Steve Blackman was never supposed to be standing at the curtain that night. But because of a backstage altercation with JBL weeks prior, he had been pulled from action—an unexpected twist of fate that placed him front and center during one of the darkest nights in pro wrestling history: the death of Owen Hart at WWE’s Over the Edge 1999 pay-per-view.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Blackman opened up about the horrific moment he saw Owen fall from the rafters during his entrance as the Blue Blazer. What he witnessed from that backstage position stayed with him forever.
“It’s unfortunate, but the only reason the heat was taken off of us is because that’s the night that Owen fell from the ceiling.”
Blackman was watching from the curtain—joined only by The Rock—when it all happened.
“That day was brutal. Because I was off that night because of the incident at the airport, and the way the arena was, there was one section in the hallway in the back where you could stand closer to the ring and watch. I was standing at the curtain. Rock was on near the end — whatever — and he came walking around like, ‘What’s up?’ I said, ‘Watching from here.’ He stood there with me because we had a better view — we were the only two standing there. Boom.”
The unthinkable happened in an instant.
“And Owen hits. And we’re like, ‘What happened there?’ And I said, ‘I hate to say it, but he’s gone.’ Rock’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘I can see it. I can see the bluish tint in his lips, the paleness in his face.’”
Blackman recalled how the ambulance came through their side of the ring and wheeled Owen past them moments later.
“Since we were on the short side of the ring, that’s where the ambulance came through. That’s where they went and got him and then they wheeled him past us standing there. It was just awful. Just horrible.”
The pain was personal for Blackman, who had known Owen Hart for more than a decade.
“I met Owen in Japan in ‘87. I trained at the Dungeon and was up there in Calgary with his dad for a year. Just a nice guy, great guy, great family man. Just… sometimes bad things happen to the wrong people.”
The tragedy that night reshaped the entire wrestling industry and left a mark on every person who witnessed it. For Steve Blackman, it was something he’ll never forget—both because of the visuals burned into his memory and the personal connection he had with Owen Hart.
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