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Submitted by : Koriander, 7/7/10
In Defense Of Martha Hart
I didn’t want to address this topic ; In fact, this is one of several things that have happened in the wrestling world that I’d like to pretend never existed, but somebody has to say something. During The Wrestling Roundtable’s 9th radio show, I heard host Eric Santamaria do something that VERY FEW people have had the balls to do over the last week. He stood up for Martha Hart.
Over the last two weeks, a majority of the people I associate with have at least produced a polite “no comment,” which is totally understandable. However, there are other people whom I do not know who swear that they are wrestling fans and yet they bash this woman. Now I’ve grown sick of it. I’m tired of seeing this woman vilified as some sort of money-grubbing whore, when she has endured what NO woman should EVER have to deal with.
Now hear me out - it’s been documented in Bret Hart’s book and in several other books that Owen’s accident was the result of Vince McMahon’s negligence. It’s well known that Vince Russo came up with a good chunk of the stunt idea. All McMahon had to say was, “no." Those simple little letters would have saved Owen’s life, and the life of any other wrestler had this been addressed to them. Worst case scenario, Russo would have said, “Fine. Forget about it then," and he would have come up with another idea. It too would have been idiotic, but at the very least the Over The Edge PPV would have gone through just fine. Instead, McMahon said, “yes,” thus pulling the proverbial trigger. The stunt was loosely based off of Sting’s WCW entrance. The difference being that Sting only dropped between 35-50 feet. Still enough to kill a man, but even the less-than-brilliant intentions of WCW provided Sting with enough support that he is still here.
McMahon’s company used a smaller harness, one barely able to lift a child, let alone a 200+ lbs. wrestler. Worse than that, Owen was hoisted up more than 75 feet. He would never have survived. Even if there was a cushion of some sort in the ring, Owen was walking to his death. Worse than that is the knowledge that Owen and I had one thing in common ; A fear of heights. It was something mentioned on a few Raw broadcasts that made me feel like less of a chicken, because I knew that there was someone stronger than me out there with the same fear. However, Owen’s fear meant that somebody had to have egged him on, or bullied him up to the ledge more than one time, if indeed this was a “practiced” stunt. It was something the wrestlers all knew, even ribbed him about, meaning that McMahon’s team knew about Owen’s fear before hand.
But what happened after that? You’ve all heard about the lawsuits, McMahon filming Owen’s funeral like it was some sort of storyline, and of course everything that happened to the remaining Hart wrestlers, but I’m not writing about that. Getting back to the topic at hand, I want you to think about the last 11 years through Martha’s eyes ; Every day, this woman wakes up, hoping that Owen will be there, but when she opens her eyes, he’s gone. And that’s a pain she has to deal with every single day.
I usually ignore feminists, because I do not feel that the vast majority of them ever truly support how I feel, but this is the ONE, rare instance where I can say that it sucks to be a female. When the boys chase after the circus that is WWE, the women who honestly love them FOR THEM and NOT the fantasy cash WWE pretends to pay the average wrestler, these rare female specimens are the LAST things anyone outside the ring wants to think about.
When Owen was alive, Martha had to deal with the WWF dragging him from place to place. He was a second generation wrestler, and Bret’s little brother. If you look through WWF/WWE’s own history, you’d see that the average little brother isn’t pushed any further than the IC belt. Owen was routinely pushed down on television, mocked by the commentary and any other mouthy so-n-so for that matter. It was clear that they would never book him for the belt, they just toyed with him. Martha put up with it. Mouthy fans at places like the supermarket would sound off about “Bret’s baby brother”. Martha put up with it. Owen was often dragged from Raw taping to house show, only getting to spend a little bit of time with the family he loved dearly. Martha put up with it.
But then May 23, 1999 came, and suddenly Owen was gone, his life extinguished in a supposed comedy stunt. It was stated in his will that in the event of his death, whatever likeness was left of him, be it VHS, T-Shirt or any other form of media, would belong to his estate. In this case, Martha. After WWF settled one lawsuit, and then got the courts to side with them on suit #2, they made Martha pay for the court costs, and then she was told essentially to put up with it. And anytime since then that she’s said even so much as BOO to McMahon, some mouthy WWE mark tells her to shut up. Just put up with it.
Should she? This is where I’d like to sit you WWE fans down and ask you a few questions : When one of you marks says “Martha’s trying to erase Owen from WWE history!!” I want you to think about this - Would you feel okay saying that in front of their kids? Would you like them to see you telling their mom to “Shut up” and “Put up with it” in regards to WWE using Owen’s image without her consent?
When you say that Martha’s “Just out for money,” and you speculate on where the money goes, I want you to think about a few things like, how much were her house bills? (Light, water, ect) How much are kids clothes for the next 11 years… without another source of income? How about medical care for the kids? How about school? This ain’t cheap you know. So how much does all of this cost when you’re a widowed mom? Do you still want to tell her “put up with it”?
