Royal Rumble '99 - Rumble Match

Date: January 24, 1999

Link: N/A

Background: Owen had been tagging with Jeff Jarrett a fair bit, recently beating the New Age Outlaws on Raw. No real well-defined feud going at this point though.

The Match: Owen comes out late, at #29. He doesn't eliminate anyone, but he is one of the final four in the match. He gets dumped out by Steve Austin at that point though, so that's that for his Rumble. Vince McMahon was one of the first two out and has just been chilling at the announce table all match without being eliminated.

After Austin clears out everyone in the ring, he beats on McMahon for a really long time until The Rock comes down to ringside and distracts Austin, allowing Vince the window to toss Austin out of the ring.

Result: Vince McMahon via stupid screwjob (56:38)

Rating: N/A. Owen was just a prop here, nothing was advanced.

Raw - WWF Tag Team Titles: Ken Shamrock & The Big Boss Man (c) vs. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett

Date: January 25, 1999

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xke...-25-1999_sport

Background: None really, aside from the general build-up of Owen and Jarrett as a tag team. They had recently beaten this same champion team in a non-title match, and had also recently beaten the New Age Outlaws as well as Gangrel & Edge. Ken Shamrock was a heel who had joined the Corporation by this point, which explains his alliance with the Boss Man.

The Match: Sounds like something of a face pop for Owen and Jarrett when their music hits. I don't think they had gone babyface here, but it does make sense that the fans would take them over the Corporation team.

Jarrett and Boss Man start things off. Jarrett mostly gets the better of this battle and then tags in Owen, but Owen attempts to lock in the sharpshooter prematurely and the Boss Man kicks him off and gets away to tag Shamrock in. Debra on the outside of the ring has been attempting to flirt with and distract the Corporation members, but they keep shrugging her off. She steps it up and gets up on the apron, opening up her top to show her bra. Shamrock still shrugs it off and suplexes Owen.

In a moment that successfully made me laugh, Jarrett frantically pulls her top (not her bra) all the way off just to try anything to distract Shamrock. This momentarily distracts Shamrock, but he shrugs it off again and puts Owen in the anklelock. Jarrett goes in and breaks it up, at which point the Boss Man comes in and the match devolves into chaos that distracts the official. While the official is attending to Boss Man and Jarrett, the Blue Blazer (a black man, Koko B. Ware presumably?) runs in, grabs Jarrett's guitar, and breaks it over Shamrock's head before running away. Owen makes the pin and gets the three-count. New tag team champions.



I would say that it's fun to see Owen win gold, but I mean…this was the first of 15 tag title changes just in 1999 alone. Owen and Jarrett did manage to get the longest reign of 1999, so there's that.

Result: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett via pinfall when Owen pins Shamrock, new tag team champions (roughly 4:10)

Rating: Match was a silly generic Raw match, but obviously had to include it for another title win. Still, it's worthless. 0.25 stars out of 5.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre - WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry

Date: February 14, 1999

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeb...ark-henr_sport

Background: None really. Just random tag team contenders for the champions. Mark Henry and D-Lo brought Ivory as their counterpart to Owen and Jarrett's Debra.

The Match: Owen didn't have an acrimonious split with the Nation, but he slaps Mark Henry in the face to start the match and gets the crap beaten out of him early for it. Jerry Lawler sounds like he has laryngitis at the commentary table and thus needs to STFU even more than usual in order to spare us a whole ton of agony.

Once the heels get control of the match, they isolate D-Lo, which makes for a far better match than isolating Mark Henry (this was during the 15-year period where Mark Henry was awful, you remember). Like five minutes later, I realize that's the last thing I could come up with to write, because this heat segment is dull and goes on forever. Maybe isolating D-Lo isn't that great…

D-Lo hits the Sky High (the powerbomb I worshiped from a 1998 match; I had forgotten it was actually his finisher) on Owen and makes the hot tag to Henry. All four men in the ring, D-Lo hits the same move on Jarrett and Owen has to break it up to prevent a pinfall. Debra comes up on the apron to run distraction; Ivory has a go at her, so referee Mike Chioda gets distracted. While he is, Owen grabs Jarrett's guitar, breaks it over Mark Henry's knee, and Jarrett slaps on the figure-four to get the submission victory.

