15 Biggest BURIALS Wrestlers Never Recovered From
14. Owen Hart (By D-Generation X)
"I am not a nugget".
Owen Hart was forced to say this over and over again in 1998 as both a babyface and then a heel, because a) DX had done such a fantastic job of getting the incredibly derisory catchphrase over and b) DX had done an even better job of making sure the booking actually reflected that their words (also as both heels then babyfaces) scanned as true.
The window for getting the former 'Rocket' over as a babyface was only open a crack anyway following the Montreal Screwjob, with the path ahead paved for Stone Cold Steve Austin. Unfortunately, Owen was trapped between multiple rocks and hard places; he was hot-by-default thanks to the screwing of his brother and complete exit of the rest of his on-screen family to WCW, but stood no chance of getting that over in Austin's shadow and even less chance of working against him as a heel with Austin no longer wanting to interact with him after the events of SummerSlam 1997. Shawn Michaels was historically brilliant at working with Owen on either side of the divide, but he was in no mood to do much for anybody other than Shawn Michaels (and Triple H and Chyna) by then, and repeatedly comparing one of the only other great workers in the company to an un-flushable remnant of human faeces was right on course for that-era 'HBK'.
By the time he joined the Nation Of Domination by the summer, he could at least use the line as a moan, but the damage to his reputation had decisively been done.