How do you think Martha felt, the day she had to sit her kids down and explain to them that “Daddy’s never coming back” that “Daddy was killed for a PPV stunt”? Do you want her to “put up with it” here too? When Martha thinks of something fun, she turns around to tell Owen, and he’s gone. She realizes that there is NOTHING that can bring him back, are you gonna tell her to “put up with it”?
When her kids were little, and they used to try & pick out which cloud their Daddy might have been sitting on, do you still feel like Martha’s a money grubbing bitch who should keep her mouth shut? Should the kids have been told to “put up with it”? When her kids had nightmares and cried at night, realizing that Daddy can’t come get them, Daddy’s not here to tell stories or sing lullabies, would you really just look at their mother in the eye and tell her to “put up with it” one more time?
How about a few months ago, when the longest shot of Owen in the commercials for the Hart and Soul DVD set was Owen’s grave stone? When her kids saw that, on every single channel, multiple times a day, in their friends’ collections, in every magazine and even rotating on DVD players in ever media store they walk past every day, should you tell them to “put up with it”?
Oh sure, I bet you were all told the story that McMahon felt sympathy for what happened, and that he’s made peace with all the other Harts. But that doesn’t erase what happened. And if slandering Martha in the press, swearing that every 'T' was crossed, every 'I' dotted, but STILL using his likeness for t-shirts, DVDs, action figures & all this other stuff is how the WWE defense team plans to take Martha down to make her submit, then this case has already been decided ~ NAY ~ thrown in her favor, and I for one am not surprised.
There is NO person on this planet that EVER deserves what this woman has had to deal with over the last decade plus and not ONE person I would EVER wish this on. Yes, it’s been 11 years, but by NO means does that mean that this family has healed. Not by a long shot. You can’t get over your loved ones dying, you can’t get over not waking up with someone you love, you can’t get over not having a father.
But our society tells people like this to just “put up with it.” I don’t feel this lawsuit has diddly-shit to do with Linda’s campaign. It starts with the most recent DVD and goes backwards from there. Even if Linda was doing nothing more than bouncing on her head for a living, this lawsuit would still occur so long as footage of Owen is being used WITHOUT the legally stipulated funds or acknowledgments being sent forth.
I can’t vouch for Martha’s rocky relationship with the other Harts, but I can say that she is WELL within her rights to pursue this lawsuit to the fullest extent, if for nothing more than retribution. This suit can’t replace Owen, and she’s NOT so stupid as to think that, but maybe she can take from this a little piece of mind. And maybe it’s time that WE, and our so-called Universe “put up with it”.
In Defense Of Martha Hart
I didn’t want to address this topic ; In fact, this is one of several things that have happened in the wrestling world that I’d like to pretend never existed, but somebody has to say something. During The Wrestling Roundtable’s 9th radio show, I heard host Eric Santamaria do something that VERY FEW people have had the balls to do over the last week. He stood up for Martha Hart.
Over the last two weeks, a majority of the people I associate with have at least produced a polite “no comment,” which is totally understandable. However, there are other people whom I do not know who swear that they are wrestling fans and yet they bash this woman. Now I’ve grown sick of it. I’m tired of seeing this woman vilified as some sort of money-grubbing whore, when she has endured what NO woman should EVER have to deal with.
Now hear me out - it’s been documented in Bret Hart’s book and in several other books that Owen’s accident was the result of Vince McMahon’s negligence. It’s well known that Vince Russo came up with a good chunk of the stunt idea. All McMahon had to say was, “no." Those simple little letters would have saved Owen’s life, and the life of any other wrestler had this been addressed to them. Worst case scenario, Russo would have said, “Fine. Forget about it then," and he would have come up with another idea. It too would have been idiotic, but at the very least the Over The Edge PPV would have gone through just fine. Instead, McMahon said, “yes,” thus pulling the proverbial trigger. The stunt was loosely based off of Sting’s WCW entrance. The difference being that Sting only dropped between 35-50 feet. Still enough to kill a man, but even the less-than-brilliant intentions of WCW provided Sting with enough support that he is still here.
McMahon’s company used a smaller harness, one barely able to lift a child, let alone a 200+ lbs. wrestler. Worse than that, Owen was hoisted up more than 75 feet. He would never have survived. Even if there was a cushion of some sort in the ring, Owen was walking to his death. Worse than that is the knowledge that Owen and I had one thing in common ; A fear of heights. It was something mentioned on a few Raw broadcasts that made me feel like less of a chicken, because I knew that there was someone stronger than me out there with the same fear. However, Owen’s fear meant that somebody had to have egged him on, or bullied him up to the ledge more than one time, if indeed this was a “practiced” stunt. It was something the wrestlers all knew, even ribbed him about, meaning that McMahon’s team knew about Owen’s fear before hand.
But what happened after that? You’ve all heard about the lawsuits, McMahon filming Owen’s funeral like it was some sort of storyline, and of course everything that happened to the remaining Hart wrestlers, but I’m not writing about that. Getting back to the topic at hand, I want you to think about the last 11 years through Martha’s eyes ; Every day, this woman wakes up, hoping that Owen will be there, but when she opens her eyes, he’s gone. And that’s a pain she has to deal with every single day.
