No disrespect to the guy, I really like Owen but he would've stayed a career lower carder. He was booked horribly, there was no recovering from that gimmick. And he didn't mesh well in the AE even before the Blue Blazer. He wasn't good on the mic and his in ring work felt very outdated. His ringwork was always overrated imo, always looked very fake, especially when compared to his brother, who happens to be arguably the greatest wrestler of all time.

 

I don’t think he would’ve done much of nothing, to be honest. There’s an untrue myth that he was going to become “The Game” which was given to Triple H, despite it only being given to him due to an ad-lib in a promo about a month after Owen passed.

Owen was so low on the totem pole at the time of his death, it’s hard to imagine him becoming even an upper midcarder, let alone a main eventer. He would’ve likely been used to put over the incomings from WCW like Jericho, The Radicals, maybe one of Angles early wins. But in all likelihood it would’ve been chasing crash holly around for the hardcore title.

 

https://www.wrestlingforum.com/threads/owen-hart-projecting-his-wwf-tenure-1999-2002.2412725/?post_id=78170001#post-78170001

 

It’s hard to know. I always thought that his feud with Bret could have been an on-again/off-again storyline for many years. But I don’t know what plans Vince might have had for him.

 

Given they were in the process of humiliating him when he did die, probably not well would be my guess.

 

Early retirement.

 

I remember reading that he was saving as much money as he could as he was planning on retiring after his contract expired to become a teacher and spend more time at home.

 

He was it was covered in dark side of the ring

 

That blue blazer gimmick was a disgrace

 

I dont think he stays past 2001.

 

Owen bounces around the midcard through the rest of 1999. The team with Jarrett gets broken up and they are opponents before Jarrett departs. Owen enters the Angle, Jericho, and Benoit feud in 2000 over the IC/Euro titles, puts over Angle. Works in the lower mid card through 2000. Has his final WWF match at WMX7. Then goes home to be a firefighter. Comes back sporadically for a few one offs throughout his 40s before a second and final retirement match putting over a younger star.

 

Heyday TNA

 

I reckon he'd of turned face end of 1999 to feud with Jeff Jarret. I reckon Jarrets last match would of been against Owen Hart instead of Chyna.

He loses the IC champion to Chris Jericho few weeks later and briefly feuds with him.

Into start of 2000 can't see him doing much but putting over new talent until May 2000

He returns and is now the leader of RTC ( Right To Cencer) and that continues upto April 2001 where they disband but Val Venis turns face and does a brief feud with Owen/ Stevie Richards

He goes away for it then he returns but has joined the Alliance where he's now more of a threat/ serious character and thinks WWF has held him back/screwed him and his family and he's joined The Alliance for more opportunities.

September 2001 he wins the WCW Champion from The Rock due to Austin interference but loses it it back not long afterwards. There's tension between him and Austin throughout as Austin brings up the broken neck, belittles Owen, ghosting

Survivor Series 2001
Owen screws Austin and The Alliance snd now he joins forces with Vince.

Feuds with Austin until The Rumble where he loses. Then gets involved in the drama between Vince and Rick Flair.

Vince chooses Owen to face Rick Flair at Mania 2002 in Canada in a I Quiet Career vs Career match. Which Owen Loses

Next night on Raw, Vince comes out and cuts a promo and brings Owen To The Ring which in the ring Belittles him and Says The Words " Owen Hart.. You're Fired! Infront of a packed out Canadian Crowd. Owen starts walking down the ramp a deflated broken man then Vince says " Actually.. You can keep your job if you join an exclusive club tonight?" Reffering to The Kiss My Ass Club.

Later On vince walks out for the moment cuts a promo then Owen walks out. Vince does the whole humiliation thing that he does. Owen looks like he's ready do it until he gives vince a low blow followed by a Sharpshooter shouting "This one's for Brett".

Walks out a legend and a redemption ending.

 

Someone already pointed it out on here but Owen supposedly was planning on retiring sooner rather than later to become a teacher (though i thought I heard a fireman as well). Now hypothetically if he did stick around, he pretty much had hit his glass ceiling. Dude was firmly going to be midcard guy for life at that point and at best would have been maybe a filler feud for someone during their title run (though certainly not Stone Cold)

Maybe if by some chance he is still with WWE during the brand split, he might have gotten a token thank you run but even that seems like it would be pushing it.

 

I think he would've done well to switch to WCW. Not that Bret was doing great over there but Owen was a comedy jobber, so it can't go down from there, right? He could be in the cruiserweight division in WCW having bangers

 

His death was tragic, and I dont like trashing the dead. But he simply was never good enough to be anything but a low carder. He was good in the ring, but not as great as many of his contemporaries, and he lacked charisma and mic skills.
If you look at his entire career from 88 to 99, the only time he got into a main event feud was when Bret pulled the nepotism card and said he wanted to work a program with him. Those 6 months working with Bret, gave Owen the two best matches of his career at wmX and Summerslam 94. But he never got to those heights again.
.

