Owen Hart Tribute Thread
03-10-2014
, 07:42 PM
. NJPW still awesome.
03-11-2014
, 08:26 AM
03-11-2014
, 08:36 AM
03-13-2014
, 12:42 AM
SummerSlam ’94 – WWF Title Steel Cage Match: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
Date: August 29, 1994
Background: Bret and Owen had a feud that started brewing nine months earlier at Survivor Series, the first shot was officially fired seven months earlier at Royal Rumble when Owen kicked Bret’s leg out of his leg, and since then Bret won the WWF Title and Owen won the King of the Ring Tournament.
Link: N/A
The Match: They bill this as the very clear blowoff of the feud in advance, which seems like a wonderful way to announce that Bret is winning the match. Admittedly I never bought Owen as having a chance to win the title here, though to be fair this doesn’t end up being the blowoff anyway. The whole family is at ringside in one of the floor seating areas, and Vince and Lawler talk to Davey Boy, Jim Neidhart, and Bruce Hart before the match.
No slow feeling out period this time, Owen goes right at Bret at the bell and attacks aggressively. True to the feel of a cage match, this is less technical and more of a brawl from the word go. Cool spot early as Owen attempts an over-the-top escape and Bret catches him with something of a back superplex from about the same elevation as the top rope. One of the more entertaining cage escape sequences I’ve seen as the two wrestlers get a temporary upper hand and then attempt to outright dive to scurry out the door, obviously neither successful in multiple attempts so early.
A few over-the-top escape attempts get overdone and it feels a bit tedious at times, but I do enjoy a spot by Owen where he pulls Bret off of the cage onto his shoulders and into a Samoan drop. Still, I do think this match sort of drags at times just from an excess of cage escape attempts at the expense of more wrestling. Criticisms notwithstanding, there are certainly really good spots as well, with Bret delivering a memorable superplex from the top of the cage.
Despite submissions not being a method of victory in this match, Owen slaps on the sharpshooter with the clear intent of crippling Bret to the point of making an escape easy. In a spot that was completely innovative and awesome at the time but has probably lost something with age since we’ve seen it in other spots now, Bret grabs Owen’s leg to trip him and then outright reverses the sharpshooter.
The ending sequence takes place when both attempt to climb out, both get to the outside of the ring, and Owen’s leg gets caught and hangs him upside down while Bret successfully hops to the floor.
Jim Neidhart jumps over the railing and clotheslines Davey over the railing, knocking Diana over it too. He and Owen get Bret into the ring and chain the cage door shut so they can double-team Bret. Hart family members try to climb into the cage and finally succeed, chasing Owen and the Anvil out.
Result: Bret via cage escape, 32:17
Rating: Man, Meltzer gives his five stars, one of only four matches he ever gives that to, and in doing so rates it above the WrestleMania match between the two. I think that’s bat**** crazy. This match has some cool spots and some good stuff and it’s definitely worth a watch, but it also drags at times and is in no way at the level of their Mania match IMO. I would rather have just seen another regular non-cage rematch between the two. 3.5 stars out of 5.
Date: August 29, 1994
Background: Bret and Owen had a feud that started brewing nine months earlier at Survivor Series, the first shot was officially fired seven months earlier at Royal Rumble when Owen kicked Bret’s leg out of his leg, and since then Bret won the WWF Title and Owen won the King of the Ring Tournament.
Link: N/A
The Match: They bill this as the very clear blowoff of the feud in advance, which seems like a wonderful way to announce that Bret is winning the match. Admittedly I never bought Owen as having a chance to win the title here, though to be fair this doesn’t end up being the blowoff anyway. The whole family is at ringside in one of the floor seating areas, and Vince and Lawler talk to Davey Boy, Jim Neidhart, and Bruce Hart before the match.
No slow feeling out period this time, Owen goes right at Bret at the bell and attacks aggressively. True to the feel of a cage match, this is less technical and more of a brawl from the word go. Cool spot early as Owen attempts an over-the-top escape and Bret catches him with something of a back superplex from about the same elevation as the top rope. One of the more entertaining cage escape sequences I’ve seen as the two wrestlers get a temporary upper hand and then attempt to outright dive to scurry out the door, obviously neither successful in multiple attempts so early.
