title: Detroit Pistons

text: On November 22, 2016, the Pistons officially announced their intention to move to Little Caesars Arena, and the site of The Palace of Auburn Hills was to be redeveloped and sold, with the arena likely to be demolished as part of the redevelopment. The last remaining NBA franchise to play in a suburban location, the Pistons ended their 39 a year stay in Oakland County.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On June 20, 2017, Detroit City Council approved the Pistons' move to Little Caesars Arena. On August 3, 2017, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the move, which made it official. The move made Detroit the only U.S. city to have its Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), NBA, and NHL teams playing in its downtown district, and one of only two U.S. cities to have all their teams playing in one place, the other being Philadelphia.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On January 29, 2018, the Pistons announced they had acquired all-star forward Blake Griffin along with Willie Reed and Brice Johnson from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, a 2018 first-round draft pick, and a 2019 second-round draft pick.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: The Pistons finished the 2017–18 season with a 39–43 record. They missed the playoffs for the eighth time in ten years. On May 7, 2018, the Pistons announced that Stan Van Gundy would not return as head coach and president of basketball operations. On June 11, 2018, Dwane Casey was hired by the Pistons to be their new head coach, agreeing to a five-year deal. The Pistons finished the 2018–19 season with a 41–41 record, clinching a playoff spot as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. In the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs, the Pistons were swept in four games by the Milwaukee Bucks, setting an NBA record for the most consecutive playoff losses with 14.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On March 11, 2020, the 2019–20 season was suspended by the NBA after it was reported that Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. On June 4, 2020, the season came to an end for the Pistons when the NBA Board of Governors approved a plan that would restart the season with 22 teams returning to play in the NBA bubble on July 31, 2020, which was approved by the National Basketball Players Association the next day. The Pistons finished the season with a 20–46 record.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On June 18, 2020, the Pistons hired Troy Weaver as the new general manager. The Pistons finished the 2020–21 season with the second-worst record in the league at 20–52, missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The 20 wins were also tied for the second-fewest in franchise history. In the 2021 NBA draft, the Pistons selected Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick. The Pistons finished the 2021–22 season at 23–59, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: With the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, the Pistons selected Jaden Ivey. Later in the first round, the Pistons acquired Jalen Duren via a trade with the New York Knicks.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: The Pistons flagship radio station is WXYT-FM. There are several affiliate stations throughout Michigan. The regular radio announcers are Mark Champion with play-by-play and Rick Mahorn with color commentary.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: The Pistons' current exclusive local television rights holder is Bally Sports Detroit. The regular TV announcers are George Blaha with play-by-play, Greg Kelser with color commentary, Grant Long or Tim McCormick with studio analysis and Johnny Kane or Natalie Kerwin with sideline reports.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: After moving from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Detroit in 1957, the Pistons' uniforms remained largely unchanged for two decades, featuring the word "Pistons" in blue block lettering. In the 1978–79 season, the team featured a uniform with lightning bolts on the sides and in the wordmark on the front of the jerseys. The team discontinued the lightning bolt theme and returned to its classic block lettering and simple side panel pattern in 1981, staying with this look until 1996. That year, the Pistons changed its colors to teal, black, yellow and red and unveiled a new logo with a horse's head and flaming mane. This color scheme lasted until 2001, when the team returned to the traditional red, white and blue colors and a uniform pattern taking cues from the 1981–96 threads. The horse's head and flaming mane logo lasted until 2005, when the team switched to a more classic logo design.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On August 14, 2013, the Pistons unveiled a new alternate uniform with navy blue and red colors. It featured the words "Motor City" across the front and marked the club's first alternative look since they wore a red alternate, which was basically a recolored version of their regular road uniform, from 2005–2009. The uniform is the first of its kind, designed to celebrate the pride and character of metro Detroit while paying homage to the region's automotive roots. The team said in its press release that it "worked in consultation with Adidas and the NBA in development of the uniforms. Lettering and numbering style on the jersey is consistent with the team's current home and away uniforms. To contrast the navy blue and red accents, lettering and numbers on the jerseys and shorts are white with hair-line red and blue trim. The club's secondary logo appears on the shorts – similar to the primary home and away uniforms."


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On October 4, 2015, the Pistons unveiled a new alternate pride uniform, intended to be worn during the 2015–16 season. The team said in a press release that "the inspiration for the Detroit Chrome jerseys came about as a way to honor our coolest cars from the past and the cars of the future. Detroit is universally known as the auto capitol of the world, where chrome leaves an indelible mark on the cars we create. The uniforms feature a matte chrome base color with clean simple lines inspired by the classic muscle cars that have roared up and down Woodward Avenue for decades. The navy trim and Detroit emblazoned across the chest represent the blue-collar work ethic that the auto industry and region was built on."


title: Detroit Pistons

text: On May 16, 2017, the Pistons unveiled a new logo, which is a modernized version of the previous "Bad Boys" era logo used from 1979 to 1996.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: In July 2022, the Pistons announced that they were bringing back the teal jersey as a throwback for the 2022–23 season.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: Hooper is the mascot of the Pistons. He is depicted as a horse wearing a Pistons jersey. The symbolism is, that like the pistons they are named after, the team produces horsepower, hence the equine mascot. Hooper became a part of the team on November 1, 1996, replacing Sir Slam A Lot.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: Though Hooper was introduced during the "" to coincide with the Pistons' new equestrian logo, his popularity as a mascot allowed him to remain a part of the team despite the Pistons returning to their previous colors and basketball logo only a few years later.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: At the start of the 1987–88 season, Al Davis, owner of the then Los Angeles Raiders, sent Raiders merchandise to the Pistons to acknowledge the shared view of the teams and their physical style of play. Dan Hauser, Pistons Vice-President of Marketing said, "Al sent us Raiders sweaters, and when we played Golden State in Oakland, Al had Raiders warm-ups for us with our names and numbers on them. The rough bad-boy fighting style of the Raiders fits our image. That's why, at our home games at the Palace, you see a sea of black: black caps, black T-shirts, black sweatshirts".


title: Detroit Pistons

text: The end of season video yearbook produced by the NBA was titled "Bad Boys". Due to these factors, the name and image was embraced by the players and fans. Pistons guard Joe Dumars said, "You can't be great in this league and have zero identity." Hudson Soft would later develop and publish "Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball", a futuristic basketball game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System without rules, without fouls, and weapons are permitted.


title: Detroit Pistons

text: The positive view of the team was not universal with Michael Jordan declaring "the Bad Boys are bad for basketball," later adding "I hated them. And that hate carries even to this day." David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA at the time, said, "If I had it to do over again, we would be more aggressive in regulating, shall we say, that style of play, because it led to our game becoming much more physical."


title: Detroit Pistons

text: Jalen Rose, who later starred as a member of the Fab Five at Michigan, embraced the Bad Boys brand as a teenager growing up in Detroit, stating "I loved everything about the Bad Boys. I loved how they played and how they didn't back down. They just went out and kicked the other teams' butts." Pistons announcer George Blaha said, "I think the people of Detroit and all across Michigan loved the Pistons' don't-back-down-ever mentality. Detroit's a working person's town and that's the same type of fan that you have all across the state of Michigan from the big cities to the small towns. Never does a day go by that somebody that I talk to doesn't bring up the Bad Boys; they loved 'em."


title: Detroit Pistons

text: "List of the last five seasons completed by the Pistons. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Detroit Pistons seasons."


title: Detroit Pistons

text: The Pistons hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends. This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.


title: The Munsters

text: The Munsters is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monster and head-of-the-household Herman Munster; Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife Lily; Al Lewis as Lily's father, Grandpa, the somewhat over-the-hill vampire Count Dracula who longs for the "good old days" in Transylvania; Beverley Owen (later replaced by Pat Priest) as their college-age niece Marilyn, who was attractive by conventional standards but the "ugly duckling" of the family; and Butch Patrick as their werewolfish son Eddie.


title: The Munsters

text: Produced by the creators of "Leave It to Beaver", the series was a satire of American suburban life, the wholesome TV family fare of the era, and traditional monster movies. It achieved higher Nielsen ratings than the similarly macabre-themed "The Addams Family," which aired concurrently on ABC.


title: The Munsters

text: In 1965, "The Munsters" was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series but lost to "The Rogues". In the 21st century it received several TV Land Award nominations, including one for Most Uninsurable Driver (Herman Munster).


title: The Munsters

text: The series originally aired on Thursday at 7:30 pm on CBS from September 24, 1964, to May 12, 1966. Seventy episodes were produced. It was cancelled after ratings dropped to a series low due to competition from ABC's "Batman". Butch Patrick said, "I think 'Batman' was to blame. 'Batman' just came along and took our ratings away." But "The Munsters" found a large audience in syndication. This popularity warranted a spin-off series, as well as several films, including one with a theatrical release, and several more recent attempts to reboot it.


title: The Munsters

text: The Munsters are a Transylvanian-American family living at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in the fictional city of Mockingbird Heights. The series' running gag is that the decidedly odd-looking family with strange tastes considers itself to be an average American family. Herman is the family's sole wage-earner, though Lily and Grandpa make short-lived attempts to earn money from time to time. While Herman is the head of the household, Lily also makes many decisions. According to episode 44 ("Happy 100th Anniversary"), they were married in 1865.


title: The Munsters

text: Other than Marilyn, the character's costumes and appearances were based on the classic monsters of Universal Studios films of the 1930s and 1940s, including the iconic version of Frankenstein's monster developed by Jack Pierce for the 1931 Universal film "Frankenstein". Since Universal jointly produced "The Munsters" the show was able to use these copyrighted designs. Make-up for the series was credited to Bud Westmore, who pioneered many other make-up effects and designs for the studio's monsters after Pierce.


