On May 23, 1999, Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event.[34] Owen was in the process of being lowered into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a booked Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather. In keeping with the Blazer's new 'buffoonish superhero' character, Hart was to be lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect. It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the Sunday Night Heat before Survivor Series 1998.[35] This time, something went wrong with the stunt harness, apparently triggering the release mechanism early as he was being lowered. Owen fell 78 feet (24 meters) into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, approximately a foot from the turn buckle, throwing him into the ring. In Mick Foley's autobiography Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick claims that following the fall, Owen attempted to sit up but only got up a few inches from the mat before falling still and lying motionless.

Owen had performed the stunt only a few times before, and was worried about performing the stunt at Kemper Arena due to the height involved (Owen had a fear of heights). Owen's wife Martha has suggested that, by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on, Owen unintentionally triggered an early release.

TV viewers at home did not see the incident or its aftermath -- at the moment of the fall, a pre-taped vignette was being shown on the pay-per-view broadcast as well as on the monitors in the darkened arena. After, while Owen was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring, the live event's broadcast showed only the audience. Meanwhile, WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what had just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.

Owen was transported to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Owen had actually died while still being tended to in the ring. The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma.

AnchorWeb.org's Haunted America takes a look at the Kemper Arena in their most recent article. They are saying that in recent years, there have been multiple reports of sightings of (the ghost of) Owen Hart, who in May 1999, fell nearly 80 feet to his death after he unintentionally triggered an early release from the cable he was being lowered into the ring from. Regarding Owen, they wrote: "Employees have claimed to have seen him in the rafters wearing the costume he was wearing for his gimmick as well as the cable before he began the descent. There have also been reports of flickering lights and other power sources that seem to go on and off in some areas of the arena."