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

9. Bret's Plan

Bret had been saying as far back as 1992 that Shawn Michaels was going to be the man to take his place and would be a great WWF Champion one day. Similar to the way he viewed himself taking over the spot held by Randy Savage, Bret knew that Shawn would ultimately be the man standing atop the WWF. Bret was right in his prediction, but he wasn't expecting the changing of the guard to happen so soon. During his time off following WrestleMania XII, Bret would share his idea with Vince McMahon about a long-term program with Shawn Michaels. After doing some work on Acclaim's WWF In Your House video game in New York during the Summer of '96, Bret met with Vince and Jim Ross, Head of Talent Relations at the time, at Vince McMahon's home in Greenwich, Connecticut. It must also be noted that during this time, Bret's contract was set to expire with the WWF. Bret shared his plan that after his return, he and Shawn would work another babyface match for the championship, likely taking place at WrestleMania 13. This time, Shawn would be doing the job and give the title back to Bret in an epic rematch. The feud would ultimately conclude in a third match (possibly at the next year's WrestleMania or at SummerSlam '97) where Bret would lose the title back to Shawn clean, shake his hand and put the Heartbreak Kid over for good and endorse him as Champion. According to Bret's book, both Vince and JR liked the idea. On paper, the plan sounded great. For 1996, the idea of two babyfaces working the sheets and other media outlets was brilliant and hadn't been done yet. While Vince told Bret he liked the plan initially, this was also during a time when Bret's contract was up and he would soon become a free agent. It is very possible Vince was simply trying to appease Bret to ensure he would re-sign with the WWF. Even with that possibility, it is widely believed that Bret's proposal was the foundation on which Vince was building his plans for WrestleMania 13 and beyond. As is well known by now, things did not go according to plan.