title: The Munsters

text: The show satirized the typical family sitcom formula of the era: the well-meaning father, the nurturing mother, the eccentric live-in relative, the naïve teenager, and the precocious child. The Munsters even reference sitcoms which they themselves watch. In episode 45, "Operation Herman", Lily tells Herman to have a father-son talk with Eddie because "a thing like this is up to the father. Anyone who's watched "Father Knows Best" for nine years ought to know that," to which Herman replies, "All right. But Donna Reed always handles things on "her" show." In episode 47, "John Doe Munster", Grandpa describes "My Three Sons" as being about a "crazy, mixed-up family that's always having weird adventures."


title: The Munsters

text: Al Lewis, in an interview with "Daily Variety" explained, "We can do a lot of satirical pointed things on society that you couldn't do on an ordinary show." Lewis also said, "Philosophically, the format is that in spite of the way people look to you physically, underneath there is a heart of gold. "The Munsters" reflected changes in social attitudes during the Civil Rights Era, and in 2020 the speech Herman makes to Eddie in the 1965 episode "Eddie's Nickname" went viral: "The lesson I want you to learn is that it doesn't matter what you look like. Whether you are tall or short; or fat or thin; or ugly or handsome – like your father – or you can be black, or yellow, or white. It doesn't matter. What matters is the size of your heart and the strength of your character."


title: The Munsters

text: The idea of a family of comical monsters was first suggested to Universal Studios by animator Bob Clampett, who developed the idea from 1943 to 1945 as a series of cartoons. The project did not take off until mid-1963 when a similar idea was submitted by "Rocky & Bullwinkle" writers Allan Burns and Chris Hayward. The proposal was later handed to writers Norm Liebman and Ed Haas, who wrote a pilot script, "Love Thy Monster".


title: The Munsters

text: According to Burns, "We sort of stole the idea from Charles Addams and his "New Yorker" cartoons... Because Universal owned the Frankenstein character and the Dracula character for movie rights, they decided to take their characters instead of the characters we had written."


title: The Munsters

text: While some executives believed the series should be animated, others who argued for live-action prevailed. In 1964 a live-action pilot titled "My Fair Munster" was filmed in color by MCA Television for CBS. Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were the first to be cast early in February 1964. They had just come off "Car 54, Where Are You?" and had good chemistry together. Beverly Owen was signed to play Marilyn; Joan Marshall was cast as Herman's wife, "Phoebe"; and "Happy" Nate Derman was cast as Eddie. A second pilot was ordered in April 1964 with Yvonne De Carlo replacing Marshall, and the character renamed "Lilly". For a third pilot, "Happy" Nate Derman was replaced by Butch Patrick. CBS liked both De Carlo and Patrick, but ordered a fourth pilot where Eddie was less spoiled.


title: The Munsters

text: The show was produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, who were already known for creating the "Leave It to Beaver" television series. Prior to that they wrote more than 1,500 episodes of "Amos 'n' Andy", a popular network radio program, for nearly its entire history.


title: The Munsters

text: Over the course of season one, the makeup for Herman, Lily, and Grandpa was adjusted. Lily's hair originally had a large white streak, which was reduced in later episodes. Her necklace featured a bat instead of a star, and her eyebrows were angled more. Grandpa's make-up was exaggerated, including heavier eyebrows, and Herman's face was widened for a dopier and less human appearance. Gwynne also added a stutter whenever Herman was angry or wanted to make a point, and he frequently left his mouth open, adding to the effect of a goofy, less frightening, figure.


title: The Munsters

text: The Munsters' home was a decaying Second Empire Victorian mansion located at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights. The town's location is not specified in the series, but in later incarnations it is described as a small town outside Los Angeles.


title: The Munsters

text: The Munster home was located on the Universal Studios back lot. It was originally constructed with two other houses on Stage 12, the studio's largest soundstage, for the 1946 film "So Goes My Love" (aka "A Genius in the Family"). After that film was completed, the sets were put into storage until 1950, when they (along with other house sets built from stock units) were reassembled on the north edge of the backlot along a road christened Colonial Street, after the Colonial Mansion which was the first house on the street. All three houses were seen in many TV shows and films, including "Leave It to Beaver."


title: The Munsters

text: In 1964 the house was redressed as the Munster home and a stone wall was added around the property. After "The Munsters" ended its run, the house was restored. It was the home of the family in "Shirley" (NBC, 1979–80).


title: The Munsters

text: In 1981 all of the homes on Colonial Street were moved from the north end of the lot to their present location. The former Munster house was used in "Coach" and, after another remodel, "Desperate Housewives."


title: The Munsters

text: The interiors of the Munsters' mansion were filmed on Stages 30 and 32 at Universal Studios. The interior was riddled with dust, smoke and cobwebs. (When Lily "dusted" the house, her Electrolux emitted clouds of dust, which she applied to surfaces most people would clean). As a running gag, parts of the house would often be damaged (mostly by Herman's tantrums or clumsiness), but the damage would not last.


title: The Munsters

text: In the fourth episode ("Rock-A-Bye Munster"), Lily buys a hot-rod and a hearse from a used car dealership and has them customized into one car (Munster Koach) for Herman's birthday present. The Munster Koach and DRAG-U-LA (built by Grandpa in episode 36, "Hot Rod Herman") were designed by Tom Daniel and built by auto customizer George Barris for the show. The "Munster Koach" was a hot rod built on a lengthened 1926 Ford Model T chassis with a custom hearse body. It was 18 feet long and cost almost $20,000 to build. Barris also built the "DRAG-U-LA," a dragster built from a coffin (according to Barris, a real coffin was, in fact, purchased for the car), which Grandpa used to win back "The Munster Koach" after Herman lost it in a race.


title: The Munsters

text: The instrumental theme song, titled "The Munsters' Theme", was composed by composer/arranger Jack Marshall. Described by writer Jon Burlingame as a "Bernard-Herrmann-meets-Duane-Eddy sound", the theme was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1965. The song's lyrics, which were written by co-producer Bob Mosher, were never aired on CBS.


title: The Munsters

text: The first presentation was 16 minutes and in color (later cut to just over 13 minutes) and was used to pitch the series to CBS and its affiliates. (The episode is available on the complete first season of "The Munsters" DVDs.) It never aired, but the script was reused as the basis for episode 2, "My Fair Munster". The cast in order of appearance in the title sequence was: Joan Marshall as Phoebe (instead of Lily), Beverley Owen as Marilyn, Nate "Happy" Derman as Eddie, Al Lewis as Grandpa, and Fred Gwynne as Herman. Although the same house exterior was used, it was later changed to appear more gothic and "spooky" in the series. This included adding the tower deck and Marilyn's deck; a new coat of paint; and enlarging the living room. Although Grandpa had the same dungeon, Gwynne did not wear padding in the pitch episode, had a more protruding forehead, and was broad but thin. The most noticeable difference was his somber expression, compared to his comic silliness during the series. Except for Marilyn, the family had a blue-green tint to their skin. The biggest character difference was that Eddie was portrayed by Derman as a nasty brat. Eddie, as played by Patrick, was mostly respectful.


title: The Munsters

text: The pilot title sequence had light, happy music borrowed from the Doris Day movie "The Thrill of It All" instead of the instrumental rock theme. It was also decided that Joan Marshall looked too much like Morticia Addams and that Happy Derman was too nasty as Eddie, so both were replaced. On the basis of the first presentation, the new series, still not completely cast, was announced by CBS on February 18, 1964. A second black-and-white presentation was filmed with DeCarlo and Patrick. In this version, Eddie appeared with a more "normal" look, although his hairstyle was later altered to include a pronounced widow's peak.


title: The Munsters

text: During the first season, the Munster family appeared in an Easter special when they visited Marineland of the Pacific in Palos Verdes, California, to get a new pet for Eddie. Shot on videotape, it aired just once on CBS on April 18, and was long thought lost until a copy was donated to the Paley Center in New York in 1997.


title: The Munsters

text: The series entered syndication on local stations after its original run. In the 1990s it aired on Nick at Nite and on TV Land from 2000 to 2008. In October 2011, the series was picked up by Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang and ran through the entire month of October that year for Halloween alongside "The Addams Family". It vanished from Boomerang after Halloween 2013.


title: The Munsters

text: On October 5, 2015, Cozi TV began airing the series, currently on weeknights at 7pm Eastern and in a two-hour block on Sunday evenings.


title: The Munsters

text: Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis appeared in full make-up and costumes riding in the Munster Koach in the 1964 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Gwynne made solo appearances in character on "The Red Skelton Show" in April 1965, in the Murray the K special, "What's Happening, Baby?" in June 1965, and on and the Danny Kaye show in April 1966.


title: The Munsters

text: Several "Munsters" movies were released. Three featuring original cast members include "Munster, Go Home!" (1966), "The Mini-Munsters" (1973), and "The Munsters' Revenge" (1981). A television film titled "Here Come the Munsters" aired in 1995, and "The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas" was released in 1996. A feature film titled "The Munsters" released on September 22, 2022.


title: The Munsters

text: In 1973, ABC aired an animated one-hour special, "The Mini-Munsters", based on characters from the original series.


title: The Munsters

text: A sequel television series, titled "The Munsters Today", ran from 1988 to 1991 and lasted for 72 episodes. The unaired pilot episode, written by Lloyd J. Schwartz, explained the 22-year gap through an accident in Grandpa's lab that put the family to sleep. They awake in the late 1980s and have to adapt to their new surroundings. It featured John Schuck (Herman), Lee Meriwether (Lily), Howard Morton (Grandpa), and Jason Marsden (Eddie). Marilyn was portrayed by Mary-Ellen Dunbar in the unaired pilot, and by Hilary Van Dyke thereafter.


