WWE Region, Dallas Region, First Round: (16) Owen Hart vs (17) Eddie Guerrero

[Big Nick Dudley]

I don't see either guy as overrated, to be honest. I don't think anyone has said either guy is one of the top talents we've ever seen, or anything like that.

Inside the ring, both were great, great wrestlers. They were, and there's really no arguing that. However, Eddie won bigger matches than Owen. Owen beat Bret at least one time (maybe more, don't feel like looking it up), but they're brothers, so it doesn't mean as much. They knew each other better than anyone else.

Eddie, in the realm of kayfabe, was better. He wins, even though I personally prefer Owen.

 

[The Engima]

This is an insane first round match up. Two very good in ring performers. Both past before their times. Both had great careers. However, while Owen may never have reached the top, I don't believe he would have. He was one of those guys who was a great work-horse, but never top tear guy. (What I mean by that was no one was ever going to go watch a match just because of him.) While the same can be said with Eddie, he actually reached the top. He became a world champion, and was looked at as one that could carry a main event match. I'm not sure if Owen was ever there.

I'm going to have to go with Eddie on this one.

 

[willross]

The hardest match to call out of all of them. Both were fantastic and had similar styles. Both were sneaky so I think that cancels each other out. They were both fast and equally as strong. This is perfectly even. But, Owen is Canadian and Canadians are notoriously tougher than Latinos. Hockey culture.

Owen Hart wins with Sharpshooter.

 

[pumpkinking8987]

Have you guys got an iota of proof to substantiate your claims? Owen was in the midcard when he died, that too in the very cartoonish Blue Blazer gimmick. The prime of Owen's career was his feud with Bret Hart. He was only interesting when you put him with Bret in some capacity. At all other times, he was a boring midcarder. There is nothing to suggest that he would have ever held a World Title.

Owen passed away before Vince realized that hard In-Ring workers deserve to be champions. If Owen Hart would of been around in the early 2000's and on he would of definetly had his share of title runs. I dont believe wrestlers like The Miz, Eddie Guerrero, Christian or Rey Mysterio would of ever had Title runs if their career spanned the same time-line as Owen's.

 

[dakikko049]

This is a tough pick and would be a great match but I give it to Eddie because I thiink he would find a way to lie and cheat his way into stealing the match

 

[The_Sharpshooter]

This is the hardest match to decide in the 1st round. I'm giving it to Eddie, mostly because the match was in Dallas. A latin wrestler is not gonna lose in Texas or Mexico to a Canadian.

I prefer Owen, but Eddie isn't losing a few hours away from home.

 

[deem]

On paper this looks like a really hard decision, but the more I thought about it the easier a vote for Guerrero it was.

I mean, if we look at their entire careers it seems fairly close; this tournament is based on primes however, and Guerreros stretch from 2004-2005 was more significant than Owen's 1994 for me.

It really, really annoys me when people say Eddie was overrated due to his death. I strongly disagree. I mean, he won the World title and retained in a Wrestlemania main event over Lesnar and Angle. Neither were clean, but while he couldn't hope for the help of Goldberg in this tournament the manner he defeated Angle was fairly typical for him.

Furthermore, towards the end of 2005 he was back in the main event and seemed certain for a second world title reign. That's more than Benoit ever got. For me, Eddie was a bigger main event player than Benoit at the time of his death, which was also Benoit's prime. If Eddie had survived, I'd be shocked if he didn't go on to have multiple title reigns and be considered in the same league as the Jerichos of the wrestling world.

Owen Hart is different. I DO feel his death pushed him to a bloated level of percepted overness. He was great in the ring but never reached the top echelon - while I don't want to be hypocritical and claim that Eddie would be a multiple champ without acknowledging that Owen might of took the title at some point, there is simply TONS more evidence to support a second Guerrero reign compared to Owen reaching the main event when he was lowermidcard at the time of his death.

To be fair, I considered everything and Owen has something going for him. During Eddie's prime he had a hot feud with another top cruiserweight, Rey Mysterio. A feud that Mysterio dominated the win/loss of. Eddie hasn't had problems with cruiserweights in his career, but if a guy of similar stature and style to Hart can crush him in his prime, maybe you can make a case for Owen. That said, Guerrero dominated most of the fued and the Mysterio wins came across as underdog upsets every time. Owen IS a different worker from Mysterio too, and his focus on submission/technical wrestling will play more into Eddie's hands than Mysterio's gutsy, resistant and unexpected offence.

For me, no factor points towards an Owen win. His biggest win, going over Bret at Mania, can be put down to distraction by Bret as he focused on his WWE title shot later that night, and it's one of the few peaks of a fairly mediocre career.

Guerrero to the second round, and its not even close

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Two wonderful performers here. However, I think the greatness of Owen Hart has been exagerated since his tragic accident. As good as he was, I doubt we would have ever seen Owen Hart in the main event scene, although Eddie Guerrero showed that anything is possible after conquering his demons and climbing to the top of the business.

Eddie accomplished so much more in his career than Owen Hart did, he was one of the most loved performers in the history of the WWE, capable of working a great match with anyone and the fact that he won the WWE Championship swings my pendulum of support to Mr Guerrero.

Hart was good, Eddie was better. This match would have been FANTASTIC and it's a damm shame it never happened.

Winner: Eddie Guerrero

 

[Thriller Ant]

Two wonderful performers here. However, I think the greatness of Owen Hart has been exagerated since his tragic accident. As good as he was, I doubt we would have ever seen Owen Hart in the main event scene, although Eddie Guerrero showed that anything is possible after conquering his demons and climbing to the top of the business.

Eddie accomplished so much more in his career than Owen Hart did, he was one of the most loved performers in the history of the WWE, capable of working a great match with anyone and the fact that he won the WWE Championship swings my pendulum of support to Mr Guerrero.

Hart was good, Eddie was better. This match would have been FANTASTIC and it's a damm shame it never happened.

Winner: Eddie Guerrero

You could easily replace Owen with Eddie there and still be 100% accurate with that statement. Both of these guys were very good, but became greatly overrated after their deaths.

With that said, I do have to vote for Eddie here. I won't be upset either way, but Eddie's kayfabe accomplishments push him through for me.

 

[Tastycles]

Jesus, is there any wrestler who's importance is as overrated as either of these? I think not. People always say that Hart was destined for great things and died, I'm not so sure. He was in a shit gimmick entrenched in the midcard when he died, and the only time he ever looked like a main eventer was feuding with his brother.

Guerrero's title reign was in the year of experimentation, but I do think he probably consistently operated at a higher level than Owen, so I'm giving him this one.

 

[Silly Willy Nilly Vanilly in the Milly]

This is... extremely hard. Most difficult one yet, and perhaps of all.
But, when it gets down to accomplishments and such...
Eddie wins.
Yes, Owen could have accomplished more due to his death, but understand one thing...
He planned to retire in 2000 to be with his family.
Regardless of whether or not he died, Eddie would still be one step ahead, however small.
Plus, I hail from El Paso...
Viva La Raza!

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I'm pretty happy that Eddie Guerrero won this match - technically the poll isn't closed just yet, but there's no way Owen comes back from this. Now, here's the big question: can Eddie beat Hulk Hogan? I mean, the masses will probably vote for Hulk Hogan, but I think if you get rid of the obvious booking decision, Eddie could beat Hogan in a wrestling contest 7 days of the week.

So, can we give Eddie the biggest upset of his career, Guerrero fans? I'm hoping so...

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Hardly an upset. He deserved to go through and has.


Eddie was NOT overrated. True we see him at a legendary status after his death, but his demons and overcoming them were publicized, which further fuel fueled his image.