July 26, 2016
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of “Book It” last week I talked about Bill Goldberg and how I feel WCW mishandled his win streak ending in the late 90’s. However, today I want to take a special look at someone whose life was cut short due to an accident in the ring. That man’s name is Owen Heart. Owen Heart tragically died on May 23, 1999 when a stunt he was performing at Over the Edge Pay-Per-View went horribly wrong. The harness that he was wearing broke and sent him falling from the arena floor into a turnbuckle and slamming to the Mat.
But here’s the thing about the entire incident, the circumstances that lead up to Owens death are kind of surprising because a lot that accident can be attributed to the gimmick that Owen was portraying. Owen was wrestling as “The Blue Blazer” a comedy gimmick that he had been tasked with in early 1999. The entire idea was supposed to be a bit of a joke and was something that went horribly wrong but why was Owen Heart wrestling as a comedy character and not as the technical genius of a wrestler that he truly was?
There’s rumors surrounding the event that say that WWE was actually punishing Owen because of his involvement with an accident that paralyzed Stone Cold Steve Austin earlier on in his career. Now that’s all speculation but if it’s true, that means that in reality Owen died because of a punishment handed down by WWE. Now that’s a lot of speculation but it could be true, and it’s the major focus of this edition of “Book It” I want to look at what could have happened if Owen wouldn’t have hurt Austin, which subjectively lead to his death in 1999.
So in a bit of a change up from last week, where could Owen have been had he not passed? Well, let’s start this out by saying I personally don’t believe Owen was ever going to be a main event player. Not to take away from his ability by any means but at the time WWE didn’t have a lot of faith in someone like Owen Heart. However, I do believe he would have went on to recapture his own name and persona, he may have even been able to capture the WWE Championship at least once in his career.
He would have likely won a multitude of singles titles, and maybe even some tag titles. But I personally think the bigger picture is that we would have likely seen Owens’ career slowly roll down around the year 2002-2003 as WWE went into a bit of a new direction. From there you would see Owen switch to a backstage role I believe. Here’s where the kicker comes, I think Owen would have been able to train some of today’s talents to be much better then they already are. That’s one thing that Bret and Owen both had, an uncanny knowledge of the business. That would have definitely came in handy at some point down the road.
The biggest thing that changes if none of this happens, is that Owen has his rightful place within the WWE Hall of Fame. A meaningful cap onto a career that it’s likely Owen will never receive and that’s personally a damn shame. Regardless of the situation I believe that Owen should definitely be allowed in the Hall of Fame.
What are your thoughts, where do you think Owen, or even the WWE would have ended up if Owen Heart wouldn’t have passed in 1999? Do you agree with me? Disagree? Either way please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Also, please feel free to suggest topics for upcoming post. I’m always looking to expand the calendar out so drop me a line. Also, sign up for my mailing list and get some exclusive reading materials. (Non-Wrestling related) and stay in the know. Also, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Next week, we talk about the Anonymous General Manager of Raw Storyline so be here next Tuesday for that! Until next time, this is Kyle Robinson taking his pen and closing the book on this subject.