The Early Days of Owen Hart – Part 2

Picture from – “The Life and Death of Owen Hart”, DVD Documentary. Here Owen is pictured during the time frame where he would have been helping out with playing wrestler’s entrance music during Stampede Wrestling events. The Hart brothers often helped out at their father’s show doing tasks like selling programs, running the music, refereeing matches, and driving the vans from town to town.

Martha Hart on her Introduction to Owen’s Pranks
Credit: “Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart” (2002) Pg. 52

“In addition to his compassion, smarts, and athletic ability, Owen had an incredible sense of humor. He was always well-stoked with comeback lines, and his pranks were legendary and unbelievably original.

His mind was invariably scanning the scene, waiting for the right opportunity. I couldn’t believe it when he tied a piece of bacon around my one cat’s neck and watched with amusement while my other cat chased it around. While his tricks were always harmless, playful fun, his desire to toy with people was sometimes overdone and annoying. His jokes never ended.

We would often jog by the river, and one day as I lagged behind he started screaming just as a group of runners passed by. “Would you quit chasing me! I told you I don’t want to go out with you,” he wailed. All I could do was hang my head until they passed.

Christmas was also an interesting affair, as one year he gave me a diamond ring, which he stuck in a smelly old size twelve sneaker.

Owen was quite clever with the production of his pranks, as many times he wasn’t even in the vicinity when the height of the joke unfolded. One night he came over to my house, knowing I had to go to bed early for a big exam the next day. At my insistence, he left early and I went upstairs to go to sleep. To my horror, someone was sleeping in my bed. For quite some time I stood in my doorway, trying to figure out how to wake up this stranger. With no movements or response to my prodding, I finally got the nerve to whip off the covers only to discover Owen had put a wig on a big stuffed toy my brother had won at Stampede.

*Note about the book: Written in 2002. Martha Hart (with Eric Francis) chose to write the book to detail the emotional journey she experienced following Owen’s death. Describing the process as freeing after suppressing her emotions, Martha also wanted her children to know the truth about their father’s life and the events surrounding his passing. This book describes in incredible detail her relationship with Owen, from the time they met through to her lengthy legal battle with the then WWF. It is still an interesting yet heartbreaking read to this day.