I usually ignore feminists, because I do not feel that the vast majority of them ever truly support how I feel, but this is the ONE, rare instance where I can say that it sucks to be a female. When the boys chase after the circus that is WWE, the women who honestly love them FOR THEM and NOT the fantasy cash WWE pretends to pay the average wrestler, these rare female specimens are the LAST things anyone outside the ring wants to think about.
When Owen was alive, Martha had to deal with the WWF dragging him from place to place. He was a second generation wrestler, and Bret’s little brother. If you look through WWF/WWE’s own history, you’d see that the average little brother isn’t pushed any further than the IC belt. Owen was routinely pushed down on television, mocked by the commentary and any other mouthy so-n-so for that matter. It was clear that they would never book him for the belt, they just toyed with him. Martha put up with it. Mouthy fans at places like the supermarket would sound off about “Bret’s baby brother”. Martha put up with it. Owen was often dragged from Raw taping to house show, only getting to spend a little bit of time with the family he loved dearly. Martha put up with it.
But then May 23, 1999 came, and suddenly Owen was gone, his life extinguished in a supposed comedy stunt. It was stated in his will that in the event of his death, whatever likeness was left of him, be it VHS, T-Shirt or any other form of media, would belong to his estate. In this case, Martha. After WWF settled one lawsuit, and then got the courts to side with them on suit #2, they made Martha pay for the court costs, and then she was told essentially to put up with it. And anytime since then that she’s said even so much as BOO to McMahon, some mouthy WWE mark tells her to shut up. Just put up with it.
Should she? This is where I’d like to sit you WWE fans down and ask you a few questions : When one of you marks says “Martha’s trying to erase Owen from WWE history!!” I want you to think about this - Would you feel okay saying that in front of their kids? Would you like them to see you telling their mom to “Shut up” and “Put up with it” in regards to WWE using Owen’s image without her consent?
When you say that Martha’s “Just out for money,” and you speculate on where the money goes, I want you to think about a few things like, how much were her house bills? (Light, water, ect) How much are kids clothes for the next 11 years… without another source of income? How about medical care for the kids? How about school? This ain’t cheap you know. So how much does all of this cost when you’re a widowed mom? Do you still want to tell her “put up with it”?
How do you think Martha felt, the day she had to sit her kids down and explain to them that “Daddy’s never coming back” that “Daddy was killed for a PPV stunt”? Do you want her to “put up with it” here too? When Martha thinks of something fun, she turns around to tell Owen, and he’s gone. She realizes that there is NOTHING that can bring him back, are you gonna tell her to “put up with it”?
When her kids were little, and they used to try & pick out which cloud their Daddy might have been sitting on, do you still feel like Martha’s a money grubbing bitch who should keep her mouth shut? Should the kids have been told to “put up with it”? When her kids had nightmares and cried at night, realizing that Daddy can’t come get them, Daddy’s not here to tell stories or sing lullabies, would you really just look at their mother in the eye and tell her to “put up with it” one more time?
How about a few months ago, when the longest shot of Owen in the commercials for the Hart and Soul DVD set was Owen’s grave stone? When her kids saw that, on every single channel, multiple times a day, in their friends’ collections, in every magazine and even rotating on DVD players in ever media store they walk past every day, should you tell them to “put up with it”?
Oh sure, I bet you were all told the story that McMahon felt sympathy for what happened, and that he’s made peace with all the other Harts. But that doesn’t erase what happened. And if slandering Martha in the press, swearing that every 'T' was crossed, every 'I' dotted, but STILL using his likeness for t-shirts, DVDs, action figures & all this other stuff is how the WWE defense team plans to take Martha down to make her submit, then this case has already been decided ~ NAY ~ thrown in her favor, and I for one am not surprised.
There is NO person on this planet that EVER deserves what this woman has had to deal with over the last decade plus and not ONE person I would EVER wish this on. Yes, it’s been 11 years, but by NO means does that mean that this family has healed. Not by a long shot. You can’t get over your loved ones dying, you can’t get over not waking up with someone you love, you can’t get over not having a father.
But our society tells people like this to just “put up with it.” I don’t feel this lawsuit has diddly-shit to do with Linda’s campaign. It starts with the most recent DVD and goes backwards from there. Even if Linda was doing nothing more than bouncing on her head for a living, this lawsuit would still occur so long as footage of Owen is being used WITHOUT the legally stipulated funds or acknowledgments being sent forth.
I can’t vouch for Martha’s rocky relationship with the other Harts, but I can say that she is WELL within her rights to pursue this lawsuit to the fullest extent, if for nothing more than retribution. This suit can’t replace Owen, and she’s NOT so stupid as to think that, but maybe she can take from this a little piece of mind. And maybe it’s time that WE, and our so-called Universe “put up with it”.
