Flair Region, Atlanta Subregion, First Round: (15) Owen Hart vs. (18) Taz

[HBK-aholic]

This is a first round match in the Flair Region, Atlanta Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

#15. Owen Hart


Vs.

#18.Taz


​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.


Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[SSJPhenom]

Man would this have been a fun match or what?

Both wrestlers were great in the ring and put on some great matches. Also, both guys were mostly career mid carders with flashes of more importance. The only thing that might sway this match in the legacy category is the fact that Taz was the ECW Champion. Depends on how much stock one puts on the importance of ECW.

I can be swayed either way as I can see both men winning.

 

[nightmare]

Owen Hart was underrated as a talent when still breathing, but overrated after his death. The guy was a good hand, solid worker & loved backstage. All these things together with his family legacy are not enough to defeat a man who was the original mayor of Suplex City. Being well liked and respected is not going to get you past a buzzsaw like Taz.

Taz was watered down by the time he got to WWF. The guy was a fucking badass in ECW and he had no problem taking guys out. He could go on the mat & get violent when necessary. Big or small, he suplexed the shit out of people and made them tap the fuck out & fans loved it.

Fuck titles, fuck family names & fuck backstage jokes. Taz would destroy Owen.

 

[NSL]

Owen and Tazz...Damn this is a dream match come true. They've both broken someone's neck, and we all know how Owen died, so......Nope. Not going there. I'm going to hell for many things, and it will not be for this...

Seriously, though...This match is about as 50/50 as I could imagine. Tazz is a beast in the ring, and can go toe-to-toe with anyone in his prime. Owen was a technical genius. This would definitely come down to who the better mat wrestler is, and who can score the submission, and that's where I think Tazz has the edge. I don't recall him ever tapping out, and was more of a legit badass (in kayfabe) than Owen was, which makes me think he'd be far less likely to tap.

Tazz has my vote, for now, but I may be swayed.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Owen Hart was underrated as a talent when still breathing, but overrated after his death.

These are pretty much my feelings.

When he was wrestling he always felt like he was in his brother's shadow, and once he unfortunately passed, everyone seemed to talk him up like he was a world beater.

The truth is, Owen was a career midcarder who was cut down too soon. Who knows what Owen would have accomplished had he not has the accident.

Taz was one of ECW's biggest stars though. His time as a top star in ECW to me trump Owen's time as a midcarder in the mid 90s WWE, a time when WWE was struggling.

Sure Taz was an awful announcer, but he takes this in a good match.

 

[enviousdominous]

I'm not going to go full belligerent drama queen, so you can save your sighs for if John Cena ends up going against CM Punk.

I'm a huge mark for Owen and not so much for Tazz, so take my vote with a whole damn salt mine.

I think if we're comparing underrated vs overrated, during their heydays Owen was being under-utilized but was humble and Tazz was becoming famous for his botches that were unexpectedly epic.

Owen was loveable, which might make him look weak when compared to the more grizzled Tazz. Then there was the day that (I believe) Owen went off script and was about to rip Vince's head off on tv during the aftermath of the Montreal Screwjob. While it was uncharacteristic of the Owen Hart character to get real like that, it shows me that Owen wouldn't let a guy like Tazz humble him.

I won't obsessively vote for Owen Hart in every possible encounter, but I can easily vote for him here. Vote Owen.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

In every scenario I see Tazz choking Owen.

So fuck you Tazz I vote the King of Harts.

 

[Tastycles]

I know Taz was big in ECW, and I think he would have been bigger in WWF, injuries permitting, but I don't think he is of the same calibre as Owen Hart. As has rightly been stated in this thread, Owen Hart, like Eddie Guerrero, has been vastly overrated in death and as such is now the victim of an oversight the other way. Hart didn't win world titles, but what he did do was portray a believable and horrible character for a number of years in a mid card. Is there anyone who has managed to explain away defeats and being wrong as a heel in the way Owen has?

