Owen Hart and The British Bulldog

Owen Hart and British Bulldog
Tag team
Members	Owen Hart The British Bulldog
Name(s)	Owen Hart and The British Bulldog
Heights	Owen: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Bulldog: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Combined weight	482 lb (219 kg)
Hometown	Owen: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Bulldog: Golborne, Warrington, England
Debut	March 31, 1996
Disbanded	September 7, 1997
Promotions	WWF

Owen Hart and The British Bulldog were a professional wrestling tag team in World Wrestling Federation.

History

Winning the World Tag Team Championship

Owen Hart

The team of Hart and Bulldog debuted on March 31, 1996 at the twelfth WrestleMania event as members of James E. Cornette's Camp stable along with Vader and went on to defeat Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts.^[1] On In Your House 7, Hart and Bulldog defeated Johnson and Roberts.^[2] They teamed up with Vader again on In Your House 9 to defeat Ahmed Johnson, Sycho Sid and Shawn Michaels.^[3] On In Your House 10, Hart and Bulldog defeated The Smokin' Gunns to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.^[4][5][6]

Title defenses

After winning the World Tag Team Champions, Hart and Bulldog started a feud with The Smokin' Gunns whom they went on to defeat at In Your House 11 in a title match.^[7] On In Your House 12, they defended their title for a second time against (Fake) Razor Ramon and (Fake) Diesel.^[8] Following In Your House 12, Clarence Mason became their manager. They started a feud with Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon over the World Tag Team Championship after losing to them at Survivor Series after losing to them in a 4-on-4 survivor series match.^[9] This led to a title defense at In Your House 13 against Furnas and LaFon which Hart and Bulldog lost by disqualification and thus retained the titles.^[10]

Following In Your House 13, Bulldog fired Mason because he lost a match to Crush under Mason's management. Hart tried to convince Bulldog that it was wrong to fire Mason but the decision stood. Hart and Bulldog started a feud with the legendary Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) against whom they made two title defenses but lost to them by disqualification.^[11][12] At WrestleMania 13, Hart and Bulldog defended the titles against Mankind and Vader in a match which ended in a double count-out.^[13]

Tensions between Hart and Bulldog

At the 1997 Royal Rumble, Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog from the Royal Rumble match.^[14] On February 26, 1997, Bulldog defeated his partner Hart in a tournament to be crowned the first-ever WWF European Champion.^[15][16][17] After this defeat, the tension between Bulldog and Hart began to build. After a title match against Headbangers,^[15] Hart and Bulldog got into a fight and Hart demanded that he wanted a title shot at Bulldog's European Championship.

Reformation of the Hart Foundation

On March 31 edition of RAW is WAR, the WWF Tag Team Champions Owen and Bulldog fought to no contest because of Bret Hart who appeared and pleaded with the two not to fight any more. He talked about their family turning heel^[15] and then they formed The Hart Foundation's new version and they were joined by Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman.^[18] On April 28, Owen defeated Rocky Maivia to win the Intercontinental Championship, making both he and Smith double champions, as Smith still held the European Title.

On May 26 edition of RAW is WAR, they lost the tag team titles to Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels.^[5][15][19] Hart, Bulldog and Neidhart defeated Sycho Sid and Legion of Doom at 1997 King of the Ring.^[20] The entire Hart Foundation defeated Ken Shamrock, Goldust, Steve Austin and The Legion of Doom at Canadian Stampede in a 5-on-5 tag team match.^[21] World Tag Team Championship was vacated afterwards.^[5][22] When the tag titles were vacated as a result of a neck injury to Steve Austin, who was at the time one-half of the world tag team champions, Owen (who inflicted the injury on Austin) and Bulldog got a chance to win the titles for a second time in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Tag Team match where they were defeated by The Headbangers. The match also involved Legion of Doom and The Godwinns.^[5][22][23] The team became the tenth longest reigning World Tag Team Champions, for 245 days.^[24]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Sharpshooter – Owen Hart
  • Running powerslam – British Bulldog

• Manager
  • Jim Cornette^[25]

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Owen and Bulldog
  • WWF European Championship (1 time) – Bulldog
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times) – Owen

See also

Professional wrestling portal

• British Bulldogs
• Owen Hart and Yokozuna
• The Hart Foundation

References

1. ^ "WrestleMania XII results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/wm12.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
2. ^ "In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh07.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
3. ^ "In Your House 9: International Incident results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh09.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
4. ^ "In Your House 10: Mind Games results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh10.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} "History of the World Tag Team Championship". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldtagteam/. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
6. ^ "British Bulldog & Owen Hart's first World Tag Team Championship reign". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldtagteam/30445413212222. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
7. ^ "In Your House 11: Buried Alive results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh11.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
8. ^ "In Your House 12: It's Time results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh12.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
9. ^ "Survivor Series 1996 results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/sur96.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
10. ^ "In Your House 13: Final Four results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh13.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
11. ^ "In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh14.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
12. ^ "In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh15.html. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
13. ^ "WrestleMania XIII results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/wm13.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
14. ^ "Royal Rumble 1997 results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/rr97.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
15. ^ ^{a b c d} "RAW 1997 results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/_1997/. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
16. ^ "WWE European Championship history". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/euro/. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
17. ^ "The British Bulldog's first reign". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/euro/358396. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
18. ^ "The (New) Hart Foundation Profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/h/hart-foundation.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
19. ^ "Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin's first World Tag Team Championship reign". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldtagteam/304454132122112. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
20. ^ "King of the Ring 1997 results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/kotr97.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
21. ^ "In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh16.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
22. ^ ^{a b} "The Headbangers' first World Tag Team Championship reign". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldtagteam/3044541321111212. Retrieved 2007-05-24. 
23. ^ "In Your House 17: Ground Zero results". Complete WWE. http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/iyh17.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
24. ^ "World Tag Team Championship history". Complete WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20071116120402/http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/thist/tagteam.html. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
25. ^ "Jim Cornette profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/j/jim-cornette.html. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 

External links

• Owen Hart and British Bulldog At Online World Of Wrestling