10 WWE Face Turns That Ultimately Failed

3. Owen Hart Suffers For The Sins Of His Brother - 1997

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7JdKfqNbPc After the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series 1997, Bret€™s entire family left the WWF along with him. All but one: Owen Hart. Owen was still under contract and couldn€™t get out of it, so he was essentially stranded in the WWF while Bret, The British Bulldog, and Jim Neidhardt all jumped to WCW. Owen was initially rewarded with a babyface turn and a main event push against the dastardly Shawn Michaels who played an implicit role in the Screwjob. And with the crowd feeling sympathy for Bret, Owen received a great reaction. There was enough momentum behind Owen that a hotshot of the WWF Championship from Shawn to Owen wouldn€™t have been out of the question. But plans were already in place to have Steve Austin be the new hero, so Owen had to take a back seat and feud with Triple H rather than HBK. Owen found moderate success, capturing the European Championship (although he defeated Goldust who was posing as Triple H, but who€™s keeping track?). But DX was gaining so much momentum as lovable heels, that Owen€™s gripes started to come off as bitter. He went from being the €œBlackhart,€ the sole survivor of a decimated dynasty, to being the €œNugget,€ the last remaining remnant of a turd called the Hart Foundation that refused to be flushed. Owen turned heel, joined the Nation of Domination, dressed up like a road sign, and never sniffed the main event again before his untimely death in 1999. The question remains: could Owen have sustained a run as the top babyface in the company? Perhaps because Vince McMahon still harbored negative feelings towards Bret for how his run in WWF ended, he seemed hesitant to really give Owen that push. Owen remains one of the greatest wrestlers to never hold the WWF/E Championship, but his babyface turn in 1997 didn€™t reach its potential.