WWF: The Blue Blazer: Owen was brought in as a masked lightweight with incredible moves. His name: the Blue Blazer.
The Blue Blazer displayed a style of wrestling that was totally unique and innovative to 1988 WWF fans, and didn't really catch on with a crowd that was more interested in the bulk and physiques of the existing WWF heros. Blazer quickly became a mid-carder, and disappeared from the WWF in late 1989. At no point during that initial tenure was it revealed that the Blue Blazer was the brother of current WWF superstar Bret Hart...
"The Rocket" Owen Hart: Because Neidhart and Bret Hart had been hugely successful as the Hart Foundation, the new Owen/Neidhart team was dubbed the New Foundation. However, they never really got off the ground -- in part because Neidhart left the WWF in early 1992. Owen, now nicknamed "the Rocket," was still a prized commodity as far as the WWF was concerned, and was given a singles win at WrestleMania 8.
Owen was quickly placed back into a tag team situation, however, as he was paired off with Ko Ko B. Ware to form High Energy. This team didn't last much long than the New Foundation did... by early 1993, the duo was pretty well dissolved as Ko Ko evaporated from the WWF scene.
"The King of Harts" Owen Hart: With the family feud finally starting to lose steam, Owen found himself aligned with Jim Cornette's heel stable as 1995 began. At WrestleMania 11, Owen teamed up with Yokozuna to defeat the Smoking Gunns for the WWF Tag Team titles. Owen and Yoko were unstoppable for much of 1995, until a controversial match against Shawn Michaels and Diesel on PPV... because of the British Bulldog's involvement in the match, Owen and Yoko were forced to defend the titles again, the next night on RAW. Spent from the previous night's PPV main event, Owen and Yoko lost the titles to the Smoking Gunns.
"The Slammy Award Winning" Owen Hart:
In 1996, Owen was awarded a pair of Slammy awards (he won another in 1997), and also found himself back in the thick of the tag team title chase, this time with his other brother-in-law, the British Bulldog. Under the management of Jim Cornette, the Owen/Bulldog duo quickly won the tag straps. Despite a change of management -- as Clarence Mason took over those duties from Cornette -- Owen and Bulldog continued strong into 1997.
"The Black Hart" Owen Hart: Many were sure Owen would follow Bret, Bulldog, and Neidhart to WCW following the screwjob.... but instead, Owen came back to the WWF bigger than ever, as a babyface trying to avenge his brother by going after new WWF Champ Shawn Michaels. Quickly, Owen found himself shunted into a feud with Michaels' DX partner, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Owen won the WWF European Title held by HHH, but lost it back after about a month, in a pair of bizarre title switches tainted by injuries hobbling both men.
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