411’s WWE Rivals Report: Episode 1: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels

-I was looking for something to replace Darkside of The Ring and I get this show which is part of the A&E and WWE partnership. I missed the original airing of this episode last week, but thankfully a reader pointed out it was being show again today. Later tonight, I will get episode two, but it’s time for another retelling of one of the most infamous rivalries in wrestling history. Let’s get to it!

–Cody Rhodes: “They are perfect for each other. They hate each other, but are perfect for each other. Other talking heads for the opening: Kane, HHH, Prichard, Undertaker, Bret and Shawn. Bret: “I could have killed him with my bare hands.”

-Rivals opening: Looks like we will be getting Rock/Austin, Cena/Edge, Brock/Angle, Taker/Mankind, Taker/Kane, nWo/DX, and oh yeah, Freddie Prinze Jr is the man behind this show existing.

-Roundtable with Freddie being the orchestrator and featuring Tamina Snuka, Kevin Nash, Kofi Kingston, and JBL.

-Freddy tells us this is a time when larger men in WWE are giving more room for the smaller wrestlers to get over. Kofi says seeing Shawn and Bret gave him the idea that he has a shot to be a pro-wrestler.

-In the early 90s Prichard tells us the shift was to more athletic guys that could go in the ring. Shawn brings up they were given a shot because some of the legends from the WWE in the 80s were starting to leave and they cut to Hulk Hogan showing up in WCW. Bret takes a shot at Hogan, Flair and what they were doing at the time because it couldn’t compare to what he and Shawn were doing. Shawn says it is hard to describe, but he had a real comfort level with Bret and felt like they could wrestle with their eyes closed.

-Taker says it was crucial to the success of the WWE that Bret and Shawn were able to do their thing and were at the top of their game. TJ Wilson tells us he grew up snowballed in with the Hart Family and growing up in Calgary, Bret was seen as a hero.

-Nattie lets us know that she had a crush on Shawn Michaels which shocked people. Kevin Owens points out that Shawn and Bret were the epitome of what the WWE was trying to be.

-Shawn is asked who is the better wrestler and he answers, “I would say Bret, easy.” Montage of Bret and all his various nicknames. Shawn says Bret was very good and fluid and everything had a purpose. Prichard tells us Bret could wrestle a pail and have an entertaining and realistic match. Taker puts Bret over as a skilled technician with no holes anywhere in his game.

-Bret feels he was in his prime at that time. He calls Shawn a really talented athlete and he doesn’t know of anyone having a bad match with Shawn. Shawn says he was a better performer and embodied what it was to be a sports entertainer. Kane calls Shawn the most talented in ring performer of all time and he knew it, which made him a spoiled brat. Taker says there is nobody he would rather work with in the ring than Shawn. “Personally is a whole other issue.”

-Bret says he and Shawn where really good friends at one time and that is important to know. Shawn spent time at Bret’s home and played with his kids. TJ talks about them being friends and how they visited Bret’s house anytime they worked in Calgary. Talk shifts Bret to being unprofessional and Kane notes he was a punk kid that could back up what he said in the ring. Shawn knows he was hell to deal with, but to be happy he had to fulfill everything he wanted.

-Nash notes that Bret was the champion and Freddy says Shawn was fixated on being WWE Champion. That sets the stage for WrestleMania XII. HHH says Shawn and Bret’s style complimented each other which made the story easy to get to. Iron Man Match! Prichard explains the rules of an Iron Man Match. Shawn says that nobody back then would have taken the offer to do an hour long match on PPV. Bret saw it is a challenge and as people questioning if they could do it. He continues that at that time he and Shawn were at their peak and the two best wrestlers in the world.

-TJ talks about the vignettes and how it told the story of Shawn using his speed and athleticism vs. Bret’s hard hitting and technical style. Sean Waltman compares it to Rocky vs. Drago and they include footage from Rocky IV. BEST SHOW EVER! Kane says neither guy wanted to be number two and each truly felt they were the best in the world.

-Commercials!

-WrestleMania XII: Bret wanted to make sure they didn’t lose the audience and Nattie questions how anyone could keep the audience’s attention for that long for one match. Cody notes they told a story and didn’t slow down, but instead sped up. Jerry Lawler says he has called a lot of matches and very few are that memorable. Bret and Shawn discuss the ending of the 60 minutes with Shawn being trapped in the sharpshooter. The time is up and we are at 0-0 so the match is ordered to continue under sudden death rules. Bret got kind of hosed and he makes sure to point that out here as he could argue he survived the sixty minutes which added a swerve in the story they were telling. Instead, Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music only a few minutes in to OT and wins his first WWF Title.

-Both Shawn and Bret say they could not have done that match against anyone else even with all their differences that came later. Back the roundtable JBL says he was with WWE and remembers Shawn coming down from the ceiling and watching Shawn and Bret and wondering if he even belonged in the company with them. He calls it a masterpiece and one of the greatest matches of all time.