Result: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett via submission when Jarrett makes Henry tap (9:33)

Rating: Yeah…I don't know. Even though D-Lo is alright, these Owen/Jarrett tag matches are not impressing me. This was pretty slow and not a lot of it impressed me. 1.25 stars out of 5.

WrestleMania XV - WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. D-Lo Brown and Test



Date: March 28, 1999

Link: N/A

Background: D-Lo Brown and Test weren't a real team; they just got their shot by being the last two in a battle royal together.

The Match: D-Lo and Test enter separately and immediately begin arguing upon hitting the ring. Jarrett and Owen head to the ring with Debra McMichael, who is wearing…even less than usual.

D-Lo and Test attack at the bell. Match has a good pace right off, impressive-looking powerbomb spot from Test on Owen. As he starts to take further advantage, Owen turns the tides with an enziguiri. He tries to quickly lock in the sharpshooter but D-Lo makes the save. He gets distracted by Jarrett though, enabling the spinning heel kick by Owen. Owen and Jeff double-team D-Lo with the wishbone move; D-Lo reverses the momentum again with a double clothesline, and then hits the Sky High on Jarrett which gets a two-count before Owen breaks it up.

Once more, same as a month ago, Debra and Ivory get into it on the outside, which distracts the referee. D-Lo is setting up for what looks like a second powerbomb on Jarrett when Owen hits him square with a missile dropkick off the top, and Jarrett fluidly rolls through for the successful pinning attempt.

The Result: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett via pinfall when Jarrett pins D-Lo (3:57)

Rating: This was a really quick match, but everybody worked hard to make it a pretty solid watch while it lasted. Easily better than any of these other Owen/Jarrett tag team matches so far. 2.75 stars out of 5.

Raw - WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. Kane & X-Pac



Date: April 5, 1999

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2w...f-jarret_sport

Background: It appears that Kane was going to take this on as a handicap match initially, but then X-Pac saved Kane from Owen and Jarrett on Sunday Night Heat so he got added to the match.

The Match: X-Pac busts his ass early to get this match off to a good start, both on offense and from selling the hell out of a spinning heel kick from Owen. The heels mostly control things early, as they basically unload their arsenals on X-Pac. The crowd unappreciatively chants "we want Kane." Whatever people, Waltman is delivering here.

After getting worked over at length, X-Pac manages a desperation back suplex on Jarrett, but Owen is able to stop him from tagging Kane in. X-Pac lifts a leg up that catches Owen in the face on his way down from the top turnbuckle. The two make their way to their feet at about the same time, and then both proceed to clothesline each other at high impact.

X-Pac makes the hot tag to Kane as Owen tags out to Jarrett. Kane wipes out both of the champs, and X-Pac occupies Owen with the bronco buster while Kane hits a chokeslam on Jarrett. Then Kane suddenly turns to X-Pac as if he's going to attack him, but instead he lifts him up and drops him on Jarrett from way up. X-Pac isn't the legal man or anything - there was a hot tag that made that clear like a minute ago, ref - but X-Pac gets the three count and he and Kane take the belts. Good match.



Result: Kane & X-Pac, new tag team champions (5:57)

Rating: Short, but I definitely enjoyed while it lasted. I can't say enough about how good Owen and Sean Waltman were together in the ring. 3 stars out of 5.

Backlash '99: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett vs. The New Age Outlaws

Date: April 25, 1999

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3z...ew-age-o_sport

Background: This was a number one contenders match, the winner was going to earn another tag title shot.

The Match: Well the Outlaws were certainly way over, as ridiculous as that was. Seriously, watching their whole intro routine serves to do nothing more than piss me off. The "soon-to-be tag team champions of the woooorld." THIS ISN'T EVEN A TITLE MATCH YOU ****FACE. ****ing sing-along. At least that should make a hot crowd for this match. And speaking of hot, Debra is back to wearing almost nothing. Now that's a woman who respects the PPV occasion. Unfortunately Lawler has learned the word "puppies" by now, which was the beginning of the end of any quality that he brought to the table as a commentator.