A few over-the-top escape attempts get overdone and it feels a bit tedious at times, but I do enjoy a spot by Owen where he pulls Bret off of the cage onto his shoulders and into a Samoan drop. Still, I do think this match sort of drags at times just from an excess of cage escape attempts at the expense of more wrestling. Criticisms notwithstanding, there are certainly really good spots as well, with Bret delivering a memorable superplex from the top of the cage.
Despite submissions not being a method of victory in this match, Owen slaps on the sharpshooter with the clear intent of crippling Bret to the point of making an escape easy. In a spot that was completely innovative and awesome at the time but has probably lost something with age since we’ve seen it in other spots now, Bret grabs Owen’s leg to trip him and then outright reverses the sharpshooter.
The ending sequence takes place when both attempt to climb out, both get to the outside of the ring, and Owen’s leg gets caught and hangs him upside down while Bret successfully hops to the floor.
Jim Neidhart jumps over the railing and clotheslines Davey over the railing, knocking Diana over it too. He and Owen get Bret into the ring and chain the cage door shut so they can double-team Bret. Hart family members try to climb into the cage and finally succeed, chasing Owen and the Anvil out.
Result: Bret via cage escape, 32:17
Rating: Man, Meltzer gives his five stars, one of only four matches he ever gives that to, and in doing so rates it above the WrestleMania match between the two. I think that’s bat**** crazy. This match has some cool spots and some good stuff and it’s definitely worth a watch, but it also drags at times and is in no way at the level of their Mania match IMO. I would rather have just seen another regular non-cage rematch between the two. 3.5 stars out of 5.
03-15-2014
, 02:02 AM
Survivor Series ’94 – Elimination Match: Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Jeff Jarrett vs. Razor Ramon, 1-2-3 Kid, British Bulldog, Fatu, Sionne
Date: November 23, 1994
Background: Not a lot, really. Owen and Neidhart started feuding with the Bulldog as of SummerSlam, but they were sort of auxiliary pieces to the bigger feud of HBK/Diesel vs. Razor (Razor had just won the IC title back from Diesel; also HBK/Diesel had recently won the tag titles the day before SummerSlam). Owen did have other booking going on this night though, as he was also scheduled to be in Bob Backlund’s corner in the title match between Bret and Backlund, with Bulldog in Bret’s corner.
The Match: Owen and 1-2-3 Kid are going to kick things off (
) until 1-2-3 Kid demands for some reason that Owen tag someone else in. Owen obliges and tags in the Anvil. Well that was a ****ty tradeoff. Owen’s first action in the match comes in a fun sequence against the Bulldog; definitely some nice work there, kind of a quick preview/sampling of their awesome European Title match that came a few years later, even though it doesn’t lead to much here. He gets one other quick sequence with Fatu, but blind tags Diesel in and it turns out to be his last meaningful action.
The point of this match was purely to (1) make Diesel a huge star and (2) to turn him face and break up his alliance with HBK. Both were done quite well, but unfortunately that left Owen as an auxiliary piece. Upon Owen finally tagging Diesel in, Diesel quickly jackknifes and pins Fatu, 1-2-3 Kid, and Sionne. He also eliminates the Bulldog by hitting him with the big boot, knocking him out of the ring and getting him counted out. Owen does have a hand in Bulldog being eliminated here, as he attacks Bulldog so that he can’t get back into the ring before beating the count. This reduces the match to 5-on-1 with Razor Ramon being the only one left in.
The end sequence comes when Diesel jackknifes Razor, then HBK demands to be tagged in. Then he demands that Diesel hold Razor up for a superkick. Obviously Razor ducks the superkick and it hits Diesel. Diesel recovers, gets up to have a go at Shawn, and when their teammates try to hold him back he attacks them as well. Diesel stalks Shawn to the back while the rest of the team tries to reason with him, everyone gets counted out, and Razor gets the cheap survival win.
Result: Razor Ramon wins as sole survivor when all of the heels get counted out at once.
Rating: I’d give the whole thing 2.75 stars out of 5 for overall entertainment, but aside from about two minutes of Owen vs. Bulldog action, nothing significant on the Owen front here.
Later That Night
As mentioned earlier, Owen was in Bob Backlund’s corner for Backlund’s title shot at Bret Hart. British Bulldog was in Bret’s corner. The match was a submission match that could not end until one wrestler’s towel was thrown in. It was a very solid match, and a hilarious bit of heel work from Owen. Late in the match, Bulldog ends up chasing Owen around the ring and lunging at him; Owen avoids him and Bulldog ends up taking a head-first bump on the steel steps that knocks him out.
