Brian Pillman Jr Says It Would Be A Mistake To Exclude Him From Next Owen Hart Foundation Tournament

AEW

AEW held the inaugural Owen Hart Foundation Tournament back in May, with Adam Cole and Britt Baker coming out on top in the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively.

The tournament featured eight participants, with Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Samoa Joe, Darby Allin, Jeff Hardy, Dax Harwood, Rey Fenix and Johnny Elite making up the men’s bracket.

One named that many expected to be a part of the tournament, given his ties to the Hart family, is Brian Pillman Jr, who spoke about the tournament on the Counted Out Podcast, where he was honest and said that he wishes he was a part of the tournament honoring Owen’s legacy.

He said:

“I’ll go ahead and say it, straight up, I wish I was in it. I wasn’t too upset about it at first. Obviously, there is a lot of great talent in there and a lot of people that are on a whole other level than me. I know that Tony just wanted to put on some great matches. Looking back, I wish he viewed me in a better way to want to use me for it because it would have been a no brainer, in my opinion. I guess I take that to heart, that I should have worked harder or been a better singles athlete at the time for him. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It is kind of a shame because there was no one in the tournament to really represent that connection to the family. There wasn’t anybody, that I can think of, with a direct connection. It just makes me hungrier and more ready for the future.”

Pillman Jr continued on, explaining what he is doing to make sure he is a part of next year’s tournament, and claiming that it would be a mistake to exclude him from next year’s lineup.

He said:

“I’ve been training every day just for next year’s tournament. I’m so beat up about not being in it that I want to do everything I can to be in it next year. I just got back from wrestling in Calgary for Bret Hart and his son’s Dungeon Wrestling, they’re starting back up, wonderful little promotion. The amount of people there to see me and meet me, made me feel so proud to be connected to that city, to Calgary, and that family. In a way, I feel like I let them down by not being in the tournament. A lot of people did ask me that, ‘why weren’t you in the tournament?’ I can’t really blame anybody but myself. Maybe I wasn’t ready. I don’t know. It’s pro wrestling and everything is put out there to tell a story and entertain people. That’s what the Owen hart tournament did this year. The matches were incredible. It was very entertaining, very prestigious. I can’t be too selfish about not being in it, but I will say that it is a huge goal of mine going forward and I don’t want to be left out next year. That would be a mistake on anybody’s part. My part or the company’s part, excluding me from it next year.”

Pillman also spoke about his brief feud with MJF on AEW television last year, noting that he wishes he got more out of the rivalry than he did.

Pillman and Griff Garrison teamed against Christian Cage and Luchasaurus on last night’s Dynamite, in a losing effort, before Jungle Boy made his return to fight off Christian.

transcription via Fightful

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• Owen Hart Foundation Tournament
• brian pillman jr
• owen hart
• AEW

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