text: Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri on May 23, 1999, during the WWF Over the Edge PPV event. He was being lowered into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a scheduled WWF Intercontinental Championship win over The Godfather.\n\nIn keeping with the Blazer's new 'buffoonish superhero' character, Owen was to be lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would release himself from the safety harness and then comically fall flat on his face. He had performed the stunt only a few times before, and was worried about performing the stunt at Kemper Arena due to the height involved (Owen had a fear of heights).\n\nOwen performed a practice stunt earlier in the day, and the stunt went forward on the show as scheduled. His wife Martha suggests that, by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on, Owen unintentionally triggered an early release and fell 78 feet (24 m) into the ring, smashing his chest on a padded, but still tough, ring turnbuckle.\n\nTV viewers at home did not see the incident or its aftermath, as the WWF was transmitting a promotional video package for the match, and only showed the audience while Owen was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring while WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly.\n\nOwen was transported to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival (he actually died about six minutes after the fall, while still lying in the ring). The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma. He was 34 years old. The WWF chose to continue the event, which drew a great deal of criticism over the following weeks, especially as the main event of the evening involved The Undertaker (also known as the "Deadman") winning the WWF Title.\n\nThe next night on Monday Night Raw in St. Louis, Missouri, a two-hour televised tribute was broadcast (see RAW is Owen), in which WWF wrestlers and officials paid tribute to Hart. The Over the Edge event name was retired.\n\nIn the weeks that followed, much attention focused on the harness Owen used that night, especially on the "quick release" trigger and safety latches. When someone is lowered from the rafters in a harness, there are backup latches that must be latched for safety purposes. These backups may take some time to unlatch, which would have made Owen's stunt difficult to perform smoothly. Therefore, it was apparently decided that it was more important not to have the safety backups, because it would be easier for Owen to unlatch himself.\n\nIn addition to not having safety backups, the harness Owen used was designed for sailboats and required only six pounds of weight to trigger the quick release mechanism; Owen weighed about 225 pounds. An out-of-court settlement between Owen Hart's family and the WWF has prevented the release of any information about the harness. The WWF, however, decided to ban stunts of a similar nature from this point on to avoid a similar event from occurring.\n\nOwen left a widow, Martha, and two children, Oje Edward and Athena. Martha Hart settled her wrongful death lawsuit against the WWF for approximately $18 million[citation needed], and used the funds to establish the Owen Hart Foundation. Martha wrote a book about Owen's life in 2002 called Broken Harts.\n\nOwen's last match was on May 22, 1999, in Chicago, Illinois. He and Jarrett won a tag team match against Edge and Christian.\n\nOn the October 4, 1999 edition of WCW Nitro, Owen's brother Bret Hart wrestled Chris Benoit in an Owen Hart tribute match at Kemper Arena.