Stone Cold on Over the Edge

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Stone Cold Steve Austin regarding the night Owen Hart passed away. Owen was born on this day in 1965. In remembrance of the “King of Harts,” here’s what Austin had to say about the night we lost Owen:

Question: How hard was it to compete against Undertaker that night?
Stone Cold: I don’t even remember that match. It was probably a stinker. It was extremely hard to work in that ring. We were backstage just chilling, waiting to perform, then all of a sudden word comes to the back that Owen’s dead. I was like “what they hell are you talking about?”

Then it was like “are we gonna work or are we gonna stop?” Vince made the gutsy call – the show goes on. And he has taken a lot of fire for that, but he would’ve taken a lot of fire if he hadn’t said that. It was a gutsy call on his part.

Question: Do you agree with McMahon’s decision?
Stone Cold: I agree with the call to go on. But it was a very hard night to work. I don’t remember anything about the match. My brain was pretty scrambled after receiving news as devastating as that. And everybody loved Owen, including me. It was a tough blow.

I’ll always remember that night, not for the right reasons either.