Owen Hart

New Foundation; High Energy (1991–1993)

Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company's headquarters in Atlanta.^[20] Instead, he returned to the WWF in November 1991.

The popular Hart Foundation tag team, composed of Owen's brother Bret and brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, had split up; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly. When Neidhart returned from a storyline injury, he joined Owen to form a team known as the New Foundation. Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers. They then had their only pay-per-view match at the Royal Rumble in January 1992 where they beat the Orient Express.^[35] Neidhart left the WWF in February 1992.

In February 1992, Hart was paired with Koko B. Ware (whom he had previously partnered while wrestling as the Blue Blazer) to form the tag team known as "High Energy". The duo went on to continue the New Foundation's feud with the Beverly Brothers. At WrestleMania VIII in April 1992, Hart defeated Skinner. Following WrestleMania, High Energy had a series of matches against the Nasty Boys. In June 1992, they challenged WWF Tag Team Champions Money Inc. on WWF Prime Time Wrestling, winning by count out. In October 1992, while under contract to the WWF, Hart wrestled four matches for Wrestle and Romance in Japan, including losing to Último Dragón in the Nakajima Sports Center. In November 1992, High Energy began a feud with the Headshrinkers, who defeated them at Survivor Series.^[36] At the Royal Rumble in January 1993, Hart competed in the Royal Rumble match, entering at number 28 and being eliminated by the eventual winner, Yokozuna. Later that month, High Energy challenged WWF Tag Team Champions Money Inc. on WWF Wrestling Challenge, winning by disqualification. The team quietly disbanded in March 1993 following a loss to the Headshrinkers.^[37]

Feud with Bret Hart (1993–1995)

Following the disbanding of High Energy, Hart resumed his singles career. In the middle of 1993, when Bret Hart's feud with Jerry Lawler ignited, Owen stood by his brother's side and fought against Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) where most of the WWF talent were considered the heels. At King of the Ring in June 1993, Hart unsuccessfully challenged Papa Shango for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. Later that month, at a USWA event in the Mid-South Coliseum, Hart defeated Shango for the title. He held the title until July 1993, when he lost to Jerry Lawler in the Mid-South Coliseum.^[23] At the USWA's "The Mother of All Matches" event in the Mid-South Coliseum in August 1993, the Hart Brothers defeated Lawler and Jeff Jarrett. At SummerSlam in August 1993, Hart defeated Barry Horowitz in a dark match.

Bret, along with Owen and their brothers Bruce and Keith, were scheduled to face Jerry Lawler and his team at Survivor Series. However, Lawler was unable to make it to the show, and as a result could not appear on WWF television. Lawler was replaced with Shawn Michaels. During the match Owen and Bret inadvertently crashed into each other, causing Owen to be eliminated from the team. Owen showed up after the match and had a heated confrontation with Bret, while Keith, Bruce and Stu tried to calm things down. This confrontation resulted in Owen leaving the ring to boos while his brothers and father watched in dismay and mother Helen cried at ringside. The following night Owen adopted the pink and black tights, sunglasses and Sharpshooter finisher to send a message to his brother. Owen, angry with being in Bret's shadow, challenged his brother which Bret declined. Instead, the brothers seemed to reunite by the holidays. According to Bret, the original plan was to have brother Bruce turn on Bret and have Owen leave the WWF alongside Keith, but Bret suggested that he'd feud with Owen instead.

Bret tried to make amends with Owen, teaming with him on a regular basis. Bret even secured the two a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship. They faced the Quebecers for the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1994. Initially everything was fine between the brothers, but when Bret hurt his knee (kayfabe) and was unable to tag Owen in for a long period of time, the younger Hart got frustrated. When the referee stopped the match due to Bret's damaged knee, Owen snapped; he kicked his brother's leg and then walked off, berating Bret on the Titantron shortly after as Bret was being helped backstage. This started his run as a heel.^[38] After the act, an infuriated Owen accused his brother of being selfish and holding him down. Owen admitted that it felt good to take out his brother. Later that evening, Hart entered the Royal Rumble match, but was swiftly eliminated by Diesel. The two brothers faced off for the first time at WrestleMania X, where Owen cleanly pinned his older brother. Later in the evening, Bret won the WWF Championship against Yokozuna while Owen stood by and watched in anger and jealousy as Bret celebrated in the ring.^[39] In June 1994, Owen won the 1994 King of the Ring tournament turning back Razor Ramon in the finals with an elbow drop to the back and with an assist from Jim Neidhart.^[40] After the victory, Owen dropped "The Rocket" nickname and took the nickname "The King of Harts."

