"We knew that the production was off the rails" – Owen Hart's death was an accident waiting to happen, says former WWE employee

Former WWE photographer Tom Buchanan says the company struggled with production issues for many years before Owen Hart's death.

Hart passed away on May 23, 1999, during WWE's live Over The Edge event. The two-time Intercontinental Champion was supposed to be lowered down to the ring from the rafters of the arena via a harness. However, due to an equipment fault, he fell 78 feet onto the top rope and into the ring.

Buchanan, who was not part of the production team, was ringside when the tragedy occurred. He recently spoke about Hart's death on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast:

"We knew that the production was off the rails," Buchanan said. "We were heading in that direction. We just didn't know when or how. The specifics were still to be determined. As Owen was in the ring and they were doing CPR on him, one of our handheld cameramen came up to me and said, 'I never thought it would be him.' Left unsaid was, we all knew somebody was gonna have that problem. We just didn't know where or when or how." [26:24 – 26:50]

Buchanan added that WWE went through "several phases of troubles" regarding production. Earlier in the 1990s, more than one "big injury" took place after three separate rigging accidents before shows.

---

Tom Buchanan elaborates on Owen Hart's death

In the late 1990s, it was not uncommon for WWE fans to throw things in the ring to vent their anger at a certain wrestler or storyline development. On some occasions, barricades even broke when fans tried to push wrestlers who entered the crowd.

With production issues mounting, Buchanan was not surprised when he found out that Owen Hart's stunt had not been prepared adequately:

"So, we had these three things happening in waves or stages, and then we got into production stunts like the Owen Hart stunt. There have been others too. We didn't have a stunt coordinator, we were just flying by the seat of our pants, and it was very clear that at one point something was gonna go very wrong." [29:27 – 29:47]

As one of WWE's leading photographers, Buchanan took pictures of the stunt set-up after Owen Hart's death. It was also his responsibility to tell WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon how the accident happened.

Do you have any favorite Owen Hart memories? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.