Can the Forbidden Door finally be the way we honour Owen Hart – By Wrestle G

Hi there NoDQ fans and thank you once again for clicking that link and joining me for another fun wrestling discussion today.

I am writing this fresh off of the news that AEW will be running their first ever show in Cardiff, Wales which is where I reside so I am PUMPED to go and catch those dynamite tapings before I hot foot it to London for All In. There is just something about going to a wrestling show and seeing that ring lit in the middle of the room it gives me chills every time and Wembley in the sunshine last year just gave everyone a great feeling. Let’s just hope we don’t get another ‘Brawl In’ incident this year and we can talk about the actual show.

Elsewhere around the wrestling world we final had the reveal of the new Wyat Sick6 faction. I absolutely loved the execution of the reveal from all of the little Bray touches to how brutal it all looked and I thought the costumes and production was first rate. I know that the supernatural stuff is a tough sell but as someone who was brought up on an Undertaker and Kane feud filled with lighting bolts being fired at the caskets of their dead mother….. I think I can believe that the spirit of some puppets have come to life to finish the work of their creator. Pro wrestling eh? There’s nothing quite like it. I do wish Bo Dallas the best though it must be exciting and daunting to take on the legacy of a sibling who had big ideas. I will be watching with interest.

We also have the TNA/NXT partnership going on and I think its doing ok. With any of these partnerships the bigger company is always going to gain more from it. Ultimately by the end of this experiment we would have seen good talents from TNA earn more exposure and I am super pleased for them, especially Joe Hendry who has been hustling to get his name out there and deserves more of a spotlight for that hard work he’s put in. I was delighted to hear the NXT crowds reaction to him and it will be very interesting to see if he gets a shot to pop up on the main roster anytime soon.

Ok let’s get into the meat and bones of todays column…..

 

Can Tony Khan get the WWE through the Forbidden door for Owen Hart?

 

I’m going to start this off with a confession and an apology. When the Owen Hart Tournament was first announced by AEW a few years ago my immediate reaction was that it was a cynical attempt by Tony Khan to gain favour with the wrestling audience. I thought he was essentially taking advantage of Owens memory to drum up his own business. Then I saw Martha Hart at the title presentations and it completely hit me how wrong I had been, this wasn’t about corporate greed this was about a Wife and Mother finally having the ability to honour her late husband in a wrestling space.

It was heart-warming to see that Martha clearly has a part of her that acknowledges how important wrestling was to Owen in his life. Only the stonehearted amongst us would criticise her for her stance over these past few years towards the WWF, and she deserves to honour and celebrate her husbands wrestling career on her terms.

With this in mind it got me to thinking, we are in an unprecedented time in wrestling in regards to cooperation. AEW really championed the forbidden door concept working with companies such as TNA, NJPW, Starrcast, AAA, CMLL and made these partnerships successful. Indeed Tony has even allowed Billy Gunn to appear at the WWE Hall of Fame at the very beginning of AEW’s existence. But tensions have been high between AEW and WWE in recent years and months. Nick Khan has been on a PR attack at AEW over their ratings and Tony went full on assault with the Harvey Weinstein comments. So at present we live in a landscape where that phone call isn’t possible, that cooperation is off the table.

But What if?………….

What if for this once everyone lays down their arms and does the right thing. The Right thing for Owen, the right thing for Martha the right thing for his children. Let’s get to a point where the Owen Hart tournament is dripping with Owen Hart content, Matches, Promos, Angles all over YouTube and via Triller. Let’s finally have the definitive Owen Hart documentary with all of the relevant talking heads. Let’s get some Merch with great T shirt Designs and Action figures and coffee table photobooks. And then lets give those profits directly to the Owen Hart Foundation, take all of the fiscal issues out of the way and just do the right thing.

What we have at the moment is a stalemate that doesn’t benefit anyone. On the one hand WWE can’t/won’t use the footage outside of the network offerings so it just sits there. Martha can’t use it because WWE does. Ultimately we are in a position where everyone is losing and no one is gaining out of this.

Vince is thankfully no longer around so this would be the first time the endeavour version of WWE would be able to handle the legacy of Owen Hart. I don’t see HHH being the vindictive presence in this, this is the guy who brokered Bruno and the Ultimate warrior returns after years of distance. Let us open the Forbidden Door and finally celebrate the career of a wrestling pioneer who has directly influenced so many of todays top stars.

I sadly don’t think it will ever happen. But what if?…….. Let’s open that Forbidden Door and see who walks through it.

Let me know in the comments below what you think, is it something we will ever see? Do you want to see it happen? Let me know here or on Twitter via @Wrestle_G I loved the reaction and opinions to my last column on Ricochet, so hopefully we can get discussion going on this as well.

Until next time,

Cheers,

G