Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wrestlemania Flashback: Owen Beats Big Brother Bret Hart

It was the first Wrestlemania that would not feature Hulk Hogan. Wrestlemania X was more humble than the previous nine, though it will always stand as one of my favorites.

There were two matches in particular that really made the event worthwhile, in my estimation. Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels in a ladder match for the W.W.E. Intercontinental Championship was an exceptional contest that made everyone stand up and take notice of Michaels. Yet, Owen Hart’s victory over his older brother Bret in the opening match, was for me the highlight of the show. Sure, you could even make an argument that the Yokozuna-Bret match was a pretty good one, which saw Bret Hart winning the W.W.E. Championship in the finale and yes there were some other matches that were very good, but the Bret-Owen match was just awesome in my opinion. Bret-Owen and Michaels-Ramon were out-of-this-world type of matches, they were both that good!

Madison Square Garden was “packed to the rafters” on that Sunday in March 1994. Bret was scheduled to face Owen and then later take on the winner of the match between W.W.E. Champion Yokozuna and Lex Lugar. Rumor has it that Lex Lugar was supposed to win the W.W.E. Championship, but because he was bragging about it at a bar a night or two before, those plans were scrapped. It's too bad, because Bret vs. Lugar (two "good guys" at the time) would have been something!

Bret "The Hitman" Hart lost to his younger brother Owen (pictured above) in a contest that was scripted beautifully going in, and the story that these two wrestlers told during the match was even better. The matchup was sibling rivalry at its best with the younger brother coming out on top!

Now if someone could just please explain to me why the late Owen Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) is not in the W.W.E. Hall of Fame. Oh well, I guess only time will tell whether or not that long overdue honor will occur.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Now if someone could just please explain to me why the late Owen Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) is not in the W.W.E. Hall of Fame."

That's easy (and I thought it was common knowledge) - Owen's wife Martha still holds a grudge against Vince because of the circumstances around Owen's death, as such she's somehow prevented the WWE from inducting Owen into the hall even though the fans and the company want to see it happen. Martha also wrote a biography on Owen called "Broken Harts"

Sean G. Kilkelly said...

I greatly appreciate your comment.

That's sad that she still holds a grudge and in that case Owen will probably never go into the Hall.

I had previously asked on a couple of wrestling sites what the deal was with Owen not being in the Hall and nobody seemed to know.

Thanks for clearing it up!

Anonymous said...

It's incredibly sad and if nothing else Martha should listen to how much the fans want to see it happen. But I doubt her stance will ever change, she views the WWF/E as the company that took the life of her husband and I don't think anyone out there is in line to just tell her "get over it" simply because we want Owen inducted into the hall.

But you never know, most fans thought they'd never see Gordon getting inducted but it's finally happening and it's great to see. In any case as a wrestling fan you should read Broken Harts one time.

BTW Sean, agree or disagree - Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair should close out the show Sunday night.

Sean G. Kilkelly said...

I agree with you on all points. None of us could imagine what type of pain she has gone through and continues to experience.

I will definitely check out the book.

Flair-Michaels should close out the show Sunday night. I'm wondering if they didn't give us some clues on Monday Night Raw.

Flair making Orton submit was pretty surprising to me. I'm guessing that the match order will follow the order of elimination from Monday night's last match.

What say you?