The topic of Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels‘ program in 1998 was brought up during a recent episode of Grillin Jr.
This feud was hot off the heels of the Montreal Screwjob, which has been well documented. Basically, Hart was put in this program with Michaels as part of Vince McMahon convincing Bret Hart’s brother to stay with the promotion.
“Could it have happened? Of course, it could have happened,” JR responded when asked if Triple H and HBK quashed the idea of Owen feuding with Shawn. “Can I confirm that it definitely happened? No, I cannot. I don’t know the answer.”
“I don’t know if there was as much confidence in Vince’s eyes in Owen because of the perception that Owen didn’t have this animal magnetism that Bret possessed.”
“So maybe Vince’s lack of total confidence in Owen affected that decision making. Owen was another guy just like Shawn, you knew that bell-to-bell, nobody was going to be better. Owen Hart was a great worker but maybe he didn’t have that zest of charisma to the level that Bret had and that is what he was being compared to. That was obviously not that fair, but that’s the only thing I can think of, Conrad.”
“Maybe Shawn and Hunter just wanted to get away from the Hart thing. They rode that horse a long time. I don’t know, I don’t have the answer to that scenario, I wish I did.”
H/T to SEScoops