10 Times WWE Failed To Create Main Event Players

5. Owen Hart (1997-98)

Owen Hart Vince McMahon
WWE.com

If nothing else, the controversial 'Montreal Screwjob' of Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series should've given his brother Owen some renegade babyface momentum. At first, it did. Fans were into the idea of seeing a bitter Owen, named the 'Black Hart' by announcers, avenge what Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels had done to his family.

By mid-1998, Owen was a member of the Nation Of Domination. OK then.

The WWF chose to downplay Hart's rebel-with-nothing-to-lose persona and program him with Michaels' DX pal Triple H instead. Worse, they tied a tired Sgt. Slaughter issue with the group to the feud as well, instantly diluting fan interest in Owen's story. It was a frankly crap decision.

When Owen should've been targeting those who had wronged his family, he was happy to go for the European Title and then join a militant faction. This is proof that not everything in the Attitude era was gold. This flat booking was 10x sh*ttier than the nugget HBK compared Hart to.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.