WWE fantasy: The storyline Owen Hart should have been given

If Owen Hart had the opportunity everyone wanted to see, how should he been booked as a top star?

It’s been a long time since Dark Side of the Ring covered the late great Owen Hart’s final days in WWE. It was a sad coverage that really opened our eyes to the tragedy that took place in 1999. It re-opened old wounds while recollecting everything that led up to that fateful night.

There were many moving parts in the overall situation that took a lot of time to process. It’s in large part because of what was covered from the perspective of Jim Ross, Vince Russo, and Jim Cornette.

Lots of times, the WWE attitude era is remembered for the best moments, but there were many creative problems. The most striking part was when they mentioned that the Blue Blazer was all they could come up with for Owen.

Owen Hart was a high-caliber athlete who already had the foundation for a potentially big storyline in WWE. It’s not hard to imagine a completely different scenario of what WWE could have done with the charismatic superstar.

The storyline Owen Hart should have had in WWE.

The first thing that comes to mind is Owen Hart had jealous and petty characteristics in his game. That was true with his rivalry with Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin where Owen found ways to put himself in the spotlight in different ways. The foundation was already set for what Owen Hart could have been for WWE from that moment on.

The rise of The Rock would have been the perfect main rivalry for Owen. As there was so much going on between The Rock and Mankind winning their first world titles. Owen inserting himself in the situation to remind people that he still exists would have added even more to the rivalries.

It would make perfect sense as The Rock and Mankind both winning world titles as they rise up with a spotlight on them. Owen who has been there and had moments wouldn’t want that spotlight to go away anytime soon for the one title he never won which was the WWE title.

The first focus would have been between Owen Hart and Mankind, with Owen desperate to put Mankind on the shelf. It would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back seeing others rise up after the initial rise of The Rock.

This would lead to Owen coming up short in a grudge match against Mankind. This would cause Owen to show his progressive frustration with The Rock and Mankind rising up as world champions.

This would lead to Owen Hart inserting himself in a triple threat with him gaining a hard-fought victory after Mankind passes out. This will come after the climax between the two where Owen tries hard to make Mankind tap, but The Rock is too late to interfere in the match thus making Owen the new WWE champion.

This reign would be very short-lived as he drops it back to Mankind and the obsession will continue to grow for Owen. This will lead to Owen having a long-term pursuit after his initial WWE title reign.

It would take a delusional turn where Owen’s obsession and believing he is the “official” WWE champion will take place with “title matches”. Where Owen goes against various superstars in what he proclaims as “title matches”.

After all the hard work to break away from his brother’s shadow and rise above others, Owen had it all taken away faster than he imagined. It causes a degree of madness as well as obvious delusions with his “title defense” segments on RAW, it would show Owen taking a more brutal and merciless approach in his matches.

Owen would build a winning streak in a sub-story as The Rock and Mankind continued their storyline. Owen keeping himself in the title picture as this guy who seemingly has had his hopes and dreams crushed by a very short WWE title reign would be a major turning point.

While Owen has a particular title defense night against Steve Blackman, his match gets interrupted by The Rock. Steve Blackman knocks him out with a kick scoring a victory, thus making him the uncrowned “new WWE champion”.

The Rock would take focus on Owen Hart since the delusion “has to end”. Even though Steve Blackman won, it meant absolutely nothing to him, and he tells Owen to get back at him when he has the actual belt again.

Fast forward, this is how Owen’s eventual second world title reign preferably at Wrestlemania would be an amazing end to this overall story. Owen would then take on a more inspirational route preferably as a good guy and win the title on the same stage where he also beat his brother.

The second world title reign would have been more meaningful and would have been the perfect way to usher in Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and potentially other new main event stars. This would have been a smooth transition and it would have ushered in a rivalry with Stone Cold again for the world title, which Stone Cold would have won.

In a small period of time, Owen would have gone from bitter and obsessed to finally fulfilling his destiny. This would have been a memorable period in the attitude era as the time when Owen finally broke away from his brother’s shadow and built his own unique legacy character-wise.

The overall intention is to have a good story that has multiple moving parts to it and build up Owen to be at that level and show fans why he is truly one of the best to ever step in the ring. It would show him winning the WWE title twice and both reigns carrying different meanings.

This is a sharp contrast to the Blue Blazer gimmick and would emphasize a conviction and moral obligation to make something out of himself even if people don’t believe in him. Even when people don’t believe he shouldn’t be WWE champion, Owen would persist.

The fact that no one in creative saw this as a possibility to take Owen to that next level, as Jim Ross said in Dark Side of the Ring, it’s embarrassing. It’s certainly the dark side of the attitude era in WWE.

Even with WWE fumbling his character, Owen Hart is and will forever be one of the greatest of all time, and that’s a true testament to his greatness even with a lackluster storyline and character, Owen’s legacy still lives on strong as one of the greatest performers in WWE of all time.