There are some moments in WWF/E history that you remember exactly where you were. When the streak was broken I was in my home on the end of my couch next to my buddy Graham. When Hogan dropped the leg on Randy Savage and turned heel I was nine years old in my living room in South Carolina. However there is one moment in particular that stands out the most of any other wrestling moment I watched live. May 23, 1999 I was at a friend’s house his name is Jon he my cousin (Mike) and myself were there watching Over the Edge ’99. I was twelve years old sitting between the two of them watching on a small twenty something inch television and Hardcore Holly vs. Al Snow had just finished. I don’t remember them going to a promo in the back. I’ve read they did I just remember a hard camera on Jim Ross looking directly into it saying folks something seriously wrong has happened. He then went on to explain the tragedy that occurred as Jon, Mike and myself looked on first believing that this couldn’t be real. However as Jim Ross continued his speech we each realized that this was very real and that Owen Hart was seriously injured. This was at a time with no Twitter, Facebook or hell even cell phones. We just sat speculating on what we were watching on television the night went on and as we enjoyed the PPV we kept talking about Owen Hart. Just before The Rock vs. HHH match the fans were told that Owen Hart had passed away. There is no easy transition to this and it’s an unbelievable tragedy so here we go, what if Owen Hart hadn’t passed away.
The night of Over the Edge ’99 it has been speculated by numerous people both within and outside WWE that Owen Hart was set to win the title that night as the blue blazer. I have no reason to believe otherwise while The Godfather, his opponent was pretty hot at that time he ended up dropping the title a week later to Owen’s prior tag partner Jeff Jarrett. During this match The Blue Blazer would have safely landed his entrance done the comedy bit and likely put on a decent match with The Godfather ending in a clean win for The Blue Blazer and becoming new intercontinental champion.
This would have kicked off a feud with The Blue Blazer and his former partner Jeff Jarrett while not having Debra be the center of attention as what had been previously requested. The Blue Blazer would have defeated Jeff Jarrett in a King of the Ring qualifying match on the way to King of the Ring PPV. This would have Jarrett livid and at the King of the Ring PPV Jarrett would come down to the ring during The Blue Blazer’s match against Road Dogg. During the match Jarrett would interfere causing the Road Dogg to get the pin fall victory over The Blue Blazer. After the match The Blue Blazer would chase Jarrett to the back.
We would see Jarrett come out the next night and following nights on Raw accusing The Blue Blazer of being a fraud and that he needs to show his face. This would lead to Jarrett continually trying to unmask The Blue Blazer and failing to succeed however through doing so he they would end up in an intercontinental title match at the Fully Loaded PPV. At this event Jeff Jarrett would succeed at winning the title however by not unmasking The Blue Blazer. The Blue Blazer would now have lost the Intercontinental Title however he would still have his mask and also have the champion’s right at a rematch for the title.
Following the Fully Loaded PPV Jarrett would come out every week declaring that he is the best Intercontinental Champion of all time and that he told you The Blue Blazer was just a fraud. The Blue Blazer wanting his title shot at Summerslam would offer to put his mask on the line so that he could win back his title. Jarrett would agree and we would go into Summerslam Title vs. Mask. This match would see Jarrett attempt to unmask The Blue Blazer again during the match however fail this time and The Blue Blazer would pick-up the win. After the match Jarrett would attack the Blue Blazer and unmask him anyway revealing The Blue Blazer to be Owen Hart.
Owen Hart would now come back and he would end his feud with Jeff Jarrett at the UK PPV Rebellion in which we would see Jeff Jarrett and D-Lo Brown begin to feud and the Chyna feud likely never happening at least not at this point. What if huh? So now back to Owen after finally dispatching of Jeff Jarrett and now looking for a new challenger. Chris Jericho subsequently would have been picking up wins over Road Dogg and other lower mid carders on the roster for months. Owen would be out cutting a promo about how he’s so happy that the people are finally behind him and how he will never turn his back on the WWF. Then we would hear break down the walls and Chris Jericho would come out to begin a feud with Owen Hart.
At the No Mercy PPV in October we would have seen Owen Hart pick-up a victory over Chris Jericho in a very good match. This match would have helped early Chris Jericho get to where he ended up quicker than he did. If you recall in his documentary and in other interviews he has said the beginning of his WWF career was tough and had to find his place. Owen would have 100% helped Jericho find what he was lacking and brought that out in him.
The Survivor Series PPV would have seen another match between the two with Chris Jericho winning the Intercontinental Title from Owen Hart however it would not have been a clean win. Jericho would have hit Owen with the belt while the ref was down and then put him into the Walls of Jericho and the ref calling for the bell when Owen couldn’t respond to the count. This would setup the rubber match between the two superstars at the final PPV of the year.
Armageddon would have been the last match between the two competitors and Chris Jericho would come out on top again moving Owen Hart away from the Intercontinental title and having put over Chris Jericho. Owen would have found himself in a pretty good position rolling into the Royal Rumble after having some hot feuds and carrying the Intercontinental title around for a while. This match would have made Jericho think about these guys getting to work for a few months together and what they could have done.
The Royal Rumble 2000 would be the next PPV and boy did it led to something different. Owen would have now been placed solidly in main event picture. This is where guys like Bruce Prichard and Pat Patterson would have gotten in Vince’s ear. Saying look Vince I understand where we are going right now with HHH and his title reign. We aren’t going to have The Rock go over him at Wrestlemania regardless if he wins or not however we want to continue to build The Rock. Let’s finally give Owen Hart a real shot here. Vince still would have thought HHH vs. Owen Hart isn’t big enough for Wrestlemania 2000 so therefore here is how it would have happened. The Rock would have eliminated The Big Show leaving just Owen Hart and The Rock there as the last two. With dueling Lets Go Rock, Lets Go Owen chants. They both would have been eliminated by The Big Show coming back into the ring. We have no winner and we have the Big Show standing tall after the Rumble match.
As we can see where this is leading Wrestlemania 2000 which would now have had HHH defending his title against Owen Hart, The Big Show and The Rock. Mick Foley would have been able to stay retired and Owen Hart would have finally been in the main event of a Wrestlemania. HHH would have of course retained the title as that was the plan all along. However Owen would now have been put into the main event properly. He would have helped get over a new emerging star in Chris Jericho and he would have likely been the first feud with HHH after Wrestlemania. I will stop here with the Owen Hart portion of my book. I do not believe he would have gone to WCW as he would have heard from Bret how bad it was there. I also believe he would have likely retired in the year 2000 after having a great main event run or at least not have done it full-time anymore.
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So that brings an end to Chapter Two of Re-Writing the Book. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see next please shoot me a tweet @awesomephinatic. I am always open to hearing any ideas or any suggestions or hell tell me why you think I’m wrong and you are right. Also lookout for my RawViews weekly in regards to both Raw and Smackdown and of course predictions and reviews of every PPV event as well. As always until next time be awesome.