The Bottom Line - Looking At Bret & Shawn
Submitted by Easy J on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 12:41 PM EST



Welcome one and all to another edition of The Bottom Line. Time constraints are certainly a bitch, and for myself, I have quite a lot of them. Unfortunately, I have not been able to dedicate the time I would have liked to to upcoming editions. So today, I have another special edition for everyone that I wrote a short while back. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart are, once again, making headlines all over the internet. With Michaels back in the WWE and Hart’s recent injury, the two have become a major focus in the wrestling community once again.

Today, The Bottom Line takes an indepth look of two of the greatest ring generals of all time. At a time when the WWF was floundering in the ratings and storylines, they were kept alive on the strength of two men. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were those two men who stepped up to the plate and lead the WWF into the next generation. They bridged the gap between Hogan and Austin, arguably the two biggest icons in sports entertainment, and carried the WWF flag for years and years. But, unfortunately, every great story has a downside to go with it. Shawn and Bret were divided by their own personal desires for power in the WWF, and their own personal hatred for each other. How did things get so bad? This is the whole story of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels…

Looking At Bret And Shawn: The Hitman And Heartbreak Kid Divided

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels are easily my top two favorite wrestlers of all time, and I know many columnists will say the same. I personally grew up watching Bret and Shawn every Saturday morning on Superstars until my family was able to get cable. Bret was months away from winning the WWF Title for a second time, while Shawn was still on hiatus. Six months later would be Wrestlemania 10. Michaels would go on to have one of the best matches of his career against fellow Clique member Razor Ramon, while Bret would have one of the best matches of his career against his late brother Owen, and win the WWF Title in the same night from Yokozuna. For the next four years, I continued to watch Bret and Shawn, through heel turns and faces turns, good feuds and bad feuds, and title wins and titles losses. In order to understand the full story of Bret and Shawn, I guess I should start from the beginning…

Bret and Shawn both grew up in two of the biggest wrestling capitols of the world, being Canada and Texas respectively. Bret was trained by his father Stu in the legendary Hart Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, while Shawn Michaels was trained in his home of San Antonio by Mexican wrestling legend Jose Lothario. Bret started off wrestling for Stampede Wrestling, his father’s promotion, feuding with the likes of Bad News Brown, while wrestling over in New Japan against the Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask. Shawn eventually joined the legendary AWA, where he began teaming with Marty Jannetty as the Midnight Rockers. Bret and future brother in-law Jim Neidhart came to the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 a short while after Wrestlemania, where they would become WWF Tag Champions and become one of the best tag teams in wrestling history. In 1988, the Midnight Rockers would come to the WWF as well, where they would become known as The Rockers. They proved to be one of the hottest one tag teams, with a very bright future. 1991 proved to be a huge breakout year for both Bret and Shawn. The Hart Foundation would go on to lose their titles at Wrestlemania 7, leaving Bret and Jim to go their separate ways. Bret would go on to have a successful singles career, highlighted by his winning of the Intercontinental Title from Curt Hennig at Summerslam that year. Shawn Michaels would soon have a falling out with Marty Jannetty, in which Shawn blindsided Jannetty with a superkick through the window of the barbershop. Michaels was now on his own, making a name for himself as a singles wrestler, and with Sensational Sherri at his side.

It would not be long before Bret and Shawn’s paths crossed in the ring. On Prime Time, the two met for the first time ever, in the first ever ladder match in the World Wrestling Federation. The match was great, and it went how you’d expect the first ever ladder match in the World Wrestling Federation to go down. In the end, Bret knocked Shawn off the ladder and to the floor to retain the title. Bret won the match, but Shawn’s chance at redeeming himself was not too far off. At the end of the summer, Bret had dropped the Intercontinental Title to Davey Boy Smith, and Michaels was soon lined up for a title shot. Michaels would go on to win the Intercontinental Title, but Bret had bigger plans. On Canadian Thanksgiving, Bret would defeat Ric Flair in front of thousands of his country men to win the WWF Title for the first time. It was one month later that the two would clash again…

