From Tag Team To Top Guy: Bret Hart's Ascension To The WrestleMania Main Event

While Bret Hart's first foray into the WrestleMania main event didn't exactly go to plan for the Hitman, Hart would get some semblance of redemption the following year.

Of course, the second half of 1993 and into '94 saw Vince McMahon experiment with Lex Luger as his top babyface. As the granny-kissing, baby-hugging, high-fiving all-American hero, Lex literally toured the USA as he sought to rally support ahead of him being the one to take the WWF Championship from Mr. Fuji's Yokozuna.

That experiment famously flopped, with more fans opting to show their support for Bret Hart as the guy in the World Wrestling Federation. And at WrestleMania X, hot on the heels of victory in an excellent King of the Ring tournament and co-winning the Royal Rumble, it was the Hitman, rather than Lex, who dethroned Yoko at the top of the mountain.

Regardless of McMahon viewing Lex Luger as his Hulk Hogan-lite top hero, it was by this point clear that WWE fans held Bret Hart as their guy. By getting his revenge against Yokozuna at WrestleMania X, Hart had cemented himself as a 'Mania main eventer and the man to carry the company on his back as Hulkamania was left in the promotion's rear-view mirror.

In typical Bret Hart fashion, of course, WrestleMania X would also see Bret put on one of the greatest matches in WWE history as he battled his brother Owen earlier in the night ahead of facing Yokozuna. With that, Bret again showed why he was the best wrestler in the company, and likewise he helped to elevate his younger brother to a whole new level.

The Excellence of Execution would only have the chance to headline one other WrestleMania - 'Mania XII against Shawn Michaels - and he would've surely been in the main event of several more editions of the Showcase of the Immortals had he not controversially departed the WWF in 1997. Or, y'know, if Michaels didn't lose his smile ahead of WrestleMania 13.