8 Hyped Wrestling Matches RUINED By Backstage Politics

4. Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels (WWF Survivor Series 1997)

Despite their incredible individual talents, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels never developed the expected chemistry in singles action. This isn’t as inexplicable as you might think. 

Their Smack ‘Em Whack ‘Em Ladder match experiment encouraged the WWF to run with the gimmick match as a mainstay - eventually - through the strength of its brilliant finish alone. The body of the actual match was nowhere near as good as its WrestleMania 10 major label debut. At Survivor Series 1992, Bret and Shawn clashed in the main event. It was a very good match by the standards of the time, but has not endured as a true WWE classic. It was more refreshing than excellent, almost treated by the two competitors as a little gift to themselves; it was a novelty for Bret and Shawn to work such a long, technical effort just as the age of the body guy was coming to an end. It was far too slow in the first half, but it felt like a sprint compared to the divisive Iron Man match at WrestleMania 12. 

That match was also ruined by backstage politics, you could argue - the unwillingness to take falls, the sheer defensive static of it, the awkward potato shots - but equally, it was simply a ponderous all-babyface match that disappeared up its own arse. Their last match together was undeniably ruined by politics, because it was the night of the Montreal Screwjob. 

For 10 blistering minutes, the dream match became a reality. In a total subversion of the same main event five years prior, Bret and Shawn worked - or rather barely worked - a super-intense and chaotic arena-wide brawl. It was astounding to witness the counterintuitive magic of two pristine technicians beating the piss out of one another. It felt like it was going wrong, in the most thrilling of ways, until it actually went wrong. 

In the end, Shawn’s year-long electioneering campaign won him the spot at Survivor Series 1997. He had undermined Bret constantly by portraying him as a dork, an antique, an old man who had become a barrier to the progress of the very organisation. Eventually, Vince McMahon was convinced that Bret had to go, and urged him to sign with WCW. And, since Bret was not willing to lose to Shawn Michaels - who had told Bret that he wouldn’t even job for him in a hypothetical scenario that was never going to happen - Vince felt he had to double-cross Bret out of the belt on the way out. Bret took the Sharpshooter, Vince called for the bell, the very future of wrestling changed forever. 

The best match Bret and Shawn ever had was destroyed by the most ruthless display of backstage politics ever.