No, he wasn't as good as his brother, but few people were. Owen Hart is better than Tazz in my opinion and should win this.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Here's the thing with Taz.

He was "The Human Wrecking Machine" in ECW, because most of the wrestlers in ECW were as small, or smaller than him. It was completely believable that this guy who was built solid, but was maybe 5 and a half feet legit, was able to throw everyone around and dominate the shit out of them.

Tazz is a perfect example of Heyman's genius when it came to hiding their weaknesses, accentuating their strengths, and getting them over.

Once he left ECW though and went to the WWE? This "Wrecking Machine" was no longer that believable when staring face to chest with pretty much everyone.

Once he didn't have Heyman booking for him, he didn't enjoy a lot of success inside the ring.

Owen, for everyone that likes to say he's just overrated because of how he died, actually ends up getting underrated because it gets lost exactly how good he was in the ring.

Owen's big fault was always that he wasn't a mark for either himself or the business, and he simply saw it as a job where he could make enough money to provide his family a good life, and retire young enough to enjoy that life with them. Which is really the sad irony of Owen Hart.

Had he wanted more professionally than that... he could have got it. He was as good in the ring as anyone of his time. Better than most in fact. I would actually try arguing that he was a better wrestler than Bret, but I don`t feel like getting inundated with match results and titles won.

Owen spent his career in the mid-card/upper mid-card out of choice, so he won't go too far in a tournament like this as a result. He would definitely go over a guy who was only mid card/lower mid card when working on the same stage as him... and who wasn't there out of choice, but because of his own limitations.

Owen beats Tazz easily here... and probably after making you believe that a normal bag of popcorn was the ultimate hardcore weapon.

 

[OYDK]

Taz was undoubtedly an animal in the ring, but who has he really beaten throughout his career? Sabu? A young RVD? A young Kurt Angle? Fact is, Taz has not proven himself on a big stage and has never beaten a legitimate superstar in their prime. Owen has. He has beaten Bret Hart at Wrestlemania. He's had great feuds with the likes of Austin and HHH and if he "played the game" like HHH did, he'd be more than the career-midcarder everyone describes him as.

Taz was a suplex machine, but Owen was one of the better pure wrestlers in all aspects. I have a hard time believing Owen couldn't outmaneuver Taz in the ring.

Vote Owen.

 

[Stormtrooper]

I love when we get early matches like this, 2 evenly matched competitors in a match that most every wrestling fan would have loved to watch.

Owen Hart was an excellent ring technician who can also fly better than most from his era. Taz was a grounded badass Suplex master. Hell he was in ECW similar to Brock Lesnar now.

Taz wins this for me because at the end of the day, Taz reached the pinnacle of his promotion, not just as a Worlds Champion, but as the face of the company. Owen Hart never really even was a Main Event player, he was just a Midcarder who was the dreaded "good hand" that would put on good matches with everyone.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

What do Owen Hart and the British Bulldog have in common?

Both men are looked on more favorable by history than they really should be, and both men's 2 best matches were against Bret Hart. Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992 and In Your House 1995, and Owen at Mania 10 and SummerSlam '94.

Yet Taz doesn't really make it into the conversation. I agree with the assessment that he was a great product of the genius of Paul Heyman more than his own skill. I like the guy, and I enjoyed him as an announcer, but he isn't really in Owen's overall league.

Usually now I would make a tasteless Owen joke, but I've really calmed down in my old age.

 

[NSL]

Owen Hart was an excellent ring technician who can also fly better than most from his era. Taz was a grounded badass Suplex master. Hell he was in ECW similar to Brock Lesnar now.

Unfortunately, not enough people realize this. Taz was fucking unbeatable. The Brock Lesnar comparison is not one I ever put together, but you're so right.

Usually now I would make a tasteless Owen joke, but I've really calmed down in my old age.

I almost did, but then realized I'd be no better than the people arguing Ambrose over Benoit...