“I Started Feeling Guilty”: Owen Hart’s Tragic Demise in 1999 Made a WWE Personality Live With Grief for the Next 24 Years

May 23, 1999, Kansas City, Missouri, WWE fans were enjoying the Over the Edge pay-per-view. They just saw a hardcore match and were about to witness the clash between Owen Hart and The Godfather. The arena went dark and WWE star Owen Hart was about to make his special aerial entrance. 

He was 78 feet above the ground when the harness snapped and he fell at the south-west corner of the ring. The enthusiasm turned into grief. Every fan who was present in the Kemper Arena still remembers this unfortunate incident. And one of one people whom this incident affect the most was the ex-WWE employee who was present in the ring at that time.

Former WWE personality opens ups about the last few minutes before Hart’s tragic death 

Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas recently gave an interview. During that, Korderas shared how the unfortunate death of Owen Hart affected his entire life.

In an exclusive interview with WrestlingNews.co, he revealed that before Hart’s match, he was inside the ring clearing the debris from the hardcore match that just happened when he suddenly felt something brushed by him lightly, and when he turned around it was Owen Hart laying inside the ring with his face down.

Recalling the tragic incident, Korderas said, “I don’t know what’s going on. Almost instantaneously, I felt something very lightly brushed by……. I looked down and I saw Owen. I couldn’t put two and two together. You’re confused. I called out a couple of times, nothing, no response, and I just started flipping out saying, ‘We need help, we need help.’”

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The incident stuck to his mind and Korderas couldn’t think properly for a long time. And the next day, when WWE commentator Jerry Lawler revealed a detail about the incident, he just couldn’t help but feel guilty.

The death of Owen Hart left the ex-WWE referee in lifetime guilt

Jimmy Korderas further said that he didn’t know how close he was to Hart until Jerry Lawler revealed the details of Owen’s accident. Lawler said that he was so close to the late WWE superstar that he could also be a part of that unfortunate incident. Korderas also mentioned that after knowing the details he felt so lucky and guilty at the same time.

“I didn’t find out how close he was to me until I talked to Jerry Lawler. He told me he saw the last maybe 20 feet of the fall and thought I was gonna be a more unfortunate part of this tragedy. Then I started feeling guilty after King told me that. I felt lucky, but at the same time, here’s a family who lost a father, a husband, a son, and I felt guilty thinking that I was lucky that I made it out of this.”, the former WWE referee continued.

WWE received a huge backlash after Hart’s death. It’s been 24 years and fans still couldn’t forget the tragedy. Ten years after the incident, Korderas was released by WWE. Even though he tried working in another company after that, it didn’t fit well with him and he eventually quit the professional wrestling world.

Currently, Jimmy Korderas is working for a Canadian tv sports network, ‘Sportsnet’. Although he is away from the wrestling industry, the tragic death of Owen Hart haunts him even after two decades.

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