5. Over The Edge 1999

 

Over The Edge - May.23.1999

The Corporate Ministry (Big Boss Man, Viscera & The Acolytes) vs The Union(Ken Shamrock, Test, Mankind & Big Show)

    The most infamous pay-per-view of them all. Let's not beat around the bush, we all know what happened at Over The Edge 1999 but if you're reading this blog and you're somehow not aware, immediately following this match Jim Ross would announce to the world live on air that Owen Hart had tragically died. Earlier in the show a catastrophic error during Owen's entrance from the rafters of the arena saw him plummet some 70 feet to the ring below. This happened in full view of those in attendance and while the incident was not broadcast to those watching at home it was clear that something had gone terribly wrong as Jim Ross did his best to inform viewers what was happening.

    Owen was worked on by paramedics in the ring before being taken to hospital. On the air his friend Jeff Jarrett cut a promo visibly choking back tears and saying that he was praying for Owen before doing his scripted lines about Val Venis wanting to get his hands on Debra's "puppies". Looking back now it seems insane that there was even a debate about whether this show should still be going ahead in light of what happened. Vince McMahon's reasons for deciding that, in true carny style, "the show must go on" have been long debated but it essentially seems to always boil down to some spin on "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Quite how the WWF would have been damned for prematurely ending the show following the tragedy is unclear but I can only assume that Vince was thinking about his PPV deals being jeopardised if they didn't air the programme for the agreed length.

    After what happened to Owen, in front of the paying customers in the arena as well as his friends and colleagues, the atmosphere for the rest of the show is uncomfortable and somewhat eerie. Visibly upset wrestlers sleepwalk through segments and matches in front of a shell shocked and bewildered audience. Who was this for? The wrestlers don't want to be there and the audience don't want to be there. Any notion that the fans, having just witnessed a much loved performer be fatally wounded in a horrific accident, would somehow feel short changed if they didn't get their advertised showdown between the Big Boss Man and Test is ludicrous. Any parents whose young children had been scarred for life by the incident would surely be asking for a refund whether Stone Cold performed later that night or not.

    As for our match in question, it's not really worth talking about at any great length. There are a number of clumsy moments, everyone goes through the motions. Test tries some stuff throwing out a dropkick and coming off the top rope with the Test Elbow but the crowd are silent. Ken Shamrock, who was trained by the Hart family, gets some muted reactions from the crowd when he "snaps" and gets himself disqualified but it's the most half-hearted "snapping" I've ever seen. Big Show shows some decent fire and gets decent reactions cleaning house on the heel team but it's house show spots to be frank. The thing of real note is that Show does hit a very impressive body slam on Viscera. The crowd get some limp chants for Foley going but Mick, himself a close friend of Owen, remains on the apron and doesn't get involved in the match until the final 3 minutes. Who could blame him. Mankind does eventually get the victory for his team, with the Mandible Claw on Boss Man.

    For the record, Bradshaw's involvement in the match saw him eliminate Test with the Clothesline From Hell before himself being eliminated by Shamrock but by far the most interesting thing about this is that in the very moments that Owen Hart was being pronounced dead, Vince McMahon forced his "independent contractors" to go out and perform a macabre morality play about a group of wrestlers who were forced to unionise in order to take on Vince McMahon's evil corporation. Vince is fond of saying that the WWF "makes movies" and if that's true then the movie he was making here was a meta-analysis of his own disgusting business practices.

    

RATING: Fuck you Vince/10

Win/Loss record: 4 - 7