Owen and Bret feuded throughout the summer of 1994, clashing many times both in singles and later in tag team matches (with Bret joined by the returning British Bulldog). Two prominent matches took place in this feud: first, their steel cage match in the co-main event of SummerSlam for Bret's WWF Championship, which Bret won.^[41][42] This match later received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer. The second was a lumberjack match on August 17 that Owen initially won and was announced as WWF Champion; Bret won the match after it was ordered to continue due to interference.^[43] At the Survivor Series, Owen struck the most damaging blow against his brother as he conned his own mother Helen to throw in the towel for Bret. The ploy cost Bret the WWF Championship to Bob Backlund.^[44] At the same event, Hart teamed with Diesel, Jeff Jarrett, Jim Neidhart, and Shawn Michaels as "the Teamsters" in a loss to "the Bad Guys" (Fatu, Razor Ramon, Sione, 1-2-3 Kid, and British Bulldog). Owen also prevented Bret from regaining the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble in January 1995 when he interfered in the match between Bret and new champion Diesel.^[45] Later that evening, he entered the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by British Bulldog. In the weeks after the Royal Rumble, Bret and Owen clashed again with Bret soundly defeating his brother, thus putting an end to their feud for the time being.

Camp Cornette; Tag Team Champion (1995–1997)

Owen rebounded from the loss to Bret by winning the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Smoking Gunns at WrestleMania XI.^[23] Owen, who was joined by a "Mystery Partner", had challenged the Gunns to a title match; the partner turned out to be former world champion Yokozuna.^[46][47] After the victory Owen took Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji as his managers, who already managed Yokozuna. The team defended the title for five months until they lost them to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House 3. They would briefly hold the title a second time when the belts were handed back to them^[48] before the Smoking Gunns regained the title.^[23] Owen and Yokozuna would continue to team off and on until the end of the year.

In 1995, Owen's brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith turned heel and joined the Camp Cornette stable. During the summer of 1996 the two brothers in law started to team up more and more, sometimes alongside Vader who was also a member of Camp Cornette.^[49] Owen also won a Slammy Award for injuring Shawn Michaels and began using the nickname "Slammy Award Winner" and the "King of Harts," though this nickname was rarely used. Owen was also a color commentator for the 1996 King of the Ring (exhibiting clear partisan support for Vader and Smith) and during this time wore a cast on his right forearm for several months, feigning a nagging injury to subsequently use his cast as a weapon during his matches.

In September 1996, Bulldog and Hart earned a pay-per-view shot at the tag team titles at In Your House 10.^[50] Owen and Bulldog left with the gold after defeating the Smoking Gunns.^[23][51] They also left with a new manager as Clarence Mason had conned Jim Cornette into signing over the contracts of the new champions. Signs of dissension, however, slowly started to show. One occasion where this was evident was at the Royal Rumble when Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog.^[52] After the Rumble, they had miscommunication in matches against Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon and Bulldog fired Mason after losing a match to Crush who was also managed by Mason, something which did not sit well with Hart. Another bone of contention between the two was the newly created WWF European Championship; both men had fought their way to the finals to crown the first champion with Bulldog coming out as the victor.^[23]

After retaining the tag team title against the Headbangers by disqualification on the edition of March 24, 1997, of Monday Night Raw, the tension between the two bubbled over. An incensed Hart demanded a shot at Bulldog's European title the next week.^[53] The match was booked for March 31; on the night, the two went at it with such intensity that many thought the tag team champions had finally gone their separate ways. Then in a shocking moment, the recently turned heel Bret Hart appeared at ringside and stopped the match. Bret appealed to both Owen and Bulldog, talking about the importance of family.^[54] They agreed to put their differences aside and join with Bret to form the new Hart Foundation, an anti-American stable that also included Hart in-law Jim Neidhart and Hart family friend Brian Pillman.

Hart Foundation (1997)

After forming the Hart Foundation, Owen quickly gained singles gold of his own as he pinned Rocky Maivia to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship.^[23][55] This meant that the Hart Foundation held every WWF title except the WWF Championship, cementing their dominance over the federation. It was not all success for Owen, though, as he and the British Bulldog lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels on May 26, 1997.^[23] He began feuding with Austin shortly thereafter.

Owen and Bulldog got a second chance at regaining the tag team titles after Michaels vacated his half of the championship due to an injury. On the edition of July 14, 1997, of Raw the two entered a tournament and won to face Austin and a partner of his choice that evening for the vacant titles. That partner turned out to be Dude Love, who declared himself to be Austin's partner and helped him defeat Hart and Bulldog for the tag team championship.

At SummerSlam in August, Hart was to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Austin in a "Kiss My Ass" match, where Hart put the title up against Austin having to kiss his buttocks if he lost. During the match, Hart botched a piledriver and dropped Austin on the top of his head, injuring his neck.^[56] Austin won the title from Hart that evening,^[23] but due to the injury was forced to vacate the title. Although the entire situation was an accident, the WWF decided to make it part of the storyline as Owen began wearing a T-shirt patterned after Austin's that read "Owen 3:16/I Just Broke Your Neck".

Hart was then entered into a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion and reached the finals, being set to face Faarooq at Badd Blood: In Your House. Owen beat Faarooq with Austin's help.^[57] Afterward, Austin explained that he wanted to beat Hart for the title when he returned and would not allow Faarooq or anyone else to beat him. After Hart retained the title twice by disqualification between Bad Blood and Survivor Series in Montreal, Austin got his wish and defeated Hart for the Intercontinental Championship again.^[23][58] Later that night, the Montreal Screwjob took place. Bret left the WWF after Survivor Series and both the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were granted quick releases from their contracts to jump to WCW. This left Owen as the only Hart family member remaining in the WWF, due to his contractual obligations.