 

I mean he was already turned into a joke with the Blue Blazer thing. Don't see much recovery from that.

 

Probably woulda ended up in early TNA

 

I think he would have retired after a couple of years (00-01 or so) but would have worked with the likes of Eddie, Benoit, Jericho, and Angle before hanging it up.

I also think there was a possibility the team with Jarrett could have continued and they could have worked with the likes of the Hardys/Dudleys/E&C before passing the baton to them to lead the division, though that largely depends on Jeff and whether or not he would have stayed.

 

I dont remember Owen elevating anyone, his level was third banana in a group.

He was in the Attitude era but objected to the content, which would have been a problem.

He'd already had a lot of matches against top talent, Austin where he crippled him, Shawn that was forgotten as soon as it happened, Hunter matches that meant nothing, and Bret.

That put his level at fill in but dont expect anything memorable that you can build on in the WWF. Basically a Headbanger.

 

If he could just have made it to 2000 I think that his career would have seen a bit of a renaissance.

In a worst case scenario, Owen would likely have shifted to and become an excellent color commentator. His KoTR 96 commentary was hilarious.

 

In a worst case scenario, Owen would likely have shifted to and become an excellent color commentator. His KoTR 96 commentary was hilarious.

I'd have sent Owen home for the next few months in April after Backlash to get him to practice and train at color commentary. Have him debut on the first Smackdown in August. For a 2 for 1 lifesaving deal, I'd have Davey Boy Smith join as a backstage announcer or some other role to keep him out of the ring until he's completely clean. Who knows, maybe once WCW folds in 2001 reconciliation with Bret would have been done easier and sooner.

 

His wife wrote that he wanted out of the business anyway, and Vince was actively making fun of him giving him silly gimmicks, so I don't think he would have been anything big had he not died.

 

What harm would it done Vince to let Owen out of the WWF anyway? The WWF was already on top of the Monday Night Wars at the time with other stars. It's not as if letting Owen Hart out was going to cause problems.

 

He wasn't gonna be a main event at all imo. He was on the trajectory to getting released by 1999, I mean the Blue Blazer was an undercard gimmick which gonna be his last run before he slowly fades and starts wrestling in Jakked/Metal then released. His best bet would've been WCW or TNA (which really, was WCW 2.0). Maybe then returns to WWE for a midcard run before retiring.

Horrific tragedy, I can't imagine how robbed his family feels to this day, may he RIP.

 

He wasn't gonna be a main event at all imo. He was on the trajectory to getting released by 1999, I mean the Blue Blazer was an undercard gimmick which gonna be his last run before he slowly fades and starts wrestling in Jakked/Metal then released. His best bet would've been WCW or TNA (which really, was WCW 2.0). Maybe then returns to WWE for a midcard run before retiring.

I don't think he gets released. Vince wants him as kind of a "goodwill" figure for his fall-out with Bret. The audience sees Owen (or any Hart) still working for WWF and it helps paint the idea that the screw job might not be as bad as it being painted. He "coincidentally" hired Bulldog back within months of Owen dying.

But I definitely agree with the trajectory aspect. He didn't have enough friends in top spots to get back to where he was. Austin didn't trust him after Montreal and Hunter/Shawn were not allies either. Vince was going to do enough to keep him but I doubt he'd ever be World Champ unless some magical momentum moment happened. Oddly, as much as there was talk of him leaving wrestling to be a firefighter, I don't think he would have. It was the Monday Night Wars and both companies wanted talent that was recognizable on TV. He would have attempted to retire but I think either Vince or Eric would have offered money that would have been too good to say no to.

 

Takes Crash Holly's spot as the signature Hardcore Champion. Does basically nothing but C-Shows in 2000. Probably has a good match with Mark Henry or Viscera in that year. Has a few really fun matches on Heat/SmackDown in 2001 during the chaotic InVasion period with Raven, Mike Awesome, Undertaker, Kane and the Big Show as Hardcore Champion.

A fixture of NWA-TNA in 2002-2004 as a member of S.E.X. Maybe lasts long enough to be a core part of the X-Division and AJ Syles' main rival in TNA. Quiet retirement with sporadic appearances, and really embarrassing TNA appearances in the late 00s-early 10s once Russo is back in full swing. This'll be when he SHOOTS HARD~! on never being given the same opportunities as his brother by The Powers That Be.

A potential second WWE run in 2005-2007 when they were in dire need of heels on SmackDown is also possible. Potentially even culminating in winning the WHC around this time period taking Finlay's place as the grizzled veteran. This is the best case scenario.

His wife wrote that he wanted out of the business anyway, and Vince was actively making fun of him giving him silly gimmicks, so I don't think he would have been anything big had he not died.

Never believe anything a wrestler says, or has been claimed to have been said by them even. He would have kept wrestling until he was no longer physically able to. It's very possible you would have seen Owen losing to Dolph Ziggler on RAW in 2012 had his death not been caused by the negligence of the WWF.