horrorfan_1986

With the anniversary of his death yesterday, I've been watching some old matches and thinking about his career. One of the most common answers to the question, "Best who should have been World Champion?" is Owen. For the most part, I disagree. While a great tag team wrestler and mid carder, I can't say he was the right choice to lead a company. However, if there was a time he should of been champion, it should of been in place of Bob Backlund's second (Or third depending on whether you recognize the switch in Japan) reign.

Owen was involved in the title switch at Survivor Series 1994. It was his fake act of concern that led to Helen Hart throwing in the towel while Bret was in the dreaded Cross face Chicken Wing. The towel would give Backlund the belt and Owen some thrill of costing Bret the belt. A few days later, Backlund would lose the belt to Diesel at a MSG House Show in less than 10 seconds. Looking back, it was almost a perfect title reign for Owen to have. Here you have Owen beating Bret for the second time that year and ending his title reign. He's on top of the world as he goes into his first title defense. And just like that *Snaps fingers
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* he loses it. The win and loss would be very similar to Owen's WM 10 win. What should of been Owen's big night, turned out to be a night people would remember for Bret winning the belt back from Yokozuna. Even in loss, Bret kept Owen in the "Shadow."

The loss to Diesel could also lead to an eventual rematch on PPV. Owen as challenger could easily help the quality of Diesel's title defenses that outside of against Bret, he bombed.

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Hbk96rRko09

Owen was majorly over as an heel in 1994, and his matches with Bret are truly epic, timeless encounters. they should have had him go over Bret at summerslam 94 in that steel cage match and let him hold the title four a few months at least.

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King Steventon

Or... not have Diesel win it at all? Surely that would have been an option? I'm not sure, I may need to look over stuff from that time I'm pretty sure that would have been an option.

Otherwise, yeah I agree. I always thought it was odd how they had Owen go over Bret the same night Bret won the title but it never lead to Owen winning the title.

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Swamps

If I remember correctly there was a time when Owen pinned Bret and won the title. I can’t remember if it was televised or at a house show. Anyway, the decision was reversed due to outside interference.

I think that Owen could have definitely carried the company. Especially, after the Survivor Series towel match and, after knocking (Kayfabe) HBK unconscious with a kick to the back of the head, or even after the Montreal Screw job when Owen was the lone member of the Hart foundation remaining in the WWE.

I think eventually he would have had a couple of title reigns somewhere down the line.

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"And Shepherds we shall be

For thee, my Lord, for thee.

Power hath descended forth from Thy hand

Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands.

So we shall flow a river forth to Thee

And teeming with souls shall it ever be.

In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti."

-Connor and Murphy MacManus

Sam

Or, instead of Owen winning the King of the Ring in '94, Owen could have demanded a title shot at King of the Ring because of his win over Bret. Owen could've won it (with help from a returning Jim Neidhart) and held it until that epic cage match at Summerslam where Bret would've won it back.

horrorfan_1986

I wouldn't have liked Owen not winning KOTR. It was a smart move to keep Owen strong while they prepared for the second match. So not only did Owen beat Bret on the night he won the WWE Title, but now he's the second one ever to win the KOTR (The WWE still ignored the past Non-PPV tournament KOTR's) with Bret being the first. With that extra achievement, it made their Summerslam match a lot closer in terms of who could realistically win.

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The Dragon

He should have won it when he was a member of Camp Cornette.


Camp Cornette already had sort of a feud going on with HBK, and after HBK defended it against British Bulldog, they should have carried that feud on and had Owen win the title.

horrorfan_1986

When it comes to 1996 and Michaels with the belt, the only one I wanted to see beat him for it was Vader. Having Owen lose to Michaels at the IYH before Wrestlemania isn't too promising to get another match for a title.

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Sam

Yeah but we already knew that Bret was going to win at SummerSlam 94 anyways, with or without Owen holding the WWF Championship. Two reasons 1) It was hyped as the blowoff to their feud. 2) Until 1997, the WWF Championship never changed hands at a SummerSlam. Giving Owen two victories over Bret, one being a title win, I think would've casted doubt as to who would win, especially when you consider fact number 2.

horrorfan_1986

That may be true, but no one acknowledged the fact that the World Title didn't change hands. There had only been six Summerslam's before 1994 and only three of them had WWE title matches. If anything, with what they did, having Owen as the challenger made him the favorite. While Owen already defeated Bret at Mania, Owen won three matches at KOTR while Bret was set to cleanly lose to IC champion, Diesel before the DQ by Neidhart. Looking back at the history of SS, you had the IC title change hands five out of the six previous SS's. Meanwhile, the tag team titles changed hands twice in five defenses. Finally, there's the Million Dollar Title that changed hands at Summerslam. Summerslam had been built up as a PPV where a new champion is crowned.

Are you sure it was hyped as the blow off match? I know their Action Zone match (Taking place a month later) was hyped as the blow off match. It doesn't make much sense to me to have two blow off matches in a matter of a month.

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