[itsmutacantrememberinfo]

This is simply a question that I'm very curious to hear answered.

First off, Owen seemed like a very loyal person & I doubt he would of ever went to WCW... even after Montreal & Bret leaving Owen still stayed. BUT what if Owen left for WCW in the mid '90s BEFORE Bret did...?

I honestly think that Owen would of been easily & quickly forgotten in WCW because of the big-names they had & the crooked creative team. I believe Owen's only chance of being relevant in WCW during the '90s would of been as a member of the original NWO in '96... hell if Virgil lasted a few months in NWO, I think Owen could of been a top player in NWO. But on the other hand, Owen doesn't seem like he would of been the NWO type even though he was dastardly good on the mic.

Plus during the '90s Owen always had several possible storylines WWE could of used (which they did) like: being the evil brother and feuding with Bret, teaming with British Bulldog and competing for the tag titles, or as a member of the Hart Foundation.


Like I said, this is just out of curiosity to see what others think could of happened.


Could Owen Hart of succeeded in WCW without Bret, IF he jumped ship in '95 or '96? (Let's keep the "He'd be alive still" replies to a minimum.)

 

[wcw4life2006]

I'm gonna go out on the limb and say that he probably would have if he would have jumped ship when Bret and pretty much everyone else did, and he would most likely be alive

 

[vanderhevel]

Noone could thrive in that shithole with hogan there.

 

[ViolenceIsGolden]

No and does it really matter if he couldn't? I don't think so. When you look at it pro wrestling was hot back then and WCW had more money then to pay Owen if his brother could've got him a job eventually in WCW. Also the indies, Japan, Mexico and everything else was hot then so it's not like Owen wouldn't have found work somewhere else. One interesting question is if Bret going would make Owen a main eventer by 1995 after his story line with Bret Hart ended. I doubt it but it could've possibly turned Owen into a main eventer.

Oh thought you meant survived in WWE if Bret jumped ship 2 years earlier. In that case HELL NO!

 

[johnnyshear]

Absolutely not, Owen wasnt a politician.

 

[Statfreak101]

The question I have always pondered in regards to Owen was if he would have become a WWF/WWE World Champion had the tragic accident not occurred...

 

[VZX]

If they used Bret poorly then they would have destroyed Owen.
It was all meant to be though, you can't be thinking what if wrestlers hadn't died.

 

[I drink and I know things]

I would have loved to see Owen work with some of the cruiserweights in WCW in the mid to late 90's. It's doubtful Owen would have been a main event guy, however.

 

[coopieroLCFC]

they didn't have a clue what to do with Bret so god knows what they would have ended up doing with Owen

 

[NoGimmicksNeeded]

Probably would have been great in the midcard division working with the ridiculous talent there was amongst the cruiserweights, and there would have been some incredible matches as a result. He probably would have never broken through that glass ceiling, though.

I do however have a weird thought of Owen rejoining the WWF as a member of the Radicalz, which is kinda fucked.

 

[Cpt. Charisma]

I think he would have been put into a role in the nWo similar to how Curt Hennig and Scott Steiner were used. Then he'd be pushed up around 2000 like Jarrett and Steiner. He'd have made a WWE comeback after the buy out but he'd be in TNA now.

 

[Oh Lymping Hero!]

Probably would have been great in the midcard division working with the ridiculous talent there was amongst the cruiserweights, and there would have been some incredible matches as a result. He probably would have never broken through that glass ceiling, though.

Pretty much this. Not that he didn't have the talent to make it to the top though. He could've been a great heel US champ and re-named it the Canadian championship.

An Owen v Eddie/Rey/Malenko etc would've been gold.

 

[Vin Ghostal]

Owen probably would have occupied the exact same midcard role he filled in WWE anytime Bret wasn't WWE Champion.

That's not a criticism, by the way - Owen was great. There's just nothing to suggest that WCW would overlook people like Guerrero, Jericho, and Benoit, but look at Owen and think, "YES! FUTURE WORLD CHAMPION! LAY DOWN, HOGAN!"

 

[VZX]

Owen probably would have occupied the exact same midcard role he filled in WWE anytime Bret wasn't WWE Champion.

That's not a criticism, by the way - Owen was great. There's just nothing to suggest that WCW would overlook people like Guerrero, Jericho, and Benoit, but look at Owen and think, "YES! FUTURE WORLD CHAMPION! LAY DOWN, HOGAN!"

My thoughts exactly.

Vince said it himself, when WCW acquired Bret, he was a guy that someone could have built their whole company around.

So if they misused a guy that had a legion of fans behind him and was already a champion, Owen wouldn't have stood a chance.

 

[just1988]

Hell yeah, imagine Owen being the 4th man in the Wo before it became watered down.

