What If?: Owen Hart Had Lived

What If?: Owen Hart Had Lived
March 29, 2026
By Ryan Porzl

1999 was a big year in American Wrestling. The business was experiencing a boom period and wrestling was cool and part of pop culture again. The WWF was riding high and seemingly getting hotter especially with the debut of Smackdown. WCW would start it's downward spiral that eventually would culminate in the WWF purchasing them two years later. ECW was trying to survive with reports of checks bouncing and talent looking for greener pastures all the while seemingly getting the lifeline it needed when they struck a deal with TNN (now The Paramount Network) which ultimately didn't work. 1999 saw names like Jeff Jarrett, Paul Wight, The Dudley Boyz, and Chris Jericho make big jumps. Kurt Angle would make his first appearances for the WWF before officially debuting at Survivor Series 1999. "Macho Man" Randy Savage had his last big year in the business. 1999 also saw future superstars such as John Cena, Batista, Samoa Joe, and Trish Stratus begin their journey's in the business. Vince Russo went from head writer for the WWF to famously jumping to WCW. 1999 also saw the passing of legends including Rick Rude, Giant Baba, and Gorilla Monsoon to name some. 

However, in spite of all this and more, one event clearly outshined all of them and for the wrong reasons. That event occurred on May 23, 1999 when Owen Hart tragically fell to his death during the WWF's PPV Over The Edge while attempting a superhero like entrance from the rafters. The aftermath was huge. A man lost his life at the young age of 34 all the while leaving behind a young family and career that had yet to reach it's peak. The WWF lost a beloved member of their roster and were in an ugly scandal. A wife lost her husband while two children lost their father at young ages. Two parents not only had to bury a child but their youngest of twelve while not only a family, but one of wrestling's royal families, would fracture and be divided in the aftermath. Owen Hart's passing is unquestionably one of, if not, wrestling's biggest tragedy. Perhaps the only tragedies that come close or even beat it is the 1988 murder of Bruiser Brody and the 2007 Chris Benoit double murder-suicide. However, one definitely has to wonder "What If?"? What if Owen had lived and that accident never happened? Could he have reached his potential? What big matches could he have still had? In this article, we'll look at Owen leading up to 1999 as well some possible scenarios if he had lived.

Note: I don't own the photo. Credit to WWE

Owen Hart's Career Prior to 1999

Owen was, of course, a member of the Hart Family, one of wrestling's royal families. He was the twelfth child of legendary wrestler, trainer, and promoter Stu Hart with all four of his older sisters marrying wrestlers while his seven older brothers entered wrestling in some capacity. After training under his father, Owen had his first match in England in 1983 before beginning full time around 1986 for his father's Stampede Wrestling. It became clear Owen had what it took to make it in wrestling as he was athletic and had a good look but was also a natural in the ring. From 1986-1988, he became a top act in Stampede enjoying two runs with the North American Heavyweight Championship, one run with the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship, and one run with the International Tag Team Championship with former brother in law Ben Bassarab. Within a year, Owen began to be a world traveler touring England and then began doing tours for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan. On May 27, 1988, Owen defeated Hiroshi Hase for New Japan's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. The title win is perhaps one of the first testaments to his talents as it made him the first foreigner to hold the prestigious title. From 1988-1989, he had his first run in the WWF but despite having successful relatives, he didn't compete as himself but as a masked superhero character named The Blue Blazer (originally The Blue Angel). While Owen would make appearances at PPVs like Survivor Series 1988 and Wrestlemania V along with the March 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event against talent like Ted Dibiase and Mr. Perfect, he didn't go too far. 

After leaving, Owen spent the next two years as a true worldwide journeyman. He returned to Stampede before it shutdown in December 1989 and began touring with New Japan for the next few years. He also traveled to the German/Austrian promotion Catch Wrestling Association as well as the Mexican based Universal Wrestling Association where he returned to his Blue Blazer character. In America, he appeared for ECW predecessor Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and a month in WCW. After not wanting to relocate to Atlanta to sign with WCW, Owen returned to WWF in 1991. Originally, his return had potential teaming with brother-in-law Jim Neidhart in a new team called The New Foundation but the team was short lived due to Neidhart's firing after refusing to take a drug test. While Owen would score a win at Wrestlemania VIII against Skinner and journeyed to USWA winning their Unified World Title, he struggled throughout 1992-1993 as part of the undercard team High Energy with Koko B. Ware. After being in a crossroads with his career, Owen would finally get his big chance in late 1993/early 1994 when he had dissension with older brother Bret which lead to him turning heel and spending most of 1994 feuding with Bret including getting a career making win at Wrestlemania X. After that, Owen would off to the races, winning the 1994 King of the Ring tournament and challenging Bret for the WWF Championship at Summerslam 1994. 

