[1997-12-15-WWF-Raw] Vince McMahon and Owen Hart

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Vince is now out to address Owen Hart. He knows Owen is here and wants him to come to the ring now. He has been endangering the safety of the fans by interfering in matches. He reminds Owen he is still under contract to the WWF.

 

Owen finally comes out in solid black and with sunglasses. The crowd is chanting loudly for him. Owen tears into Vince and says the bullshit stops right here. Owen could have been a huge star at this point had they followed through. Owen says he's not going anywhere -- he'll remain right here in the WWF, and that Shawn isn't going to run him anywhere. Vince goads him and Owen tears into him even more. This isn't about the WWF title, this is about real life. His goal is to make Shawn Michaels' life a living hell.

 

Vince responds to all of this by asking for uniformed security to come to the ring and tells Owen he's going to come down the entrance ramp just like everyone else. Vince is a major asshole in this and Owen teases attacking him, and the crowd would have exploded had he done so. He grabs him by the suit before being escorted out.

 

This was a GREAT segment. Owen was on fire. This was their chance.

[s1rweeze]

Owen was on fire. This was their chance.

One of the all-time what-ifs in wrestling. I'm still bitterly disappointed that Owen didn't have an extended run as a top babyface, as an eventual Austin program with him as champ with their history would've been amazing.

 

Another similar case like this is Matt Hardy coming back in 2005. He had the infamous sink-or-swim promo where he promptly sank. I was all ready to make the comparison, saying Owen didn't have the babyface promo skills to sustain a top run, but watching this segment again proved me wrong.

[Kevin Ridge]

It was there to push Owen big after Bret left. More Vince trying to spin things about him being more concerned about the safety of WWF fans when Owen coming out of the crowd. Great promo by Owen as he verbally abuses Vince and says he's going to make Michael's life a living hell. Damn, Owen grabbing Vince by the jacket collar was so intense. It would have been so awesome if he clocked him.

[soup23]

Cant believer how over Owen was at this point. I don't know what they should have done booking wise for him and am undecided if him vs. Shawn at Rumble might have been the way to go but he should have been a main player for sure. He was great here as the rebel with a cause going toe to toe with Vince.

[PeteF3]

Owen looks like a badass motherfucker, moreso than he ever did before, and is as over as a babyface as he ever was in *any* setting or would be again. This crowd was just begging for him to lay Vince out. And all the "this is real life" talk sounds about 9 million times more genuine than when any number of Russo shooty-shoot promos or hackneyed Roman Reigns promos used that line. I get that they probably didn't want two outcast antiheroes in black in the main event scene, but I think there was room for it if they had any inclination to push Owen as anything other than a sacrificial lamb for Triple H.

[Exposer]

This is an awesome segment. Vince calls Owen to the ring & wants a get a few things straight with him. He says Owen is endangering fans by jumping in & out of the crowd every week. He's here to put a stop to that & has security come out & surround the ring. Owen comes out & looks cool as hell. This angle should have made him a star. He goes off on Vince & says he's going to make Shawn Michaels' life a living hell. Vince gives Owen a match with Shawn next week. The ending is tremendous with Owen grabbing Vince by the scruff of his shirt & threatening him before being escorted out of the building by security. They had a star here & they did nothing with it. That's a shame.