Iron Man matches are designed to match two men who previously have been considered as equals, and a simple singles match either hasn't or doesn't seem to be the appropriate platform to conclusively decide who the better man is. During the mid 1990s, Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart were in that exact predicament, and only an Iron Man match would do. The match between Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart at Wrestlemania XII was created to be the pinnacle of the New Generation era, pitting it's two best and most athletic stars in the ultimate test of their athleticism, endurance and performance capabilities. A 60 minute time limit was put into place to eek out the fine differences between Hart & HBK, and conclusively prove who was the better of the two. Ultimately not even a hour's worth of wrestling was enough, as the 60 minutes expired and neither man had scored a decision. Traditionally (and in subsequent Iron Man Matches) a tied title match benefits the champion, but It was decided that the match should go into sudden death overtime - where the first man to get a pin, submission or the like would be the winner. Thankfully it didn't take another hour to happen, and Shawn pinned Bret after an extra 1:52 of overtime.
