WWF 'Thursday RAW Thursday' Review: February 13th, 1997

"The Owen Hart Show" Disguised As A Tag-Team Match

Step 1: Owen Hart upstages his Brother-In-Law...

MATCH #5: OWEN HART & THE BRITISH BULLDOG (c) vs. FAROOQ & CRUSH (w/ Nation of Domination) {WWF Tag Team Championship Match}.

I don’t necessarily like how Farooq & Crush are suddenly inserted into a Tag Championship match without any story behind it. But on the other hand, I think people are just tired of seeing Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon face Owen & Davey Boy Smith over & over again.

What I do like though, is Owen Hart. He comically upstages his brother-in-law, The British Bulldog right from the entrance itself. Their love/hate relationship dynamic is interesting to see. Owen takes everything as a joke, whilst Davey Boy Smith is the complete opposite.

Owen Hart goes first & gets beaten up the whole time. So he quickly scurries & tags The British Bulldog.

Time for a short-detour as our view turns split-screen & Bret Hart is standing by. Bret says that he’s ‘sorry’ to hear what happened with Shawn despite their differences, but he hopes that HBK makes his comeback as both of them still have a score to settle. Eh, we all know that Bret knows what ‘really’ happened. He’s still playing a character.

When asked about his upcoming match with Vader (in the main event), Bret Hart goes— “It’s gonna be like wrestling a cement truck.” *laughing internally*

Coming back to our match at hand, everybody is cheering for the Bulldog to escape Crush’s body-scissor hold. Owen Hart tries to interfere, but the referee literally/physically stops him from taking even one-step forward. Wait, the referee never does that! Poor Owen.

Davey Boy Smith finally tags Owen Hart. The climax of this match happens when Crush sends Owen over the top-rope, & just like last week, Owen looks like he might have tweaked his knee.

The referee counts him out (just like last week) & Crush/Farooq win by count-out. The Nation of Domination beat the hell out of Davey Boy Smith after the match.

Owen looks like he wants to help his brother-in-law. But he doesn’t. Owen is probably going like— “F*ck it. My family ain’t worth it.” So he starts walking backstage. Unexpectedly, The British Bulldog catches up with him.

The funny thing is, that The British Bulldog took one hell of a beating, but he’s the one helping Owen Hart walk backstage instead of the other way around. The reason why Owen’s tactics are so great is that I think that Vince McMahon didn’t write Owen Hart to be a funny character…but Owen Hart doesn’t give a sh*t either way.

RESULT: Farooq/Crush win by count-out (but Owen/Davey Boy Smith retain their tag titles).