10 Most Shocking WWE WrestleMania Role Reversals

7. Bret Hart - WrestleMania X & XI

BRET HART WMX WMXI
WWE

Bret Hart's WrestleMania X WWE Championship coronation was a public atonement from Vince McMahon after his shoddy treatment of 'The Hitman' to pander to Hulk Hogan a year earlier. His contrition didn't last.

'The Excellence Of Execution' surrendered his cherished prize to Bob Backlund at that year's Survivor Series to payoff a surprisingly strong run for the anti-New Generation psychopath that summer. The match divided audiences but at the very least provided high drama and a title change. Their WrestleMania XI clunker - a match Bret considers his worst ever committed to WWE pay-per-view - offered neither of the above.

The 'I Quit' stipulation seemed suited to two masters of the craft, but few counted on Roddy Piper's domineering way with the microphone destroying what little narrative the pair were aiming for with their drab succession of holds and counters. By comparison, show headliners Bam Bam Bigelow and ex-NFL star Lawrence Taylor looked like... well, what Bret Hart and Bob Backlund were supposed to look like.

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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