-Shawn says his immaturity and hot headiness took over at the close of the match. Bret points out that you can see where Bret tells the ref, “get him the fuck out of my ring.” Bret is disappointed because he gave Shawn an hour and passed the torch to him. Shawn says it was all a blur and all he remembers is Earl having a hard time fastening the belt around his waist. The show the footage of the camera following Bret to the back and him kicking them out of the dressing room. TJ wasn’t sure if that was real or part of a story they were telling, but knows Bret didn’t go to the WrestleMania after party. Bret says it just added to the issues they were having with each other.

-Commercials!

-We pick up at the end of the match again as Cody goes over that the new top babyface just told the former champion to get the F out of his ring. Bret says he and Shawn buried the hatchet at various times and Shawn acknowledges they knew they were going too far and tried to pull things back, but then something else would happen.

-In this case Bret cuts a promo on RAW saying the fans need a real hero and not someone who poses in girlie magazines. Shawn, not one to take the high road, asks how Bret knew he was in the magazine and accuses him of taking a look. Taker thinks all of this added to the mystique of the rivalry. Cody calls it great television between the two best.

-Bret wasn’t about pushing the envelope while Shawn helped found DX and we see the antics of the group. Kevin Owens points out what Shawn and Bret were doing was different than anything else on the show. Lawler notes in his office in Memphis there is a sign that reads “Personal Issues Draw Money.”

-I will note that while I am recapping all the stuff the talks heads are saying, some of the great stuff is the classic moments from RAW in 97 being shown including Shawn hitting Bret with a superkick that sends him flipping over his wheelchair. There’s a story they could have told in this episode.

-Prichard notes they were trying to make the product more reality based. They drew back the curtain a bit and HHH says Bret was more vulnerable because Shawn had the gift of gab. Shawn: “I’ll say anything on television. I have no shame.” This leads to him telling the world that he has seen Bret on the road and he is no role model on an episode of RAW.

-May 19, 1997: Nattie says this was the real turning point as Shawn dropped in the infamous Sunny Days line. Prichard explains that Sunny was a Diva (smoke show back in the day too) and the implication was Bret, who was married, slept with her. Bret feels Shawn crossed the line with that remark and denies anything every happened between the two of them. The next day his son asked him what was going on with him and Sunny. Damn! Shawn says he was single, successful, and had nothing to lose.

-Back to the roundtable and Nash brings up the same thing Shawn just said in that he had nothing to lose and was single. JBL says the roster knew a fight was coming and they were just hoping it was backstage so they could see it.

-RAW: June 9, 1997: Hartford, CT: Bret made up his mind he was going to snatch Shawn. He pushed Shawn against the wall and then we had clumps of hair being pulled out. Lawler calls it one of the wildest things he has ever seen. Shawn notes it must have been miserable for everyone on the roster and Taker says it made things interesting at work as you just waited for the next explosion.

-Oh, we get a whopper from Bruce as he notes this was during The Monday Night War and Bret’s contract was coming to an end. HAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, that 20 year deal signed a year earlier flew right by.

-Bret says he got a deal from WCW and all he had to was sign it and call Vince. They gloss over that Bret had a window to negotiate with WCW and did so at the behest of Vince who told Bret he couldn’t afford him anymore.

-Commercials!

-Kane says the story of Bret leaving is complicated. Prichard says Bret was negotiating on the other side to see if the grass was greener. Again, this dude can’t help, but lie. Shawn says it was hard to picture the WWE without Bret in it and figured they would work it out. Bret says WCW offered him a massive deal and Vince told him he should take their offer.

-It became common knowledge that Bret had given 30 day notice and the issue is that he is still WWF Champion. The idea was Bret vs. Shawn at Survivor Series in Montreal. Bret told Shawn that he had always been a company guy and would put Shawn over if that is what was decided. Shawn thanked Bret and said he would not do the same. Shawn says it is a weird situation as he has no memory of that, but has never said it didn’t happen and doesn’t run away from things he did in his past. He has noted before that it sounds like something he would have said.

-That cemented the thought in Bret’s mind that he wasn’t losing to Shawn. HHH says it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, you don’t do that and Bret couldn’t be allowed to go to WCW with the WWF Title. Again, this has all be debunked as crap as there was no way Bret was showing up on Nitro with the WWF Title as Bischoff was scared of lawsuits following the Madusa issues in 95. HHH said Bret had to drop that title to someone and I believe Bret said he would have dropped it to anyone else.

-JBL believes that Bret is a man of integrity and would not have shown up on Nitro with the WWF Title, but Bischoff was another story and mentions what happened with Madusa and the WWF Woman’s Title. Again, it wasn’t going to happen!

