| Re: Stealing the Spotlight - 1997
Well, firstly Bret didn't lose in his hometown, he's not from Montreal, but the point is noted.
As for Owen, I always felt he missed his "era" in the WWE. Had he been alive when Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Angle were around he would have had a prime opportunity to showcase what an incredible in-ring performer he was. At the time of his peak years in WWEland, there was nowhere near that level of ability for him to match up with.
Lastly, I thought he was incredibly unluckly with the timing of his return and the politics involved. When Owen returned at the December PPV (Degeneration X PPV?) after Montreal he was on fire he was so hot. But within just a few weeks the potential of a feud with Shawn was thrown away with a one off TV match in which Hunter interfered so the feud became Hunter-Owen when the money was surely Owen-Shawn (at the time). I guess most of the reason was politics, but partly "angle driven" too. WWE desperately wanted to do the Casket Match at the Rumble between Shawn and 'Taker to (a) get in a good buy rate with the Hell in a Cell still fresh in the mind and (b) give another shot in the arm to 'Mania for the big Taker-Kane first match.
Where I think they totally screwed up was that Owen should have won the first match with Hunter at Mania and then (if they wanted) lost the re-match at the next PPV. Having Owen lose twice to Hunter in succession completely killed his momentum post Montreal which, despite some excellent matches with Ken Shamrock, he never really recovered from.
Not to be taken as a joke comment, but Owen's whole career often seemed to be a case of wrong time and wrong place. |