The Black Hart; Nation of Domination (1997–1998)

Hart was not seen or mentioned on WWF programming until he made a surprise appearance after Shawn Michaels retained his title following a disqualification loss to Ken Shamrock at In Your House: D-Generation X where he attacked Shawn Michaels. Now a fan favorite, but with a new edgy, antisocial attitude, Hart became known as "the Lone Hart" and "the Black Hart".^[59] Owen had a feud with D-Generation X (DX) and challenged Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship on the December 29, 1997, episode of Raw Is War: Hart had Michaels locked in the Sharpshooter when Triple H interfered in order to save Michaels' title, giving Hart the victory by disqualification.^[60]

On January 20, 1998, Hart won the European title from Triple H, although not directly.^[61] Goldust dressed up as Triple H in an attempt to swerve Hart, but WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter considered him to be a legitimate replacement.^[23][61] On March 16, 1998, Hart suffered a kayfabe ankle injury during a match against Barry Windham involving Triple H. When Hart joined the commentary at ringside, Triple H managed to draw Owen into an impromptu title match and regained the title. Chyna interfered while the referee was not looking and while Triple H was distracting the referee, she struck Hart behind the left knee with a baseball bat, picked him up and threw him back into the ring where Triple H put Hart in a reverse ankle lock to his injured right ankle to win the European Championship under referees discretion in controversial fashion.^[23] Hart challenged Triple H at WrestleMania XIV on March 29 and at Unforgiven: In Your House on April 26, but was unable to regain the title.

Following WrestleMania, Hart had allied with Ken Shamrock against the Nation of Domination. On April 27, 1998, during a tag team match with Shamrock against Nation members Mark Henry and Rocky Maivia, Hart turned on Shamrock, "snapping" his ankle and "biting his ear" in the process, and becoming a heel once again.^[62] After the attack on Shamrock, Hart became the co-leader, with The Rock, of the Nation of Domination, claiming that "Enough is enough and it's time for a change". The Nation's first big feud after Hart joined was against D-Generation X. It was during this feud that D-Generation X parodied the Nation of Domination. The imitation was complete with an actor dressing up as Hart and uttering the phrase "I am not a nugget"; this was in response to Shawn Michaels referring to Owen as a nugget of faeces in a toilet bowl that, no matter how many times Michaels flushed, he was unable to get rid of. "Nugget" became a derisive term that followed Hart for the rest of his career. At Over the Edge: In Your House in May 1998, the Nation of Domination (Hart, D'Lo Brown, and Kama Mustafa) defeated[D-Generation X (Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and Triple H). At King of the Ring in June 1998, Hart lost to D-Generation X member X-Pac.

Hart's participation in the D-Generation X feud was side-tracked when Shamrock returned from injuries set on getting revenge on Hart. The two faced one another in a series of submission matches, during which time Hart quietly left the Nation of Domination. At Fully Loaded: In Your House in July 1998, Hart defeated Shamrock in a "Hart Family Dungeon match". At SummerSlam in August 1998, Shamrock defeated Hart in a Lion's Den match.^[63][64]

Teaming with Jeff Jarrett; return of the Blue Blazer (1998–1999)

In late-1998, Hart formed an alliance with Jeff Jarrett. Hart and Jarrett had Jarrett's manager Debra in their corner. During this time a storyline was proposed that Hart was supposed to have an on-screen affair with Debra, something which Owen turned down.^[20]

After a match in which Hart "accidentally injured" Dan Severn, Hart seemingly quit the WWF.^[65] Playing off the legitimate injury Hart had inflicted on Austin the year before, the angle blurred the lines between reality and "storyline." Yet as soon as Hart "quit," the Blue Blazer appeared in the WWF claiming to in no way be Hart despite it being very obvious who was under the mask. Unlike the first run of the character, the Blazer was now an overbearing, self-righteous heel who treated the edgy Attitude Era WWF with disdain. Hart and Jarrett ended up making the storyline comical. To prove that Hart was not the Blazer, he showed up beside the Blue Blazer, who was a masked Jarrett. In a later attempt to prove that neither Hart or Jarrett was the Blazer, they both appeared next to a man in the Blue Blazer mask; however, it was obvious that a black man was under the mask (Hart's former tag team partner Koko B. Ware).^[2] On January 25, 1999, in the midst of the Blue Blazer angle Hart and Jarrett defeated Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man for the WWF Tag Team Championship.^[23][66] The pair successfully defended the belts against Test and D'Lo Brown at WrestleMania XV. They lost the titles to the team of Kane and X-Pac on the (pre-taped) episode of Raw that aired on April 5, 1999. Afterwards, Hart and Jarrett continued to team together well into May 1999. That same month, Hart began a feud with The Godfather for the Intercontinental Championship, which was scheduled for Over the Edge.