Bret Hart would be forced to defend his WWF Title against Shawn Michaels, the number one contender by virtue of winning the Intercontinental Title, at Survivor Series ’92. As an added side note, if you think back to when the Intercontinental champion stopped being the number one contender to the WWF Title was the true sign the belt had gone to shit. Anyway, Bret battled it out with the not-so-ready-for-the-main event Shawn Michaels, in what seemed like a good, but rather extended tv match. In the end, Shawn went for a dropkick from the top rope, but Bret caught his legs and applied the Sharpshooter, to which Shawn quickly submitted (think of the ending to the Iron Man Match, but with Shawn actually submitting).

1993 would soon roll around, and a lot of change would occur in the story of Bret and Shawn. Bret would lose the WWF Title to Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9, while Shawn would continue a long running Intercontinental Title reign and feud with former partner Jannetty. Around this time, Kevin Nash entered the World Wrestling Federation, and was introduced as Michael’s bodyguard Diesel. As the WWF moved into 1994, Michaels and Nash formed a tight bond with Scott Hall, then known as Razor Ramon. After Wrestlemania, it was obvious that the Clique’s intentions were to steal the show on stage, and run it off stage. This did not sit well with the Hitman, who was now the WWF champion. A power struggle of sorts began, as both parties battled it out for the ear of the booking committee, as Vince McMahon was on trial at the time. The annual King of the Ring event rolled around, and Diesel was awarded a title shot at the Hitman (again, because he was the Intercontinental champion). Diesel and Michaels had been on the Hitman’s case for weeks, and even attacked him on an episode of the King’s Court. In the end, Bret ended up getting disqualified because of the returning Jim Neidhart. For the next couple of months, Bret would go to battle it out with his brother Owen, brother in-law Neidhart, and the returning Bob Backlund, while Shawn and Diesel would go on to win the WWF Tag Titles. Bret would go to drop the title to Backlund at the 1994 Survivor Series, while Shawn and Diesel would break up as a unit, leaving Diesel free to win the belt from Backlund several days later. Bret and Shawn were now both vying for a shot at the WWF Title, but it turned out not to be what either had hoped for.

Bret would be awarded the first title shot after taking a month off from active competition. He faced Diesel for the title at the 1995 Royal Rumble, but the match was marred with interference, including Michaels, and it was settled in a draw. Michaels biggest success story would come later that night, when he won the Rumble match after surviving all 29 other competitors. Michaels was now the number one contender, and would face Diesel at Wrestlemania 11. Standing in as Michael’s new bodyguard was none other than Sid Vicious himself, who, unfortunately for Michaels, didn’t prove to be much help at all when the big event rolled around. The night after Michaels’ defeat at Wrestlemania, he told Sid that he was going to give him the night off when the rematch between himself and Diesel came. Sid took offense to this and powerbombed the hell out of Michaels, forcing Diesel to come out and aid his former friend and partner. Upon Michael’s return to television, he and Diesel were immediately paired up as the Two Dudes With Additudes, and Michaels would go on to win the Intercontinental Title from Jeff Jarrett. In the meantime, Hart was spending 1995 feuding with the likes of Hakushi, Jerry Lawler, Bob Backlund, his brother Owen, and Issac Yankem. By the time November had rolled around, Bret had earned himself a title rematch at Big Daddy Cool, and would get his shot at the Survivor Series. Bret would go on to win the match and the WWF Title for a third time, leaving Diesel to jackknife him numerous times after the match. Michaels, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The night after the Survivor Series, in which he took some brutal punishment, Michaels collapsed after an Owen Hart inzuguri kick to the back of the head. Backstage, Michaels used his stroke to take off time, and even drop the Intercontinental Title without being pinned a month earlier. Bret Hart was fed up with the antics and politics of the Clique, while McMahon was left hurting from the terrible failure that Diesel was as the WWF champion.

