10 Most Vicious WWE Grudge Matches Ever
1. Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart - Survivor Series 1997
Even after all this time it's difficult to pin down the exact whys and wherefores of the Montreal Screwjob. This isn't about that, however: it's about the feud that led to that moment, and the real life circumstances that the feud helped to foster.
It's no secret that Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels genuinely didn't like each other. Both men were weird, fun-house mirrors of each other: two self-obsessed, phenomenally talented wrestlers circling one another warily like wolves competing for the position of alpha. Then there were the harsh words, the harsher promos cut to camera and in the ring.
The backstage feud finally boiled over into a heated catfight in which Hart ripped out a chunk of Michaels' hair. Like Edge versus Hardy years later, the real life issues between the two men bled into their long-running storyline antagonism, giving it a real... well, edge. There was also confusion as to their respective alignments. A flamboyant party boy with an ego the size of Texas, the Heartbreak Kid of 1997 had made a terrible top babyface. He began to turn heel around the end of the summer - meanwhile, Hart had spent the months since WrestleMania 13 turning into a violently nationalistic villain, waving the Canadian flag around and reforming The Hart Foundation as a heel stable.
There were further issues with Hart's new contract with the WWF. McMahon reneged on the deal he'd made to keep Hart in the company, telling him that he could no longer afford it, and that he should see if the previous offer from WCW was still on the table. It was, and Hart accepted: Survivor Series 1997 in Montreal, Canada would be his last match with the WWF.
In the US, Bret Hart was one of the most hated men in wrestling. But Montreal would be different: Hart was a legend there, and would return the conquering Canadian hero, the WWF Champion. Bret Hart had (and still has) deluded himself into believing that he was a hero in real life, marking for himself relentlessly. Reading his admittedly fascinating autobiography is an exercise in observing one man telling stories about people fellating him in order to persuade his readership to fellate him, and when all else fails, hunching over to fellate himself.
No wonder the famously narcissistic Hart didn't want to drop the title to the hated Michaels in Canada: it was the only place where he was still treated the way, deep down, he felt he deserved to be treated. The outcome of that match has passed into wrestling mythology. McMahon didn't trust the eminently trustworthy Hart to do the right thing and drop the WWF Championship as he'd agreed before he left the company.
Why? Because McMahon was a snake, the man who killed the territories, who spat on every handshake agreement in the business. McMahon never understood that Hart's practically Messianic delusions about 'the Hitman' would never have allowed him to do something so crass: besides, Eric Bischoff was dealing with litigation out the wazoo at WCW, and couldn't have afforded the legal heat it would have caused.
Caught between McMahon and Hart, Michaels just concentrated on getting through the situation with his skin intact. Hart would go on to join WCW, a shadow of his former self, and be forcibly retired after two or three too many concussions.
Meanwhile, in the years to come - having found religion and lost the pills and booze - Shawn Michaels actually became the kind of man that Bret Hart only thought he was. There's irony for you.