18 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Shawn Michaels

4. Bret Hart Beat Him Up

shawn michaels iyh
WWE.com

Though Bret Hart took a sabbatical after losing the title to Michaels at WrestleMania, tensions between the men began to escalate when he returned. Michaels forfeited the WWE Championship rather than lose it back to Hart at WrestleMania 13 (more on that later), and the disrespect brought their mutual hatred to a new level.

By the spring, both men were frequently insulting each other on TV in more-than-just-storyline manners. Things reached a head in June when Michaels used his promo time on Raw to insinuate that Bret was cheating on his wife with a co-worker.

Hart was furious and couldn't be calmed down. Prior to another episode of Raw, Hart confronted Michaels, and the two came to blows. Though the fight was quickly broken up, the consensus was that Hart was getting the better of the exchange.

A furious Michaels walked out of the company, forcing WWE to strip him of the World Tag Team Championship he held. He returned to action in July whereupon, of course, he was thrust back into a feud with Bret Hart.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013