Backlund has Bret locked into the crossface chicken wing, down on the mat, with no route of escape available. Owen shows serious contrition for the pain that Bret is in, the announcers tease at a face turn, and Owen begs and pleads with his parents sitting ringside to throw the towel in on the match. He successfully suckers his mother into doing so, and Bob Backlund wins the WWF Title. Owen immediately runs into the ring happily and celebrates Backlund’s win, then cuts a fun promo afterward. I absolutely loved this match and thought that Owen basically stole the show with his antics.
Date: November 23, 1994
Background: Not a lot, really. Owen and Neidhart started feuding with the Bulldog as of SummerSlam, but they were sort of auxiliary pieces to the bigger feud of HBK/Diesel vs. Razor (Razor had just won the IC title back from Diesel; also HBK/Diesel had recently won the tag titles the day before SummerSlam). Owen did have other booking going on this night though, as he was also scheduled to be in Bob Backlund’s corner in the title match between Bret and Backlund, with Bulldog in Bret’s corner.
The Match: Owen and 1-2-3 Kid are going to kick things off (
) until 1-2-3 Kid demands for some reason that Owen tag someone else in. Owen obliges and tags in the Anvil. Well that was a ****ty tradeoff. Owen’s first action in the match comes in a fun sequence against the Bulldog; definitely some nice work there, kind of a quick preview/sampling of their awesome European Title match that came a few years later, even though it doesn’t lead to much here. He gets one other quick sequence with Fatu, but blind tags Diesel in and it turns out to be his last meaningful action.The point of this match was purely to (1) make Diesel a huge star and (2) to turn him face and break up his alliance with HBK. Both were done quite well, but unfortunately that left Owen as an auxiliary piece. Upon Owen finally tagging Diesel in, Diesel quickly jackknifes and pins Fatu, 1-2-3 Kid, and Sionne. He also eliminates the Bulldog by hitting him with the big boot, knocking him out of the ring and getting him counted out. Owen does have a hand in Bulldog being eliminated here, as he attacks Bulldog so that he can’t get back into the ring before beating the count. This reduces the match to 5-on-1 with Razor Ramon being the only one left in.
The end sequence comes when Diesel jackknifes Razor, then HBK demands to be tagged in. Then he demands that Diesel hold Razor up for a superkick. Obviously Razor ducks the superkick and it hits Diesel. Diesel recovers, gets up to have a go at Shawn, and when their teammates try to hold him back he attacks them as well. Diesel stalks Shawn to the back while the rest of the team tries to reason with him, everyone gets counted out, and Razor gets the cheap survival win.
Result: Razor Ramon wins as sole survivor when all of the heels get counted out at once.
Rating: I’d give the whole thing 2.75 stars out of 5 for overall entertainment, but aside from about two minutes of Owen vs. Bulldog action, nothing significant on the Owen front here.
Later That Night
As mentioned earlier, Owen was in Bob Backlund’s corner for Backlund’s title shot at Bret Hart. British Bulldog was in Bret’s corner. The match was a submission match that could not end until one wrestler’s towel was thrown in. It was a very solid match, and a hilarious bit of heel work from Owen. Late in the match, Bulldog ends up chasing Owen around the ring and lunging at him; Owen avoids him and Bulldog ends up taking a head-first bump on the steel steps that knocks him out.
Backlund has Bret locked into the crossface chicken wing, down on the mat, with no route of escape available. Owen shows serious contrition for the pain that Bret is in, the announcers tease at a face turn, and Owen begs and pleads with his parents sitting ringside to throw the towel in on the match. He successfully suckers his mother into doing so, and Bob Backlund wins the WWF Title. Owen immediately runs into the ring happily and celebrates Backlund’s win, then cuts a fun promo afterward. I absolutely loved this match and thought that Owen basically stole the show with his antics.
03-15-2014
, 03:07 AM
Monday Night Raw – Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon (c) vs. Owen Hart
Date: January 9, 1995
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKI1Tw4x8Cg
Background: Just a title defense against a top contender. Razor already had a heel challenger lined up for the Rumble in Jeff Jarrett, and the Rumble was only two weeks away, so it was already obvious that Owen would almost never win the title in this spot.
