11 WWE WrestleMania Headliners Who Didn't Make The Following SummerSlam

8. Bret Hart - WrestleMania XII

Bret Hart Lonesome Dove
WWE.com

In what has long been considered one of the most monumental WrestleMania main events of all time, Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart in an Iron Man match to win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XII. The Heart Break Kid subsequently took his spot as the number one guy in the company, and would hold the title until Survivor Series that same year.

Bret however was feeling the effects of being on top of the company for a number of years following even more years of service before that, and his passion for wrestling had diminished dramatically. After finishing up his obligations after WrestleMania, Hart took a hiatus from WWF, a hiatus that would last eight months as he healed up from injuries and explored his acting options.

Hart returned to the ring at that same Survivor Series, to take on the hottest rising star in professional wrestling at that time; Stone Cold Steve Austin.

No SummerSlam 1996 for The Hitman.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.