The hot crowd I was anticipating is now too preoccupied with Debra to actually do much for the match itself. Well that's great. ****ing Attitude Era crowds. Surprised they could come up with chants on their own; I thought they needed to be spoon-fed those specific things by the wrestlers during every segment of every show. Anyway, after some back-and-forth we've got Road Dogg as face-in-peril for this match, which is somewhat dull aside from Owen hitting really damn square with his spinning heel kick. Jarrett's scoop powerslam is strong too.

Road Dogg finally makes the hot tag. After some four-way brawling, Owen locks in the sharpshooter on Road Dogg while Jarrett attempts to hook Billy into the figure-four at the same time. Billy kicks Jarrett all the way out of the ring during this attempt though, then springs to his feet, hits the fameasser on Owen while he still has the sharpshooter on, and pins Owen for the win. Meh, pretty good finish anyway.

Result: New Age Outlaws via pinfall when Billy pins Owen (10:27)

Rating: I didn't love most of this match. It finished reasonably strong. I'm still inclined to only give it 1.75 stars out of 5 because I couldn't quite talk myself into 2.

Raw: The Blue Blazer & Jeff Jarrett vs. The Godfather & Val Venis

Date: May 17, 1999

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4m...e-blazer_sport

Background: This match was a garden-variety tag match to tease the PPV matches coming up between Owen/Godfather and Jarrett/Venis that coming Sunday. Unfortunately the reason you're getting this ITT isn't because I expect it to be good; I don't. It's because this turned out to be Owen's final televised match.

The Match: Val Venis and The Godfather have to go through their whole silly pre-match routine, which eats up some time, but eventually we get a match going. Blazer starts off against Val, and in something of a shocker he actually successfully completes a hurracanrana on him. It's not a great one, but again, Owen didn't hit too many of those in the WWF. It's like watching Flair do that "flip over the ropes and walk down the apron" thing and then somehow do something successful at the end.

He tags out, then Val and Godfather double-team Jarrett. They have him in a bad way, and Godfather actually has him set up for his death valley driver finisher when the Blazer comes in and clips his leg. JR: "Well the Blazer's not even the legal man in the ring." Umm that's what a save is, JR. Are you new here? Jarrett tags out, Blazer hits a missile dropkick from the top, only gets two. Nicole Bass walks down to the ring as Owen gets another near-fall off a top rope cross-body.

Jarrett is distracted by Bass and Debra, and walks up the apron while he's distracted. Owen runs into him, then stumbles into Godfather's death valley driver. Godfather then pins Blazer for the win. Owen was all set to get that job (not to mention the IC Title) back from the Godfather in six days, but unfortunately it was not meant to be.

Result: The Godfather & Val Venis via pinfall when Godfather pinned The Blue Blazer (roughly 4:00)

Rating: Meh, this was what I expected, which means it wasn't much. 1 star out of 5.

Over the Edge '99 - The Tragic End

Owen, as the Blue Blazer, was scheduled to face The Godfather for the Intercontinental Title, and by all accounts was scheduled to win the title that night (this notion supported by the fact that his tag partner Jeff Jarrett then won it a week later instead). You undoubtedly know the story: as the Blue Blazer, he was scheduled to be dropped from the ceiling for his ring entrance, but the equipment failed and he tragically fell to his death. He had just turned 34 years old at the time of his passing.

Tributes

The night after Owen's death, the WWF dedicated a full episode of Raw to paying tribute to Owen. The episode was called "Raw is Owen" and it featured a large number of wrestlers breaking character and talking about him.

Here is the show in two parts:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11...w-part-1_sport
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11...w-part-1_sport

Or, a two and a half minute abbreviated version:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyg...-tribute_sport

I thought that HHH, Rock, and Mick Foley connected best on their tributes, but everybody did a good job. Test's recalling of the prank Owen played on him before a Chicago house show is truly hilarious.

