5 Greatest WWE Feuds Of The 90s (2)

2. Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart

Anytime two men are considered the absolute best at what they do, a rivalry is sure to occur. That was the case in the mid-1990s, when Shawn Michaels rose to stardom as a singles competitor, providing the first real competition to the Hitman’s status as the best professional wrestler in the industry. Michaels was driven and had an ability to get a great match out of any opponent he faced, regardless of size or skill. Hart was a grizzled veteran, the face of an era in which business had fallen off significantly and he was asked to help steady the ship. As the most popular star of that period, he became a hero to millions and, somewhere along the line, began to buy into the hype.
The egos of the two Superstars raged and by the end of their time together in Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment, those egos would prove to be the main culprit in the tarnishing of both men’s legacies.
Their clash at the 1992 Survivor Series, a WWE Championship match in which new titleholder Hart defended against cocky, brash new Intercontinental champion Michaels, was seen as the dawn of a new era for the company. Vince McMahon had seen his company blasted with steroid accusations so he decided to take the focus off of the enormous titans that fuelled the company’s popularity in the 1980s and put it on the talented in-ring workers that had developed over the years. Hart and Michaels, he believed, were capable of carrying the promotion into the future and their work in their first high profile bout supported those beliefs.
Over the next four years, they were kept away from each other for the most part. Despite not always being in the title hunt, Hart was the unquestioned top star for the company, wrestling outstanding matches against all shapes and sizes on continents across the world. Michaels worked primarily with real life friends Razor Ramon, Diesel and the 123 Kid, establishing himself as one of the top performers in the industry. Eventually, it was believed, the two would have to clash to prove who the very best in the world was. That time would come in 1996 when, after a babyface turn a year earlier, Michaels’ popularity and marketability matched that of the Hitman.
In a historic Iron Man match for the WWE Championship, Michaels defeated Hart in overtime to win his first major singles title. “A boyhood dream has come true,” McMahon said on commentary, believing the moment to be the genesis for an upward swing in momentum for business. He could have never have prepared for the conflict between his new champion and his loyal veteran competitor.
It was clear when Hart returned from hiatus in 1996 that there was incredible tension between he and Michaels. Neither was overly fond of the other and they made it clear in both televised promos as well as mainstream media interviews. The competition between them was equal parts fiction and reality and more times than not, the men involved had a difficult time distinguishing the two. The personal attacks they took at one another, as well as the professional politicking that went on behind the scenes, only served to add gasoline to a fire already raging out of control. When it was decided that Michaels would take the WWE Championship from Hart, who had signed with WCW and would be departing McMahon’s promotion at the conclusion of the Survivor Series in November 1997, the table was set for the most infamous moment in WWE history, the Montreal Screwjob.