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

12. The Road To WrestleMania XII

Though Michaels wasn't to be blamed, Bret was unhappy with the build for the Iron Man Match. The Excellence of Execution went into the main event of the biggest show of the year with a chip on his shoulder because he felt like his role was simply to march towards Shawn's coronation as champion and present the belt to him at WrestleMania. If you followed the business during this time period, you would know that Bret wasn't wrong for feeling this way. Still, Bret's feelings of resentment were directed more towards the brass of the WWF and not exactly his opponent. Though Bret was slightly perturbed at a couple things Shawn had done over the past year or two (including stealing his Ladder Match idea), the two were still very respectful of each other and had little to no heat. The WrestleMania XII plans did feel like a coronation for Shawn and although the main event would be babyface vs. babyface for the first time since Hogan/Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI, the outcome to this one felt a little more predictable. Shawn was clearly being groomed as the company's top star, while Bret planned to take several months off following the match (a fact not known to viewers for obvious reasons). Despite putting on classic matches with Diesel at Survivor Series '95 and Davey Boy Smith at In Your House in December '95, Bret was still penciled to drop the title to Shawn at WrestleMania, a plan that Bret thought should be revisited based on his performance as champion. In addition, Bret was filmed preparing for the Iron Man Match by swimming in his pool at home, doing some light jogging, and getting stretched by his legendary father Stu Hart, a man 80 years of age. Shawn was recorded running up football stadium bleachers, doing upside-down push ups, and flying all over the ring on offense. Again Shawn might not have been to blame, but Bret likely went into this match with some pent-up aggression and frustration with the company at the differences in how the two characters were presented.