From 1995-1997, Owen would become a two time Intercontinental Champion and a three time Tag Team Champion (twice with Yokozuna and once with British Bulldog) enjoying success as a midcard to upper midcard star for the WWF in stables like Camp Cornette and The Hart Foundation while feuding the likes of Shawn Michaels and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. In late 1997, two big moments would change his career. First would be at Summerslam 1997 when he accidentally injured "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with a botched tombstone piledriver. There have been conflicting stories as to whether Owen apologized or not but nevertheless, Austin had no interest in working with him again after the feud ended. The second was the departure of Bret via "The Montreal Screwjob" along with the departures of brothers-in-law Bulldog and Neidhart. Being the remaining Hart Family member, Owen seemed primed for a big run in 1998. While Owen would win the European Championship, his 1998 was lackluster as a possible main event run never happened reportedly due to backstage politics involving Michaels and Austin with neither wanting to work with him. Instead, he felt rudderless in the midcard in solid feuds and matches but he felt wasted.

1999

From what we know, 1999 looked like it had potential to be a big year for Owen. While 1998 saw him in the midcard working with various talent, 1999 felt like a potential rebuilding year for him. Owen entered the year ending his feud with Steve Blackman and went on to team with Jeff Jarrett. He entered the 1999 Royal Rumble at #29 and actually was in the final five alongside winner Vince McMahon, Steve Austin, Big Boss Man, and D-Lo Brown. The following night on the January 25th RAW, Owen and Jarrett would defeat Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock to win the WWF Tag Team Championship, Owen's fourth tag team title. Owen and Jarrett would hold the titles for more than two months beating teams like D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry to The Legion of Doom while also getting a Wrestlemania win by retaining over Brown and Test at Wrestlemania XV. After losing the titles on the April 5th RAW, Owen would continue his team with Jarrett before reprising his Blue Blazer persona with the character being portrayed as a goofy, delusional superhero. On May 10, 1999, Owen would have possibly his last big match when he worked a dark match against a talent with enormous potential and pedigree. A man who would be considered a future dream opponent for Owen. That man would be Kurt Angle. While the match was taped, it sadly hasn't been found as of writing but it's one of many signs of what could've been. On May 22nd, Owen would wrestle the last match of his life teaming with Jarrett against up and comers Edge and Christian in a winning effort. On May 23rd, at the Over The Edge Pay-Per-View, Owen entered the Kemper Arena with the plan being that he would compete as The Blue Blazer and after doing a superhero like entrance from the rafters would wrestle The Godfather and defeat him for the Intercontinental Championship. Of course, the match and title win would never happen due to the tragedy that occurred during the entrance. Over The Edge should've seen Owen doing what he did best along with winning gold again. Instead, the event became known for being the event where the accident and stunt that took his life happened.

Potential Main Event Run

Obviously, we don't know for sure if Owen would've made to the top but the signs seemed to be there. As mentioned, 1999 seemed like a rebuilding year for him capturing the Tag Team Championship again and being set to regain the Intercontinental Championship at Over The Edge. There's also the fact there were rumors in the past Owen was in line for a heel push and the fact Triple H's signature nickname "The Game" was originally intended for Owen. More importantly, when you look at the landscape of the WWF roster, especially the main event scene, things were looking great for Owen. The WWF roster underwent some issues by the fall of 1999 due to injuries, retirements, and departures. The biggest shake up was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin who was WWF's top star since March 1998. However, by August 1999, it was becoming clear Austin's neck issues, ironically from the Owen piledriver, were once again rearing it's ugly head. After working sporadically following Summerslam 1999, Austin would finally be forced to take time off by November, famously getting written off at Survivor Series. He would proceed to undergo spinal fusion surgery in January 2000 and not return to the ring until October 2000, missing nearly a year of action. No doubt, Austin was Owen's biggest hurdle to the main event as it's no secret that Austin never forgave Owen for the Summerslam 97 piledriver. With Austin out long term, The main event door would've likely been wide open for Owen.

