It's a weird thing for me. I was a little kid and going into adolescence back in the early 90's and into the turn of the century so I viewed wrestling a lot different than I do now. I remember when he was "The Rocket" Owen Hart, teamed with Coco B Ware and I liked him a lot at that time because A. He was with Coco B Ware, and B. He was a high flying fast paced wrestler who also happened to be the brother of one of my favorites at the time Bret Hart. I didn't care for him much in the New Foundation because I thought that if there was going to be a Hart Foundation, Bret should be the guy in it, and I didn't like Anvil at all so I was just lukewarm on that one. When Owen turned heel on Bret though, that was it, I hated him. I was a kid and Bret was one of my favorites, what do you expect? I hated him so much. I hated his whining speeches, I hated how he tried to dress like Bret, took his finisher, how he tried to act like he was better than Bret, and I hated that he wanted to take out my hero(keep in mind I was 8 years old in 1993).
Now, a little later down the road when Bret turned heel and formed the Hart Foundation again with himself, Bulldog, Anvil, Pillman, and Owen I STILL hated him from the years prior. I loved Bret, hated the rest of the group. I figured they should only be so glad to be with him and be in HIS group(Again, at this time I'm about 10-11 and not "In" on any of this stuff, and it was very rare for anyone to have the internet in their homes at this time, 95-96). I always just thought that he was Bret Hart's less talented younger brother who was always going to be in his shadow and second best. Then when the attitude era came around and he was in The Nation of Domination I hated him even more because I REALLY hated the NOD. I couldn't believe that he would join that group or that he even could since they were basically like the Nation of Islam/ Black Panthers. Then the incessant whining that I hated years ago became more prevalent again and I disliked him even more, Bret was gone to kick his ass so that made me dislike him more, and I just didn't get why he was even around anymore since I didn't know anyone else who liked him either.
I knew that people come and go, but he had somehow managed to stick around, and everyone I knew hated him just as much as I did and didn't want him around either, so it was actually rather confusing to be quite honest. I thought returning to the Blue Blazer gimmick was ridiculous and stupid as well, which didn't help matters of me liking him anymore, and then when he died I was like "Oh, that's pretty fucked up. I didn't like him but I didn't want that to happen to him". Since then I've looked back at his career as I became older and more knowledgeable about everything wrestling and concluded that he was actually a REALLY good wrestler in all aspects. He was a great heel and that's what suited him best, and his feud with Bret was monumental. Now days, I look back and I really like his stuff from when he was "The King of Harts" and throughout that whole run before he turned heel again and joined the NOD, and feel now more so than ever what a great loss it truly was. Looking back, he really was underrated in his time and still accomplished a lot which should tell everyone how good he was, even being overlooked for the top spot. He was a guy they went to on numerous occasions to put over top guys and carry feuds. It's a shame he died the way he did, and a shame that we didn't get to see him break out back then to be a champion at least once.