Ranking Every WWE Title Match At WrestleMania Worst To Best

9. WrestleMania XII - Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels

WrestleMania 12 Bret Hart Shawn Michaels Iron Many Match Finish
WWE.com

“The boyhood dream has come true for Shawn Michaels!”

Hearing those words was obviously somewhat of a nightmare for the Bret Hart fans amongst us, but the Heartbreak Kid and the Hitman put on a fantastic Iron Man contest as Michaels won the WWF World Title for the first time at WrestleMania XII.

Both babyfaces, what made this match work so well was how brilliantly it was paced. Sure, the first 15 minutes were slow, but that's kind of the point in a bout like this. Once things kicked into gear, fans got a fantastic 45 minutes or so of two of the greatest of all time putting on a clinic.

While we didn't know it at the time, and WWF likely didn't know it either, what we had here was also the first seed of Bret Hart's justified heel character - with the Excellence of Execution right to feel irked by having to restart the match after a 0-0 tie after 60 minutes, only to soon lose the WWE Title via two Sweet Chin Musics.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.