Owen Hart vs. The Man They Call Vader (Sep. 27, 1997, One Night Only)
This match is from the UK PPV ?One Night Only?, the show where HBK defeated the British Bulldog for the European belt. Since Bulldog was an overwhelming face in the main event, the other members of the Hart Foundation play face in their matches, as we see Owen shaking hands with the fans and playing face-in-peril throughout the match.
Early on, Vader establishes his dominance by tossing Owen around. The announcers play up the speed vs. strength angle that is commonplace in these types of mismatches. Initially, when they give Owen his shine segment, this match shows great promise. Owen strings together a nice sequence of spots that serve to reinforce the notion that he may be smaller than Vader but he is much smarter. He attempts a sunset flip only to avoid a Vader butt-drop. He attempts a hurracanrana after a teased powerbomb spot and Owen drops Vader right on his head. Finally, Owen gets a flying body press from the 2nd rope that gets a 2 count. This initial sequence shows that Owen could go toe-to-toe with Vader by playing to his strengths and keeping Vader off-guard.
The next sequence of events shows Owen failing at capitalizing on his initial flurry of offense. He attempts a Sharpshooter only to fail. He fails to hit a suplex on his much bigger opponent as well as another Sharpshooter. Eventually, he tries a crucifix only to get dropped with Vader?s weight on him. Vader?s control segment is decent as he exhibits some nice power offense such as the elbow drop, a big splash from the 2nd rope, a sternum-first Irish whip into the turnbuckle and a short-arm clothesline.
At the same time, another theme begins to play into the match. When Owen gets a small window of opportunity, he attempts to bodyslam Vader ala Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 3 against Andre the Giant. Like Hogan, Owen fails in the first couple of attempts stretched throughout the match. When he finally pulls it out, you get the feeling that he could really pull out the upset.
Unfortunately, after the first bodyslam attempt, the match goes to the mat and it begins to falter. Vader goes for a chinlock, clearly catching a breather as he fails to do anything that resembles working a hold. After a corner splash, Vader applies a Fujiwara armbar and then a knee lock that Jim Ross calls a modified half-Boston crab. In this segment, there is clearly no focus. There is no demonstration of Vader?s brute strength. He doesn?t expand on the leg work or arm work or even the chinlock. All three were used to kill time and it annoyed me throughout the match despite Owen?s best attempts to pull a good match out of the big guy. Later in the match, after another Owen bodyslam attempt, Vader goes back to the knee but it is unclear what his purpose is. Is he trying to keep Owen grounded so he doesn?t use his high-flying arsenal? Was he trying to take advantage of an earlier incident that damaged the leg? Was he setting up his lethal finisher that focuses on the leg? Sadly, the answer to all of these questions is no. I think he just had no idea to fill the time.
The ending sequence and babyface comeback is really neat to watch. Owen blocks a Vaderbomb attempt and hits the enziguiri. He locks in the Sharpshooter to a great crowd reaction and follows that up by finally bodyslamming Vader! Owen blocks the corner Vaderbomb by getting the knees up and hits a flying dropkick and a spinning heel-kick to follow-up. This is where the earlier leg work becomes infuriating. Owen just used his legs in several moves and sold no damage from the earlier leg work. This is where it becomes apparent that the matwork was used to kill time. The match ends when Owen goes up to the top and gets caught with a vicious powerslam for the Vader pin.
Final Thoughts
For the WWF, I don?t know if they had ever attempted a match like this that wasn?t a squash. However, Owen gives the crowd enough hope spots and comebacks to think he has a chance in pulling it off. The opening babyface shine sequence and the end sequence were especially fun to watch. When Vader was dominating the match, it was perfectly acceptable until he took it to the mat. In a mismatch like this, Vader had no business taking it to the ground. HE could have used his brute strength to greater effect or, at the very least, focused on one body part or section. This is the most glaring weakness in a really fun match to watch, if nothing else, for Owen?s performance. As far as monster vs. little guys go, this was perfectly acceptable stuff but I have a feeling it will pale in comparison after I watch Big Show vs. Eddie from Smackdown!