Look: everybody will speak well of the dead right in the wake of their passing. They'll either do that or say nothing. With that said, I have always clicked on shoot interviews over the years when I see that there is mention of Owen, and the comments are always just over-the-top in gushing about how awesome he was. It's hard not to believe. Especially believable is a clip like this one (about 60 seconds), a shoot interview with Lawler where he speaks effusively about everyone's love for Owen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFzI4RamSTs#t=07m14s

He talks about how people try to coexist and work together and what not, but that not everyone is necessarily friends in the locker room. Then he says, "But I can honestly say that Owen Hart was everybody's friend. I mean nobody did not love Owen Hart. He was just such a great guy. He was the coolest guy to be around that maybe I've ever met in this business." And that's an interview from some point in this past year, so it was well past the wake of the whole tragedy.

In short, I'm obviously biased toward believing all of these nice things that people say, but I'm also deeply cynical at heart and usually have an eye for red flags, and seemingly none of those ever come up about Owen. Here are some other shoot interviews that talk about him:
Sean Waltman (clearly high as a kite during this, by the way): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z6AP77w5m4
Ahmed Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW0O6lZrRWs
Scott Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LV0cNWRcCM#t=02m18s

And setting aside spoken tributes, there was of course the tribute match that Bret Hart and Chris Benoit got together to put on as a special homage to Owen: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz8...ch-nitro_sport

Lots of good stuff. If he had any detractors out there, they've remained very silent for 15 years. And there can be no reasonable doubt that there are a ton of people in the business who absolutely loved him.

Owen Through the Years…

Owen Hart, Early Years, Stampede:


Owen Hart, Early Years, NJPW:


Blue Blazer, 1988:


New Foundation, 1992:


High Energy, 1993:


The Rocket Owen Hart, 1993:


The King of Harts Owen Hart, 1994:


Owen Hart & Yokozuna, WWF Tag Team Champions, 1995:


Slammy Award-Winning Owen Hart w/ manager Jim Cornette, 1996:


Owen Hart & British Bulldog, WWF Tag Team Champions, 1996-97:


Owen Hart with the Hart Foundation, 1997:


The Black Hart Owen Hart, 1998:


Owen Hart with the Nation of Domination, 1998:


Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett, WWF Tag Team Champions, 1999:

Viewer's Guide to Owen Hart Matches

These are all chronological within their categories rather than ranked within them. Wherever possible, I linked to them. If I didn't, I couldn't find one, but I at least tagged the events on there so that you can easily look them up if you have the WWE Network.

Elite
4/28/1991: Owen Hart vs. Jushin Liger (NJPW)
3/20/1994: Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart (WrestleMania X)
6/19/1994: Owen Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid (King of the Ring '94)
2/18/1996: Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (In Your House 6)
3/3/1997: Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog (Raw)
7/6/1997: Hart Foundation (Bret/Owen/Bulldog/Anvil/Pillman) vs. Austin/Shamrock/Goldust/LOD (In Your House 16)

Good/Great
5/27/1988: Owen Hart vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW)
6/10/1988: Owen Hart vs. Keiichi Yamada (NJPW)
4/2/1989: Blue Blazer vs. Mr. Perfect (WrestleMania V)
??/??/1989: Owen Hart vs. Chris Benoit [as Pegasus Kid] (NJPW)
8/11/1989: No DQ street fight - Owen Hart vs. Dynamite Kid (Stampede)
1/19/1992: New Foundation vs. Orient Express (Royal Rumble '92)
1/22/1994: WWF Tag Team Titles - The Quebecers (c) vs. Owen Hart and Bret Hart (Royal Rumble '94)
8/29/1994: WWF Title Steel Cage Match - Bret Hart (c) vs. Owen Hart (SummerSlam '94)
4/2/1995: WWF Tag Team Titles - The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. Owen Hart and Yokozuna (Owen's first WWF gold) (WrestleMania XI)
9/25/1995: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart and Yokozuna (c) vs. The Smoking Gunns
11/20/1995: Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Raw)
7/21/1996: Vader/Owen/Bulldog vs. Shawn/Sid/Ahmed (In Your House 9)
11/17/1996: Survivor Series Match - Owen/Bulldog/New Rockers vs. Furnas/Lafon/Godwinns (Survivor Series '96)
1/6/1997: Owen Hart vs. Mankind (Raw)
1/20/1997: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (c) vs. Furnas and Lafon (Raw)
2/16/1997: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (c) vs. Furnas and Lafon (In Your House 13)
5/26/1997: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (c) vs. Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin (Raw)
8/3/1997: Intercontinental Title - Owen Hart (c) vs. Steve Austin (SummerSlam '97)
10/20/1997: Title vs. Title - Owen Hart [IC Champion] vs. Shawn Michaels [European Champion] (Raw)
12/29/1997: WWF Title - Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Owen Hart (Raw)
3/29/1998: European Title - HHH (c) vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania XIV)
6/28/1998: Owen Hart vs. X-Pac (King of the Ring '98)
7/26/1998: Dungeon Match - Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock (Fully Loaded '98)
8/30/1998: Lion's Den Match - Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock (SummerSlam '98)
9/27/1998: Owen Hart vs. Edge (Breakdown '98)
4/5/1999: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. Kane & X-Pac (Raw)

