I always thought he under rated . He could wrestle and had mic skills . When he passed he was 34 and I doubt he ever even had 1 match for the then WWF title . Why did Vince never give them that push ??
He did face Bret for the WWF championship back when they were feuding in 94 or 95 whenever it was.
I remember reading a rumor that HBK wouldn't drop the title to Owen back in his "all about me" days, which is the reason to the rumor that Undertaker was waiting in the Gorilla position at WM14 in case he didn't job to SCSA.
Owen Hart should have beaten Bret for the belt at some point in 1994 IMHO.
To those who think better options were there for WWF Champion in that time frame I vehemently disagree. Diesel was a one trick pony I mean don't get me wrong I liked him but he shouldn't have been champion for a year. Backlund was used as a pawn to put him over. I would have rather seen Razor Ramon get a short run with the belt over a year long Diesel reign.
It would have been a great opportunity to push Owen after the Screwjob. Owen always had good matches with everyone. Owen was a great antagonist the 12-13 year old me wanted to see him get his ass kicked. I loved everything Bret/Owen it was gold and that Cage Match at Summerslam 1994 was a favorite of mine.
Power struggle would be my guess. Vince wasn't going to allow the Hart's to get into a position where they could start making demands because of how much impact/power they had back then in the WWF. You can't let every Hart be a champ or even a regular main eventer, even though Owen clearly was skilled enough. When Vince basically allowed Bret to become probably the best of all time Owen's fate was sealed, he'd always be a #2 kind of guy. He would have never gotten the same push, or even close to the same push.
Makes sense from a business standpoint, if you're Vince you don't want that threat to be there if 2 of your Champs threaten to leave unless you do such and such. Especially with the Hart's you had to be careful not to give them too much power. At least that's my theory. Plus Owen wasn't exactly the biggest draw in the world, he wasn't Rock or Stone Cold, you didn't HAVE TO put the belt on him. He certainly would have deserved it, it would have been a nice gesture, but really it would have meant nothing in terms of his legacy or the WWF legacy, it wouldn't have changed anything.
Loved his Summerslam match with Bret, was hella enjoyed by his match at Survivor Series with Austin, was highly entertained by his feud with DX most. He had a lot of potential for main event status.
If he had lived I think he probably would have had a chance once the brand split and ruthless aggression era came around. He wasnt the right fit for the Attitude Era and he was overshadowed by his brother in the new generation era.
Owen was close to retirement around the time of his death. His heart wasn't in it anymore mainly due to Montreal incident and he was on his own for the first time in his wrestling career. No family members to turn to. I figure he wanted to quit while he was in good health and be financially secure to look after his family. He was a HUGE family man.
He was treated like utter shit after his feud with Bret. He had a stunning cage match at Summerslam 1994 and then three months later he's booked as a complete after thought in the opening match at Survivor Series. He was just another one of the guys. They could've got a LOT more mileage out of him. There was a brief renaissance in 1997 with the Hart Foundation but yeah...Montreal happened and he was never the same guy.
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