In my own words
Owen Hart was afraid of heights. The WWE wanted him to do a promo involving him coming from the rafters and then they would release him a couple of inches from the ground. Owen skipped the practices in hope the WWE would bail, but they went on with the show. When Owen came out from the rafters he dropped too early and die because of it.
Controversy is all around the vest supporting
From wikipedia
Hart died in Kansas City on May 23, 1999, during the WWF's Over the Edge PPV event. His death occurred while he was being lowered into the ring from a catwalk of the Kemper Arena for a match with The Godfather (a wrestler with a pimp gimmick); later reports revealed that Owen was booked to win the Intercontinental Championship from The Godfather in that match. His entrance was originally planned to be a "comedy stunt" entrance, in keeping with the buffoonish character of the Blue Blazer. Owen, in Blue Blazer regalia, was to be lowered to just above ring level, at which time Owen would release himself from the safety harness, drop to the ring, land on his feet...and then fall flat on his face. Though he had performed the stunt before, Owen had not wanted to perform the stunt at the Kemper Arena due to the height involved (Owen had a fear of heights). He had skipped the practice runs earlier in the day hoping that the WWF would scrap the stunt; however, the stunt went forward as scheduled anyway. For reasons never revealed, the release was triggered early, and Owen fell 78 feet into the ring, smashing his chest on a ring turnbuckle. The viewers at home did not see the incident, as the WWF was transmitting a promotional package for the Blue Blazer/Godfather match. Upon the return to live action, the cameras focused on the crowd and the announcing team (Jim Ross and a visibly shaken Jerry Lawler) as paramedics tried to revive Owen. The crowd, believing that this was "part of the act" (despite Ross stating repeatedly that it was not), cheered with a standing ovation as Owen was carried out. Owen was transported to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival (he passed away about six minutes after the fall, while still lying in the ring); the cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma. Despite the tragedy, the show continued.
In the weeks that followed, much attention focused on the harness Owen 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. These backups may take some time to unlatch, which would have made Owen's stunt difficult to perform smoothly. Therefore, it was apparently decided that it was more important not to have the safety backups, because it would be easier for Owen to unlatch himself. In addition to not having safety backups, the harness Owen used was designed for sailboats and required only six pounds of weight to trigger the quick release mechanism; Owen weighed about 227 pounds. Unfortunately, an out-of-court settlement between Owen Hart's family and the WWF has prevented the release of any information about the harness.
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