Owen Hart
USABiography of Owen Hart
Owen Hart, an American wrestler, was trained by his own father in their own school, "The Hart Dungeon." In 1986, Owen was ready to join his father's own federation, Stampede Wrestling. During his time in this federation, Owen improved his skills. He had his first professional match in 1983, where he faced British veteran Marty Jones. Owen was the youngest child in the Hart family.
In Stampede Wrestling, Owen had many great matches and had a good feud with Mike Shaw. He proved that he could be a wrestler of immense stature and, together with Ben Bassarab, won the Intercontinental Tag Team titles. Owen also showcased his skills in singles matches, winning the British Middleweight Championship and the North American Heavyweight Championship twice. He even competed in Japan, where he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating Hiroshi Hase on May 27th in Sendai.
After his time in Japan, Owen returned to the United States. WWE became interested in him, and he joined the company, performing as The Blue Blazer. However, Owen was only used to promote other wrestlers. He lost to Mr. Perfect Kurt Hennig at WrestleMania V and eventually left WWE. Over the next two years, Owen traveled to different countries, showcasing his talent in Mexico, Japan, and Europe. He briefly appeared in WCW and lost his mask to El Canek in Mexico.
Owen returned to WWE and joined his cousin Jim Neidhart. However, their team did not last long as they were constantly compared to The Hart Foundation, a team they couldn't match up to at that time. Neidhart left WWE, but Owen's tag team career was not yet over. He formed a team called High Energy with Koko B. Ware, but they did not achieve much success. Owen then suffered a knee injury, and upon his return, Koko had already left the company. This marked the beginning of Owen's solo career.
Owen went to the USWA federation and won the Unified World Heavyweight Championship, only to lose it to Jerry Lawler two weeks later. After getting a taste of gold, Owen wanted to achieve greater success in WWE, but it did not happen. He was still in the shadow of his older brother Bret Hart, who was shining in the company. At Survivor Series 1993, Owen was eliminated from the match by his own team, which led to some resentment towards Bret. Owen wanted a match against Bret but was denied. Eventually, they reconciled and formed a team. They had a title shot for the Tag Team Championships at Royal Rumble 1994 but lost due to Bret's injury. Owen attacked Bret after the match.
At WrestleMania X, Bret faced Owen and lost. This marked the beginning of Owen's rise as a singles competitor. He had a match against Bret for the WWE Championship but lost. Owen then formed a team with Yokozuna and won the Tag Team Championships. They held the titles for six months before losing them to The Smoking Gunns. Owen then won the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Rocky Maivia. He defended the title against Goldust and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. However, he lost it to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Owen's career took a turn when he joined Bret's faction, The Hart Foundation. They feuded with D-Generation X and had a memorable match at Canadian Stampede. Owen had a feud with Steve Austin, which resulted in Austin's neck injury. Owen was proud of this accomplishment but faced backlash from Austin. Owen and Bulldog almost regained the Tag Team Championships but were constantly interfered with by Austin. Owen won the Intercontinental Championship again but eventually lost it back to The Rock.
Owen left WWE due to the controversy surrounding Bret's departure from the company. He returned and feuded with Shawn Michaels. Owen then joined The Nation of Domination but continued his feud with DX. He formed a tag team with Mark Henry and had matches against Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn. However, Owen's career was tragically cut short when he died in a stunt gone wrong during a pay-per-view event in 1999. Despite his untimely death, Owen Hart's legacy as a talented wrestler and member of the legendary Hart family lives on.
