Owen Hart....really...

[The One]

Is Owen Hart overly glorified because of his unfortunate death? I can't help but think that maybe al this "Owen was the best wrestler to never hold the World Title" was little more then praise...I can understand that people like him, and I certainly thought he was quite entertaining to watch, but I don't think he would have ever won the World Title. Alot of people like to point out that he had a few title matches back in the mid 90's....to that I say so did King Mable and Kamla...dosn't mean they ware ever close to winning it. Honestly Owen was past his prime as well...And while yes his death is a TERRIBLE tragedy, this does not improve him as a wrestler. Sometimes I wonder if because of his death we all make him out to be a bit better then he was.

And it isn't just for Owen Hart either. I LOVED Davey Boy Smith...one of my all time favorites hands down, but at no point did I think he was in line or even should have been champ. He was a solid mid carder. Do I like him alot? Hell yeah! But that dosn't mean he sould be listed as one of the top 10 greatests of all time. I have noticed that Davey Boy's presence on best ever lists has increased since last year.

I don't know why I chose to write this....just kind of something I was thinking about as I saw the prgression of the 100 Greatest Wrestler's of All Time thread................

That is all.

[Shaggy]

I think Owen was one of the best wrestlers to ever not win the title. Do I think he is the best wrestler in the world, no. I think that he was just cut down before he ever got his big chance to hold it. I predict that if he wasnt involved in that sad incident that right now he would at least be 2 time heavyweight champ. I think he would of eventually got there but he was just cut down in life to soon.

[The One]

But honestly, where would Owen have won the title? I am not trying to take anythign away from your opinion or Owen Hart, just asking at what point do you think Owen would have won? After a decade with the company he never had it before, and with the rising popularity in "Attitude Wrestling" (more mics then mats) where would Owen have fit in? Austin/Rock/Vince/DX/Undertaker....I just don't think Owen would have ever won the World Title...MAYBE over in WCW, if he eventually jumped ship, but not in WWF.

[Aussie Skier]

I thought he was great.

He could garber such great heat! I used to absolutly despise him with a passion (along with a select few of other heels around when i first loved wrestling '92-'95), such as Ted Debiase, bam bam bigelow, IRS, Tatanka, Bob backlund, JJ and shawn michaels

[Favre4Ever]

Owen was in one of those odd positions when he died.........it seemed as if either the big things he was expecting had already passed by him, or more were on their way. Dunno what to say except i wish he was still on tv today. In TNA, with his brother Bret, who would have jumped WCW before his career ending injury.

[Loose Cannon]

But honestly, where would Owen have won the title? I am not trying to take anythign away from your opinion or Owen Hart, just asking at what point do you think Owen would have won? After a decade with the company he never had it before, and with the rising popularity in "Attitude Wrestling" (more mics then mats) where would Owen have fit in? Austin/Rock/Vince/DX/Undertaker....I just don't think Owen would have ever won the World Title...MAYBE over in WCW, if he eventually jumped ship, but not in WWF.

Well, Owen was suppossed to feud with HBK after Survivor Series, but he got pushed into a feud with HHH instead. I can see how that happened though because Austin was the hottest babyface. Now, after Mania 14, they could of did an Owen heel turn and even alligned him with Vince and he would feud with Austin for the Title. Sounds a little scary, but that's how he could of became Champion. Remember, Owen and Austin had heat from there IC Title feud the year before.

[The One]

Loose Cannon, good point, however I would point out that Owen Hart had been in numerious title fueds before and never won the Title...And let's look at this...Owen died on May 23, 1999....Austin had already been, lost, and regained the title by that time...this was after the Corperation had Rock battle Austin...and Austin lost the title to Undertaker that very night. So I highly doubt that Vince would have used Owen as Vince's chosen one to battle Steve since for the most part that time had pasted. I think the closest Owen would have come to winning the Title would have been his participation in the 6-Pack-Challenge at Unforgiven 1999...but then Triple H/Austin took off for the title...then HHH/Rock...honestly I just don't see how Owen could have risen to glory by then. He should have been Champ around the 95-96 mark when Sid was Champ. But that is another post for anything time...

Any other ideas as to how Owen would have won the title ever?

