12 Times WWE Buried Their Own Champions

If you've never had the pleasure, then check out Bret Hart winning his fifth WWF Title from The Undertaker at SummerSlam 1997. The pair meshed well together on an underrated PPV, and Shawn Michaels was on top form as a special guest referee toying with both workers. Scenes, people. Scenes.

Of course, Bret would later be screwed out of his belt at Survivor Series in a devious plot that's strangely never mentioned (ahem), but his path to that controversy-drenched clash with Michaels was pure milquetoast. The WWF pushed the 'Taker vs. HBK rivalry ahead of anything Hart was doing, and that's something he picked up on then wrote about in his celebrated autobiography.

Here's the layout between SummerSlam-Survivors: Bret worked on the undercard at In Your House: Ground Zero and Badd Blood in September and October, then again at One Night Only over in the UK. Worse, the 'Hitman' was booked against midcard man The Patriot, and Shawn/DX claimed he was racist towards the Nation Of Domination on episodes of TV.

It was hardly a banner reign for Hart on his way out the door. Burying the top title in the company underneath a non-title feud (at first) like Undertaker vs. Michaels was puzzling, and semi-assassinating the character of a top star like Bret had many scratching their heads too. Vince McMahon was perhaps trying to prove a point that he didn't need him to be the main man, but then...why bother sticking the strap on Hart for a fifth time in the first place?

Nobody on the planet was going to point to Bret vs. Patriot over HBK vs. 'Deadman'. It felt deliberate and calculated.