The Match: Razor clotheslines Owen over the top rope pretty violently to open the match in a good spot, but open Owen’s re-entrance he immediately gets Owen in a resthold. WTF is this, a Batista match? You can’t be tired yet Razor. In general I find the start to be slow, but the pace improves once Owen gains the advantage and gets to go on offense. Nice suicide dive spot to the outside, nice enziguiri spot shortly after. I find that the pace dropped off as quickly as it picked up though, and we’re back to a slower-moving match with the occasional good spot thrown in. A couple of botches thrown in too, both from Owen’s end. Meh, this isn’t great.
End sequence comes when Owen has Razor set up for the sharpshooter and Bret runs in to attack Owen and cause a disqualification.
Result: Owen Hart via disqualification (11:10)
Rating: Meh, I just don’t love the chemistry between these two I guess, since this is the second match of theirs that I’ve reviewed in this and they just don’t knock me over. There are a few good spots here and there, but just not much flow, and of course a dirty ending cuts off the match. Meltzer gave this match 3.75 stars, and once again I’m going to call him a ****ing insane person because this isn’t nearly that good. Let’s say 1.75 stars out of 5 and call it good.
Date: January 9, 1995
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKI1Tw4x8Cg
Background: Just a title defense against a top contender. Razor already had a heel challenger lined up for the Rumble in Jeff Jarrett, and the Rumble was only two weeks away, so it was already obvious that Owen would almost never win the title in this spot.
The Match: Razor clotheslines Owen over the top rope pretty violently to open the match in a good spot, but open Owen’s re-entrance he immediately gets Owen in a resthold. WTF is this, a Batista match? You can’t be tired yet Razor. In general I find the start to be slow, but the pace improves once Owen gains the advantage and gets to go on offense. Nice suicide dive spot to the outside, nice enziguiri spot shortly after. I find that the pace dropped off as quickly as it picked up though, and we’re back to a slower-moving match with the occasional good spot thrown in. A couple of botches thrown in too, both from Owen’s end. Meh, this isn’t great.
End sequence comes when Owen has Razor set up for the sharpshooter and Bret runs in to attack Owen and cause a disqualification.
Result: Owen Hart via disqualification (11:10)
Rating: Meh, I just don’t love the chemistry between these two I guess, since this is the second match of theirs that I’ve reviewed in this and they just don’t knock me over. There are a few good spots here and there, but just not much flow, and of course a dirty ending cuts off the match. Meltzer gave this match 3.75 stars, and once again I’m going to call him a ****ing insane person because this isn’t nearly that good. Let’s say 1.75 stars out of 5 and call it good.
03-15-2014
, 12:06 PM
Royal Rumble 1995 – Rumble Match
Owen gets attacked on the way to the ring by Bret. Once he enters the ring, he gets eliminated in three seconds by the British Bulldog, which happens off-camera because they have to show one half of Well Dunn make his triumphant entrance. Next.
Monday Night Raw – No Holds Barred: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
Date: March 23, 1995
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxd...s-barred_sport
Background: Obviously no need for me to recount the whole Bret-Owen feud, but for some reason they went ahead with this as their blowoff instead of having it at WrestleMania. To my knowledge, this was the last time they fought one-on-one on television.
The Match: This match was definitely a lot different than their WrestleMania match or even their SummerSlam steel cage match, in that they had built the feud into an increasingly hateful and bitter one from Bret’s end, which was a significantly different tone than a year ago when he didn’t want to fight his brother at all. There is a fair amount of good bumping here and they tell the blowoff story well.
The end sequence occurs when Owen uncovers a turnbuckle pad to expose the steel in one corner and sends Hitman into it chest first. He then goes to the top from the opposite corner, attempts the missile dropkick, but Bret sidesteps it, grabs Owen’s legs, and catapults him into the exposed corner. He applies the sharpshooter, Owen instantly submits, and Bret clings to the hold for an extra minute or so after the match is over as several officials plead with him to release it.
Result: Bret Hart via sharpshooter (10:27)
Rating: Well these two are technical wizards, and a no holds barred grudge match isn’t as conducive to their strengths as you would like. I think the storytelling here is solid, and the blowoff is done well, but from a ring action standpoint it’s only some of what you would expect this pairing to be able to produce. Let’s say 2.75 stars out of 5 (Meltzer gives it 3.5).
