WRESTLINGFEUDS

Bret Hart

Bret Hart appears in 11 storylines documented on WrestlingFeuds, as a principal in nine, spanning 1992–1999 in WWF and WCW.

Feuds and rivalries

New Generation·WWF·1992–1997

Bret Hitman Hart vs. Shawn Michaels The Heartbreak Kid (Jul 1992 – Nov 1997)

A five-year rivalry between the WWF's two defining New Generation stars ended with Vince McMahon secretly ordering the bell rung on Bret Hart's own Sharpshooter, handing Shawn Michaels the WWF Championship without Hart's knowledge or submission in Hart's home country of Montreal, an incident that broke apart a real friendship, birthed the villainous Mr. McMahon character, and is still argued about by everyone involved.

Bret Hart · Shawn Michaels

New Generation·WWF·1993

Yokozuna vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hitman Hart (Apr 1993 – Jun 1993)

Bret Hart lost the WWF Championship to salt in the eyes at WrestleMania IX, then watched Hulk Hogan answer an impromptu challenge and win the title in about 20 seconds. Hart says Hogan promised to return the favor and never did; Hogan said the plan was always to drop the belt back to Yokozuna. The argument outlived both men's careers, and Hogan himself.

Bret Hart · Hulk Hogan · Yokozuna · Mr. Fuji

New Generation·WWF·1993–1994

Bret The Hitman Hart vs. Owen Hart (Nov 1993 – Nov 1994)

Owen Hart got eliminated at Survivor Series because his brother stumbled into him, spent two months asking for a match he could not get, and then kicked Bret's leg out from under him at the Royal Rumble, starting a year that produced the best-remembered opening match in WrestleMania history and a five-star cage match with their parents at ringside.

Bret Hart · Owen Hart · Stu Hart · Helen Hart · Jim Neidhart · British Bulldog · Bob Backlund

New Generation·WWF·1996–1997

The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels vs. Sycho Sid (Jul 1996 – Jan 1997)

Shawn Michaels spent his 1996 WWF Championship reign defending it against the same handful of opponents, until his one-time bodyguard turned attacker turned ally, Sycho Sid, chased off a rival at ringside and earned a title shot of his own. Sid beat Michaels for the belt in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd that booed the champion out of the building, and Michaels won it back two months later in San Antonio while running a fever, only to forfeit the title three weeks after that over a knee injury Bret Hart never believed was real.

Shawn Michaels · Sycho Sid · Vader · Ahmed Johnson · Jim Cornette · Owen Hart · British Bulldog · Bret Hart · Steve Austin

Attitude Era·WCW·1996–1998

Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan (Sep 1996 – Feb 1998)

Eighteen months of Sting silently stalking the New World Order from the rafters built to Starrcade 1997's WCW World Heavyweight Championship match, a finish so botched by conflicting instructions and Hollywood Hogan's last-minute creative control that the title had to be vacated and settled two months later at SuperBrawl VIII.

Sting · Hulk Hogan · Randy Savage · Bret Hart · Lex Luger · Kevin Nash

New Generation·WWF·1996–1997

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret The Hitman Hart (Sep 1996 – Jul 1997)

A loudmouth who had just found Austin 3:16 called out a champion on sabbatical. Bret Hart came back, and over eight months the two built a program that ran through a Royal Rumble elimination nobody saw, a title lost to a chair shot, and a WrestleMania submission match where Austin bled, passed out, and left the bigger star.

Bret Hart · Steve Austin · Ken Shamrock · Sycho Sid

New Generation·WWF·1997

The Hart Foundation vs. The United States (Mar 1997 – Nov 1997)

Bret Hart turned heel at WrestleMania 13, reunited his brother Owen and brother-in-law the British Bulldog, and built a pro-Canadian Hart Foundation around his own family. For eight months the group was booed in the United States and cheered in Canada, peaking at Canadian Stampede in Calgary, until Brian Pillman's death and the Montreal Screwjob, five weeks apart, ended it.

Bret Hart · Owen Hart · British Bulldog · Jim Neidhart · Brian Pillman · Steve Austin · Ken Shamrock

New Generation·WWF·1997

The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Aug 1997 – Oct 1997)

A SummerSlam chair shot meant for Bret Hart instead crashed into The Undertaker's skull, turning Shawn Michaels heel and igniting a rivalry that ran through a no-contest riot and a brass-knuckles brawl before landing on professional wrestling's first Hell in a Cell match. Kane tore the cell door off its hinges to end it, launching one of the most famous debuts in wrestling history and sending Michaels straight into the Montreal Screwjob five weeks later.

Shawn Michaels · The Undertaker · Kane · Paul Bearer · Triple H · Chyna · Rick Rude · Bret Hart · Mankind

Attitude Era·WCW·1999

Bret Hitman Hart vs. Goldberg (Mar 1999 – Dec 1999)

Twelve days after winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship together, Bret Hart and Goldberg met for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1999. A kick that was supposed to miss caught Hart in the head, and the concussion that followed, compounded by more in the days after, ended his in-ring career within a year.

Bret Hart · Bill Goldberg · Roddy Piper

Also appears in

Golden Era·WWF·1992

Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Nature Boy Ric Flair (Jan 1992 – Nov 1992)

Ric Flair walked into the WWF with the NWA's real world title belt under his arm and, months later, doctored photographs claiming he'd had Miss Elizabeth before Randy Savage ever did. Savage's real marriage was already collapsing off camera, and the WWF built its WrestleMania VIII main event on top of it anyway.

Randy Savage · Ric Flair · Miss Elizabeth · Mr. Perfect · Bobby Heenan · Razor Ramon

New Generation·WWF·1993–1995

The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (Sep 1993 – Aug 1995)

Shawn Michaels took his Intercontinental title home during a 1993 suspension and refused to send it back, so the WWF crowned a second champion and hung both belts over the ring at WrestleMania X. The ladder match that settled it was the first WWF match Dave Meltzer rated five stars, and the two men did it again in Pittsburgh eighteen months later.

Shawn Michaels · Razor Ramon · Diesel · The 1-2-3 Kid · Rick Martel · Jack Tunney · Dean Douglas

Featured alongside

Key events