowered via a harness and lifeline into the ring at Missouri's Kemper Arena. The idea was for Hart to be lowered and fall into the ring from turnbuckle level. Instead Hart fell 78-feet (24 metres) landing chest first onto the top rope.
The accident wasn't seen by viewers and instead as a pre-recorded interview was showing while Hart was descending toward the ring. As the telecast returned to live viewing, the cameras had quickly turned away from the ring and toward the audience. One of the ringside commentators ran to check on Hart and was immediately visibly distressed.
Paramedics attempted CPR on Hart but he was not responding, and would be pronounced dead shortly after at hospital. Upon the fall, Hart severed his aorta - the main artery carrying blood away from the heart and to the rest of the body. Controversially the WWF chose to continue with the event and viewers were told about Hart's death an hour after he fell. Hart was only 34 years of age.
A lawsuit followed with the Hart family suing the WWF for the poor planning of the stunt and because of claims the harness system was defective. After a year and a half, it was settled out of court with damages totalling $18m.
1. Chris Benoit
Benoit was a headline for multiple WWE pay-per-views and had a huge year in 2004, winning the 2004 Royal Rumble and the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XX all in the space of just under three months. Fans will likely be aware of the tragic and gruesome death of and at the hands of Benoit, who killed both his wife, son and himself.
On June 25th a welfare check was conducted as Benoit was not heard from in days. On the 22nd of June he had killed his wife, and the next day had then killed his son. The following day he then killed himself in the weight room by using a lat pulldown machine to hang himself.
The reasoning behind his actions have been thought to have been because of a marriage breakdown and personal problems. There have also been suggestions of alcohol and steroid abuse and tests following his death confirmed that he had severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) - a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the death.
It's a condition many former NFL players have also suffered from and led to erratic behaviours. Benoit's brain had damage to the equivalent of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.
Benoit's actions meant his death and murderous actions were a scandal that went well beyond wrestling's inner circles and was mainstream international news. His existence can't be denied, but his wrestling record and achievements have effectively been suppressed and any mention of his name by the WWE has been avoided.
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
So tragic the murder suicide and accident as well, but wow, two heart failures and possible brain damage playing a big part! I think we're only just starting to really realise how much stress high end training can have on a heart. Even though it's staged, and obviously so if they get the timing wrong, they still put their bodies through a heck of a lot. It's almost like stuntman practice.
Great way to put it, stuntman practice. It's definitely physical stress on the heart and body that plays a role but i think the main contributor is the stuff these athletes get pumped with. It seems like they're all on a cocktail of drugs both legal and illegal and it doesn't seem to end well ..
Seriously!? I guess there isn't really any kind of ban in this area for performance enhancing drugs? Not that it entirely stops it in other sports either. The just make sure is cleared through before competing.
A lot of them seem to get away with it by using injuries as an "excuse" to use steroids. Seems like they can also pick up patterns for drug testing and work out a regime to avoid detection
I used to idolize Owen Heart when I was young. If I remember it right, his tag-team teammate is British Bulldog.
Yep that's the one, he was JUST slightly before my time in his prime
Interesting topic and never heard of these guys before and how thy died. Lucky for the pay per view the entrance was never live as what a tragic accident to occur.
It was an amazing era for wrestling back then and its nostalgic even talking about them. Its a trip back in time to much simpler days
I was greatly disturbed when I read about Chris Benoit killing his family before himself. It was shocking to say the say the least. I used to enjoy watching him while growing up and I felt so bad for Hit Man; Bret Hart regarding his brother's death. Really tough to take.
It was indeed. We see all the glitz and glamour but we don't see what goes on behind the scenes.
That's so true. So true
I got to love Owen Hart after I got to love his brother first. His death was painful and shocking too. The payout won't replace the life but at least they can have closure.
I read in the Sun Newspaper then about Chris Benoit. It was sad.
Crazy isn't it. I just wrote a post about the best entrances of all-time. That should lighten things up!
Haha I can't wait to read that too. I love Warrior 😂
The Benoit thing was crazy as hell. At least it ended up highlighting the crazy schedules and drug addiction that wasn't at that time, even considered against the rules in those days. These days they claim they test their athletes for roids but I'm not sure if I believe that is true. Some of those guys are just too ripped. Don't try to tell me that Batista is natty!
😂😂😂 my lawd I agree regarding Batista. I love The Rock but look at the size of him now compared to when he was wrestling. I'm sure that's not all from a few extra sets at the gym and a few extra slices of pizza ...
yeah it's a bit irksome to me that these movie stars try to tell us that all they have to do is eat a bunch of chicken and wake up at 4am to hit the weights! Sure thing pal, I'm sure there are no PED's at all :P
Chicken as it is already has enough roids and PEDS in it!
So sad Benoit's death. He looked a cool guy on th outside. Sadder that his wife and kid were also victims of his condition and had to pay the price with their lives.
Not just Benoit, a lot of athletes go through a lot behind all the glamour and smiles we see on the screen. A reminder that they're humans afterall.
That's so true, something we can easily forget