-Survivor Series 1997: Prichard mentions Bret was having a documentary crew follow him and we hear their audio of the meeting Bret and Vince had that agreed to a DQ finish. Prichard says that is not Bret’s choice and he was unwilling to do what he needed to do. No mention of Bret’s 30 day creative control?

-The Wednesday before the show Vince, Shawn, HHH, and others had a meeting and the idea of a screwjob came up. Shawn said he would do whatever they needed him to do. Shawn they questioned how they got here as they were friends and now what was happening sucked.

-Bret says he poured his heart into that match and Shawn did the same. Bret says the match was going to go 40 minutes. KO was in the crowd and didn’t know Vince was the owner and thought he was just a commentator. He was confused why Vince was in a suit at ringside. HHH says Vince needed to be at ringside so Bret knew that what was happening was his decision. Bret: “That’s when I knew they screwed me.”

-Commercials!

-Back to Survivor Series as Shawn puts Bret in a Sharpshooter and the bell rings immediately. HHH says Vince was doing what was best for business. Lawler knew everything had gone off the rails when he saw Bret spit right in Vince’s face. Great aim by Bret! HHH says Vince no sold the spit and disrespect because it just washes off. I don’t know who is worse here: Prichard or HHH?

-The roundtable talk about the chaos and Bret’s reaction when he started destroying the announce tables and using his finger to write out WCW to the crowd.

-We get more footage from Wrestling with Shadows as Shawn denies being part of it. Shawn says Vince told him to deny, deny, deny. Undertaker was sitting between them and Vince was in the room as well. I guess they are bypassing Taker knocking on Vince’s door telling him to go see Bret. Apparently Shawn tried to chime in with something and Taker grabbed his leg and told him it wasn’t the time and he needed to shut up.

-Vince told Bret, “what did you expect me to do.” They walked towards each other and Bret notes it was an accepted fight. Bret decked him with a knockout punch.

-Cody says Shawn is a wonderful human being, but if you are a Bret fan then Shawn is a piece of shit. Bret says it followed him even in WCW. They were running a town close to each other and Bret stayed in his hotel as he was afraid of running in to Shawn as he would likely would have killed him with his bare hands.

-Prichard covers Shawn breaking his back in the casket match with Taker and Bret having his career ended by Goldberg. Within a few years of Montreal both men were out of the business due to their injuries.

-Kane and Taker discuss how Shawn turned his life around and came back to the ring as a new human being. Bret interview from 2005 notes he has wanted people to take responsibility for what happened. Shawn says they never ran into each other and didn’t speak for over a decade.

-TJ Wilson is the one that started the ball rolling to them getting together to sort things out. Shawn often told TJ he thought about flying to Calgary and knocking on the door and if Bret punched him in the face that was okay. That meant a lot to Bret as he knew Shawn felt bad. He told TJ to give Shawn his number and he would see how sincere he is.

-Commercials!

-TJ felt a phone call wasn’t going to help and they needed to meet face to face. Bret was told that Shawn was too afraid to call him and Bret agreed if they were going to bury the hatchet they needed to meet.

-Jan 4, 2010: Bret returns to RAW for the first time since Nov 1997. They met in catering and Shawn was trying to get everything out and Bret told him to stop and they would do it in the ring.

-Bret opens the show and calls Shawn out. They bury the hatchet in a moment that is etched in my brain forever. The little tease of Shawn having a chance to superkick Bret, but instead hugging him is amazing. KO calls it surreal and the one thing you didn’t think could happen. Bret says Shawn apologized in his ear when they hugged. They both got a massive weight off and Taker was proud of the growth of both men.

-Back to the round table as they note you don’t have to be best friends to draw money and put butts in seats. Kofi notes it sucked for those involved in something that personal, but it is great for the fans.

-Video of Bret and Shawn catching up with each other. Shawn admits he didn’t have the maturity to see that he and Bret were very similar. Taker says the greatest thing about a rivalry is it being remembered decades after it ends.

-Bret and Shawn talk about the Iron Man Match with each other and how it was a risk, but they pulled it off. Bret tells Shawn it was a masterpiece and one of his proudest moments. Bret feels they were cheated when things went sideways as they could have wrestled once a year for the next decade and torn the house down. Shawn notes they aren’t best friends, but they reach out on birthdays and anniversaries. They talk about being dads and the scarp proposition of being grandfathers. Bret wishes they could go back and do it again as it was magic.

-This was like the cliff notes version of their rivalry. I recommend getting the WWE DVD that had a sit down interview with both men where they talked everything. This was fine but skipped a lot and in some cases just had people flat out lying or giving WWE slant which makes sense since this is a WWE produced piece (with A&E). The roundtable format is weird as they just cut to that every so often with the main story being told by the talking head interviews. Bret and Shawn seem to be the ones that have made piece with all this while others seem bitter and defensive over what happened which is weird. Thanks for reading and later tonight episode two drops.