Review of “Owen – Hart of Gold”

Dec 19, 2015 - by Steve Gerweck

by Alan Wojcik

May 23, 1999 was the worst day in the history of professional wrestling/sports entertainment. In what many media people called a “Monday Night Wars” tragedy, Owen James Hart fell 75 feet into a wrestling ring in a stunt gone horribly wrong and died soon after. The Hart family literally fell apart (read the books written by his widow Martha and his brother Bret for details) in the aftermath. One thing can be said, modern wrestling superstars were influenced by Owen’s in-ring style & many more will love this history trip called OWEN: HEART OF GOLD.

This DVD release nearly didn’t happen due to Martha Hart suing World Wrestling Entertainment over the use of Owen’s likeness & feeling it was only to make a profit. I am one person who will write here I am happy that WWE did this release as it’s a celebration of Owen Hart’s life and career with amazing stories from the people who knew him including:

Brothers Bret, Bruce, Keith, Ross & Smith, sisters Ellie, Diana, Georgia & Alison plus his niece Nattie, nephew Harry (archive footage) brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith (archived footage) & Jim Neidhart, current & former superstars Lex Luger, Mark Henry, Triple H, Mick Foley, Road Dogg, Ron Simmons, Big Van Vader, Chris Jericho, Jerry Lawler, Edge & Christian, Billy Gunn, Rob Van Dam, Paul Bearer (archive footage), Sami Zayn, Terry Taylor, Beth Phoenix, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, Scott Hall, Tyson Kidd, referee Mike Chioda, Steve Lombardi, Michael Cole, Tony Chimel, Ted DiBiase, Koko B Ware, Jim Ross & Vince McMahon.

The feature covers his growth in Stampede Wrestling to becoming the masked Blue Blazer and returning to partner with Neidhart & Ware. The legendary feud with Bret is outlined in amazing detail (every wrestling training class must watch their WrestleMania 10 battle) along with the Hart Foundation reformation in 1997. The hard part is to watch after the Montreal Screwjob how the “Attitude Era” evolved into what led to his tragic demise. “Owen Tales” are mixed in that will make you laugh yourself out of your chair plus the awe inspiring 2-time Slammy Awards. Martha and the children Athena and Oje are not mentioned by name in the presentation and it’s all for the best. My major problem is the length of the feature, one hour and seven minutes. The CM Punk DVD clocked in over 2 hours yet Owen barely gets one hour? Included in this multi-disc set are 26 additional “Owen Tales”, the individual testimonies from the May 24, 1999 Raw plus 21 wrestling matches.

For information on Alan Wojcik’s wrestling coverage, check out www.Facebook.com/KayfabeWrestlingRadio & www.Twitter.com/MyNameIsWojcik

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