NEWS: WWE Reportedly Considered Not Acknowledging Owen Hart's Death On Television

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NEWS:

Vince Russo and co-host Matt Koon took to their Truth With Consequences podcast to talk about the untimely death of WWE Superstar Owen Hart. Russo revealed that after Hart fell to his death at the 1999 Over the Edge pay-per-view, WWE considered not acknowledging the fallen WWE Superstar on the RAW after the show. According to Russo, the incident nearly caused him to walk out on the company.

Hart's traumatic death left the WWE in a temporary state of disarray, "It was like time had just frozen. It's very difficult to put into words. It's surreal. Everything stops - like this isn't really happening. A lot of times Vince [McMahon] gets ridiculed for the show [Over the Edge 1999] going on. Nobody knows how to act in a situation like that. You don't know how to act. You're just trying to register what happened and you can't comprehend it. It's so out of the realm of - did this really happen? That's why I never fault Vince for letting the show continue. Nobody was thinking rationally backstage."

Russo alleges that the company considered not acknowledging Hart's death on the Monday Night RAW following Over the Edge, "You know how I cry a lot? This was another Vince Russo crying scene...The next day they wanted to just have another show and not address the Owen situation at all. They wanted to kind of sweep it under the rug because they didn't know how to deal with it." When asked who the 'they' were besides Vince McMahon, Russo responded, "Kevin Dunn."

Russo described Vince McMahon's emotions following Hart's passing, "He was not selling. No [he was not himself], but he was not selling because he had to keep it together. They just didn't know how to deal with it."

Russo wasn't having any part in the WWE's move toward not acknowledging Hart, "I went in there and I broke down and I said, 'Bro, if you guys run this show like a normal show and there isn't some kind of a tribute to Owen, I'm going home. I'm getting on a plane and I'm going home. There is no way we can have a regular show tonight like nothing happened. There is no way.' I just left. I didn't stay and become part of the conversation. I just spoke my peace and I left and then they came up with what the show was."

Inevitably the WWE put together an Owen Hart tribute show and the rest is history, but according to Russo, it almost never came to be.

(Transcription Credit: Cheap Heat Wrestling)

Readers may listen to Vince Russo's Truth With Consequences below:



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