Goldust vs. Owen Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley - Intercontinental Championship match - Raw is War/War Zone (1997)
Aside from a few three man matches at house shows, this was the first televised triple threat match to take place in the WWF. The match is for the Intercontinental title and features two individuals whom had held the title previously gunning for the scrap - held at the time by Owen Hart.
To add to this match of firsts, Pat Patterson - the first Intercontinental champ - plays the roll of the blind guest referee. 'Must be because he's Canadian', Jim Ross says. Why a Canadian would miss a foot on the ropes for a fellow Canadian in kayfabe is beyond me...
The Smoking Guns vs. Yokozuna & Owen Hart vs. Savio Vega & Razor Ramon vs. Sid & 1-2-3 Kid - The Raw Bowl - Monday Night Raw (1996)
Here's a match with just as many rules and regulations as the big game tonight. All that is missing is a Bronco Buster and Sid wearing a number 22!? jersey.
The rules to this match are actually pretty simple; it's just a tag team elimination match were if one member of the team gets pinned/submitted, that team is out of the game... err, match. Also, any wrestler can tag in any other wrestler whether it be their teammate or not - a stipulation that saw Owen Hart tag in Bart Gunn's own tag team partner, Billy, etc. Throw in Earl Hebner with a whistle and a yellow flag, cover the green canvas with yard lines, give the teams one time out, and voilà, you got the first and only, Raw Bowl.
Bret and Owen Hart vs. Well Dunn - WWF Wrestling Challenge (1993)
This week I was looking to see if there were any matches that took place on my birthday. This match between the Hart Brothers and Well Dunn (Timothy Well & Steven Dunn) was the closest match I could find that was at least aired around by birthday (dated November 14th). This match was probably one of the first times that Bret and Owen Hart teamed together on WWF television in a build up for the Hart Family vs. Jerry Lawler match at Survivor Series. You know, the Hart/Lawler match at Survivor Series that never happened. You know, that match that turned into the Hart Family vs. Shawn Michaels and a bunch of jobbers dressed as knights.
Anyways, he's a nice little piece of history from the first day of my life.
Brian Pillman vs. Owen Hart - Intercontinental title tournament semi finals match - Raw is War (1997)
The Loose Cannon takes on his friend and fellow Hart Foundation comrade, Owen Hart in what would become his last televised match. The match was a semi finals tournament match for the vacant Intercontinental title against the two - who had both won their opening match of the tournament, but Pillman had other plans as he did not want to fight his friend, Owen. So, Pillman came out with a sling on and informed the crowd that he had slipped in the shower and broke his arm while doing non-PG things with Goldust's wife, Marlena (Terri Runnels).
Commissioner Slaughter, however, didn't buy the whole arm injury excuse and forced the two Stampede Wrestling alum to fight it out regardless of their partnership in the Hart Foundation.
Around this time, Brian Pillman was in a heated feud with Goldust, who had beat him at Summerslam with the special stipulation that Pillman had to wear one of Marlena's gold dresses if he lost. Pillman eventually got his revenge on Goldust at In Your House: Ground Zero when the Loose Cannon defeated Goldust to win the services of Marlena for thirty days. This was day 16.
Brian Pillman's next match on WWF TV was scheduled to be against Dude Love at In Your House: Bad Blood, but Pillman did not make it to the event. It was later revealed that Pillman had passed away from an unknown heart condition that day.
Owen Hart would go on to win the Intercontinental title tournament when he defeating Faarooq in the finals at Bad Blood that night.
Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock - Stu Hart's Dungeon match - WWF Fully Loaded: In Your House (1998)
The Black Hart takes on The World's Most Dangerous Man in the closest thing to home field advantage in this 1998 gem from Fully Loaded. Not only was this match held in Stu Hart's "Dungeon" where many great superstars learned the way of wrestling, it was also a submission match featuring the referee duties of Dan Severn just to add to the uniqueness of this forgotten match.
Wrestling fans always heard about this Dungeon, but few had ever seen it. Turns out this training facility once operated by the Hart family was just a basement with a tarp over the ground. Guess all those stories about how tough and enduring the Dungeon was - adding in the Stu Hart screaming in your face factor - were pretty accurate.
Owen hart vs. Bret Hart (c) - WWF Coliseum Video Exclusive Lumberjack Match (1994)
Remember when Owen Hart won the WWF World Heavyweight Title?
No? Well don't worry, I don't either. Not just because this was a Coliseum Video exclusive (usually matches that were taped only to be released on special video packages) but because he actually doesn't.
Turns out even though this match looks like it ends with Owen Hart getting the pinfall on his older brother, Bret thanks to Jim Neidhart hitting "The Hitman" in the back with his anvil-tough arm, the decision is soon called-off thanks to the interference and the match is restarted and officially ends with Bret retaining his coveted gold. However, you don't see that part of the match as most of the "Owen Hart wins the WWF Title" videos online have this important part of the match cut out.
It's a shame that Owen didn't ever win the title though. Maybe not so much this way, but it would have been a really nice change from super face champion to bitter heel shadow-of-his-brother-no-more champion. Maybe this would have led to an earlier Attitude Era? I doubt it though. If anything Bret would have just won the title back at Survivor Series (where Bob Backlund beat "The Hitman" via submission) of that year.
Anyways, here's Owen Hart versus Bret Hart, brother versus brother, in a Lumberjack match featuring the oddball characters of 1994 and the closest time Owen Hart ever got to becoming a World Champion.
Owen Hart vs. Steve Blackman - WWF Sunday Night Heat (1999)
In an attempt to sort of get fans interested in more mixed martial arts type wrestling such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship where stars like Ken Shamrock and Don Severn were from, a little cage was constructed to contain athletes in a match known as the "Lion's Den".
The original concept for the Lion's Den was that the only way to win was via submission. This would later change as rules for cage matches always seem to in pro wrestling, and the opportunity to win by pin-fall was later excepted - along with weapons.
Dan Severn, serving as ref for this match, is in a neck brace for this match as Owen Hart "dropped him on his head" with the same tombstone piledriver that legitimately broke Stone Cold Steve Austin's neck a year and a half prier. It is later revealed that Severn was not hurt and actually jumps into the den and beats up on "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman - not Owen.
All in all, this is just what I would expect WWF to look like if Vince ever introduced a UFC-side of the company.
Speaking of Vince, Mr. McMahon himself actually fought (I guess that's what you would call it) in one of the other Lion's Den matches against the man who has been in pretty much every Lion's Den match except this one mentioned above, Ken Shamrock.
