Vince McMahon Reveals Reason He Continued Show After Owen Hart’s Death

Vince McMahon has explained his decision not to stop the show when Owen Hart was killed in a WWE ring live on pay-per-view.

May 23rd 1999 is a date ingrained in the minds of wrestling fans as the night Owen Hart died in the ring after falling from the rafters of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City during the Over The Edge pay-per-view.

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.

Despite that, and the fact that Hart’s blood was still visible on the ring canvas, Vince McMahon decided to continue the show. A decision that has dogged the disgraced ex-WWE chairman since it was made.

Vince McMahon Would Want The Show To Go On

Speaking on the new Mr McMahon Netflix documentary, Vince McMahon discussed that tragic night and his very controversial decision not to stop the show after Owen fell to his untimely death:

The decision that I had to make was basically whether or not the show goes on. The live audience didn’t really see what happened (because Owen’s fall happened during a “blackout” while a video was playing on the screen). Had they seen, no question you have to shut the show down.

WWE executive Bruce Prichard noted that despite Owen’s death being announced to TV viewers it was not announced to the fans in the arena as McMahon didn’t believe it “was the right thing to do.” McMahon continued:

Those people came to see a show, they didn’t come to see somebody die. And, me as a businessman, it’s like “Ok, let’s continue on, let’s continue the show. […] There were a lot of negative comments actually as to whether or not the show should continue.

Vince McMahon then answered the criticism from Bret Hart at the time with The Hitman giving an interview where he questioned if Vince’s son Shane had “splatted on the mat” would the show have continued:

Naturally, Bret’s gonna feel like a brother should. He had every right to say anything negative about our company. Had it been me, not just my son, had it been me who “splatted on the mat” like Bret said I would want the show to go on. So get me out of there, you know, and let the show go on. I’d do it with me and to this day I would.

Vince McMahon also dismissed key claims about Chris Benoit murdering his family while the documentary also saw WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin sensationally claim he doesn’t believe in CTE.

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