November 8, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Life and Death of Owen Hart documentary, RINGS tournament, plus more

The most publicized story ever in North American pro wrestling, the tragic death of Owen Hart on 5/23, is brought vividly back to life with the documentary “The life and death of Owen Hart.”

The one-hour piece, debuted in Ontario on TVO on 11/3, in the rest of Canada on 11/6 on the A Channel and will be part of A&E’s bio week on pro wrestling, with an 11/16 showing. The film was still having the final editing touches put on at press time, as there are apparently numerous changes from version we are reviewing.

It’s a tear-jerker, with a lot of home video footage of Hart with his two young children, Oje and Athena. The most powerful part of the movie is the fact that Producers Paul Jay and Sally Blake, who also produced the highly acclaimed “Wrestling with Shadows,” made the point to bring out that this was a real person with a real family who just happened to be a pro wrestler. This portrayal of Hart and all the family home movies made it impossible to dismiss the repercussions of it even though it’s a business that has built up thick callouses because deaths happen with such frequency.

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