Owen Hart‘s widow, Martha Hart, has expressed that she can never forget WWE promotor Vince McMahon because of the way he treated one of the most revered professional wrestlers’ tragic death.
Owen Hart’s death was one of the most unfortunate events ever in a sporting event. The legendary wrestler died while performing a stunt in the Over The Edge PPV event in 1999. He was playing against The Godfather in the Intercontinental Championship match.
What arose from the whole controversy was the WWF’s decision to continue the event in spite of the seriousness of Hart’s situation. His wife, Martha, issued a lawsuit against the company and said that her husband’s death was unavoidable because of the poor safety measures taken by Vince McMahon’s organization for such a dangerous stunt. The lawsuit was finally settled for $18 Million. (Via CBS Sports)
As a wrestler as respected and loved as Owen Hart is, he truly deserves to be a part of the WWE Hall of Fame. However, Martha thinks that that is another way for the company to fill its pockets using the wrestlers’ legacies. Given the circumstances that led to her husband’s death, she would never let them use his name to earn profits.
This is why we may never see Owen Hart inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. “There’s always been this talk that, ‘Oh, we want to put Owen in the Hall of Fame.’ Their Hall of Fame? They don’t even have a Hallway of Fame. It doesn’t exist. There’s nothing. It’s a fake entity.”, said Martha Hart
Today, after over two decades since the tragic accident, Martha says that she holds no grudges. However, she remains disgusted by former WWE CEO Vince McMahon.
What are the Issues Between Bret Hart and Martha Hart?
One more person deeply affected by Owen Hart’s sudden passing was his brother and legendary wrestler, Bret Hart.
Bret Hart, one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, was devastated by his brother’s death. He was signed with AEW at that time and regrets not being with WWE because he thinks he could have convinced Owen not to do that dangerous stunt.
However, things are not well between him and his sister-in-law Martha Hart. The reason for that is Martha’s allegations against him that he tried to use the lawsuit against WWE to get his old footage. “First of all, when we were going through the lawsuit, he really was hoping that I would be able to help him get his wrestling footage. Because at the time, he had no relationship with WWE.
And, he was hoping somehow — if we ever had a settlement — that we could work it in.” – expressed Martha. The Hitman himself could not do that because he was not on good terms with the company in any way.
Another disagreement between the two arose when Bret Hart wanted his brother Owen to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He thought that this was a great opportunity for the fans and his children to get to know about Owen Hart’s true legacy. However, Martha’s opinion of the Hall of Fame was not too positive, as already mentioned above.