The Blue Blazer Angle(Prior to Owen's Death)

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dothebird said:

chunkylover53 said:

The same could've been said about Bradshaw.

I'd disagree, politely. Bradshaw was indeed a mid-carder, but his progress grew. From 1996-98, total mid-carder. From 1999-2002, during the APA, he was an upper-level mid-carder that was occasionally added to the mix of TV main events. They experimented with him on top during the beginning of the brand split, he got hurt, came back to his old spot, then was given his first chance to be a true main eventer in 2004 as JBL.

Owen, however, was much closer to the top of the card several times before the Blue Blazer. He spent practically all of 1994 as the company's top heel. He was constantly in the main event mix from mid-1997 to WM 14, as a member of the Hart Foundation and then fueding with DX after Montreal. After Wrestlemania 14 until his death, he was continuously sliding further and further into the midcard.

Basically, whereas JBL made a slow, steady climb from tag teams/mid-card to main event status (not unlike Edge, by the way) and stayed there, Owen went from midcarder to main events then BACK to midcarder. It's hard to say the Blue Balzer was going to get him back to main event status.

In all fairness, one could argue the same thing about Owen's midcard to main event status and back in Bret Hart. He went from midcard to main eventing (winning the title off Flair, etc.) back to midcarding (against Hakushi, Jerry Lawler, etc.) and back to main eventing again (Hart Foundation, etc.).

Others have done that as well... Razor Ramon teased main eventing several times in his career, only to drop down to the midcard. Bob Backlund main evented, returned as a midcarder, main evented for a short time and then went back to being a midcarder yet again.

[Citizen Snips]

I'd say there was just some intangible/ "it" factor that separated someone like Bret, Taker, Jericho, Flair, etc's forays into the mid-card and Owen's. I think the first group was in the mid-card in an attempt to elevate another talent. For example, Mick Foley's feud with Val Venis in 1999 was an attempt to elevate Val up the card. After the feud ended, Foley seamlessly went into a main event program with Triple H.

Owen wasn't back in the mid-card to elevate anyone. He was simply a mid-carder. He was a great talent, but I think in the end, he always just a shade below having "it", or the majority of the crowd always saw him simply as "Bret's brother".

As for the idea of giving him "The Game" gimmick, it took Triple H awhile to get that over. It took the Foley retirement angle (and hooking up with Steph, according to HHHate) to make him from an upper mid-carder to a true main eventer. And he played the role perfectly from the start, it just took awhile for it to take hold. Just giving anyone the gimmick is no guarantee it would've gotten anyone over.

[Corporate H]

It would be funny if Steve Blackman unmasked the Blue Blazer and it was a black man...or did they actually end up doing that?

[chunkylover53]

bencrocker said:

It would be funny if Steve Blackman unmasked the Blue Blazer and it was a black man...or did they actually end up doing that?

Well, Koko B Ware also played in that sharade, making it obvious it was a black man under the mask.