Owen gets attacked on the way to the ring by Bret. Once he enters the ring, he gets eliminated in three seconds by the British Bulldog, which happens off-camera because they have to show one half of Well Dunn make his triumphant entrance. Next.
Monday Night Raw – No Holds Barred: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
Date: March 23, 1995
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxd...s-barred_sport
Background: Obviously no need for me to recount the whole Bret-Owen feud, but for some reason they went ahead with this as their blowoff instead of having it at WrestleMania. To my knowledge, this was the last time they fought one-on-one on television.
The Match: This match was definitely a lot different than their WrestleMania match or even their SummerSlam steel cage match, in that they had built the feud into an increasingly hateful and bitter one from Bret’s end, which was a significantly different tone than a year ago when he didn’t want to fight his brother at all. There is a fair amount of good bumping here and they tell the blowoff story well.
The end sequence occurs when Owen uncovers a turnbuckle pad to expose the steel in one corner and sends Hitman into it chest first. He then goes to the top from the opposite corner, attempts the missile dropkick, but Bret sidesteps it, grabs Owen’s legs, and catapults him into the exposed corner. He applies the sharpshooter, Owen instantly submits, and Bret clings to the hold for an extra minute or so after the match is over as several officials plead with him to release it.
Result: Bret Hart via sharpshooter (10:27)
Rating: Well these two are technical wizards, and a no holds barred grudge match isn’t as conducive to their strengths as you would like. I think the storytelling here is solid, and the blowoff is done well, but from a ring action standpoint it’s only some of what you would expect this pairing to be able to produce. Let’s say 2.75 stars out of 5 (Meltzer gives it 3.5).
03-15-2014
, 02:39 PM
WrestleMania XI – WWF Tag Titles: Bodacious Bart and Billy Bitchcakes (c) vs. Owen Hart and ???
Date: April 2, 1995
Link: N/A
Background: The tag team titles had been vacated as of the breakup between Shawn Michaels and Diesel, and were held up in a tournament that culminated in a win by the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly at the Royal Rumble. Then Vince said “LOL j/k” and gave the belts to the Smoking Gunns the next night on Raw instead. Owen had been in the tournament with Jim Neidhart as his partner, but were eliminated in round one by the Headshrinkers. Owen claimed that loss to be unfair, so he induced the Smoking Gunns into offering a title match to Owen and a mystery partner of his choice.
The Match: Owen Hart comes to the ring and picks up a mic. “I bring to you a man that has done something that I have dreamed my whole life of doing. He beat my brother Bret for the World Wrestling Federation Title. I introduce to you my partner…YOKOZUNA!” And with that, Yoko returns from a 4.5-month absence from the company.
The thing that jumps out at me upon watching this match is that the Smoking Gunns were surprisingly good in the ring. You wouldn’t suspect it from years of watching Billy Gunn afterward, but together the Gunns did a lot of cool double-team stuff that you just don’t see as often out of tag teams anymore. Anyway, they perform a number of these on Owen as they try to keep him in the ring and unable to tag Yokozuna in. Owen finally manages to simultaneously tag Yokozuna on while tripping Billy Gunn up with a drop toe hold, which transitions nicely into Yokozuna dropping his 500-lb. leg on the back of Billy’s head.
As soon as Yokozuna has control, he immediately locks in the fat guy nerve hold on Billy. Dude; I’m guessing that the whole point of putting you in tag team wrestling was that you can tag out when you get gassed after 20 seconds, instead of subjecting to the audience to a lengthy resthold. Owen enters without a tag and attempts a missile dropkick off the top, but it hits Yokozuna instead, allowing Billy enough time to go make a tag to Bart. Bart has a quick run of offense and tags Billy back in, but Billy promptly runs into Yokozuna’s belly-to-belly suplex. Yoko drags Billy to the corner and executes the Banzai Drop, then tags a suddenly eager Owen into the match. The whole “pussy heel tags in after his big partner did something awesome” thing backfires 99% of the time, but in this case Owen just runs in and pins Billy with no additional moves to win his first championship in the WWF.
Results: “…and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions,” Owen Hart & Yokozuna via pinfall (9:42)
Rating: My memory of this match was one where it wasn’t anything great, but at least Owen got some gold. I actually thought on this watch that the action was pretty damn good until Yokozuna slowed things down. Obviously the result is fun too. I give this 3 stars out of 5.
