10 WWE Champions Who Never Lost Their Titles

The toxic working relationship between onscreen rivals Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1997 reached new heights when Michaels returned from his surgery in the summer.

Hart, jaded with Michaels' reluctance to do business with him and his public implication of Hart having an extramarital affair, attacked Michaels backstage at at a live show, rupturing what was left of any chance of the two settling their issues. Following years of professional jealously over who would be the top star in the company, the real life battle over who would do the honours for the other was now a hill both were ready to die on.

Telling Hart to his face that he wouldn't put him over in their next meeting, the soon to be departing Hart likewise refused to drop the WWF title to Michaels in his last match in the company.

What followed was the most contentious decision in wrestling history as Vince McMahon called for the bell mid-match and Michaels was declared Champion. While it took an epic 60-minute encounter between the two to cement HBK as WWE champion only a year prior, his second victory over Hart was over in brutally cynical 12 minutes.

Bret Hart, sadly, was never the same again.