10 Times Stipulations Ruined Wrestling Matches
6. Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels - WWF WrestleMania XII (Iron Man)
The Iron Man stipulation was created to provide a platform on which the WWF's younger, more athletic top stars could excel - a stark contrast to WCW's ageing blue rinse brigade it aped in the concurrent Billionaire Ted skits. It instead enabled the two men to indulge their simmering, real-life hatred of one another.
The build-up was bizarre, in that Michaels was positioned as the far superior athlete in the pre-match vignettes. The idea was transparent - the WWF wanted to make it clear, in no uncertain terms, that it was HBK's time - but the discrepancy bruised Hart's notoriously fragile ego. Hart was filmed jogging, gingerly, on ice - while Michaels accomplished inconceivable feats of athleticism.
On the night itself, the decision to draw the match 0-0, necessitating a sudden death overtime, was a dull exercise in ego preservation. The potato shots exchanged provided some tension - but it was no real substitute for the dynamic, see-saw drama they contested at Survivor Series 1992, a far superior prequel.
A match predicated on strategy, it wasn't particularly cerebral - Hart's suspiciously inconsistent selling undermined the dramatic heft.