As I’m sure you’re all familiar, there are always fights between family members. However, they aren’t typically aired on television. Actually, in 2013 family fights are a staple of your nightly television viewing plans. As much as that may be the case now, back in the early 1990’s family fights were rather private. In the world of professional wrestling there was no longer any privacy for one family… the Hart Family. It all got started in back November of 1993.
Bret Hart and his brothers Keith, Bruce and baby brother “The Rocket” Owen teamed up to take on a team captained by Shawn Michaels at WWF Survivor Series in 1993. The Hart Family was dominating the match and everything was going well in their favor. That all changed when Owen accidentally inadvertently knocked Bret Hart off the apron while running the ropes during the match, and the distraction allowed Shawn Michaels to pin and eliminate Owen from the match. The remaining members of the Hart family would win the match, and Owen was the only man to be eliminated from the team, leaving Owen to have a temper tantrum as a result.
The loss made Owen’s feelings boil over and he revealed shortly after the event that he was sick and tired of being in Bret’s shadow. Owen claimed he was better than Bret at school, wrestling, and sports in general, yet all everyone ever talked about was Bret Hart. Owen would challenge Bret to a match in December ’93, but Bret made it clear that he would never want to wrestle his brother Owen. It would never happen “under any circumstances”.
During the holiday season, the brothers appeared to have worked their issues out and formed a tag team heading into 1994. Of course, it was clear from the beginning that Owen was making himself to look like the leader and Bret would be taking the backseat to him. Owen said in promos that Bret would be riding his back to the WWF World Tag Team Championships. They would get a tag team title match at the Royal Rumble in January ’94 against then champions Jacques Rougeau & Pierre Oullette, the Quebecers.
After over sixteen minutes of action, the Quebecers were able to retain the titles after the referee stopped the match due to Bret Hart’s knee injury. This didn’t sit well with the fans, but Owen Hart was livid. Owen felt that Bret was stealing the spotlight again by refusing to tag out to him throughout much of the contest. Owen proceeded to kick Bret’s injured knee and officially started his heel turn. Owen would cut his first heel promo from backstage immediately following the match where he coined the term “That’s why I kicked his leg out of his leg” (not a typo). There was no turning back now.
Just to add salt to the ego wound of Owen, Bret Hart would go on to co-win the Royal Rumble later in the night and earned a WWF World Championship match at WrestleMania X against Yokozuna. However, before Bret would wrestle for the gold, he would take on his brother Owen at the event in the opening match. They would wrestle for twenty minutes and put on an incredible match that the Madison Square Garden crowd ate up, and viewers at home were surely in a frenzy. Then the unthinkable happened, Owen Hart was able to pin his brother Bret… cleanly! This was the defining moment for Owen Hart and his quest to become a star in the WWF. Owen became an immediate star in the WWF following this match.
Of course, once again, just like at the Rumble, Bret Hart would go on and overcome the odds later on in the show and pinned Yokozuna to regain the WWF World Championship for a second time. While Bret celebrated his victory in the ring with other babyface stars, Owen appeared on the aisle way annoyed and disgusted with the celebration. Voila, we’ve got our feud for the summer all setup!
Owen’s summer would start off very strong at King of the Ring in June of 1994. At the pay per view, after defeating Doink the Clown in a Qualifying match on Raw, Owen took part in the yearly tournament. In the first round he was able to defeat the seldom defeated Native American Tatanka, followed by the 1-2-3 Kid in the semi-final round, and in the finals, after a little help from brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, Owen was able to defeat Razor Ramon to become the King of Harts! Just like Bret Hart had done a year earlier, Owen won the King of the Ring tournament.
Earlier in the show, WWF World Champion Bret Hart fought Diesel and lost by disqualification due to the returning Jim Neidhart getting involved. Neidhart would swerve us all as I mentioned above, as he would go on to turn heel and help Owen in the King of the Ring finals by attacking Razor Ramon and allowing Owen to pin Ramon.
All of this would lead up to a WreswtleMania rematch at SummerSlam, this match took place inside a steel cage on August 29th. They went at it for over a half hour and put on one of the best matches ever put on in 1994, and probably in the 1990s in general. Owen was desperate to escape the cage and win the championship but ended up losing after Bret was able to hang Owen upside down on the cage and escaped the cage, hitting the floor to retain the championship. Afterwards, Jim Neidhart attacked the Hitman, but the British Bulldog came out of the crowd and got physically involved to save Bret, marking Davey Boy’s return to the company.
Bret would move on during the late fall and winter months and begin a feud with Bob Backlund. Owen would still be a thorn in Bret’s side as he would loosely align himself with Backlund. Owen would end up being with Backlund during a title match between Bob& Bret at Survivor Series in November ’94. At that event, Bret would defend the WWF World Championship against Backlund in a submission/surrender style match. The rule of the match was that your corner man had to toss in the towel. Bret was accompanied by Davey Boy Smith, while Backlund’s second was Owen Hart. After the Bulldog was knocked unconscious, Backlund was able to surprisingly win the championship after Owen Hart was able to convince his mother, Helen, to toss in the towel to save Bret from the cross face chicken wing. Owen would put on an award winning performance as he pleaded, begged and cried to his mom to save Bret by throwing in the towel. Once Helen tossed the towel in, Owen showed his true colors, laughing and jumping with joy. Owen Hart had played his own mother, and cost Bret the title at the same time.
Bret & Owen would continue to wrestle one another on the house show market into early 1995 with Bret beating Owen every single time they met, whether it was a singles match or tag team contest. The family feud was still very much in effect, but it took a back seat on television programming. Bret would continually get the best of Owen all throughout 1996 as well.
There feud would come to an end in the spring of 1997 when Bret Hart turned heel and formed the Hart Foundation with Owen, Bulldog, Neidhart and Brian Pillman.
Bob’s Opinion:
The feud between Bret Hart and Owen Hart is without the best feud the WWF had going in late 1993 through the entire year of 1994. Their matches never failed to deliver and the story of a jealous younger brother trying to get out of his older bro’s shadow is completely realistic.
I only wish that Owen was able to win more matches against Bret. The victory at Mania X was enormous and made him a star at a snap of a finger. A lot of people wish that Owen had won the WWF World Championship at SummerSlam ’94 and then proceed to lose the belt back to Bret at Survivor Series ’94 in the submission match instead of Backlund. I actually like that idea, though we would then never get the Diesel WWF World Championship run in ’95!
The only drawback of the feud is that Owen never beat Bret again aside from Mania. Dragging the feud out into ’95 and to a lesser extent ’96 was just overkill. Although the decision at that point was never in doubt, they continued to put on the best matches on the card.
So, because of that I must give the feud a recommendation. I don’t believe there is anything about this feud that people would dislike.
What are your memories of the Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart feud? Feel free to leave your comments below!
Thanks for reading!
Bob Colling – Wrestling Recaps
