Why Jeff Jarrett Wasn’t Surprised WWE Show Continued After Tragedy

Jeff Jarrett wasn’t surprised that WWE continued Over The Edge 1999 after the tragic death of Owen Hart.

On May 23rd, 1999, Owen Hart died in the ring after falling from the rafters when a stunt went wrong during his entrance. Hart was portraying The Blue Blazer and was meant to descend from the ceiling but a harness malfunction meant he was released far too early and plummeted to his death.

Controversially, Vince McMahon decided to continue the show after the incident, with the first match after the tragedy featuring Hart’s friend, Jeff Jarrett. Speaking on The Bobby Bones Show, Jarrett recalled the night and said that, at the time, he wasn’t surprised the event continued.

“Not at the time. That was the one thing when I went into recovery that I never processed at all. I hate to say it, but it was work. I’ve talked to his widow Martha and extensive conversations, but we were in a place where his match was on before me, the backstage stage manager came and said, ‘Hey, Owen is going to the ring, you’re up next.’ I had in my mind 15-18 minutes.

“Three minutes later, they came and said, ‘You’re on now.’ I went, did a promo, and all that stuff was going around. They wheeled his body right beside me. I went to the ring, did that, came back, I said, ‘I want to go to the hospital right now.’ It was, I hate to say this, but it was the reality…caught up to me. It was, unfortunately, in my mind, another day at work with a tragic accident.”

The reality of how bad the situation was became clearer to Jarrett when he got into the ring.

“I got in the ring, and to this day I haven’t watched that match back, for a number of reasons. I felt the top rope was very very loose, and I went over in the corner where his body had fallen, and there was a – I can talk about it now, for years I wouldn’t talk about it – there was a dip in the ring. There was no blood. It was where his body had fallen. I just had a sense of, ‘Okay.’ In my gut, I didn’t process it or intellectually think it through, but in my gut, I was like, ‘Okay, this is bad.'”

Years after the incident, Vince McMahon explained his decision to continue Over The Edge, arguing that the audience “didn’t really see what happened.”

Jeff Jarrett Signs Final Pro Wrestling Contract

On the January 1st edition of AEW Dynamite, Jeff Jarrett announced that he had signed his final contract as a professional wrestler. The Last Outlaw then announced that he has one more goal in the company, to become the World Champion. The star won’t have much time to capture the gold, though, as his contract only lasts until the end of 2025.

H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.