title: The Munsters

text: A reboot from "Pushing Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller, was developed for NBC. The show was to be a reboot as a one-hour drama with "spectacular visuals". NBC ordered a pilot episode, and announced in January 2012 that it would be called "Mockingbird Lane", a reference to the Munster's address. NBC ultimately canceled plans for "Mockingbird Lane" to be produced as a weekly series, but later announced the pilot episode would air in late October 2012 as a Halloween special. The series failed to be picked up by NBC due to disagreements on the dark nature and inconsistent tone.


title: The Munsters

text: In 1998, Rob Zombie released the single "Dragula". Its title came from the name of Grandpa's eponymous dragster "DRAG-U-LA". The music video mimics, in parts, The Munsters family getting into the car for a ride.


title: The Munsters

text: Between 2004 and 2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Regions 1 & 2.


title: The Munsters

text: The "Family Portrait" episode in color, which was absent from the season 1 and 2 standalone box sets, was released on a standalone Region 1 DVD on October 7, 2008.


title: The Munsters

text: Gold Key Comics produced a "Munsters" comic book which ran 16 issues from 1965 to 1968 and had photo covers from the TV series. When it first appeared, the Comics Code Authority still forbade the appearance of vampires in comic books. However, this was not a problem at Gold Key, because Gold Key was not a member of the Comics Magazine Association of America and therefore did not have to conform to the Comics Code. Lily and Grandpa appeared in the comics without controversy.


title: The Munsters

text: Other merchandise included a set of rubber squeaky toys, Colorforms, and an Aurora model kit of the living room and family. AMT produced model kits of the Munster Koach as well as Drag-u-La. The Aurora model of the living room featured Herman in his electric chair, Eddie squatting in front of the fire, Lily was knitting and Grandpa was hanging, bat like, from the rafters. Marilyn was not included. ERTL later produced a very detailed 1:18 scale diecast of the Munster Koach. Mattel issued two Herman Munster Dolls, one was a talking doll and the other was a hand puppet (both having chatty rings that you could pull to make them talk utilizing Gwynne's actual voice) that were issued from 1964 until around 1968.


title: The Munsters

text: A video game based on "The Munsters" was published by "Again, Again" (a division of Alternative Software) in 1989. It was available for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, MSX, and DOS, but was heavily criticized by gaming press at the time because of its short length and lackluster game play.


title: The Munsters

text: In 1990, Atari Corporation released "Midnight Mutants" for the Atari 7800, featuring Al Lewis' likeness in his Grampa Munster character on the box art and label art. However, since Atari did not sign an agreement with Universal, they could not call him "Grampa Munster"; he was simply called "Grampa".


title: The Munsters

text: Sawyer's View-Master Stereo Pictures issued a 3-D reel set of The Munsters depicting the episode "The Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World" in 1966, Packet No. B 481. The set contains three reels, each with seven 3-D views, as well as a small booklet containing drawings and additional text. The View-Master set is notable because the photographs provide rare color views of the characters and sets, including house interiors and Grandpa's dungeon laboratory. The photos are an accurate depiction of the characters' makeup as designed for black and white filming. Herman, Eddie, and Grandpa all wear heavy greenish-white facial makeup, which contrasts noticeably with their un-made-up hands and wrists. Lily, besides heavy facial makeup, has light greenish-white makeup on her hands and wrists. Marilyn, identified on the packet as "Daughter Marilyn," is of course in non-character "normal" makeup.


title: Timbaland

text: Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinctive "stuttering" rhythmic style. In 2007, "Entertainment Weekly" stated that "just about every current pop trend can be traced back to him — from sultry, urban-edged R&B songstresses ... to the art of incorporating avant-garde sounds into No. 1 hits."


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on "Ginuwine...the Bachelor" for R&B singer Ginuwine. Further work on Aaliyah's second studio album "One in a Million" (1996) and Missy Elliott's debut studio album "Supa Dupa Fly" (1997) made him a prominent producer for R&B and hip hop artists. As a rapper he initially released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo, followed by his debut solo album "" in 1998. In 2002, Timbaland produced the hit single "Cry Me a River" for Justin Timberlake and went on to produce most of Timberlake's subsequent LPs, such as "FutureSex/LoveSounds" and "The 20/20 Experience" along with their respective hit singles.


title: Timbaland

text: The Timbaland-owned imprint label, Mosley Music Group, featured artists such as Nelly Furtado, whose Timbaland-produced album "Loose" (2006) was a commercial and critical success. In 2007, Timbaland released a solo album, "Shock Value", which was followed by "Shock Value II" in 2009. Timbaland's production credits during the 2000s also include work with Jay-Z, Nas, Ludacris, Missy Elliott, Bubba Sparxxx, Madonna, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, OneRepublic, Brandy, Drake, and Björk, among others. As a songwriter, he has written 85 UK hits and 99 US hits, as of 2014. With Swizz Beatz, he created the popular webcast series "Verzuz" in 2020.


title: Timbaland

text: Timothy Zachery Mosley was born on March 10, 1972, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Latrice, who ran a homeless shelter, and Garland Mosley, an Amtrak employee. He graduated from Salem High School of Virginia Beach, Virginia. During his time as a DJ, he was known as "DJ Tim" or "DJ Timmy Tim". His brother, Sebastian, is reportedly around nine years younger. His sister Courtney Rashon is a makeup artist and an author from New Jersey. While attending high school, Timbaland began a long-term collaboration with rapper Melvin (Magoo) Barcliff. The teenage Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. (which stood for 'Surrounded By Idiots') which also featured Neptunes producer, his cousin, Pharrell Williams. Mosley was also high school friends with brothers Terrence and Gene Thornton, who would become known as Pusha T and Malice of the rap group Clipse, respectively. In 1986, when Timbaland was 14 years old, he was accidentally shot by a co-worker at a local Red Lobster restaurant and was partially paralyzed for nine months. During this time, he began to learn how to DJ using his left hand.


title: Timbaland

text: Rapper Missy Elliott heard his material and began working with him. She and her R&B group, Sista, auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after the Timberland brand of construction boots. He and Magoo became part of SCI Zakys School stable of Swing Mob signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah. Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with DeVante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP "The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel", and Sista's (unreleased) début LP "4 All the Sistas Around da World". Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group 702 and MC Lyte. Due to Timbaland's connection with her, he was often contacted to produce remixes of her songs.


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland began his producing career for R&B acts. In the early-1990s, he produced a few songs for R&B acts such as Jodeci and Sista. In 1996, he made his mainstream breakthrough by producing the majority of both Aaliyah's second album "One in a Million" and Ginuwine's debut album "Ginuwine...the Bachelor". This included the major hit singles "If Your Girl Only Knew" by Aaliyah and "Pony" by Ginuwine. While Timbaland was initially producing for R&B artists, his trademark sound was very much rooted in hip-hop with its fast-paced nature and clear drum breaks. He was taking a hip-hop sound and applying it to R&B, and in this way his sound was instrumental in blurring the distinction between hip-hop and R&B production. In 1997, he fully produced "Supa Dupa Fly", the debut album of Missy Elliott, who had been a childhood friend of Mosley. In this album Timbaland continued with his now trademark electronic production style, but since Missy frequently rapped the music was considered hip-hop. Also in 1997, he released his first album with his partner Magoo, "Welcome to Our World", also a hip-hop album. In the late 1990s, his hip-hop production sound would become very influential and common as he produced for many high-profile hip-hop artists including Jay-Z, Nas, and The LOX. In 1999, he scored a major hit with Jay-Z and rap group UGK with the hit "Big Pimpin'". He also fully produced Missy's second album in 1999, "Da Real World". During this time, Timbaland continued to produce primarily for R&B artists. He continued to produce for Ginuwine and Aaliyah, as well as contributing significantly to albums by Xscape, Nicole, Playa, and Total. He remixed Usher's major hit "You Make Me Wanna". In the early 2000s Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U". He also makes an appearance in Aaliyah's single "Try Again", which he also produced and co-wrote.


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. "Indecent Proposal" was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian (Timbaland's brother), Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah. The first release on Beat Club was the début album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, "Dark Days, Bright Nights". The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show "Total Request Live", Timbaland said:


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet's debut album, "Southern Hummingbird", and produced most of Missy Elliott's fourth and fifth LPs, "Under Construction" and "This Is Not a Test!". He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil' Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, "Justified", including the song "Cry Me a River".


title: Timbaland

text: Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, "Under Construction, Part II" Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though "Deliverance" was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community. In 2004, Timbaland produced singles for LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, "Afrodisiac". Timbaland co-wrote two tracks ("Exodus '04" and "Let Me Give You My Love") and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star Hikaru Utada’s second English album, "Exodus". He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott’s sixth album, "The Cookbook": "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, "Rebirth").


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland started a new label, Mosley Music Group along with old friend and legendary Australian music producer John Servedio, also known as his stage name 'ServidSounds' who helped Timbaland bring in some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label were Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E. In 2006 he produced Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album "FutureSex/LoveSounds". His vocals feature on the songs "SexyBack", "Sexy Ladies", "Chop Me Up", "What Goes Around... Comes Around" and on the prelude to "My Love" entitled "Let Me Talk to You". Timbaland provided vocals on several singles: The Pussycat Dolls' "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", "Ice Box" by Omarion and Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack". In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with Coldplay's Chris Martin.


