Owen once again embarked upon a solo stint, this time stealing headlines following one of Monday Night RAW's most memorable moments: playing off a real-life incident in which Shawn Michaels received a concussion in a parking lot brawl, Owen blasted Michaels in the back of the head with his trademark enziguiri; Michaels collapsed in the ring, as many initially thought Owen's kick caused a relapse. It was merely an incredibly well-worked angle. In 1996, Owen was awarded a pair of Slammy awards (he won another in 1997), and also found himself back in the thick of the tag team title chase, this time with his other brother-in-law, the British Bulldog. Under the management of Jim Cornette, the Owen/Bulldog duo quickly won the tag straps. Despite a change of management -- as Clarence Mason took over those duties from Cornette -- Owen and Bulldog continued strong into 1997. However, dissension began to seep in as miscommunications between the two grew, and the brothers-in-law were forced to do battle in a tournament final to crown the first WWF European Champion. Owen lost the tourney final to Bulldog, and the seeds appeared to be sown for a violent break-up of the tag champs. Owen and Bulldog were doing battle again on an edition of RAW in spring '97, when Bret Hart came out and asked the two to stop and listen to him. Bret finalized his heel status here, asked Owen and Bulldog to join him in reforming a more-powerful-than-ever Hart Foundation. Their goals would be to vanquish foes like Steve Austin and to show that American Wrestling Fans who real heros acted. The group soon added Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman, and became the most hated stable of wrestlers in the United States while remaining HUGELY popular in Canada and Europe. As part of the Hart Foundation, Owen found his stock on the rise in the WWF. In May 1997, Owen won the WWF IC Title from Rocky Maivia, and soon found himself feuding with Steve Austin. In July, at a PPV event held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Owen pinned Austin in a 10-man tag match main event, setting up a SummerSlam IC Title match between the two stars. The SummerSlam match saw Owen temporarily paralyze Austin with a botched piledriver; Austin did recover enough to conclude the match (winning the title from Owen), and would be back at 100% following the injury by year's end. Because of his neck injuries stemming from the piledriver, Austin had to give up the IC belt, which was rapidly regained by Owen in a tournament final. Austin defeated Owen for the title in his first match back from injury, at Survivor Series '97. It was also at that year's Survivor Series that Owen's brother Bret was the subject of the biggest "screwjob" in wrestling history: with Bret planning to leave the WWF for WCW, Vince McMahon conspired to "steal" the WWF title from Bret at that show despite promising Bret that he'd walk out of the PPV as the champ.
BACK OUT ON HIS OWN
    Many were sure Owen would follow Bret, Bulldog, and Neidhart to WCW following the screwjob.... but instead, Owen came back to the WWF bigger than ever, as a babyface trying to avenge his brother by going after new WWF Champ Shawn Michaels. Quickly, Owen found himself shunted into a feud with Michaels' DX partner, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Owen won the WWF European Title held by HHH, but lost it back after about a month, in a pair of bizarre title switches tainted by injuries hobbling both men. As DX became babyfaces by mid-1998, Owen was left with little choice but to return to the heel status that had served him so well for about 4 years. He "snapped" on a live edition of RAW, and joined the Nation (led by Rocky Maivia) where he continued to demand that it's "Time for a change." The Nation would feud with DX for the Summer months, with Owen playing an important part in storylines. However, the Nation was on its last legs. As Rocky Maivia became more popular, it became apparent that he'd be spun off as a solo babyface. D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry remained as a tag team, but Owen was now a man without a country. Though there was no official ceremony that marked the end of the Nation, Owen distanced himself from the group by moving onto feud with Ken Shamrock and later Dan Severn. In an "art imitates life" twist, the WWF ran a storyline in which Severn's neck was "broken" following an Owen Hart piledriver. The distraught Owen Hart then "retired" the next week, saying that he never meant to hurt anyone, and couldn't live with himself if he crippled anyone again. Despite Owen's retirement speech, the Blue Blazer made a return to the WWF, and many fans put the pieces together and realized Owen was exactly serious about retiring. Unmasking the Blue Blazer became a favorite past-time of Steve Blackman (who was trying to defend the honor of fellow "shooter" Severn). Jeff Jarrett got involved in the feud, often helping make sure the Blazer wasn't unmasked -- and even wrestling as the Blazer on some occassions to "prove" that Owen wasn't the Blazer. Eventually, Blackman was able to unmask Jarrett and Owen as Blazers on separate occasions, and the Blue Blazer faded into the background. However, the Owen/Jarrett tag team wasn't fading away anytime soon... as 1999 began, the duo started teaming up full time, and in January, won the WWF Tag Team titles from the Big Bossman and Ken Shamrock. This marked the third different partner Owen held the tag titles with. It appeared as though it might be another long tag title reign for Owen, as the team was really clicking, and was over with fans. However, the duo lost the straps in April to the mis-matched team of X-Pac and Kane. As Jeff Jarrett segued into a feud with the Godfather, the Blue Blazer (this time, obviously protrayed by Owen) returned again, cutting interviews in which he ran down the "deplorable" state of the WWF, and insisting that we need a superhero to clean things up. He was scheduled for an InterContinental Title match against his "arch-enemy" the Godfather on the night he died. dethroned. THE
ACCIDENT AND OWEN'S LEGACY The Blue Blazer was going to make a "superhero" entrance from the ceiling of the Kemper Arena Sunday night at the Over the Edge PPV... but whatever harness device Owen was using to make his descent either was never correctly attached or malfunctioned. The end result had Owen plunging 50 feet to the ring, where his head impacted a turnbuckle, causing massive head and neck trauma. Fans in attendence quickly realized the serious nature of the accident, and stood around in stunned silence as medics worked on Owen.... Owen was admitted to Truman Medical Center in critical condition, and was pronounced dead soon thereafter. Though Owen wasn't pronounced dead until at the hospital, in fans' minds, this will obviously be an unshakable memory, as it marks the closest thing to an "in-ring" death at a televised event that any of us would ever want to see. It guarantees Owen a certain infamous place in wrestling history... a place that I can't help think will somehow diminish the remarkable memories we SHOULD all share of Owen Hart's stupendous career. As fans, what we should remember are the great matches, compelling stories, and entertaining interviews... as caring human beings, we should all remember that among those in the business, very few are as universally liked and respected as Owen Hart was. He was a genuine good guy and family man. 
All cards and correspondence to the Hart family should be sent to:
The Hart Family
c/o The World Wrestling Federation
PO Box 3857
Stamford, CT 06905

The Hart family is also requesting that in lieu of flowers and offerings, donations should directly be made to the Alberta Children's Hospital, which is a charity supported by Owen.

1820 Richmond Rd. SW
Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
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