10 Worst Things Vince McMahon Has Ever Done
2. May 23, 1999
To make this absolutely clear: Vince McMahon didn't actively do anything on that date.
Owen Hart expressed misgivings over rappelling from the rafters of the Kemper Arena.
This is according to Jim Cornette.
"Owen wasn’t comfortable with [the stunt]," he said on Kayfabe Kickout in 2013. Owen was equally wary of refusing to perform the stunt, fretting over developing a reputation as a troublesome "Negative Nancy".
"[He didn't want to be] known as the guy who kept saying 'no,'" Cornette elaborated.
Hart believed that a pitched affair with Debra was a terrible idea that might disgrace his family. This is an editorial comment, but the history of WWE independent contractors refusing to engage with predetermined creative plans rarely ends harmoniously.
Hart had performed a *similar* stunt to that which cost him his life on May 23, 1999, but different equipment was used. It was felt by the WWF that his fumbled attempts to disengage made for "bad television". The decision was taken to use a quick-release nautical clip that leading safety professionals deemed unfit for the stunt.
As Martha Hart stated on Vice's incredible 'The Final Days Of Owen Hart documentary':
"The stunt itself was so negligent. They hired hackers they knew would do anything they wanted when they knew that proper riggers they had hired in the past had told them, "We won't do this kind of stunt, it's not safe"."
Hart, a notorious ribber, was in a distant mood on the day of his passing and told Jim Ross, as recounted on Dark Side Of The Ring, that he didn't like heights. Per Dark Side, he told his son Oje to take care of his family on May 22. His clear discomfort manifested in almost prescient ways that are even more heartbreaking in retrospect.
Both Bret and Martha Hart were adamant that Owen would not have wanted the show to go on; Vince meanwhile, as stated in an interview with Playboy "guessed" that it's what he would have wanted.
It was a disgraceful chapter in WWE's history, and the most tragic chapter in the history of the wider industry.