20 Years On From WWE In Your House: Canadian Stampede's Main Event: Where Are They Now?

3. Owen Hart

Steve Austin Bret Hard Goldust
WWE

Unquestionably the saddest story from a bout with several punctuated tales, Owen Hart would be dead less than two years after possibly the greatest night of his professional life.

Carried out in an early portion of the match, he returned late in the contest to defeat Stone Cold Steve Austin in the last pinfall loss 'The Rattlesnake' would take on pay-per-view for over a year. The fall would inadvertently lead to a chain of events that would irreversibly change both men's lives and careers.

Owen's glory in Calgary was presented as cheap and deceitful on television, as the '2x Slammy Award Winner' gloated relentlessly over his victory in order to bait Austin into the potentially disastrous 'Kiss My Ass' match at August's SummerSlam '97 card. The inane stipulation was completely forgotten late in the contest when an infamous Owen tombstone nearly paralysed 'The Rattlesnake'.

It would be his inability to wrestle that crafted a brand new raison d'être for Stone Cold that Autumn, but his unending war with authority would still require actual matches following his return. Now the biggest star in the entire industry, Austin had no interest in working with Owen ever again, effectively freezing him out of ever being a main event player.

Relegated to comedy despite his myriad of talents, Owen tragically fell to his death during May 1999's Over The Edge pay-per-view after an equipment failure during his descent from the rafters as 'The Blue Blazer'. He was just 34.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett