How Owen Hart & Bret Hart Were Similar (& How They Were Different)

All eight of Stu and Helen Hart's sons became professional wrestlers, but by far the most famous of the litter are Bret Hart and Owen Hart. The two brothers were blessed with the most marketable looks and athletic abilities of all their brethren, and they both landed in WWE in their primes.

While most fans remember their spectacular 1994 feud, Bret and Owen also had a handful of terrific matches as a tag team before they broke up, including an all-time classic against the Steiner Brothers. And in 1997, they joined forces again to form the anti-American Hart Foundation stable. Whether they were feuding or teaming up, Bret and Owen had tremendous chemistry that was built on both their similarities and their differences.

10 Similar - Excellent Wrestlers

No matter where they were on the card: in the Main Event, in a tag team, or curtain-jerking in singles matches, both Bret and Owen Hart were always among the best in-ring technicians on any show. Growing up in a wrestling family, grappling was already in their bones before they even stepped foot in a ring to start training. Their talents were both innate and well-studied, and they're two of the best wrestlers North America has ever produced.

9 Different - Owen Hart Was A Prankster

Owen Hart posing for a photo as "The Black Hart"

Owen Hart had a reputation for keeping the boys entertained backstage by playing pranks/ribs. Whether he was calling Stu Hart and pretending to be belt-maker Reggie Parks challenging Stu Hart to a fight, or hitting Mick Foley over the head with a "deadly" bag of popcorn in front of Dave Meltzer, Owen knew when to keep it light. In contrast, Bret took his wrestling seriously at all times and was even upset when his younger brother was no-selling Bret's Sharpshooter on a House Show by pretending to smoke a cigarette. This had "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith in stitches on the apron.

8 Similar - Both Used The Sharpshooter

While Riki Choshu in New Japan invented the Sharpshooter, and Sting brought it to North America as the Scorpion Deathlock, Bret Hart is most synonymous with the maneuver. If the Sharpshooter was locked in, the fans knew the match was most likely over.

So when Owen Hart feuded with Bret, it was natural for him to steal his bigger brother's own move and use it against him. Both men used the Sharpshooter for the rest of their careers.

7 Different - Bret Hart Took The Business More Seriously

Owen Hart's lighthearted backstage antics were in sharp contrast to how seriously Bret took the business, and it showed with their person life. For Owen, it was a job that he took pride in but wasn't at the center of his being. There are touching stories of Owen stuffing all his clothes and gear into a small carry-on case because he didn't want to check a bag, so he could race out of the airport in Calgary and spend as much time with his family as possible. Whereas Bret ate, slept, and drank wrestling, and as he admitted in his book, the weight of the WWE schedule hurt the Hitman's home life.

6 Similar - Both Teamed With Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart

10 Things Fans Should Know About Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart

Bret Hart was floundering with no direction as a singles wrestler when he was paired up with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. The team known as the Hart Foundation would become one of the top tag teams in the WWE before Bret would break off on his own as a star. The same blueprint was handed to Owen Hart as a member of the New Hart Foundation, but Neidhart got himself fired and replaced by Koko B. Ware to form the team High Energy.

5 Different - Owen Hart Was A High-Flyer

To fans of Owen Hart's mid to late-90s work, it may come as somewhat of a surprise that he was a high-flyer in his early days. In the 1980s and early 90s, a babyface Owen could hang with the best high-flyers in the world, doing state-of-the-art moves for the time like a moonsault. Whereas, for as incredible of a wrestler as Bret Hart was, flying wasn't exactly his forte. It's hard to imagine the elder of the two Hart brothers even coming off the top rope.

4 Similar - They Both Wrestled In Japan

Owen Hart v Jushin Thunder Liger NJPW Explosion Tour 1991 Cropped

In the 1980s, Bret Hart did a couple of tours in New Japan Pro Wrestling, tangling with some all-time greats: Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujianami, Kuniaki Kobayahi, and most notably with the original Tiger Mask. While Bret was later in WWE, Owen Hart was making a name for himself in Japan, having classic matches with Jushin "Thunder" Liger.

3 Different - Owen Hart Was Instantly Great

Bret Hart was no slouch early on in his career, having tremendous bouts with Dynamite Kid only two years after his debut in Stampede Wrestling. But it wasn't until nearly a decade later that he really entered the discussion as one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Owen Hart on the other hand was almost fully-formed as an in-ring performer very early on, having classic matches with the likes of Brian Pillman and Jushin "Thunder" Liger. One of the few people who took to wrestling as quickly as Owen Hart, would be Kurt Angle.

2 Similar - Both Were Given Bad Gimmicks Early In WWE

When Bret Hart joined the WWE he was given the gimmick of "Cowboy" Bret Hart, but before long, he would plead with booker George Scott to drop the gimmick. Bret would toil aimlessly in the singles division until paired with Jim Neidhart. Owen Hart debuted a few years later, as the Blue Blazer. This character floundered in the lower-mid-card before Owen left the company in 1989.

1 Different - Owen Hart Left For WCW And Came Back To WWE

After Owen Hart's disappointing run in WWE as the Blue Blazer, he returned to Stampede Wrestling, and had tours in Japan and Mexico, before joining WCW in 1991. Less than a year later, Owen was back in WWE. He struggled in the mid-card in the New Hart Foundation, in High Energy, and in the singles division without a push. But a feud with brother Bret in 1994 would make him a mainstay on the WWE roster until his untimely death in 1999. Bret on the other hand stayed with WWE for nearly 14 years until the Montreal Screwjob. He left for WCW and wouldn't return again before he retired in 2000 from a concussion.