Date: April 2, 1995
Link: N/A
Background: The tag team titles had been vacated as of the breakup between Shawn Michaels and Diesel, and were held up in a tournament that culminated in a win by the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly at the Royal Rumble. Then Vince said “LOL j/k” and gave the belts to the Smoking Gunns the next night on Raw instead. Owen had been in the tournament with Jim Neidhart as his partner, but were eliminated in round one by the Headshrinkers. Owen claimed that loss to be unfair, so he induced the Smoking Gunns into offering a title match to Owen and a mystery partner of his choice.
The Match: Owen Hart comes to the ring and picks up a mic. “I bring to you a man that has done something that I have dreamed my whole life of doing. He beat my brother Bret for the World Wrestling Federation Title. I introduce to you my partner…YOKOZUNA!” And with that, Yoko returns from a 4.5-month absence from the company.
The thing that jumps out at me upon watching this match is that the Smoking Gunns were surprisingly good in the ring. You wouldn’t suspect it from years of watching Billy Gunn afterward, but together the Gunns did a lot of cool double-team stuff that you just don’t see as often out of tag teams anymore. Anyway, they perform a number of these on Owen as they try to keep him in the ring and unable to tag Yokozuna in. Owen finally manages to simultaneously tag Yokozuna on while tripping Billy Gunn up with a drop toe hold, which transitions nicely into Yokozuna dropping his 500-lb. leg on the back of Billy’s head.
As soon as Yokozuna has control, he immediately locks in the fat guy nerve hold on Billy. Dude; I’m guessing that the whole point of putting you in tag team wrestling was that you can tag out when you get gassed after 20 seconds, instead of subjecting to the audience to a lengthy resthold. Owen enters without a tag and attempts a missile dropkick off the top, but it hits Yokozuna instead, allowing Billy enough time to go make a tag to Bart. Bart has a quick run of offense and tags Billy back in, but Billy promptly runs into Yokozuna’s belly-to-belly suplex. Yoko drags Billy to the corner and executes the Banzai Drop, then tags a suddenly eager Owen into the match. The whole “pussy heel tags in after his big partner did something awesome” thing backfires 99% of the time, but in this case Owen just runs in and pins Billy with no additional moves to win his first championship in the WWF.
Results: “…and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions,” Owen Hart & Yokozuna via pinfall (9:42)
Rating: My memory of this match was one where it wasn’t anything great, but at least Owen got some gold. I actually thought on this watch that the action was pretty damn good until Yokozuna slowed things down. Obviously the result is fun too. I give this 3 stars out of 5.
Last edited by LKJ; 03-15-2014 at 03:00 PM.
03-15-2014
, 08:21 PM
In Your House 2 – WWF Tag Titles: Owen Hart & Yokozuna (c) vs. The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and the British Bulldog)
Date: July 23, 1995
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/...1#video=x36vl4
Background: None to speak of. They didn’t really give Owen & Yoko any feuds; they just sort of strapped them and let them successfully defend the belts for a while.
The Match: Lex and Yoko start off. They’re not exactly main eventing SummerSlam anymore, are they? Actually, come to think of it, between these two teams all the participants main evented a SummerSlam in the three years preceding it. Now they’re just sort of shuffled into the tag team scene due to lack of creative plans.
Dissension on the Owen/Yoko team is teased after Lex knocks Yoko down and he falls on Owen’s foot, leading to a shoving match between the champs. Cornette plays peacemaker and diffuses the infighting. This is generally a pretty boring match, with even an Owen vs. Bulldog segment more or less falling flat. The one cool spot in the match occurs when Yoko charges at Bulldog in one of the corners, comes up empty, and has he staggers back stunned Luger and the Bulldog combine to pick him up and execute a back suplex on him.
That spot does not win the day for the muscleheads though, as Fuji or Cornette distract the official from making a count and Owen hits a double axehandle off the top rope on Luger as he’s attempting a pin. Yoko gets up, drops the big leg and makes the pin.
Result: Owen & Yokozuna via pinfall (10:06)
Rating: Again, pretty damn slow with the one nice spot. Mostly on the strength of that one spot I’ll give this match 1 star out of 5.