[Loose Cannon]

Loose Cannon, good point, however I would point out that Owen Hart had been in numerious title fueds before and never won the Title...And let's look at this...Owen died on May 23, 1999....Austin had already been, lost, and regained the title by that time...this was after the Corperation had Rock battle Austin...and Austin lost the title to Undertaker that very night. So I highly doubt that Vince would have used Owen as Vince's chosen one to battle Steve since for the most part that time had pasted. I think the closest Owen would have come to winning the Title would have been his participation in the 6-Pack-Challenge at Unforgiven 1999...but then Triple H/Austin took off for the title...then HHH/Rock...honestly I just don't see how Owen could have risen to glory by then. He should have been Champ around the 95-96 mark when Sid was Champ. But that is another post for anything time...

Any other ideas as to how Owen would have won the title ever?


No, your off on the timing. Austin won the title for the first time at Mania 14. This was the Mania after the Survivor Series scew job. Remember Owen came back as "Blackheart" Owen Hart right after that and started a feud with DX. He was feuding with HBK, but then feuded with HHH over the European Title to make room for Austin vs HBK for the World Title. After Mania 14, HBK was injured and Austin needed a heel for an opponent. McMahon was having problems with Austin, so it would of been good to turn Owen heel again and make him fight Austin. I think they went with Taker instaed though.

[The One]

No, your off on the timing. Austin won the title for the first time at Mania 14. This was the Mania after the Survivor Series scew job. Remember Owen came back as "Blackheart" Owen Hart right after that and started a feud with DX. He was feuding with HBK, but then feuded with HHH over the European Title to make room for Austin vs HBK for the World Title. After Mania 14, HBK was injured and Austin needed a heel for an opponent. McMahon was having problems with Austin, so it would of been good to turn Owen heel again and make him fight Austin. I think they went with Taker instaed though.

Trust me on this one...I am right...WrestleMania XIV was in 1998....the first challenger for Austin's title was Dude Love...then Kane (who won the title)...then Austin won it back...then fueded with Undertaker AND Kane...then was stripped of the title...then Rock won it...then Rock fueded with Mankind...then Rock fueded with Austin...then Austin won the belt at WrestleMania XV (99)...then Owen died the fallowing month while Austin was fueding with the Undertaker.

[Loose Cannon]

Okay, so his first opponent was Dude Love. So, what I'm saying is replace Owen with Dude Love and you have an Owen/Austin feud. Owen would of got a ton of heat if he was to allign with McMahon after what happend at Survivor Series. But, I'm thinking Owen might have shot that idea down because he was a man of morals.

[I-Hate-You]

I'll be honest, I didn't give a shit about Owen before he died. He was feud with The Godfather for the IC title, and he was dressed as The Blue Blazer. It was a goofy storyline. But looking back, he was a great wrestler. He just wasn't at the high point of his career at the time he died.

[Zen v.W.o.]

....

The fact owen died and is now perhaps praised more by some people does not mean he actually wasn't that good. These people should have praised him and taken notice of him a great while before that.

Owen could take HBK's aerial ability, mix it with Bret's technical ability, and have his own personality in the ring as well..one of the more cunning wrestlers ever in the ring.
I dont know if anyone will ever have Bret's stroytelling abillity while in the ring, but owen wasn't too far off.
He was also at times a bit sloppy, but that can be over-looked.

I think he deserved it. IMO, owen vs. austin would have been far more intriguing than having the dude involved in it. Even Kane, who held it for like a day.

[da_king]

<font color="#ccffcc">
the thing is, becuase owen died so prematurely everything he would've and could've accomplished in his carreer gets thrown out the window so we are just left to speculate on what could've been. he certainly had the in ring talent and ability to justify giving him a title run, no doubt in my mind. where there better wrestlers out there that had never won it, i dunno, but i can't think of any off the top of my head.

</font>

[sadio8]

You never really appreciate someone until they are gone

[Batsu]

I think he deserved it. IMO, owen vs. austin would have been far more intriguing than having the dude involved in it. Even Kane, who held it for like a day.

I loved the Owen 3:16 shirts during that feud they had. "I just broke your neck."

Owen Hart was a crackup. He reminded me of Kurt Angle (entertainment wise, and somewhat wrestling wise) a whole lot...but he was forever in the shadow of his older brother.

[YOUR Hero]

I doubt Owen would have ever won the world title. Simply because of the timing and politics that were circling him and his family. He had what it took, but his best chance was when Bret was in the WWF and things were happier between Vince and the Harts.

He was my favourite wrestler, I was saying that before his death and I'm glad I got to see him back, way back, when he was an arial specialst, the knee got hurt and he went on to evolve into a greater mat wrestler and story teller in the ring. I've always been a sucker for the Harts, Angles, etc of the wrestling world.

