4. His WrestleMania 13 And King Of The Ring 1997 Matches With Shawn Michaels Never Happened
The Bret Hart rivalry with Shawn Michaels is very well publicized. They were friends in WWE in the early 1990s, but when they both ascended to the top of the roster the competitive rivalry took over. Shawn beat Bret for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 12 in 1996 in the Ironman Match. According to stories that Bret has told over the years, Bret was supposed to face Shawn in a rematch in the WrestleMania 13 main event. While the match wasn't officially advertised, it seemed like a natural thing because they were two of the top guys in the company. Shawn was the WWE Champion when he said that he had a major knee injury, so he gave up the WWE Title during the infamous "lost my smile" speech and the match never happened. Bret went on to say in a shoot interview that he would then drop the WWE Title back to Shawn at SummerSlam 1997 and that would be the end of the rivalry. Their other match that was supposed to happen was at King of the Ring 1997. It was actually advertised on television with a graphic, but it didn't happen either. The reason why this one didn't happen is because Bret and Shawn had a legit fight backstage leading up to it, so the plan was changed. Bret was recovering from a minor knee surgery while Shawn was put into a match with Steve Austin instead. Looking back at that time period it really is a shame that they didn't get along better because if they did they probably would have had four or five epic PPV matches in 1996/1997 instead of just two.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
The reason why this one didn't happen is because Bret and Shawn had a legit fight backstage leading up to it, so the plan was changed. Bret was recovering from a minor knee surgery while Shawn was put into a match with Steve Austin instead. Looking back at that time period it really is a shame that they didn't get along better because if they did they probably would have had four or five epic PPV matches in 1996/1997 instead of just two.