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk's 2007 album, "Volta", including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence" and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, "Red Carpet Massacre", including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's LP, "Strength & Loyalty" and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album "Curtis". Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, "Bittersweet World", including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)". On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called "Timbaland Presents Shock Value". A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously backlashed Storch: "I'm a real producer and you['re] just the piano man". In an interview, Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch. The dispute partly stemmed from controversy regarding writing credits for Timberlake's "Cry Me a River".


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists in 2008, including Madonna's "Hard Candy", Ashlee Simpson's "Bittersweet World", Keri Hilson's "In a Perfect World", Flo Rida's "Mail on Sunday", Letoya Luckett's "Lady Love", Lindsay Lohan's "Spirit in the Dark", Chris Cornell's "Scream", JoJo's "All I Want Is Everything", Nicole Scherzinger's "Her Name Is Nicole", Missy Elliott's "Block Party", Matt Pokora's "MP3", Keithian's "Dirrty Pop", The Pussycat Dolls's "Doll Domination", Busta Rhymes's "B.O.M.B", Lisa Maffia's "Miss Boss", Teairra Mari's "Pressed for Time", Jennifer Hudson's début album, Dima Bilan's "Believe", Samantha Jade's "My Name Is Samantha Jade", New Kids on the Block's "The Block", and Keshia Chanté's "Night & Day". Timbaland produced the Russian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, "Believe" by Dima Bilan, which was co-written by Bilan and Jim Beanz. The song then won the contest when it was held in Belgrade, Serbia in May 2008. In February 2008 the first "Fashion Against AIDS" collection -an initiative of Designers Against AIDS and sold in H&M stores in 28 countries- was launched, for which Timbaland designed a T-shirt print, posed for the campaign and spoke out in a video, to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness among urban youth and to advocate safe sex. On February 8, 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album exclusively for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence". Timbaland was to be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer and songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album's first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is Garry Barry Larry Harry "Get It Girl". In Timbaland's first effort within the video game industry, he worked with Rockstar Games to produce "Beaterator", a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network, and iOS released in the September 2009.


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland spoke to MTV's Shaheem Reid back in July 2008 to confirm that he was working on the follow-up to his platinum selling "Shock Value". At the time he confirmed that he had one track with Madonna which although recorded for her album "Hard Candy" it had not been used and could end up on this album instead. He was insistent that he would also collaborate with Jordin Sparks, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and T.I. However, none of these collaborations (except Miley Cyrus) made it to the final track list. He also said that alongside T-Pain who would definitely appear, he hoped to get Jay-Z on board, although he ultimately failed to do so. Timbaland began working on the sequel to "Shock Value" in July 2008. In March 2009, he filed a lawsuit against his label, Blackground Records, alleging that they attempted to blackball him after he decided to move from music performance into production.


title: Timbaland

text: In September 2009, Timbaland announced that "Shock Value II" will be released on November 23, in Europe and November 24, in North America. However, it was pushed back to December 8, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy entitled "Morning After Dark". New featured guest appearances on the album include DJ Felli Fel, Justin Timberlake, JoJo, Bran'Nu, Drake, Chad Kroeger, Sebastian, Miley Cyrus, Melody Thornton, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Esthero, The Fray, Jet, Daughtry, OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Attitude and D.O.E.. Ultimately Madonna, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Usher, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects, Paramore, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, T.I. and Akon never appeared on "Shock Value II". "Shock Value II" is infamous for its use of over-the-top vocal effects.


title: Timbaland

text: "Morning After Dark" featuring SoShy and Nelly Furtado is the lead single from Timbaland's third studio album. The song was written by Tim Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Deborah Epstein, Michelle Bell, Keri Hilson, Nelly Furtado, James Washington, John Maultsby and produced by Timbaland and Jroc. The single premiered on October 16, 2009, on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest with Timbaland describing it as the kick-off song from the project. Following her performance, the song was sent for radio adds on May 25. The song peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. With this success, the song became Sparks' fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third nonconsecutive top 10 hit. On May 24, Sparks headed to Europe to begin promotion for the single. "Say Something" featuring Canadian rapper Drake was released to US iTunes on November 3, 2009. It was officially sent to U.S. radio on January 5, 2010. It is the album's second single and reached number 23 on the Hot 100, making it the second most successful single on the album. "Carry Out" featuring Justin Timberlake is the third single from the album but was initially only released in the U.S. It was sent to US radio on December 1, 2009. It is the most successful single on the album, peaking at number 11 on the ""Billboard" Hot 100". The music video premiered on February 18, 2010. It was released as the third UK single on April 26, 2010. "If We Ever Meet Again" featuring Katy Perry is the album's fourth single. The music video premiered on January 18, 2010. In the UK, it was released February 15, 2010.


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album "Scream". Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album "She Wolf" and released as the second US single instead. One of the songs Timbaland had produced for Beyoncé's 2008 album "I Am... Sasha Fierce" was reworked by Keri Hilson and Jay-Z for "Shock Value II" but not included. He was a guest host of WWE's Raw on December 28, 2009. Timbaland appeared on March 25, 2010, episode (titled "Blowback") of "FlashForward" as an evidence agent. His songs "Morning After Dark" and "Symphony" appear on the video game "Def Jam: Underground."


title: Timbaland

text: In April 2010, a feud arose between the producer and R&B singer Ginuwine, after Timbaland failed to make an appearance at the singer's music video shoot of "Get Involved". Later in April, Timbaland released a new single featuring T-Pain and Billy Blue titled "Talk That". In June 2010, when questioned by RWD magazine about the UK music scene he made the bold claim to be the inspiration for the dub-step music scene. "The UK scene... they’re always telling me that I started it. You have Dub-bass...". When questioned further about it he went on to say: "It’s funny cos they went back to some of my old music that really created that sound and just, instead of going fast, they went slow with more bass." In August 2010, a "possible suicide attempt" APB was put out for Timbaland after his home was burgled. When his family were unable to contact him, they called 911 and a manhunt began. Police eventually found his car and brought him back home, where paramedics examined him, before declaring he was not a threat to himself. When questioned, Timbaland said he only took a drive to think about the burglary, as he thought the possible thief could have been someone close whom he trusted.


title: Timbaland

text: In 2010, Timbaland split with longtime label Blackground Records, but stayed with Interscope Records. Later in the year, Timbaland was featured on the deluxe edition of Chris Brown's album, "F.A.M.E.", producing the songs "Paper, Scissors, Rock" (feat. Big Sean) and the Japan-only bonus track, "Talk Ya Ear Off". Timbaland was also featured on David Guetta's LP, "Nothing But the Beat", on "I Just Wanna F" with Dev and Afrojack. Timbaland also worked with teen star Demi Lovato; he produced and had a small feature in her song "All Night Long" on Lovato's "Unbroken" album. In November 2010, Timbaland announced that he would be releasing a new song every Thursday, called Timbo Thursdays; a copy of the initiative shown by artists such as Kanye West (via G.O.O.D. Fridays), and Swizz Beatz (via Monster Mondays). In an interview with Rap-Up.com Timbaland stated, "So, my brother told me Kanye is puttin' out a new song every Friday called G.O.O.D. Fridays, Swizz got Mondays, I don't know if they are on Twitter but can you hit them up, and tell them reserve that Thursday for Timbo the king baby. We’ll call it Timbo Thursday, cool?"


title: Timbaland

text: On January 13, 2011, Timbaland began his "Timbaland Thursdays" free music initiative, with the first song released being "Take Ur Clothes Off", featuring Missy Elliott. The first official single from "Shock Value III", "Pass at Me" featuring American rapper Pitbull, with uncredited production by French DJ David Guetta, was released on September 13, 2011, after having been previously used to promote a book titled "Culo". The album's second single, "Break Ya Back" featuring American singer Dev, was released on April 17, 2012. For the fourth installment in the "Step Up" franchise, "Step Up Revolution", Timbaland released a track called "Hands In the Air", which features American singer Ne-Yo.


title: Timbaland

text: On January 30, 2013, Timbaland signed to Jay-Z's label Roc Nation. Later that year, Timbaland would serve as the main producer of Justin Timberlake's recent LP, "The 20/20 Experience", including the album's singles: "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors". Timbaland also produced Beyoncé's song "Grown Woman" which was featured in her Pepsi commercial and 2013 tour, "The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour", and the song "I Don't Have To Sleep to Dream" on Cher's 2013 album "Closer to the Truth".


title: Timbaland

text: In April 2011, Timbaland and long time friend and business partner Mike Evans signed a deal to with Sony/ATV Music Publishing's Extreme Music to create 75 new urban pop tracks for the production music house.


title: Timbaland

text: In August 2013, Timbaland revealed that he was working on a project featuring unreleased material by Michael Jackson, with a lead single called "Love Never Felt So Good".


title: Timbaland

text: On September 24, 2013, Timbaland collaborated with T.I. for his new co-produced Indonesian artist, AGNEZ MO, in her song titled Coke Bottle. The premiere launch event of the single became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.


title: Timbaland

text: On November 15, 2013, Timbaland released his first single for his fourth album, "Opera Noir", called "Know Bout Me" featuring Drake, Jay-Z, and James Fauntleroy. By 2014, it was originally announced that both Timbaland and Missy Elliott would be an essential component per production of Kat Dahlia's debut album, "My Garden", however neither of the duo's contributions saw the light of day. On January 7, 2015, Timbaland received production credit for his involvement with the musical score of Lee Daniels and Danny Strong's television project "Empire", which premiered on FOX. Constructively, Timbaland and his team, including Jim Beanz, Raphael Saadiq, and others, compose the series' songs based on material given to them by the show's writing team per each episode.