[Gone Mad]

I could agree with many things here,including Owen reminding me of Kurt and the possibility that he couldn't the title for politics. If all that aside, he would hold the title because he was that good. They trusted him to win against Bret in WM10 to capture the IC belt and become one of the top heels so why not trust him again.It shows that WWE would give second chances to many people and it does help that Owen did want to stay with WWE instead of leaving to WCW with Bret.

So not sure how things would turn out,but IMO he was a great wrestler,one of my favs. and I'm sure he would have told some great stories with some of the current wrestlers.And if it weren't for him and Bret,I wouldn't be a big fan as I am today.

[Pepsi Man]

On the Owen title thing...

All I can say is you never know. Who would've ever thought Jericho would've actually gotten the title? Or Benoit? Or Eddie? All three are guys that deserved it, but that we grew to "accept" would never win the big one.

...as for Owen though...

After Hunter won it, they could've turned Owen face and had him feud with him for it, or if kept heel, had him take it off Hunter in 2002 when he was face.

[Lara Emily]

I should note for my top 100 list, I included people on the basis of success (Hogan, Warrior), Talent (Bulldog, Owen), Mic Work (Raven), I tried to get a balance of pure talented workers, successful guys, legends, and mic workers.

[The Mackem]

I've often heard that Owen saved quite a lot of his money and always intended to retire early. I wonder how long he would have stayed with the WWF.

The Owen Hart/Jarrett tag team was doing really well at the time though wasn't it? And he would have got a huge push as the Blue Blazer, in my opinion. It's one of those gimmicks that the fans like. He had one hell of a cathphrase. :D

Ahh memories.

[The Mackem]

Although thinking about it, would the Blue Blazer have been pushed to the title or would he have had to change back to Owen Hart? The Main-event scene was full of sort of serious badass wrestlers at the time wasn't it?

[Rob]

Is Owen Hart overly glorified because of his unfortunate death? I can't help but think that maybe al this "Owen was the best wrestler to never hold the World Title" was little more then praise...I can understand that people like him, and I certainly thought he was quite entertaining to watch, but I don't think he would have ever won the World Title. Alot of people like to point out that he had a few title matches back in the mid 90's....to that I say so did King Mable and Kamla...dosn't mean they ware ever close to winning it. Honestly Owen was past his prime as well...And while yes his death is a TERRIBLE tragedy, this does not improve him as a wrestler. Sometimes I wonder if because of his death we all make him out to be a bit better then he was.

And it isn't just for Owen Hart either. I LOVED Davey Boy Smith...one of my all time favorites hands down, but at no point did I think he was in line or even should have been champ. He was a solid mid carder. Do I like him alot? Hell yeah! But that dosn't mean he sould be listed as one of the top 10 greatests of all time. I have noticed that Davey Boy's presence on best ever lists has increased since last year.

I don't know why I chose to write this....just kind of something I was thinking about as I saw the prgression of the 100 Greatest Wrestler's of All Time thread................

That is all.

In the late 80's/early 90's, Owen Hart was one of the top 3 wrestlers in the entire business. A knee injury forced him to change his style but he was still at a world level. When you don't have a bad match, you have to be classed as an excellent worker.

I see the direction the WWF took since his death and the standard of matches produced and I can only imagine just how good Owen Hart vs. Angle, Guerrero, Benoit, Jericho, Rocky, Austin, HHH, etc would have been. They practically gave everyone who the fans got behind a chance to run with the belt and Owen Hart would have got that chance especially with the internet fans voice (they got Jericho, Benoit and Guerrero the chance).

The Blazer gimmick meant nothing in terms of holding him back. Everyone knew it was Owen Hart because the WWF wanted you to know it was Owen Hart. It was a temp angle anyway and there was a MAJOR push planned for later in that year for an Owen Hart title run.

As for Davey Boy Smith, this guy singlehandedly drew the biggest crowd in WWE history. He was the Michael Jordan of Britain at the time, Insanely popular here and across Europe and his drawing power in Europe not only helped Bret Hart make it as a star (he was way more over in Europe before North America) and helped keep the WWF in business.

[LK]

Owen Hart was probably not the greatest wrestler that never won the title. However he certainly was one of the greats to never hold the title. He was an all round great worker. I honestly believe that had the accident not happened he would have gotten the title at some stage. Like someone said on this thread the WWE clearly trusted Owen to be one of the top heels. After saying for along time that Benoit wouldn't get the title and I never even contemplated an Eddie title run they actually did get the belt. I think Owen would have won the title and he would have deserved it. A true legend.