10 Times KARMA WAS REAL In Wrestling
6. The Final Chapter Of Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels
The very real feud between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart had, before 2019 anyway, disproved the existence of karma.
Hart took himself a bit too seriously - and Kevin Nash rather nailed Hart's protagonist of the universe deal when he uttered the words "Motherf*cker, not everything is about you" on a shoot interview - but Michaels was the heel in that 1997 programme. Michaels - who it should be noted was struggling badly with addiction at the time - was an inescapable professional nightmare whose diabolical behaviour bled into the Hart family home. He told Hart that he'd never put him over and implied that he was having an affair with Sunny.
Then, at Survivor Series '97, Michaels was a willing participant in the Montreal Screwjob. He didn't come up with the idea, but he didn't veto it, either.
By 2002, Michaels had returned to WWE and, over the next seven years, added a second epic legacy to his career. Fusing his somehow timeless athleticism with a much deeper emotional heft, he became even more of an in-ring great. Hart meanwhile was forced into retirement after suffering a concussion at the hands (or rather reckless foot) of Bill Goldberg. He also suffered a life-altering stroke and grieved the tragic accidental death of his younger brother Owen.
It wasn't fair, and when Hart tried to end his in-ring career on his own terms, it was so bleak. His WrestleMania XXVI "match" with Mr. McMahon was a live-action grieving process.
Then, in 2018, Michaels was coaxed out of retirement by the lure of blood money and made a t*t of himself in Saudi Arabia as D-Generation X took on the Brothers of Destruction in a perversely hilarious disaster. WWE Heroes of Wrestling was one of the worst PPVs ever.
In 2019, the great lost hidden gem of wrestling media was discovered by photographer Mary-Kate Anthony: Bret Hart Vs. Tom Magee. The 1986 match, purported to be the greatest carry-job ever, was revealed, thrillingly, to be precisely that. Magee was an infamously limited wrestler whose stuff looked atrocious, but Hart knew it, and built their match accordingly. Flying around with frustrated cowardice, Hart treated Magee as a landmine, knowing that the match would blow up in their faces whenever Magee touched him.
Hart crafted his performance around the idea that Magee was actually a threat, and it was an unbelievable success. The epilogue of Bret Vs. Shawn was, at least, heartwarming.
And as everybody knows, the last goal wins!