A wonderful shot that encapsulated the unlikely reunion of two icons, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart's historic handshake and hug on the January 4th 2010 edition of Monday Night Raw was something longtime fans had been desperate to see.
It mattered not that they found themselves on opposite ends of the sports entertainment spectrum for much of the decade prior, nor that they'd lost their prime years to physical and philosophical oppositions. At various points, they were the very best in the industry, and at various points the industry had chewed them up.
This, at long last was the day the parked all that and made anew a mutual respect and admiration that exists to this day. It was vindicating to see that time really had healed the numerous wounds that had cut deep from their once-poisonous professional relationship.
It'll forever be a shame they couldn't summon similar compromise for their own WrestleMania match.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
