15 Stages Of Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart's Infamous Heat

3. Breach

Shawn would remain gone from the Federation until late Summer when he worked out his differences and once again agreed to squash the beef with Bret. Soon after, Shawn turned heel and formed the D-Generation X faction, competing with Bret yet again to be the company's top heel. Meanwhile, Bret was crowned WWF Champion for a record-tying fifth time at SummerSlam '97, but the joy would be short-lived. Within two months, Vince McMahon informed Bret that he was thinking about voiding Bret's contract, opening the door for Bret to renegotiate with Eric Bischoff and WCW. The WWF was in financial peril in 1997 and Vince approached Bret at the Madison Square Garden RAW on September 23rd. His message was clear: he was going to intentionally breach Bret's contract. This put things into perspective for both men as Bret now had bigger concerns to worry about besides the heat with Shawn Michaels. Since Michaels' return at the end of the summer, the two men were getting along professionally and they were finally going to have their highly-anticipated rematch. In a match that was truly 18 months in-the-making, the two men would finally meet in their first one-on-one encounter since their classic at WrestleMania XII. It would be a night nobody would ever forget.