Top 10 WWE heel turns of all time
6. Owen Hart
Owen Hart turns on brother Bret and family drama ensues
Okay wrestling fans, a moment of truth. Wrestling is scary. There’s a reason why you see that disclaimer telling you to not try this at home. Wrestlers are trained professionals who risk their lives on a daily basis for our entertainment, and it’s always a tragedy when a wrestler, or anyone for that matter, dies young.
When it comes to wrestlers who were super workers and taken away too early, three names are usually thrown around. One’s Chris Benoit who’s remembered for all the wrong reasons, and the other two are Eddie Guerrero and Owen Hart, who’re remembered as heroes and are considered to be two of the greatest in-ring performers even though their careers were tragically cut short.
And for Owen, it is mostly because of this run.
So, back in 1993, Bret Hart was feuding with Jerry Lawler and Owen stood by his brother’s side. At Survivor Series, the Hart brothers (Bret, Owen, Bruce, and Keith) were scheduled to take on Lawaler’s team, but he was pulled from the show and Shawn Michaels took his place. Shawn Michaels and his “Knights” lost to the Hart brothers. However, Owen got eliminated due to miscommunication with Bret, and to add insult to injury, Owen was the only man eliminated in his team. Owen had a heated confrontation with Bret after the match and the seeds of this rivalry were planted. To add to all this drama, the Harts’ father Stu looked sad and the Harts’ mother Helen even cried.
Bret then reconciled with Owen and the brothers seemed to be on the same page, until they lost a tag match to the Quebecers at Royal Rumble 1994. This match played out beautifully as Bret hurt his knee and couldn’t give the tag to an increasingly frustrated Owen. Eventually, the referee stopped the match due to Bret being hurt. Owen snapped and kicked Bret right in his bad knee and turned heel.
Now, this could’ve easily been rejected by fans as too unrealistic, but Bret and Owen were masters of storytelling and it ended up being the greatest brother vs. brother feud of all time and one the best feuds in history, period.
The two brothers first met at WrestleMania X in a fantastic bout in which Owen rolled Bret up for the win. Bret won the WWF title and Owen won the King of the Ring tournament, proclaiming himself the King of Harts and enlisting Jim Neidhart as his heavy. The British Bulldog joined Bret and the four men produced excellent tag and singles matches throughout this feud.
Bret and Owen met again with the WWF title on the line in a 5 star Steel Cage classic in which Bret finally vanquished his evil younger brother. The rivalry still continued when Bret faced Bob Backlund for the WWF title at Survivor Series, in which Owen convinced Helen Hart to throw in the towel because Bret was in so much pain from Backlund’s Chicken Wing submission. It was a masterful and tearful performance from both Owen and Helen.
This was the best run of Owen’s career and another feather in Bret’s cap. It would also eventually lead to the reunion of the Hart Foundation and more glorious things.