What if Owen Hart never died? (R.I.P.)

[Savion83]

This thread is on a sensative subject matter...

What if the late great Owen Hart had never fell to his death in 1999? Would he still be wrestling in the WWE or would he have jumped ship to WCW to be with his brother Bret? If Owen would have jumped ship to Atlanta, Owen would have been in some great feuds without his brother over looking down on his little brother Owen. Some real great matches with and against Canada natives Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, and re-kindle his feud with his brother Bret. Who knows maybe WCW would have been a better contender in the epic Monday night wars before they folded in '01?

But if Owen were to stay in the WWF/E. Around that time during Owen's death. Chris Jericho talked to Owen after coming to the WWF/E after his contract with WCW ran out by the summer of '99. So Owen died in May while Jericho debuted in the WWF/E in August of that year. Around the same timeline a young Kurt Angle was wrestling in dark matches against Owen Hart where the to hit it off and became real close as friends. And Chris Benoit (with the Radicalz) debuted in the WWF/E the following year.

And my beleif is if Owen were still alive today, he would be a world champion by now!

But the reality is, Owen Hart is resting in peace! GOD BLESS OWEN HART! He should be inducted with his father (and the rest of the hart family!) into the WWE hall of fame!

 

[The Scarred One]

No doubt, bro!

If Owen hadn't died, I would like to believe that he would've become a world champion in the WWE, even if whatever reigns he had only lasted a couple of months. He was just as good in the ring as his brother and really connected with the crowd. I don't think he would've jumped over to WCW just to be with his brother, considering how misused Bret was there.

I could totally imagine Owen feuding with the likes of Jericho, Benoit, Angle, Guerrero, Christian, Mysterio, Orton and Edge among others. He was 34 when he died so he would've had at least another ten years before there would be talks of calling it quits.

So sad that his life came to a tragic end, even after ten years.

R.I.P Owen.

 

[DexVendetta88]

Well I actually wonder what would happen if Owen never died. Here are some of my theories:

- Owen would've been a multiple time world champion, and grand slam champion by this point assuming he would still be in the WWE to this day.

- WCW would still fold, and during the Invasion angle he would've defected to the Alliance to fit his heel persona.

- Would've jumped-ship to TNA in its early days for a little bit, or possibly for the rest of his career and win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on multiple occassions.

- Brought back Bret Hart to the WWE much sooner than 2006.

I can actually continue on with this list, but the possibilities are endless. However, the only we can do is just keep guessing what might've happened. R.I.P. Owen, you are truly missed!

 

[ChuckBartowski]

Owen was very technically sound and played a great heel role, though I never saw Owen as a World Champion. He would have made a great Intercontinental Champion and he could have had epic feuds with Angle, USA vs Canada. Him and Jericho probably would have had a good run at the Tag Titles before Jericho moving on for the World Title. As for him moving to WCW, I dont think that would have happened. Only because after Bret leaving, I think vince would have promised the fame and fortune to Owen just to keep him around. Though if he were to leave and jump ship, him and Bret would have had great tag matches against Harlem Heat, The Flock, and 3 Count, among many other great teams WCW had. Again, I dont see him holding the World Heavyweight Championship, but a great run with US Title would be automatic, in fact he could have renamed it the Canadian Title.

Rest In Peace Owen, you truly were One In A Million!

 

[The Son of Maximillion]

i've never seen owen wrestle maybe one time and that was when i first got into wrestling. The whole dynamic of wrestling would be different if he was alive today and the hart dungeon would probably still be open. there would be so many people he could have been wrestling and training RIP Owen

 

[KBP51883]

I really don't think Owen would have been that successful as previous posts have indicated.
I totally agree Owen was a talented technical wrestler and I did enjoy his matches but the issue would have been his promos.
He was not the best on the microphone in general, yes he did well with the "Bret screwed me" scenario and the "slammy winner" but in most promos just didn't capture the imagination ( See Shelton Benjamin for a similar comparison . . . all the talent but not enought to carry the company ) of the public. The blue blazer gimmick was a step forward with the saying your prayers etc and drink your milk promos but that was a cartoon character. Look who was at the top of WWE at the time of his sad death and the quality promos and he just would not have got to the top. As a side note he should have been entered into the Hall of Fame this year with his father Stu.