Watchable
??/??/1984: Owen Hart/Ross Hart vs. Fit Finlay/Rick Moran
3/11/1989: Blue Blazer vs. Ted DiBiase (SNME XX)
6/19/1994: Owen Hart vs. Tatanka (King of the Ring '94)
11/23/1994: Survivor Series Match - Shawn/Diesel/Owen/Anvil/Jarrett vs. Razor/Kid/Bulldog/Headshrinkers (Survivor Series '94)
3/23/1995: No holds barred - Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart
2/3/1997: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (c) vs. Furnas and Lafon
3/28/1999: WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. D-Lo Brown & Test (WrestleMania XV)

Meh, decent but mostly just for Owen enthusiasts
??/??/1987: North American Title - Owen Hart vs. Makhan Singh (Stampede)
3/31/1996: Vader/Owen/Bulldog vs. Yokozuna/Jake/Ahmed (WrestleMania XII)
8/18/1996: Owen Hart vs. Savio Vega (SummerSlam '96)

Watch more for historical significance than for objective greatness
11/24/1988: Survivor Series Survivor Match - Warrior/Beefcake/Blazer/Houston/Brunzell vs. Honky/Valentine/Bad News/Bass/Davis [Owen's WWF PPV debut, as Blue Blazer] (Survivor Series '88)
6/19/1994: Owen Hart vs. Razor Ramon [Owen wins the King of the Ring tournament] (King of the Ring '94)
9/22/1996: WWF Tag Team Titles - Smoking Gunns (c) vs. Owen Hart and the British Bulldog [Owen's second tag title win] (In Your House 10)
4/28/1997: Intercontinental Title - Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Owen Hart [Owen's first WWF singles title win] (Raw)
1/26/1998: European Title - "HHH" (Goldust) (c) vs. Owen Hart [Owen wins European title] (Raw)
1/25/1999: WWF Tag Team Titles - Ken Shamrock & The Big Boss Man (c) vs. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett [Owen wins tag team gold again] (Raw)

Great Owen moments outside of his matches
6/19/1994: Owen is crowned King of the Ring, dubs himself "The King of Harts." (King of the Ring '94)
11/23/1994: Owen cries and convinces his parents to throw in the towel to rescue Bret, then lights up and celebrates his con job the moment he succeed (Survivor Series '94)
3/30/1996: Owen lays claim to his first Slammy for giving Shawn Michaels a concussion, becomes "Slammy Award-Winning Owen Hart" (Raw)
9/22/1996: Owen, Austin, and Pillman cut a good promo ripping on Bret (In Your House 10)
3/21/1997: Owen lays claim to his second Slammy, just stealing it for himself when he's supposed to be presenting (Raw)
3/31/1997: Owen, Bulldog, and Bret form the new Hart Foundation (Raw)
12/15/1997: Owen returns after the Montreal Screwjob and cuts a vicious promo on Vince and Shawn (Raw)
4/26/1998: Owen's "enough is enough" promo (Unforgiven '98)
4/27/1998: Owen joins the Nation of Domination (Raw)

Conclusion

I'm glad to have gotten some good comments along the way, especially those that indicated that I had successfully given some positive exposure to Owen to people who hadn't had as much of it previously. I have been a fan of many, many wrestlers along the way, but none that I was as attached to as Owen as I followed his career. If I created a few more fans of his work, then this thread was most definitely a success. Regardless, it was rewarding in its own right, as it was very enjoyable to go back through his career and fill in the few missing pieces that were there, and also to rewatch matches that in a number of cases I hadn't seen since they first aired.

