10 Craziest Things That Ever Happened After WWE Raw Went Off The Air

6. Late Flurry

Bret Hart Shawn Michaels
WWE

Unable to find a perfect formula to channel the real-life hatred between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart into a money-making programme in 1997, Vince McMahon instead often just elected to send them out to air their grievances together on air. A cathartic back-and-forth could at least keep the rivalry alive even if the overdue clash seemed snakebitten by injuries, insider references and insidious remarks.

'The Hitman' inadvertently poured fuel on the raging fire between them after the May 12th edition of Raw went off the air with another one of their tetchy tête-à-têtes. Literally.

Forgetting his big closing lines, Hart rambled on hoping he'd stumble back upon them, but went so long that WWE ran out of television time. Shouting up at a frozen Shawn from his wheelchair, Hart finally wrapped things up for the live crowd to witness Michaels nail him with Sweet Chin Music as he rose from his seat.

Temperamental on a good day at the time, the initially jubilant Michaels pitched a fit backstage when he realised his big return shot had been cut off. It reappeared in weekend highlight reels, but a paranoid 'HBK' genuinely felt as though Hart had sabotaged him with his overrun.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett