This week on the Something To Wrestle podcast, JBL and Conrad Thompson discussed The Undertaker’s career. One of the topics that came up was Over The Edge 1999 where Taker wrestled in the main event against Stone Cold Steve Austin. That was the event where Owen Hart passed away after a horrible accident.
JBL talked about being backstage when Owen fell from the rafters:
“I was there. I had the option of wrestling and had the option of not. They were wonderful about that. They didn’t make anybody do anything. They gave us the option. I saw Vince with tears in his eyes. He was heartbroken over it, and so was Gerald Brisco. So everybody, we didn’t know what to do, and we thought the right thing was to go on and do the show. I have no idea the right thing to do to this day, and that’s what we chose.”
“People that are arguing this weren’t backstage and saw what happened. You know, backstage. I saw Vince with tears in his eyes. He was heartbroken. He couldn’t even talk. He loved Owen. He was absolutely heartbroken. Gerald Brisco was one of the ones that kind of took over and did a lot of the stuff backstage. Now, Vince made the ultimate decision, but he gave the power to Jerry to do it, and Jerry was the one that dealt with all of it. Vince had no idea what to do. Same with the whole Benoit thing, which is a separate tragedy, but Vince didn’t know what to do. There’s no template for this stuff. There’s no, here’s what you do in case something tragic happens. Now there may be, but there wasn’t then.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AdFreeShows.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