Bret was now the WWF champion, taking on all competitors, including the Bulldog, the Undertaker, and Diesel. Michaels was on the rebound, and wanted to make sure the Clique was still on top. He returned to action at the 1996 Royal Rumble, competiting in the annual Rumble match. In the end, Michaels superkicked his good buddy Nash over the top rope to win the match, thus beginning the road to Wrestlemania. It seemed like the inevitable that Bret and Shawn would be meeting face to face for the belt, and the big event was looming on the horizon. Bret and Shawn would meet face to face in the ring with acting Commisioner Roddy Piper to decide the stipulation for the match. Piper chose an Iron Man Match, in which the winner would be the man who could score the most falls with in a certain amount of time. Piper thought for a moment, and decided the time limit would be one hour. Michaels and Hart both agreed, and shook hands. For the next couple of weeks, the intense training sessions were shown on television. Bret was back in Canada training with his father in the Hart Family Dungeon, while Shawn went back to San Antonio to train with Jose Lothario. Both mentors would be in their student’s corner at the big event, which was to be held in the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA on March 31st, 1996. Bret Hart was starting to speak out openly about Michaels on tv, saying he respected him but wasn’t fond of his flair and flashy clothes and dancing. He said Shawn was a pretty boy, and there was no time for pretty boys in wrestling. Shawn claimed his shown was for the fans and about the fans, and he was going to do whatever he wanted we he went out to perform. The time for talk was soon over, as the time for Wrestlemania was now. The Iron Man Match dawned upon both Bret and Shawn, as both had never been so ready for a fight in their entire lives. I thought the best way to tell the tale of the Iron Man Match was to use my description of what I wrote in my Top 50 WWF Matches of all time column…

Both men started off hot, with Michaels actually being able to counter a lot of Hart’s technical offense, much to the surprise of everyone. 15 minutes into the match and Michaels had taken Bret to the floor with a headscissors take down. Michaels got Bret into position for some Sweet Chin Music, but ended up accidentally taking out the time keeper with a stiff kick. Bret took the advantage again, and took Michaels to the mat. Michaels was able to counter wrestle a lot of the Hitman’s offense, but Bret continued to prove himself as the true ring general. After dominating most of the middle of the match, Bret was starting to get frustrated, and very aggressive. Michaels fired back, hitting Bret with a powerslam and a superplex. Bret took to the floor, but he wasn’t safe there, as Michaels flew off the top rope and came down on Bret with a hard flying bodypress. Michaels took to the top again, and flew forward with a dropkick from the top rope. Bret caught Michaels, and applied the Sharpshooter. There was a little over a minute remaining, and it didn’t look like Michaels was going to be able to hold on. The clock ran down, and Michaels had not submitted. The match was a draw, with neither man being able to gain a deciding fall. Gorilla Monsoon then made the decision that the match would continue under sudden death rules. Bret was angered by this decision, but got back into the ring and stuck it to Michaels. Out of nowhere, Michaels was able to connect with a short Sweet Chin Music kick that took Bret down. Michaels wound up as Bret reached his feet, and then connected with one more kick that knocked the Hitman out. Michaels made the cover, and finally realized his dream. Shawn Michaels had finally become the WWF champion after over 60 minutes of grueling competition.

Bret left the arena, obviously pissed off. He felt he had been screwed out of the title, and decided he was going to take a substancial amount of time off from wrestling. Shawn, on the other hand, was now on top of the wrestling world. The ratings began to go up a bit with Michaels as the champion, but the Clique’s power was beginning to crumble. Hall had been running into trouble backstage, and had decided it was time for him to leave the WWF. Nash would soon follow Hall’s lead after a program with Michaels, as both signed major deals with World Championship Wrestling. Nash and Hall would finish up their tour with the WWF before parting ways with the federation, which was headlined by Hall vs. Triple H, and Nash vs. Michaels in a steel cage. The tour came to a head at Madison Square Garden, which became the site of the infamous Curtain Call Incident. Hall and Nash left McMahon with a bad taste in his mouth, and he had no choice but to put the blame on Triple H, since Shawn was his World champion. The Clique was now divided, but Michaels was upset by how McMahon had handled the situation after the Curtain Call.