title: Timbaland

text: In February 2016, Timbaland and Missy Elliott teamed up to produce the track "Somebody Else Will" for longtime associate, Tweet, for her third studio album "Charlene".


title: Timbaland

text: In June 2016, Timbaland and Andy Rubinhas teamed up with SubPac, a Los Angeles-based startup working on a wearable sound device. There is still no release date for his new album "Textbook Timbo". On December 15, 2017, Timbaland released the song "Grab the Wheel", which features 6lack on vocals. The song also has a music video which was released on the same day.


title: Timbaland

text: In 2019, Timbaland began teaching through Masterclass, providing an instructional series on production and beatmaking.


title: Timbaland

text: In March 2020, Timbaland, along with Swizz Beatz, launched the "Verzuz" Instagram webcast series. In 2021, for their work on "Verzuz", both Timbaland and Swizz Beatz appeared on the "Time" 100, "Time"s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.


title: Timbaland

text: In August 2021, Blackground rebranded as Blackground 2.0, with Barry Hankerson remaining as founder. Blackground 2.0 signed a distribution deal with Empire Distribution, which will re-release the label's catalogue on CD, cassette and vinyl, onto digital download sites and, for the first time ever, streaming services. Aaliyah's catalogue began its re-release in chronological order, starting with "One In a Million" on August 20, 2021. Timbaland's 1998 LP "" and Timbaland & Magoo albums "Welcome to Our World", "Indecent Proposal" and "Under Construction, Part II" were re-released August 27, 2021.


title: Timbaland

text: An important figure in the creation of American R&B's "stuttering kick-drums template", Timbaland's influence extended beyond the U.S. and crossed international borders, especially in UK garage and rave culture. Timbaland, as an R&B producer, created a distinctive, rhythmic sound using breakbeats, which break up the smooth flow of tracks to create moments of tension and release. This technique that Timbaland pioneered would later serve to create "bootleg" garage tracks, which was essential in the rise of UK garage. What began as an underground movement soon grew in popularity, with bootleg remixes selling upwards of 20,000 copies, something unheard of at the time. One such example is the remix of Brandy & Monica's "The Boy Is Mine". Timbaland is credited along with other Virginia artist such as The Clipse, Pharrell Williams and Missy Elliot with establishing Virginia as one of the East Coast’s strongholds in Hip Hop.


title: Timbaland

text: In January 2007, Timbaland was alleged to have plagiarized several elements (both motifs and samples) in the song "Do It" on the 2006 album "Loose" by Nelly Furtado without giving credit or compensation. The song itself was released as the fifth North American single from "Loose" in July 2007.


title: Timbaland

text: Timbaland's legal troubles continued. In lieu of a copyright lawsuit over the song "Throw It on Me" from his "Shock Value" album, Timbaland and David Cortopassi, the composer of "Spazz", a song originally recorded by The Elastik Band and released by ATCO/Atlantic and EMI, reached a settlement agreement in July 2009. The terms of the settlement remained undisclosed at the time. "Spazz", noted as being "one of the most tasteless records ever made", was initially banned by radio stations and even pulled mid-stream while on air when first released in 1967, with the DJ even apologizing to his listeners for playing the record.


title: Timbaland

text: Aaliyah's 2001 self-titled album, produced by Timbaland, also contained an uncredited sample of "Alouli Ansa" by Mayada El-Hennawy in "More Than a Woman".


title: Timbaland

text: In January 2014, the Swiss newspaper "Basler Zeitung" revealed another plagiarism case concerning the track "Versus" by Jay-Z, which was produced by Timbaland. The track's instrumental is very similar to, if not directly sampled from "On the Way" by Swiss musician Bruno Spoerri. According to Swiss newspaper "Tages-Anzeiger", the plagiarism case was settled by March 2015. Jay-Z and Timbaland were to pay 50% from the song's revenue to Spoerri as royalties for the music, with Jay-Z retaining 50% for the lyrics.


title: Owen Hart

text: Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He received most of his success in the WWF, where he wrestled under both his own name and the ring name The Blue Blazer.


title: Owen Hart

text: A member of the Hart wrestling family, he was born in Calgary, Alberta, the youngest of twelve children of Stampede Wrestling promoters Stu and Helen Hart. Among other accolades, Owen was a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWF European Champion, and a four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion, as well as the 1994 WWF King of the Ring. He headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF, and was widely regarded as one of the company's best in-ring performers.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart died on May 23, 1999, during his entrance from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The equipment that was lowering him to the ring malfunctioned and he fell to his death in front of a live audience and live on Pay Per View during WWF's Over the Edge event.


title: Owen Hart

text: Owen was born on May 7, 1965, in Calgary, Alberta into the Hart wrestling family and was the youngest child of Stu and Helen Hart. He grew up in a household with eleven older siblings: Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Ross and Diana.


title: Owen Hart

text: He was of Greek descent through his maternal grandmother and Irish through his maternal grandfather. His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent, but also had Scottish and German ancestry.


title: Owen Hart

text: Because his mother, Helen, was born in New York, Hart held American citizenship in addition to Canadian citizenship, which he acquired due to birth in Canada to a Canadian-born father.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart first gained wrestling experience in the amateur wrestling division at high school, through which he met his wife, Martha. Wrestling was not Hart's first choice for a career; as Martha explained in her book "Broken Harts", Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling. Owen is quoted as saying, in the WWE Home Video "Owen Hart of Gold" that "during his time in the University, he wrestled incognito (under a mask) as the original British Bulldog. Then, after he graduated from the University, he wrestled as "Bronco" Owen Hart at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. As those attempts were unsuccessful, Hart was trained in his father's Hart Dungeon and worked for his father's federation, Stampede Wrestling and in England for Max Crabtree's Joint Promotions in matches that got broadcast on ITV's World of Sport. He remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills. During 1986, Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship. The success of the team and Hart's in-ring skills earned him "Pro Wrestling Illustrated"s Rookie of the Year Award in 1987. After he and Bassarab lost the tag team title, he feuded with Johnny Smith and Dynamite Kid.


title: Owen Hart

text: In 1987, Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on several tours. In NJPW, he wrestled Keiichi Yamada, both before and after he debuted the Jushin Liger gimmick. On May 27, 1988, Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the title. His reign would end nearly a month later, as he lost the title to Shiro Koshinaka on June 24, 1988.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart's success in Japan and Stampede's working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the summer of 1988. Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Hart's younger brother, the WWF decided to create a masked "superhero" type gimmick for him which played to his high-flying style. He broke into the WWF as The Blue Blazer (initially The Blue Angel), with his early appearances seeing him defeat the likes of Terry Gibbs, Steve Lombardi and Barry Horowitz. The Blue Blazer made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series '88, teaming with The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Brunzell and Sam Houston against The Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Outlaw Ron Bass, Bad News Brown and Dangerous Danny Davis. The Blazer was eliminated by Valentine, but his team went on to win the match. He continued to wrestle in the midcard, defeating enhancement talent but often falling short against other name talent; he lost to Ted DiBiase on the March 11, 1989 "Saturday Night's Main Event XX" and was defeated by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V.


title: Owen Hart

text: Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without the Blue Blazer gimmick. He also returned to Stampede, until it shut down in December 1989. In 1991, Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a "mascara contra mascara" match against Mexican wrestler El Canek, and would not utilize the gimmick again until 1998.


title: Owen Hart

text: He also returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In 1990 he went to Germany and worked Catch Wrestling Association.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart debuted in World Championship Wrestling's self-titled TV show on March 16, 1991, the first of five TV matches he competed in, all of which were against preliminary talent such as Mark Kyle. One of the bouts saw him team with Ricky Morton.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company's headquarters in Atlanta. Instead, he signed with the WWF for a second time. In the WWF the popular Hart Foundation, composed of his brother Bret and real-life brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, had split up; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly. When Neidhart returned from a storyline injury, he joined Owen to form a team known as The New Foundation. Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers. They then had their only pay-per-view match at the Royal Rumble in January 1992 where they beat The Orient Express. Neidhart left the WWF shortly afterward, and Hart set out on a very short run as a singles wrestler, including a victorious match at WrestleMania VIII when he faced off against Skinner. Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart was teamed up with Koko B. Ware to form the duo known as High Energy. They had only one pay-per-view match as a team, at the Survivor Series where they lost to The Headshrinkers. The team was quietly dropped at the start of 1993 with Hart starting a singles career. Owen suffered a knee injury on March 9, 1993, in a match taped for Superstars, against Bam Bam Bigelow, which kept him sidelined for nearly two months.


title: Owen Hart

text: In the middle of 1993, when Bret Hart's feud with Jerry Lawler ignited, Owen stood by his brother's side and fought against Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association where most of the WWF talent were considered the heels. Owen won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Papa Shango. Owen's participation in the WWF vs. USWA feud was cut short when he suffered a knee injury in the summer of 1993 and was forced to take some time away from the ring.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart returned to the WWF ring in the fall of 1993, at a time when Bret's feud with Lawler was temporarily sidetracked. Bret, along with Owen and their brothers Bruce and Keith, were scheduled to face Lawler and his team at Survivor Series. However, Lawler was unable to make it to the show, and as a result could not appear on WWF television. Lawler was replaced with Shawn Michaels. During the match Owen and Bret inadvertently crashed into each other, causing Owen to be eliminated from the team. Owen showed up after the match and had a heated confrontation with Bret, while Keith, Bruce and Stu tried to calm things down. This confrontation resulted in Owen leaving the ring to boos while his brothers and father watched in dismay and mother Helen cried at ringside. The following night Owen adopted the pink and black tights, sunglasses and Sharpshooter finisher to send a message to his brother. Owen, angry with being in Bret's shadow, challenged his brother which Bret declined. Instead the brothers seemed to reunite by the holidays.