Here's hoping we have the occasion to bump this soon (next year?) for a WWE Hall of Fame induction.

very well done. owen has to be enshrined soon. we will enjoy this thread again when his time finally comes.

thanks for this lkj.

Thanks for reading it.

I echo all of this for LKJ.

Bret has said that Owen is slated to be inducted into the HOF next year.

Yup, and I'm optimistic. I thought there was no way it would happen until Bret reconciled with Vince, but ever since then I've hoped the day would be on its way. Until we hear confirmation from WWE I won't bank on it, but the symptoms are definitely good. No question that his body of work merits it.

Thanks for this thread, including all the hard work, dedication, and interesting commentary on everything Owen Hart, LKJ. Would love to see you do this for any other wrestlers you admire when you get the time and if you have the desire to do so.

Thanks man, glad you read it. There definitely could be other wrestler tributes in the future.

Bravo!!!

I was getting sad as this got further and further along. When Owen died I watched the tribute show with my dad and we both openly cried. To this day I think that's the only time we've ever cried like that among each other. I still have the Owen tribute show on VHS but could never bring myself to watch it again, and probably never will.

This was an amazing trip down memory lane. Not to be so melodramatic but I'm sure Owen's family would be proud of the work you did in this thread.

Thanks dude.

You and me both on finding it saddening as the thing progressed toward the end because obviously I knew what I was having to build toward, and it was obvious for instance from that December 1998 show in Vancouver where Owen was massively over that there was plenty of future left in him if WWF ever decided to renew another push for him again. He was still as good as ever in the ring when he passed, and judging from the tag gold he held near the end and the IC title that he was about to get back, they obviously still valued him.

That shot of Owen holding his young son in the ring at the end of Canadian Stampede (the one I posted during that recap) is always a sad one in light of the fact that Owen was gone less than two years later. Think I maybe said it upthread, but considering the deaths that came in the months and years that followed, and in light of Bret's acrimonious split from the WWF a few months later, I'm beyond glad that the Hart family got to experience such a perfect crowning moment before things sort of unraveled on a number of fronts.

Would love to see more in the future. I start lots of things like this just for my own amusement and never finish them . Doing a Bryan Danielson ROH one would be fun. Something that I think most people here would enjoy is a Mick Foley Tribute thread.

Yeah, part of why I slammed through it pretty quickly was just to keep the momentum going to make sure I actually finished it.

I don't have access to most of Bryan Danielson's ROH work and have barely seen anything he did there, which I'm sure means that I'm missing out but it would be difficult to piece anything together from my end on him when all I can see is a sporadic YouTube here and there.

The names that most quickly came to mind for me with regard to other all-time favorites are Randy Savage and Curt Hennig. Those two probably round out my personal top three with Owen.

Right now I'm working toward watching every SummerSlam in history and putting together a "best SummerSlam matches of all time" countdown, possibly including a few other things like the worst SummerSlam matches of all time, best overall shows, etc. I figure I would drop that in the month or so leading up to SummerSlam 2014. So hopefully in a few months you'll see me start a thread where I do that. If I get all of them watched before then, I might start another wrestler tribute thread at that point.

I had this exact thought earlier when reading this thread. My fav three as well.

Thanks for putting in the serious work in this thread it was great.

I would be interested in doing a Bryan danielson ROH thread. It would no be nearly as quick as this one was. One match every few days, and the writing would not be nearly as good. But I can start with era of honor begins and the famous three way that started it all tomorrow night.

I like the idea of a Perfect one next. I guess the melodramatic part of me wouldn't mind reading another extensive write-up on another writer who was near the top for many years but just quite never reached it. Plus, like Owen, Perfect was a hell of a wrestler and I'm sure (again like Owen) some hidden gems would be dug out.

Honestly though, would read a write-up on Gillberg or Barry Horowitz if it was done this well.