 

[eyebrowmorroco]

1) 1996, they run some promos and hold off on him. Eventually, he debuts and is used infrequently with no character development.

2) First half of 1997, he feuds with Malenko, Jarrett and Guerrero over the US title.

3) Second half of 1997, they have nothing for him to do, so they use his WWF ties as an excuse to throw him into the nWo as one of Hogan’s stooges, to get another one over Bret.

4) 1998, more limbo. He becomes an institution on Thunder.

5) In 1999, WCW can no longer hold guys back. They look at getting Benoit to the top. Owen is still a few rungs under but has the opportunity to advance and Russo has big plans for him. They move Russo on. It’s too little too late with the pushes. Owen’s contract expires and he signs with the WWF, along with other WCW talent.

If Owen had jumped with Bret, he’d have had no chance. They’d probably have added him to their newly acquired enhancement talent of Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhardt. It was every Hart family member for himself, and even Bret couldn’t get a look in.

 

[Xiphias]

Could Owen Hart of

--> Could Owen Hart have

English. Please learn it. And yes.

 

[TelkEvolon]

No, he would of just been, at most. A lost midcard guy.

 

[dave 1981]

This is simply a question that I'm very curious to hear answered.

First off, Owen seemed like a very loyal person & I doubt he would of ever went to WCW... even after Montreal & Bret leaving Owen still stayed. BUT what if Owen left for WCW in the mid '90s BEFORE Bret did...?

I honestly think that Owen would of been easily & quickly forgotten in WCW because of the big-names they had & the crooked creative team. I believe Owen's only chance of being relevant in WCW during the '90s would of been as a member of the original NWO in '96... hell if Virgil lasted a few months in NWO, I think Owen could of been a top player in NWO. But on the other hand, Owen doesn't seem like he would of been the NWO type even though he was dastardly good on the mic.

Plus during the '90s Owen always had several possible storylines WWE could of used (which they did) like: being the evil brother and feuding with Bret, teaming with British Bulldog and competing for the tag titles, or as a member of the Hart Foundation.


Like I said, this is just out of curiosity to see what others think could of happened.


Could Owen Hart of succeeded in WCW without Bret, IF he jumped ship in '95 or '96? (Let's keep the "He'd be alive still" replies to a minimum.)

Owen Hart may have been a loyal person but he did try and get out of his contract in 1997 after what happenend in Montreal at Survivor Series between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart but he couldn't get out of his contract unlike Davey Boy Smith and shortly after Jim Neidhart both did. It was said that Vince McMahon had promised Owen Hart a main event role and a WWE title feud with Shawn Michaels but after a couple of matches on Raw they went a different way and had Owen Hart feud with Triple H over the European title instead.

It is amazing to think that Owen Hart not being given that main event match against Shawn Michaels on PPV changed the future of wrestling because WWE then went with Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at The Royal Rumble in 1998 instead and obviously as everyone knows that was the match that saw Shawn Michaels injured and have to retire for 4 and a half years from in ring action. I know that the Casket match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker was probably the best match of that type in history but i would have loved to have seen Shawn Michaels and Owen Hart instead which could have been classic as they had a great backstory between them.

Back on topic though and i think that had Owen Hart defected to WCW in 1995 then he would have definitely been a major player because WCW much like WWE in 1995 was absolutely horrible and was dominated by Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage against The Dungeon of Doom and their horrible matches and feud. Had it not been for Sting/Flair once again saving WCW with their feud and matches i would probably say that WCW in 1995 was quite possibly the worst i had ever seen in my time watching wrestling but WWE was still worse due to Sting/Flair.

Owen Hart in 1995 was coming off the back of his most successful year in wrestling as far as where he was placed on the card as he had spent almost all of 1994 working in the main event scene and in the main feud that year against his brother Bret Hart. I know that Lex Luger made a HUGE return when he came back on the first ever Nitro but had Owen Hart debuted in 1995 his arrival would have been even bigger, thinking about Owen Hart working with Sting, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit and Ricky Steamboat makes me think just how great i would have been.

 

[Vin Ghostal]

Owen Hart in 1995 was coming off the back of his most successful year in wrestling as far as where he was placed on the card as he had spent almost all of 1994 working in the main event scene and in the main feud that year against his brother Bret Hart. I know that Lex Luger made a HUGE return when he came back on the first ever Nitro but had Owen Hart debuted in 1995 his arrival would have been even bigger

So Owen showing up on Nitro in 1995 would have been a bigger deal than Luger doing the same? You're dreaming. Lex Luger was a former WCW Champion making a surprise return. Owen Hart would have been a midcarder with no WCW history making his debut. There's not even a comparison.

Now, that'd be a different story if Owen had jumped ship in late 1997 or early 1998. THAT would have gotten some attention.