title: Owen Hart

text: Bret tried to make amends with Owen, teaming with him on a regular basis. Bret even secured the two a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship. They faced the Quebecers for the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1994. Initially everything was fine between the brothers, but when Bret hurt his knee (kayfabe) and was unable to tag Owen in for a long period of time, the younger Hart got frustrated. When the referee stopped the match due to Bret's damaged knee, Owen snapped; he kicked his brother in the knee and then walked off, berating Bret on the Titantron shortly after as Bret was being helped backstage. This started his run as a heel. After the act, an infuriated Owen accused his brother of being selfish and holding him down. Owen admitted that it felt good to take out his brother. The two brothers faced off for the first time at WrestleMania X, where Owen cleanly pinned his older brother. Later in the evening, Bret won the WWF Championship while Owen stood by and watched in jealousy as Bret celebrated in the ring. Owen won the 1994 King of the Ring tournament turning back Razor Ramon in the finals with an elbow drop to the back and with an assist from Jim Neidhart. After the victory, Owen dropped "The Rocket" nickname and took the nickname "The King of Harts."


title: Owen Hart

text: Owen and Bret feuded throughout the summer of 1994, clashing many times both in singles and later in tag team matches (with Bret joined by the returning British Bulldog). Two prominent matches took place in this feud: first, their steel cage match in the co-main event of SummerSlam for Bret's WWF Championship, which Bret won. This match later received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer. The second was a lumberjack match on August 17 that Owen initially won and was announced as WWF Champion; Bret won the match after it was ordered to continue due to interference. At the Survivor Series, Owen struck the most damaging blow against his brother as he conned his own mother Helen to throw in the towel for Bret. The ploy cost Bret the WWF Championship to Bob Backlund. Owen also prevented Bret from regaining the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble in 1995 when he interfered in the match between Bret and new champion Diesel. In the weeks after the Royal Rumble, Bret and Owen clashed again with Bret soundly defeating his brother, thus putting an end to their feud for the time being.


title: Owen Hart

text: Owen rebounded from the loss to Bret by winning the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Smoking Gunns at WrestleMania XI. Owen, who was joined by a "Mystery Partner", had challenged the Gunns to a title match; the partner turned out to be former world champion Yokozuna. After the victory Owen took Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji as his managers, who already managed Yokozuna. The team defended the title for five months until they lost them to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House 3. They would briefly hold the title a second time when the belts were handed back to them before the Smoking Gunns regained the title. Owen and Yokozuna would continue to team off and on until the end of the year.


title: Owen Hart

text: In 1995, Owen's brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith turned heel and joined the Camp Cornette stable. During the summer of 1996 the two brothers in law started to team up more and more, sometimes alongside Vader who was also a member of Camp Cornette. Owen also won a Slammy Award for injuring Shawn Michaels and began using the nickname "Slammy Award Winner" and the "King of Harts" nickname was rarely used, Owen was also a color commentator for the 1996 King of the Ring (exhibiting clear partisan support for Vader and Smith) and during this time wore a cast on his right forearm for several months, feigning a nagging injury to subsequently use his cast as a weapon during his matches.


title: Owen Hart

text: In September 1996, Bulldog and Hart earned a pay-per-view shot at the tag team titles at . Owen and Bulldog left with the gold after defeating the Smoking Gunns. They also left with a new manager as Clarence Mason had conned Jim Cornette into signing over the contracts of the new champions. Signs of dissension, however, slowly started to show. One occasion where this was evident was at the Royal Rumble when Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog. After the Rumble, they had miscommunication in matches against Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon and Bulldog fired Mason after losing a match to Crush who was also managed by Mason, something which did not sit well with Hart. Another bone of contention between the two was the newly created WWF European Championship; both men had fought their way to the finals to crown the first champion with Bulldog coming out as the victor.


title: Owen Hart

text: After retaining the tag team title against the Headbangers by disqualification on the edition of March 24, 1997 of "Monday Night Raw", the tension between the two bubbled over. An incensed Hart demanded a shot at Bulldog's European title the next week. The match was booked for March 31; on the night, the two went at it with such intensity that many thought the tag team champions had finally gone their separate ways. Then in a shocking moment, the recently turned heel Bret Hart appeared at ringside and stopped the match. Bret appealed to both Owen and Bulldog, talking about the importance of family. They agreed to put their differences aside and join with Bret to form the new Hart Foundation, an anti-American stable that also included Hart in-law Jim Neidhart and Hart family friend Brian Pillman.


title: Owen Hart

text: After forming the Hart Foundation, Owen quickly gained singles gold of his own as he pinned Rocky Maivia to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship. This meant that the Hart Foundation held every WWF title except the WWF Championship, cementing their dominance over the federation. It was not all success for Owen, though, as he and the British Bulldog lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels on May 26, 1997. He began feuding with Austin shortly thereafter.


title: Owen Hart

text: Owen and Bulldog got a second chance at regaining the tag team titles after Michaels vacated his half of the championship due to an injury. On the edition of July 14, 1997 of "Raw" the two entered a tournament and won to face Austin and a partner of his choice that evening for the vacant titles. That partner turned out to be Dude Love, who declared himself to be Austin's partner and helped him defeat Hart and Bulldog for the tag team championship.


title: Owen Hart

text: At SummerSlam in August, Hart was to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Austin in a "Kiss My Ass" match, where Hart put the title up against Austin having to kiss his buttocks if he lost. During the match, Hart botched a piledriver and dropped Austin on the top of his head, injuring his neck. Austin won the title from Hart that evening, but due to the injury was forced to vacate the title. Although the entire situation was an accident, the WWF decided to make it part of the storyline as Owen began wearing a T-shirt patterned after Austin's that read "Owen 3:16/I Just Broke Your Neck". Hart was then entered into a tournament to crown a new champion.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart fought his way to the finals of the tournament to crown the next Intercontinental Champion and was set to face Faarooq at . Owen beat Faarooq with Austin's help. Afterward, Austin explained that he wanted to beat Hart for the title when he returned and would not allow Faarooq or anyone else to beat him. After Hart retained the title twice by disqualification between Bad Blood and Survivor Series in Montreal, Austin got his wish and defeated Hart for the Intercontinental Championship again. Later that night, the Montreal Screwjob took place. Bret left the WWF after Survivor Series and both the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were granted quick releases from their contracts to jump to WCW. This left Owen as the only Hart family member remaining in the WWF, due to his contractual obligations.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart was not seen or mentioned on WWF programming until he made a surprise appearance after Shawn Michaels retained his title following a disqualification loss to Ken Shamrock at where he attacked Shawn Michaels. Now a fan favourite, but with a new edgy, antisocial attitude, Hart became known as "The Lone Hart" and also "The Black Hart". Owen had a feud with D-X and challenged Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship on the December 29, 1997 episode of "Raw Is War": Hart had Michaels locked in the Sharpshooter when Triple H interfered in order to save Michaels' title, giving Hart the victory by disqualification. He later won the European title from Triple H, although not directly. Goldust dressed up as Triple H in an attempt to swerve Hart, but Commissioner Slaughter considered him to be a legitimate replacement. Hart later suffered a kayfabe ankle injury during a match against Barry Windham involving Triple H. When Hart joined the commentary at ringside, Triple H managed to draw Owen into an impromptu title match and regained the title. Chyna interfered while the referee wasn't looking and while Triple H was distracting the referee, she struck Hart behind the left knee with a baseball bat, picked him up and threw him back into the ring where Triple H put Hart in a reverse ankle lock to his injured right ankle to win the European Championship under referees discretion in controversial fashion.


title: Owen Hart

text: Four weeks after WrestleMania, during a tag team match with Ken Shamrock against Mark Henry and Rocky Maivia (later known as The Rock), Hart turned on Shamrock, "snapping" his ankle and "biting his ear" in the process, and becoming a heel once again. After the attack on Shamrock, Hart became the co-leader, with The Rock, of the Nation of Domination, claiming that "Enough is enough and it's time for a change". The Nation's first big feud after Hart joined was against DX. It was during this feud that D-Generation X parodied the Nation of Domination. The imitation was complete with an actor dressing up as Hart and uttering the phrase "I am not a nugget"; this was in response to Shawn Michaels referring to Owen as a nugget of feces in a toilet bowl that, no matter how many times Michaels flushed, he was unable to get rid of. "Nugget" became a derisive term that followed Hart for the rest of his career. Hart's participation in the DX feud was sidetracked when Shamrock returned from injuries dead set on getting revenge on Hart. The two split a pair of specialty matches on pay-per-view, but nothing was ever conclusively settled between them.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart remained with the Nation throughout the year until the stable slowly dissolved. After SummerSlam, he teamed with Jeff Jarrett. Hart and Jarrett had Jarrett's manager Debra in their corner. During this time a storyline was proposed that Hart was supposed to have an on-screen affair with Debra, something which Owen turned down.