Meanwhile, Hall and Nash had made their way to WCW as the Outsiders, and began to form the New World Order. Bret Hart was sitting at home, still taking time off, when he was offered a large sum of money by WCW. Initially, WCW hoped they could bring in Bret as the third member of the New World Order, but in the end, Bret turned down their offer, and Hogan became the third member. Around July, Steve Austin had already begun making a big name for himself in the World Wrestling Federation, and began taking shots at Bret on national television. He said Bret was “finished” and “washed up”. Finally, when Bret came back to the WWF in October, he announced that he would stay with the World Wrestling Federation, and face Austin at the Survivor Series next month in his big return match. The Hitman would return that night and face Austin in a peer six brawl that went all over the place, with Austin getting the better of Bret. In the end, Bret got a roll up on Austin and was able to win the match. It seemed as though Bret was beginning to lose the interest of the fans, as his reaction was not what it used to be. Later that same night, Michaels’ reign as WWF champion would come to an end, as he was defeated by Sid for the belt. The WWF was now losing the ratings war to WCW, and what I like to call the Great Depression of the World Wrestling Federation was well underway. It was not going to be an easy 12 months for either man.

When the December In Your House PPV rolled around, Bret was able to earn himself a shot at Sid and the WWF Title. Unfortunately for Bret, Michaels was at ringside doing commentary, and the two collided on the ring apron when Shawn was trying to distract Sid. This allowed Bret to be powerbombed and pinned by Sid, and Michaels would be the next one to get a title shot. Even more unfortunate was the fact that both men’s dislike for each other was become apparent all over the place. Bret spoke out openly against Shawn in multiple interviews, while Michaels made his controversial “sunny days” comment to Bret on television. Shawn was able to win the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble in front of his home town crowd in San Antonio, but Bret was not so lucky. On the same night, he entered into the Rumble match only to get screwed by Austin. Bret was enraged, and walked out on the WWF that night. Austin told Bret to come back, and acting president Gorilla Monsoon proposed a match between Bret, Austin, Undertaker, and Vader, in which the final four from the Rumble match would square off in a battle royal type match, where the winner would get a shot at the champion at Wrestlemania 13. Bret was scheduled to win the big match, but there was one problem: Shawn Michaels was the champion, and didn’t want to drop the strap to Bret, which were the initial plans for Wrestlemania 13. On the special Thursday edition of RAW the week before the Final Four, Shawn dropped the strap on television, faking a knee injury. Bret would go on to win the strap at the Final Four, but would lose it to Sid the next night of RAW.

A rematch was then scheduled between the two for RAW weeks later, after the new plans for Wrestlemania had been announced. Once again, Bret was screwed out of his match and lost to Sid due to outside interference. Bret was pissed, and shoved McMahon to the mat, screaming obscenities at him. It was obvious that Bret was making his true feelings known, despite the fact that the interview was a work. Bret would go on to defeat Austin at Wrestlemania 13, in a match where the fans virtually changed sides in the middle of the match. The next night on RAW, Bret came out and, for thirty minutes, verbally lashed into America. He talked about how he was respected everywhere else, and how American fans could kiss his ass. Michaels then made his way down the ring, and engaged in a bitter conversation with the Hitman. Michaels told Bret that this was America, where free speech is always a virtue. He then told Bret to either “love it, or leave it.” Bret then ripped into Shawn, making fun at him for being in a “girlie magazine”, in referrance to Shawn’s appearance in Playgirl. Michaels then procceeded to ask Bret how he knew he was in that “girlie magazine?” Bret turned around and clipped Shawn, and procceeded to destroy his “injured knee.” One month later, Shawn was gearing up to return to action, while the Hitman had suffered a knee injury of his own to Steve Austin.

