Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels Complete History | Wrestling Timelines
May 13, 2019 - Karmic Coda
Neither man truly “won” the rivalry. It was fought to determine who the biggest star was; the real victor was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Shawn emerges from it the strongest, though.
Bret’s run in WCW is disastrous; his star power fades instantly as WCW enters its decline. He shambles from bad short-lived programme to bad short-lived programme, and is unmotivated. He will produce sparks of magic, and offer great ideas, like using a metal plated vest to neutralise Goldberg’s spear, but he learns, eventually, not to take it seriously. His personal life is a hailstorm of grief and ailments. He loses Owen, is concussed into retirement by Goldberg, and suffers a stroke.
Bret does make a comeback, of sorts, but he is not capable of nor is he cleared to bump. His happy ending feud with Mr. McMahon in 2010 is grimly ironic. Watching Bret slowly take Vince apart at WrestleMania XXVI yields zero catharsis whatsoever; it is a one-dimensional therapy session masquerading as a match, and by this point, the Montreal Screwjob is so over-reported that the premise is boring before Bret batters Vince with a tire iron for 10 never-ending minutes.
Shawn, meanwhile, embarks on a triumphant comeback run after a four-year hiatus between 1998-2002. Many fans and critics believe this second chapter to be even better than the first. Shawn is a redeemed sentimental babyface who, despite drawing blowback within some circles for his histrionic melodrama, is absolutely superb at selling his back, which the heels target constantly. Shawn’s emotionally resonant work is the highlight of a creatively wretched decade. Agonised and crumpled, he makes fans feel like they’re watching him for the last time - which is some feat, since he repeats the magic trick for almost eight full years. Shawn’s second big WWE singles run ends in an antithetical, storybook way to Bret’s WCW career. Shawn loses to the Undertaker; on the same night Bret wrestles Vince for an audience of one, himself, Michaels dazzles everybody in the stadium with a pulsating, ultra-dramatic classic. Shawn fails to end ‘Taker’s WrestleMania streak, but succeeds in sculpting himself on WWE’s in-ring Mount Rushmore.
There is a third, much shorter and significantly more humiliating chapter of Shawn’s career, however.
Shawn, seduced by Saudi Arabian blood money, is coaxed out of retirement for WWE Crown Jewel 2018. He teams with Triple H to defeat Kane and the Undertaker. Michaels is keen to downplay expectations, using the analogy of a rock band reunion. Michaels isn’t taking it seriously; expect a Greatest Hits set, he stresses, not a new studio album. The match - if you’re into schadenfreude - is hilarious. If you’re a huge fan of the four men involved, it’s a depressing farce. Michaels is actually the best worker in it, by miles, carrying almost the entire thing when Triple H’s pectoral muscle is torn from the bone. That he’s involved in it at all is an embarrassment, though. Kane’s mask falls off, slipping away in the desert sun. The Undertaker at one point collapses to the mat after struggling to blow a strand of hair away. The match, on the whole, is a series of poorly-executed or outright botched moves. The pure desperation to reclaim the glory days is absolutely pathetic. The millionaires, in an infamously awful main event, make fools of themselves in the bleak pursuit of becoming even wealthier.
On March 27, 2019, something amazing happens - something most thought was impossible. Stories of a lost match had circulated in newsletters and on message boards decades ago - a match so impressive that it apparently convinced Vince McMahon, at the peak of his powers, to build his company around one of the worst wrestlers ever. That urban legend of a match, a holy grail - Bret Hart Vs. Tom Magee - is shockingly recovered by pro wrestling photographer and Bret archivist Mary-Kate Anthony. After a brief, worrying period in which it is thought the found match is an inferior 1989 sequel, the real thing is confirmed - and, on May 13, WWE releases the October 7, 1986 bout alongside a short documentary on the Network.
It’s not a great match in and of itself, but the narrative surrounding Hart’s majestic individual performance is proved to be correct. Hart - chiefly by treating the clumsy, unconvincing Magee like a landmine - is sensational. He evades Magee’s gymnastics routine like he’s rushing away from an air raid. Magee is exposed whenever he actually does something - but Bret is intelligent enough to cower in breathless panic at virtually every turn. Magee is hopeless, but the threat of what he might be able to do, if he can only get his hands on Bret, is enough to (very briefly) convince McMahon that he has found the next Hulk Hogan.
The last memory of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels sees the former outclass the latter. It’s only a battle in the war, ultimately, but the timing is delicious - and few deserve it as much as Bret.