title: Owen Hart

text: After a match in which Hart "accidentally injured" Dan Severn, Hart seemingly quit the WWF. Playing off the legitimate injury Hart had inflicted on Austin the year before, the angle blurred the lines between reality and "storyline". Yet as soon as Hart "quit", the Blue Blazer appeared in the WWF claiming to in no way be Hart despite it being very obvious who was under the mask. Unlike the first run of the character, the Blazer was now an overbearing, self-righteous heel who treated the edgy Attitude Era WWF with disdain. Hart and Jarrett ended up making the storyline comical. To prove that Hart was not the Blazer, he showed up beside the Blue Blazer, who was a masked Jarrett. In a later attempt to prove that neither Hart or Jarrett was the Blazer, they both appeared next to a man in the Blue Blazer mask; however, it was obvious that a black man was under the mask (Hart's former tag team partner Koko B. Ware). On January 25, 1999, in the midst of the Blue Blazer angle Hart and Jarrett defeated Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man for the WWF Tag Team Championship. The pair successfully defended the belts against Test and D'Lo Brown at WrestleMania XV. They lost the titles to the team of Kane and X-Pac on the (pre-taped) episode of "Raw" that aired on April 5, 1999. However, Hart and Jarrett continued to team together until Hart's death in May during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart met Martha Joan Patterson in 1982. They married on July 1, 1989 and had two children together: Oje Edward Hart (born March 5, 1992) and Athena Christie Hart (born September 23, 1995).


title: Owen Hart

text: On May 28, 2011, Hart was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, West Virginia at their "LPW Hart & Soul Tour" event. The award was accepted by his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, who was also inducted that night.


title: Owen Hart

text: On May 23, 1999, Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri, during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event. Hart was in the process of being lowered via harness and grapple line 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, he was to begin a dramatic entrance, being lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would act "entangled", then release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect—this necessitated the use of a quick release mechanism. It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the "Sunday Night Heat" before Survivor Series in 1998. While being lowered into the ring, Hart fell 78 feet (24 m), landing chest-first on the top rope (approximately a foot from the nearest turnbuckle), throwing him into the ring.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart had performed the stunt only a few times before. Hart's widow Martha has suggested that, by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on, Hart unintentionally triggered an early release. Television viewers did not see the incident. During 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. Afterward, while Hart 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. Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City. While several attempts to revive him were made, he died due to his injuries. The cause of death was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt force trauma. The impact severed his aorta, resulting in Hart bleeding to death just minutes later; he was 34 years old.


title: Owen Hart

text: WWF management controversially chose to continue the event. Later, Jim Ross announced the death of Hart to the home viewers during the pay-per-view, but not to the crowd in the arena. While the event went on, it has never been released commercially by WWF Home Video. In 2014, fifteen years after his death, the WWE Network aired the event for the first time. A small photo tribute is shown before the start informing fans that Hart died during the original broadcast. All footage of Hart was edited out of the event. The statement reads: "In Memory of Owen Hart May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999 who accidentally passed away during this broadcast."


title: Owen Hart

text: In the decades that followed Hart's death, much attention was focused on the harness Hart used that night, especially on the "quick release" trigger and safety latches. When someone is lowered from the rafters in a harness, there are backup latches that must be latched for safety purposes. Four weeks after the event, the Hart family sued the WWF over how dangerous and poorly planned the stunt was, and that the harness system was defective. After over a year and a half into the case, a settlement was reached on November 2, 2000, which saw the WWF pay the Hart family US$18 million. The manufacturer of the harness system was also a defendant against the Hart family, but they were dismissed from the case after the settlement was reached. Martha used millions of the settlement to establish the Owen Hart Foundation. Martha wrote a book about Hart's life in 2002 called "Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart".


title: Owen Hart

text: In his , Bret Hart said that he wishes he had been with the WWF the night Owen's accident happened, as he would have discouraged his brother from performing the stunt.


title: Owen Hart

text: A special episode of "Raw Is War" that aired on May 24, 1999, the night after Hart's death, was dubbed "Raw Is Owen". It was broadcast live from the Kiel Center in St. Louis. It included shoot interviews from his fellow wrestlers. According to "Raw Exposed" (a special that aired upon "Raw" returning to USA Network on October 3, 2005), all storylines and rivalries were put aside, and WWF management gave all wrestlers on the roster the option of working or not. Nevertheless, ten matches were booked with no angles.


title: Owen Hart

text: The show began with all the wrestlers, managers, referees and agents of the WWF (except WWF Champion The Undertaker and Kane – both as a means to keep kayfabe) standing on the entrance ramp. Howard Finkel called for a ten-bell salute. A tribute video narrated by Vince McMahon then played on the Titantron. Throughout the broadcast, personal thoughts on Hart in the form of shoot interviews with various WWF wrestlers were played. Hart's former Nation of Domination comrades were emotional, most notably Mark Henry, who wept as he read a poem that he wrote in memory of Hart. Before the first commercial break, such thoughts were aired from Mick Foley and Bradshaw. Foley said that Hart was his son's favourite wrestler and had proudly gotten a haircut like Owen's, although he also said his son did not quite understand that "nugget" was not a term of endearment.


title: Owen Hart

text: Bradshaw talked about how Hart spent less money on the road than most wrestlers because he wanted to retire early and spend time with his family. Owen's friend and Nation of Domination partner The Rock also made a short speech before engaging in a short match against Val Venis. Test then spoke about a rib Owen pulled on him. The broadcast ended with Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out for a special salute to Hart by climbing the turnbuckle and performing his famous "beer-bash" routine, ending with him giving a toast to Owen (whose picture was displayed on the Titantron throughout the entire show) and leaving one beer in the ring (for Owen). The tribute show scored a 7.2 Nielsen rating, making it the highest-rated special episode in "Raw" history and the third highest-rated episode of "Raw" overall. Shawn Michaels, in his "Heartbreak and Triumph" autobiography, notes that "Owen is the only guy you could have a two-hour show for, and no-one would say a bad word about him." The next day, WWF taped the episode of "Raw" for May 31, 1999. During that show, Jeff Jarrett defeated The Godfather to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, the title Hart was booked to win for a third time at Over the Edge. Celebrating his victory, Jarrett screamed Hart's name.


title: Owen Hart

text: On October 4, 1999, five months after Owen's death, Bret Hart faced Chris Benoit on "WCW Nitro" in a tribute to his brother. The match took place in the same arena in which Owen had fallen to his death.


title: Owen Hart

text: In 2017, Ross referred to Hart's death as the single most shocking moment he had ever witnessed in wrestling.


title: Owen Hart

text: Hart was widely regarded as one of the best in-ring performers in the WWE; Fox Sports dubbed him a "genius". He would go on to be considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by many industry colleagues.


title: Owen Hart

text: In 2001, Hart's sister Diana released her first book named "Under the Mat" which dealt with their family. The book was written partially in response to Owen's death and became very controversial. Owen's widow Martha Hart pursued legal action over the work and claimed that Diana made inaccurate and irresponsible statements about her and her family. She stated that the book was "filled with distortions, misstatements and unjustified slurs that attempt to destroy the reputation of my family and me, and undermine the memory of Owen."


title: Owen Hart

text: In June 2010, Martha filed a lawsuit against the WWE over WWE's use of Owen's name and likeness as well as personal photos of Hart's family in the "Hart & Soul" WWE DVD, as well as the failure to make royalty payments. The matter was scheduled to go to trial in June 2013 before the settlement was reached in April 2013 for an undisclosed amount.


title: Owen Hart

text: The WWE released "Owen: Hart of Gold" on DVD and Blu-ray on December 7, 2015 in the United Kingdom, with the United States release the day after.


title: Owen Hart

text: The season two finale of "Dark Side of the Ring" revealed details about Owen's wrestling career, legacy and death.


title: Owen Hart

text: WWE wrestler Kevin Owens named his son after Hart and incorporated the name into his own ring name as tribute to both of them.


title: Owen Hart

text: During Mark Henry's WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2018, Henry asked Martha Hart to allow her late husband to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Martha has been critical of the WWE Hall of Fame, stating: "They don't even have a Hallway of Fame. It doesn't exist. There's nothing. It's a fake entity. There's nothing real or tangible. It's just an event they have to make money. They put it on TV and have a celebration, and it's just so ridiculous. I would never even entertain it. It's garbage."


title: Owen Hart

text: On September 20, 2021, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced the Owen Hart Cup Tournament, in partnership with the Owen Hart Foundation, wherein the winner will receive a trophy called "The Owen". The company also announced production and distribution of original Owen Hart merchandise and Hart as a character in AEW's upcoming console game, "AEW Fight Forever".


title: Mukbang

text: A mukbang or meokbang (, ), also known as an eating show, is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. It became popular in South Korea in 2010, and has since become a major contributor to Hallyu, along with K-Beauty, K-pop, and Korean drama, earning its status as a global trend. Varieties of foods ranging from pizza to noodles are consumed in front of a camera. The purpose of mukbang is also sometimes educational, introducing viewers to regional specialities or gourmet spots.


title: Mukbang

text: A mukbang is usually prerecorded or streamed live through a webcast on streaming platforms such as AfreecaTV, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. In the live version, the mukbang host chats with the audience while the audience type in real-time in the live chat room. Eating shows are expanding their influence on internet broadcasting platforms and serve as a virtual community and a venue for active communication among internet users.


title: Mukbang

text: Famous mukbangers in Asia and North America have gained popularity on social media and made mukbang a career with high income. By cooking and consuming food on camera for a large audience, mukbangers generate income from advertising, sponsorships, endorsements, as well as viewers' support. However, there has been growing criticism of mukbang's promotion of unhealthy eating habits, animal cruelty, and food waste.


title: Mukbang

text: The word mukbang () is a portmanteau of the Korean words for "eating" () and "broadcast/(TV)show" (). It would thus be morphologically comparable to ""eatcast"/eatshow", if that word were to exist in English. In 2020, the word was shortlisted for the word of the year competition organized by Collins dictionaries.