SummerSlam '95 - N/A
Owen was not on this card either. Again they never really gave him and Yoko any storylines; they just sort of gave them a couple of scraps of metal and allowed them a spot on every other PPV or so.
Date: July 23, 1995
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/...1#video=x36vl4
Background: None to speak of. They didn’t really give Owen & Yoko any feuds; they just sort of strapped them and let them successfully defend the belts for a while.
The Match: Lex and Yoko start off. They’re not exactly main eventing SummerSlam anymore, are they? Actually, come to think of it, between these two teams all the participants main evented a SummerSlam in the three years preceding it. Now they’re just sort of shuffled into the tag team scene due to lack of creative plans.
Dissension on the Owen/Yoko team is teased after Lex knocks Yoko down and he falls on Owen’s foot, leading to a shoving match between the champs. Cornette plays peacemaker and diffuses the infighting. This is generally a pretty boring match, with even an Owen vs. Bulldog segment more or less falling flat. The one cool spot in the match occurs when Yoko charges at Bulldog in one of the corners, comes up empty, and has he staggers back stunned Luger and the Bulldog combine to pick him up and execute a back suplex on him.
That spot does not win the day for the muscleheads though, as Fuji or Cornette distract the official from making a count and Owen hits a double axehandle off the top rope on Luger as he’s attempting a pin. Yoko gets up, drops the big leg and makes the pin.
Result: Owen & Yokozuna via pinfall (10:06)
Rating: Again, pretty damn slow with the one nice spot. Mostly on the strength of that one spot I’ll give this match 1 star out of 5.
SummerSlam '95 - N/A
Owen was not on this card either. Again they never really gave him and Yoko any storylines; they just sort of gave them a couple of scraps of metal and allowed them a spot on every other PPV or so.
03-15-2014
, 09:31 PM
In Your House 3
Well, here was the billed main event…
…but unfortunately WWF decided to go full WCW on this one. The idea for the match was that if someone pinned or forced Diesel or HBK to submit, they would win that wrestler's title. Obviously if Diesel and HBK won, they would win the tag titles. It came up during the show that Owen Hart was missing and hadn't come to the building yet. Jim Cornette was wringing his hands about what he's going to do. Gorilla Monsoon, acting president or commish or whatever at the time, tells Cornette that he can pick a new partner for Yokozuna that night and that wrestler will be a tag team champion for the one night.
Fast forward to later, and the recently-turned British Bulldog is announced to be the partner in Owen's place. The match goes forward as Diesel/HBK vs. Bulldog/Yoko. Late in the match, Owen makes a run-in and gets pinned for the tag titles, despite not being an actual participant in the match. Diesel and HBK are crowned new tag champions in a confusing ending. They were then de-strapped the next night as the referee's decision was invalidated.
Now that CAN'T POSSIBLY have been their initial booking plan for this as the main event of a PPV. I always wondered if the original plan was to move the belt off of Diesel and onto Yoko or Owen to transition it to Bret in November, and then plans changed. Since they obviously didn't want to actually have Diesel and HBK as tag champs, and since de-strapping HBK at this point would be clinically insane given how over he was, my theory seems possible? But it's not supported by anything but my own conjecture.
Anyway, very stupid.
Raw - WWF Tag Titles: Owen Hart & Yokozuna (c) vs. The Smoking Gunns
Date: September 25, 1995
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy00lzQ_ADo
Background: Owen Hart & Yokozuna had lost the belts the previous night under shaky circumstances, were given them back during this show in an extended Dusty finish, but were forced to put them back up against The Smoking Gunns.
The Match: Owen/Yoko vs. Smoking Gunns in 1995 isn't exactly going to go down as the Flair/Steamboat trilogy, but once again I find that I enjoy their work together, and that especially Owen and Billy Gunn had good chemistry together. I see that they had a singles match in '98 after Billy was in DX; I'm curious to watch it later.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth action, Billy Gunn attains a pretty believable false finish when he rolls through a top rope cross-body by Owen and ends up on top with his leg locking up Owen's. Still Owen gets out at 2, then tags out so that Yoko can come into the ring and rest in a nerve hold instead of resting on the apron. Sigh. His morbid obesity really did get further and further out of hand over time.