 

[martin]

I've always thought if Owen was still with us, he would have been in the "Chris Benoit role" at WrestleMania 20, winning the World title after trying for many years.

It also questions what WWE's next moves would have been. If he was scheduled to win the Intercontinental title from The Godfather at Over the Edge, would we have seen Jarrett reclaiming the title and furthermore, would he and Chyna have had the feud that won her the title?

 

[Blade]

Well it could've gone two ways, I think. There were some people saying that Owen was planning to retire within the next year or two. So one possible option is that he simply would've floundered around in the midcard, winning the IC title once or twice and then he would've retired and it would've all been over. Simple.

Or maybe he would've decided to stay on for another few years. In mid-2001, when The Rock was away and Trips and Benoit were injured, WWE was in desperate need of some main eventers, having only Austin, Jericho and Angle to rely on so they rushed into the Invasion angle. So I think they might've used Owen then to give Austin a few world title matches until the Invasion angle was ready to go. Also, as martin said I think he would've been the one standing in Madison Square Garden with all the confetti and stuff holding a world title over his head, because he certainly would've deserved it at that point.

No, he wouldn't have gone to WCW because I don't think they would've offered him enough to leave WWE. Plus Bret hated WCW, so he would've told his brother not to jump ship. He would've been put in the hall of fame and he'd probably be guest hosting Raw and probably getting involved in Bret and Vince's Mania match.

 

[Ghost of Benoit]

its a known fact that Owen Hart was poised to be repackaged and given the gimmick of the "Game" before he passed away. The "Game" gimmick as we all know was later on given to HHH and it pushed him to the moon. Owen Hart at least in the early 2000s would have been pushed to the moon and in my opinion definitely had a few world title reigns. If he had HHH's personality and mic charisma he may have been even more dominating throughout that decade too. The King of Harts/Blackhart Owen Hart may have remained a technical midcarder (he was de-moted back to the Blue Blazer when he died)...but the "Game" Owen Hart would have been on top of the "game" (pun intended)...in the new millenium...

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

I think if Owen Hart wouldn't have died he would have been a multi time world champion and a first ballot hall of famer, even though I think he already is. Owen was one of the best technical wrestlers I have ever seen he had great charisma, mic skills, and gimmicks bar the Blue Blazer. I would have loved to see his first world title win, it would have been a bigger deal than when Eddie and Beniot won thier respective first titles.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Owen Hart would never of become world champion and probably would have retired from wrestling by the year 2001.

Lets put aside the fact the Owen was a very gifted performer (I always thought that Owen was overall better than Bret) and did a very good job during his time in the WWF, but its also a well known fact that Owen became a wrestler as a way to support his family, unlike a lot of wrestlers, Owen didn't live for wrestling, he lived for his family and it was also a well known fact that Owen was pretty much ready to retire around the time that he died (maybe a year and a half left). Owen just wanted to make enough money so he could support his family and have a good life after wrestling. It has also been speculated that the reason Owen wasn't champ before he died is because he didn't want the workload and responsibility of being champion as he was happier working at the mid-card where the pressure wasn't as great as it would have been if he became champion, you certainly can't blame the guy for choosing his family and a better quality of life over being World Champion.

A lot of wrestlers (Bret for example) are marks for the business and live and breath wrestling, but Owen wasn't one of them, he was certainly talented to become World Champ, but I don't think that's what he wanted (I'm only going by the statements of wrestlers that knew the guy, I've even heard Bret and his own family make similar statements).

If Owen was still alive, it may have hurt Triple H a lot because rumor has it that "The Game" gimmick was originally intended for Owen and when he died HHH took it over. Either way I'm sure HHH would have still become champ, it may have taken him a little longer to get there though.