Both men were set to return to active competition at the 1997 King of the Ring, with the original plans stipulating that Hart would face Michaels one on one, with each member of the New Hart Foundation handcuffed at ringside. It seemed impossible to believe that Shawn or Bret could work together in the ring, but the match was eventually scrapped. As the story went, Bret’s knee was suffered further injury at the hands of Austin, causing the Hitman to pull out of the match. Michaels was furious at Austin, who, at the time, was Michaels’ tag partner and co-holder of the tag titles. Bret suggested that the two tag champions go head to head at the King of the Ring instead, in which they did. The match ended up being a no contest when both Austin and Michaels assaulted refferees. A few weeks later, Bret and Shawn would cross paths backstage, and a major mishap would occur. The following day, word broke of a huge lockerroom fight between the Hitman and the Heartbreak Kid. Michaels was enraged, and walked out on the WWF for a whole month. The WWF said that Michaels had left because of a knee injury, while Bret continued to remain on television. As August rolled around, Bret was named the number one contender for the WWF Title, which, at the time, was being held by the Undertaker. The match stipulated that Bret would never wrestle in the U.S. again if he lost the match, but a wild card was thrown into the match. Shawn Michaels was then signed on as the guest refferee, and the rules stipulated that if he was a biased official, he would also never be allowed to wrestle in the U.S. again. The big show soon came, and there was plenty of visible tension between Bret and Shawn throughout the match. Towards the end, Michaels retrieved a chair from the Hitman, to which Bret spat in Michaels’ face. He responded by swinging the chair, and Bret ducked, causing the Undertaker to take the force of the blow. The champion was down, and all Bret had to do was make the cover. Michaels walked away, but came back, realizing he had a lot riding on this match. Michaels counted to three, and Bret was the new champion.

Michaels would come out the next night on RAW to a resounding chorus of boos. Michaels then said he made an honest mistake and did what he had to do, before turning his back on his fans. Neither Bret, nor Shawn had the interest of the fans now. But things began to come full circle for both the Hitman and the Heartbreak Kid. Shawn was able to finally get the booking committee to let him and his Clique buddy Triple H team with each other, as they soon formed DeGeneration X. Bret, on the other hand, was the WWF champion, but not for much longer. Almost a year ago, he had signed a 20 year deal with the World Wrestling Federation. Now, he was looking to get out of the contract, and rethink WCW’s offer. Bret signed a $3 million dollar deal with World Championship Wrestling in November, and agreed to drop the title, as long as he was allowed creative control over his character for the remainder of his stay in the WWF. Despite his promises, Vince was starting to ask certain things of Bret, including dropping the title to the last person he wanted to drop it to; Michaels. Finally, Bret and Vince came to agreed that Michaels would lose the match in a run-in, and Bret would drop the title the next night on RAW. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go down that way…

Shawn would go on to win the first ever Hell In A Cell Match at the Badd Blood PPV in October, thus making him the number one contender to Bret’s WWF Title. Bret would come out the night after Badd Blood, to find a good amount of the fans now cheering him. Bret didn’t know how to respond. The fans acted like they didn’t want him as a hero, so he ripped on them. If he couldn’t be a face or a heel, then what was he? Bret was a broken man: He was leaving the company that he made his name in, had to end in it a program with a man he hated, and was neither a heel or a face. Michaels, on the other hand, was running amok with Triple H every week, being typically crude and insulting everyone he possibly could. Bret made it evident that he didn’t trust McMahon’s words, nor did he trust Michaels of all people. It all lead up to the final showdown in Montreal at the Survivor Series…

Bret had been wearing a microphone for the entire course of the night, as he was having a documentary made about him at the time of his departure. Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows, is easily one of the best wrestling documentaries ever made, as it truly shows what happened leading up to, and the events of the night in Montreal. McMahon and Bret rundown the key points of the match with Pat Paterson, and then Michaels gets wind of what is supposed to happen. When match time comes, Bret and Shawn brawl all over the ringside area for the first several minutes before the bell is finally rung. For the most part, the two continue to beat the living hell out of each other, and the match looks more like a street fight than a typical wrestling match. McMahon had made his way down to ringside during the opening brawl, and stayed there for the remainder of the match. In the closing minutes of the bout, Bret collided with Michaels and the refferee. Michaels applied the Sharpshooter, as he was supposed to, as Bret was getting ready to reverse it. Bret reverse the move, but by the time he could get it on, the bell had rung and Michaels’ music was already playing. Bret recalled someone telling him that “the match was over”, and instantly, he knew he had been screwed. Earl Hebner was gone, and Michaels was walking away screaming obscenities, as he was obviously upset by what had transpired. Bret saw McMahon standing at ringside, as he had told the time keeper when to ring the bell. Bret walked up to the ropes and spit right in Vince’s face. The PPV went off the air with Bret destroying the annouce table and video equipment.