Austin wasn't the only one. The Undertaker was also among the top stars of The Attitude Era. Unfortunately, by 1999, he began suffering from a number of nagging injuries and by September 1999, would finally have no choice but to take time off. Between the injuries and tearing his biceps in January 2000, Taker would miss around eight months not returning until May 2000 resulting in WWF losing another main event star long term. Mick Foley had become not only one of WWF's top stars throughout 1998 and 1999 but one of wrestling's most beloved. However, his style of matches and the bumps he took began to take their toll on him and it was universally known to fans and people in the industry he plan to retire by Wrestlemania 2000 in April 2000 which he did. Then there was Paul Wight as the former Giant in WCW signed with the WWF in February 1999 and became "The Big Show". It was clear WWF has high hopes for him but motivational issues and weight problems, which affected him in his last year with WCW, would be a headache for the WWF. As a result, the WWF struggled with Wight, constantly changing him heel and face to pairing him with Undertaker as a tag team champion to giving him the WWF Championship but he wasn't clicking. While Wight would go on to success in the years to come, his weight and lack of motivation would always haunt him. It should also be noted that Undertaker was forced out of the six pack challenge for the WWF Championship at Unforgiven 1999 while Austin was forced out of the triple threat for the championship at Survivor Series 1999. You have to believe if Owen lived he could've been slotted into one or both of those roles.

Along with the main event scene, the promotion also tried to give The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) singles runs but that didn't work out and they were put back together by October. Around the same time, both Ken Shamrock and Jeff Jarrett left the WWF, though it's unknown if Jarrett would've stayed if Owen lived. The British Bulldog returned in the fall of 1999 but injuries and addictions saw his run not pan out. So, when you look at the roster at the end of 1999, the WWF obviously was doing very well but Owen could've had a massive opportunity to take the next step. He also would've helped fill some voids.

Dream Matches and Other Scenarios

Along with moving up to the main event, there's more to look at as well. Owen was a phenomenal talent who gave us great matches over the years but the scary thing is, if he lived, the best may have yet to come. In the months after Owen's passing, the WWF gained many big talents that Owen could've worked magic with. Chris Jericho came in by August 1999, Kurt Angle officially debuted in November, and January 2000 would see the debuts of Tazz and The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Perry Saturn). Beyond that, Rikishi would catch on in early 2000 and achieve his peak in popularity while William Regal returned by the end of 2000. Owen could've had classics with just about any of these talents and probably would've been the perfect opponent to break them in with the WWF system. Owen was also a selfless performer and would have no problem making these guys look like a million bucks especially to fans who may not be familiar with them.

Another interesting scenario to possibly consider regards The British Bulldog. It's no surprise that Bulldog's last WWF run following Owen's passing didn't work for many reasons due to injuries and demons. While I'm not sure if Owen could've "saved" Bulldog, you do have to wonder if Owen had lived, it would not only be one less thing to affect Bulldog but maybe having someone like family on the road maybe could've helped him. Obviously, addiction is tough to break but you have to wonder if having a support system like Owen could've been a difference.

Potential Outside WWF

Owen Hart's WWF contract was reportedly to expire in 2001. It's long been said that once his deal expired, Owen planned to retire as he was known for saving his money for life after wrestling and spend time with his family. However, anyone that knows wrestling knows few actually stay retired. Aside from possible nostalgia runs for WWE, a possibly could've seen Owen compete here and there for TNA. TNA was founded by Jeff Jarrett and it's possible he could've called Owen to work some spots as a favor. Perhaps appear as a special attraction like Sting was in 2003. If so, the matches Owen could've had would've been amazing. Possible matches with AJ Styles or Christopher Daniels or Jerry Lynn to name some. Maybe he could've returned to New Japan at some point as well for some shots.

Overall, would Owen Hart had been the WWF Champion had he lived? Would he have had possibly the best matches of his career? How long would his career have lasted and could he have done more beyond WWF? Obviously, we'll never know the answers. One thing is for certain, Owen Hart had so much more to offer the wrestling business, his family, and life in general. Like many, he passed way too soon but what makes his tragedy tougher was because of a stupid stunt instead of self destruction like so many. We'll never know what more he would've done but these scenarios make you wonder and fantasize about the possibilities.