Fast forwarding to the final sequence, all four men are in the ring at the same time. The Gunns whip Owen into Yoko, who takes a spill and is briefly incapacitated. The Gunns set Owen up for their finisher, the Sidewinder, and execute it. The official is distracted while Bart attempts a pin, and when Yokozuna attempts to break it up by splashing onto Bart he ends up splashing onto Owen instead as Bart gets out of the way. Billy dropkicks Yoko out of the ring, Bart pins Owen, and we have new tag team champions.
Result: The Smoking Gunns via pinfall, new champions (11:17)
Rating: This was probably as good as the Mania match, so I'll kick it 3 stars out of 5 as well.
In Your House 4 - N/A
Again not on the card. Owen & Yoko did tag together here and won a dark match against the completely random team of Savio Vega & Bam Bam Bigelow, but didn't make it to air.
Owen Heads Back to Singles
After losing the tag titles, Owen and Yoko never really went back after them. Owen maintained the services of Jim Cornette, and while he remained allies with Yoko for a while they weren't really part of the tag division anymore.
Well, here was the billed main event…
…but unfortunately WWF decided to go full WCW on this one. The idea for the match was that if someone pinned or forced Diesel or HBK to submit, they would win that wrestler's title. Obviously if Diesel and HBK won, they would win the tag titles. It came up during the show that Owen Hart was missing and hadn't come to the building yet. Jim Cornette was wringing his hands about what he's going to do. Gorilla Monsoon, acting president or commish or whatever at the time, tells Cornette that he can pick a new partner for Yokozuna that night and that wrestler will be a tag team champion for the one night.
Fast forward to later, and the recently-turned British Bulldog is announced to be the partner in Owen's place. The match goes forward as Diesel/HBK vs. Bulldog/Yoko. Late in the match, Owen makes a run-in and gets pinned for the tag titles, despite not being an actual participant in the match. Diesel and HBK are crowned new tag champions in a confusing ending. They were then de-strapped the next night as the referee's decision was invalidated.
Now that CAN'T POSSIBLY have been their initial booking plan for this as the main event of a PPV. I always wondered if the original plan was to move the belt off of Diesel and onto Yoko or Owen to transition it to Bret in November, and then plans changed. Since they obviously didn't want to actually have Diesel and HBK as tag champs, and since de-strapping HBK at this point would be clinically insane given how over he was, my theory seems possible? But it's not supported by anything but my own conjecture.
Anyway, very stupid.
Raw - WWF Tag Titles: Owen Hart & Yokozuna (c) vs. The Smoking Gunns
Date: September 25, 1995
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy00lzQ_ADo
Background: Owen Hart & Yokozuna had lost the belts the previous night under shaky circumstances, were given them back during this show in an extended Dusty finish, but were forced to put them back up against The Smoking Gunns.
The Match: Owen/Yoko vs. Smoking Gunns in 1995 isn't exactly going to go down as the Flair/Steamboat trilogy, but once again I find that I enjoy their work together, and that especially Owen and Billy Gunn had good chemistry together. I see that they had a singles match in '98 after Billy was in DX; I'm curious to watch it later.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth action, Billy Gunn attains a pretty believable false finish when he rolls through a top rope cross-body by Owen and ends up on top with his leg locking up Owen's. Still Owen gets out at 2, then tags out so that Yoko can come into the ring and rest in a nerve hold instead of resting on the apron. Sigh. His morbid obesity really did get further and further out of hand over time.
Fast forwarding to the final sequence, all four men are in the ring at the same time. The Gunns whip Owen into Yoko, who takes a spill and is briefly incapacitated. The Gunns set Owen up for their finisher, the Sidewinder, and execute it. The official is distracted while Bart attempts a pin, and when Yokozuna attempts to break it up by splashing onto Bart he ends up splashing onto Owen instead as Bart gets out of the way. Billy dropkicks Yoko out of the ring, Bart pins Owen, and we have new tag team champions.
Result: The Smoking Gunns via pinfall, new champions (11:17)
Rating: This was probably as good as the Mania match, so I'll kick it 3 stars out of 5 as well.
In Your House 4 - N/A
Again not on the card. Owen & Yoko did tag together here and won a dark match against the completely random team of Savio Vega & Bam Bam Bigelow, but didn't make it to air.
Owen Heads Back to Singles
After losing the tag titles, Owen and Yoko never really went back after them. Owen maintained the services of Jim Cornette, and while he remained allies with Yoko for a while they weren't really part of the tag division anymore.