Bret returned to the lockerroom in search of Vince. He went to Vince’s office, but he had locked the door, making sure no one could get in. Bret went to the lockerroom to change and shower, as Bret’s family, friends, and co-workers stood in disbelief and anger. Michaels eventually came into speak to Bret, telling him how he had nothing to do with the incident, and refused to be involved with it any further. By the time Bret was almost changed, Vince walked into his lockerroom, looking to apologize. Bret told Vince he was going to shower, and if Vince was still there when he got out, he was going to punch him in the face. Sure enough, Vince was still there when Bret got out of the shower. The two stared each other down, and then locked arms. Bret then caught Vince with an uppercut that sent him soaring upwards, as he came down hard on his ankle, and was rendered out cold. Bret simply smiled and walked out on Vince and the WWF that night. Bret has since not been on good terms with the World Wrestling Federation, or Vince McMahon.

A few short weeks later, Bret Hart made his debut for World Championship Wrestling. Shawn Michaels continued his reign as WWF champion, and his reign of terror as a member of DeGerenation X. Shawn’s career would come to an abrupt hault at Wrestlemania 14, when he took a hard shot to the small of the back off the turnbuckle and flipped upside down. Shawn would go on to start his own promotion, the Texas Wrestling Alliance, in his home state of Texas, where he had an on air role and trained upstart wrestlers. He wrestled his very last match for ever in that company when he defeated Venom in the final round of the World Title Tournament. Michaels then forfeited the title, and continued his role as the head of the promotion. He made multiple appearances for the WWF after his Wrestlemania injury, including a role as commisioner for the Corporation and a brief reunion with Triple H. There were plans for Michaels to comeback last year and feud with Michaels, but Triple H opted to pull out due to Michaels being unfit. There is still dissension between the two sides today, which caught wind of Hall and Nash, he recently rejoined the ranks of the World Wrestling Federation in their NWO gimmick. Michaels’ future with the WWF is currently up in the air…

Bret Hart has been having an even more difficult time. Bret was almost immediately depushed, due to Hogan’s fear of losing his power and fame to the Hitman. A year and a half after Bret left the World Wrestling Federation, his brother Owen was killed in a fall from the ceiling of the Kemper Arena. This lead to a lawsuit with the WWF, which dragged on for over a year. Unfortunately, the case caused major stress for the family, practically tearing the Hart family apart. Brothers and sisters were constantly at odds and in disagreement, and some haven’t spoken in a long time. More tragedy struck the Hart family when Helen Hart, Bret’s mother and matriarch of the Hart family, passed away this past Thanksgiving. But perhaps the worst of what was to come happened to Bret himself. In December of 1999 at the annual WCW event Starrcade, Bret was kicked in the head by some guy named Bill Goldberg. The kick caused Bret to suffer a concussion, which, consequentially, ended his career. Bret sat on the sidelines until WCW decided to fire him in September of 2000. Bret responded by retiring the following day.

The question is, where are your’s and my heros now? Bret has been doing PPVs for WWA and trying to get in contact with his late mother and brother through psychiatric help. In the meantime, Shawn sits at home, out of shape, not wanted by his closest friends. It’s truly sad what comes of great men. It’s even worse when two men with the passion and class of the Hitman and the Heartbreak Kid can’t coexist. I know most people will have difficulty remembering what happened a few months ago, but I want you to close you eyes, and think really hard about the last time you saw a great Bret Hart match, or a great Shawn Michaels match. Damn shame isn’t it? I sure do think so.








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