title: Mukbang

text: Korea has traditionally had a food culture based on healthy eating practices and strict etiquette. However, a new food culture has emerged in Korea characterized by internet eating culture (mukbang). First introduced on the real-time internet TV service AfreecaTV in 2009, it now has become a trend in cable channels as well as terrestrial broadcasting. This form of programming emphasizes the attractiveness of the person who prepares the food. Eating and cooking shows are becoming effective programs for broadcasting companies as production costs are lower than reality entertainment programs.


title: Mukbang

text: In each broadcast, a host will interact with their viewers through online chat rooms. Many hosts generate revenue through mukbang by accepting donations or partnering with advertising networks. The popularity of mukbang streams has spread outside of Korea, with online streamers doing their own mukbang streams in other countries. In 2016, Twitch introduced new categories like "social eating" to spotlight them.


title: Mukbang

text: An article in "The Economist" contended that the popularity of eating shows can be attributed in part to the widespread anxiety and unhappiness in Koreans due to their country's long-term economic slump. Articles about mukbang have also appeared in "The Huffington Post" and "The Wall Street Journal". The Korean word for eating show, "mukbang," has been widely adopted in other types of eating shows, such as those featuring ASMR on platforms such as YouTube.


title: Mukbang

text: This eating performance from South Korea has also rapidly spread in influence and popularity to other Asian countries such as Japan and China. In China, mukbang is called "Chibo"; hosts make their content into short videos and vlogs and upload them onto social media platforms like Weibo.


title: Mukbang

text: Mukbang emerged from a solo-eating population in South Korea, that found entertainment in watching actors and actresses eating in TV shows and movies. The contrast to the traditional eating culture that revolves around eating from the same communal dishes at the family dinner table has been acknowledged.


title: Mukbang

text: It has been suggested one can vicariously satisfy the desire for food by viewing. In Korea, individuals who stream mukbang are called broadcast jockeys (BJs). As a result, high level of interaction BJ-to-viewer and viewer-to-viewer contributes to the sociability aspect of producing and consuming mukbang content. For example, during broadcast jockey, Changhyun's interaction with his audience he temporarily paused to follow a fan's directions on what to eat next and how to eat it. Viewers may influence the direction of the stream but the BJ retains control over what he or she eats. Ventriloquism, by which BJs mime the actions of their fans by directing food to the camera in a feeding motion and eating in their stead, is another technique that creates the illusion of a shared experience in one room.


title: Mukbang

text: A study conducted by Seoul National University found that within a two-year time frame (April 2017 to April 2019) the term "mukbang" was used in over 100,000 videos from YouTube. It reported that alleviating the feelings of loneliness associated with eating alone may be the primary reason for mukbang's popularity. In a pilot study from February 2022 on mukbang-watching and mental health, psychologists lay the foundation for future investigation into the potential detriments of using mukbang, or virtual eating, as a substitute for social experiences. Another reason for mukbang viewing could be its potential sexual appeal. Researchers have argued that mukbangs can be viewed to satisfy eating-related fetishes, and have commented on the sexualized gaze brought about by watching hosts in such a private and intimate state. Mukbang has also been described as a multi-sensory experience and compared to a similar carnal video type, pornography. It has been proposed that strict regulation on pornography and sexual material in Korea could be a contributing factor to the popularity of mukbang. Researchers liken the reduced satisfaction of eating from fervid viewership of mukbang to the diminished satisfaction of sex from overconsumption of pornography. Other studies argue that individuals who watch mukbang do so for entertainment, as an escape from reality, or to get satisfaction from the ASMR aspects of mukbang such as the eating sounds and sensations.


title: Mukbang

text: A popular sub-genre of the trend is "cook-bang" show, in which the streamer includes the preparation and cooking of the dishes featured as part of the show.


title: Mukbang

text: South Korean video game players have sometimes broadcast mukbang as breaks during their overall streams. The popularity of this practice among local users led the video game streaming service Twitch to begin trialing a dedicated "social eating" category in July 2016; a representative of the service stated that this category is not necessarily specific to mukbang, but would leave the concept open to interpretation by streamers within its guidelines.


title: Mukbang

text: The typical eating show broadcast jockeys (BJ) on AfreecaTV are Bumfrica, Shuki, Mbro, Changhyun, Wangju, etc.


title: Mukbang

text: Twitch added a new "social eating" item to its channel list in July 2016. Famous streamers include ImAllexx, Ameliabrador, and Simple Life on Air.


title: Mukbang

text: Many people are famous for making these type of videos on YouTube, including ip zalboon hetnim, Hamzy, Nado, and heebab. There are numerous others, including users who make videos of themselves eating in their daily lives.


title: Mukbang

text: Mukbang broadcasts typically feature a solo eater (or with friends) who would usually eat in large portions along with a few other dishes. Most of these creators would cook their own food and show it in their content. Although traditional Korean food is the main food for these videos, fast food or junk food has also been popularly trending.


title: Mukbang

text: At one time, Banzz had 3.08 million YouTube subscribers and held the number one spot among the mukbang streamers. In March 2020, his channel was at just over 2.5 million subscribers. Banzz is a typical example of mukbang. Banzz had been featured on AfreecaTV, including the 2016 Afreeca Grand Prix, but turned to YouTube as his platform after controversies at AfreecaTV. He was assessed a penalty for breaking contracts with AfreecaTV and appeared on JTBC's program Lanseon Life. He is noted for eating extreme amounts of food during mukbangs, and nevertheless maintains a muscular figure in the videos, saying he exercises an average of eight hours a day for health. His mukbang show includes Hongdae monster Jajangmyeon, fast-eating of 10 hamburgers, and Jajangmyeon mukbang.


title: Mukbang

text: Mbro, short for Monster Brothers, is a mukbang BJ on AfreecaTV and YouTube. Mbro started broadcasting in April 2015. Mbro has over 900,000 YouTube subscribers, ranking second in the BJ popularity ranking in AfreecaTV a year after it started broadcasting, and emerging as a star of the mukbang industry with the AfreecaTV newcomer award.


title: Mukbang

text: Shugi broadcasts most nights of the week. Her trademark is rapidly eating up to four spicy rice cakes in a single mouthful. Shugi's mukbang show is also famous for its sensory performance. She is good at using her lively facial expression and describing the food and her feelings. Her way of doing mukbang easily caused the consensus from the viewers. For example, she once described the sound of grilling meat to resemble the sound of rain, which made the video more engaging to the audience. Also, the fact that her video background is clean and light is only given to her and the food makes the audience focus only on her mukbang and won't be distracted by the background. She started broadcasting in May 2014 and won the AfreecaTV BJ Festival Rookie of the Year award. Since then, she has won all of the BJ's awards from 2015 to 2017 and is currently second place in the rankings of AfreecaTV's eating shows.


title: Mukbang

text: DKD, consisting of the brothers DK and KD, is a channel with 2.89 million subscribers on YouTube. It is especially famous for ASMR broadcasting "real sound". In general, the food is done by BJ eating food while chatting with viewers in real-time. But the real sound is said to be a good thing to eat in a short video of about 20 minutes, especially when food is eaten. It is also famous for eating foods that are not common at tables such as sugarcane, aloe, and honey as well as Korean general foods such as chicken, tteokbokki.


title: Mukbang

text: Yuka Kinoshita is a YouTuber who works in Japan with 5.15 million subscribers. Known as a "big eater" or "oogui" (Japanese: 大食い, おおぐい), she uploads daily mukbang videos where she consumes large portions of food. She made her debut in the 2009 Japan Eating Contest, and since 2014 she has started her own mukbang videos on her YouTube channel. In one of her videos, Yuka ate 137 Philippine bananas and caused controversy among Chinese viewers. Many Chinese netizens accused her of assaulting China using that 137 bananas because there are 1.37 billion people in China and this episode was posted soon after the South China Sea Ruling. However, there are also Chinese netizens that don't see this as a problem.


title: Mukbang

text: Though YouTube is not available in mainland China, Yuka still has lots of Chinese fans since she established her own Weibo account where she has 2.66 million followers and 130,000 viewers when live streaming.


title: Mukbang

text: Several American YouTubers have become popular with their own version of mukbang. The concept is similar to the one of eastern versions, with an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host eats large amounts of food. However, in most western versions, hosts do not do their mukbangs live like Korean mukbangers and instead resort to pre-recorded and edited videos posted on platforms like YouTube. Often, the amounts of food eaten are also larger than most of their Asian counterparts. In addition, a lot of western hosts focus on the ASMR aspects of a mukbang broadcast. Finally, western mukbangs also usually involve the host describing the food they eat and talking through their meal; this is not very common in live eastern mukbangs.


title: Mukbang

text: Keemi is an American mukbanger on YouTube who, as of June 2022, has garnered 895 thousand subscribers on her channel. Her channel features cooking and eating videos. Known for cooking in her college dorm and her Chicago apartment, Keemi's content also includes ASMR and food-vlog style videos.


title: Mukbang

text: Stephanie Soo is an American mukbanger and a YouTuber who includes conspiracy theories and crime stories in her mukbang videos. Soo's channel had 2.45 million subscribers in April 2021.


title: Mukbang

text: Nikocado Avocado (real name Nicolas Perry) is an American mukbanger who, as of June 2022 has garnered over 3.2 million subscribers on his (main) YouTube channel. Perry began his YouTube channel in 2014 as a vegan vlogger, but gave up veganism, citing health issues. He has gained wide spread attention for consuming excessive amounts of food, as well as frequent emotional outbursts in his videos. His on-camera behavior has led to Perry being involved in multiple controversies, as well as leaving many of his viewers expressing their concerns over Perry's mental health. According to Perry's interview with "MEL Magazine", his online conflicts are self-orchestrated for the benefit of his career, citing his past education in performance arts and his desire to play the role of the villain.