After 13 years, Bret Hart finally returned to the WWE, and his first order of business was to have a public confrontation with the man who helped push him out of the company in 1997 – Shawn Michaels.
For more than a decade, both men verbally cut each other down in countless interviews protesting any likelihood of putting their past behind them and the prospect of sharing the same locker room again. “Blah, Blah, …I had to do what was best for the company in Montreal….Bret was being selfish…”. “Blah, Blah…I’ll never step foot in the same locker room as Shawn…He’s a lying piece of sh*t”…”. And so it went.
Then on January 4, 2010, both men ate a mouthful of their own words in a televised RAW segment filled with apologies, forgiveness, gratitude, handshakes and hugs. Bret was officially back – minus his emotional baggage and taking aim at a return to the WrestleMania spotlight… but that’s when the irony set in.
Prior to Bret and Shawn’s public show of affection, the Heartbreak Kid had spent months lobbying to get a rematch against The Undertaker. Then the rumors began to swirl about a match between the HitMan and Vince McMahon. But if Bret were to make any kind of Mania appearance – especially one that would see him physically active – wouldn’t it have made sense from a creative standpoint to have Shawn Michaels involved, given their bitter history? Granted, Bret and Shawn wouldn’t be able to pull off an epic like their Iron Man match from Mania 12, but there is plenty of room for yet another screwjob ala their final encounter in Montreal. How you ask? Simple.
Don’t you find it ironic that on the same event where Bret Hart will seek vengeance against Vince McMahon for his wrong-doings, Shawn Michaels finds himself involved in a match where if he loses his career comes to an end? What better way for Bret Hart to kill two birds with one stone on “the grandest stage of them all”? Call me crazy, but I am predicting that Bret Hart somehow gets involved in the Michaels/Undertaker rematch and will ultimately cause Shawn Michaels his career!!!
In all honesty, who really wanted to see a Michaels/Undertaker rematch after the gem they gave us last year? It’s pretty obvious that The Undertaker’s streak is much too valuable to his persona and the WWE Universe to come to an end regardless of HBK’s legendary status in this business. Sure the lines between fact and fiction are blurred here, and Bret putting the screws to Shawn wouldn’t be anything nearly as life-altering and controversial as what he endured in Montreal. It simply wouldn’t be real. Just another comic book ending in a fantasy world where nobody’s hair moves. There would be no “true” retribution for the Hitman. Not in real life and not in the wrestling world. Bret Hart’s decade long career crisis would climax in the fictitious world penciled by the WWE creative sitcom writers.
On the same token, does today’s average wrestling fan even care about what transpired 13 years ago? The business has changed so much since then and the WWE’s current target audience doesn’t understand the world of “kayfabe”. What happened then doesn’t matter now. And what makes matters worse for Bret Hart is that he’s been forgotten. Of course, not by the legions of fans in their mid-30′s (such as I) who watched Bret throughout his career and compete in his prime. Sure young fans have heard the legend of Bret Hart and respect him as an industry icon. But now this angry old man comes back to the WWE after 13 years to pick a bone with their beloved Heartbreak Kid who has entertained them since returning to the ring full time in 2002. Today’s fans have a loyalty to the “new” Shawn Michaels who pledges himself to his savior, allies himself to Triple H and performs in the main event against the best in the business in 2010.
The business is over-saturated with wrestling programming. So much that history no longer matters. When I was young, – I can’t believe I just started a sentence with that – I could recite title histories, full cards to major events, and key storylines. History had so much more meaning then than it does now. It was the golden rule to know where you came from in order to pave where you are going. Not anymore. Now history is offered up weekly in stylized video packages to make sense of the garbage you’re about to pollute your eyes and mind with. Maybe I’m just like Bret? An old man going off on a rant that nobody cares to hear. So let’s take it back to the “gimmick”. 
Mark my words…I’m predicting that Bret Hart’s 13 year long storyline will come full circle when he pulls a screwjob of his own and causes Shawn Michaels to retire. And on the same night, Bret will have the ultimate excuse to work stiff against Vince McMahon as he writes the final chapter in the Montreal story while having the last laugh. If the creative geniuses with the power of the pencil drop the ball on this one, it will be the single biggest missed opportunity since changing the Hogan vs. Flair match at Wrestlemania 8…Yeah, I went way back! That’s what old men do! Can you dig it!?
This Post Sponsored In-Part By: Mirage Outerwear by Hank Shalom
Annie Social
Becky Bayless
Candice Michelle
Daffney
Dawn Marie
Lacey Von Erich
Madison Rayne
Malia Hosaka
SoCal Val
Velvet Sky
Ashley Massaro Fansite
Christy Hemme Fansite
Tracy Brooks Fansite
Diamond Dallas Page
One More Screwjob – Bret vs. Shawn at Mania 26!!!
After 13 years, Bret Hart finally returned to the WWE, and his first order of business was to have a public confrontation with the man who helped push him out of the company in 1997 – Shawn Michaels.
For more than a decade, both men verbally cut each other down in countless interviews protesting any likelihood of putting their past behind them and the prospect of sharing the same locker room again. “Blah, Blah, …I had to do what was best for the company in Montreal….Bret was being selfish…”. “Blah, Blah…I’ll never step foot in the same locker room as Shawn…He’s a lying piece of sh*t”…”. And so it went.
Then on January 4, 2010, both men ate a mouthful of their own words in a televised RAW segment filled with apologies, forgiveness, gratitude, handshakes and hugs. Bret was officially back – minus his emotional baggage and taking aim at a return to the WrestleMania spotlight… but that’s when the irony set in.
Prior to Bret and Shawn’s public show of affection, the Heartbreak Kid had spent months lobbying to get a rematch against The Undertaker. Then the rumors began to swirl about a match between the HitMan and Vince McMahon. But if Bret were to make any kind of Mania appearance – especially one that would see him physically active – wouldn’t it have made sense from a creative standpoint to have Shawn Michaels involved, given their bitter history? Granted, Bret and Shawn wouldn’t be able to pull off an epic like their Iron Man match from Mania 12, but there is plenty of room for yet another screwjob ala their final encounter in Montreal. How you ask? Simple.
Don’t you find it ironic that on the same event where Bret Hart will seek vengeance against Vince McMahon for his wrong-doings, Shawn Michaels finds himself involved in a match where if he loses his career comes to an end? What better way for Bret Hart to kill two birds with one stone on “the grandest stage of them all”? Call me crazy, but I am predicting that Bret Hart somehow gets involved in the Michaels/Undertaker rematch and will ultimately cause Shawn Michaels his career!!!
In all honesty, who really wanted to see a Michaels/Undertaker rematch after the gem they gave us last year? It’s pretty obvious that The Undertaker’s streak is much too valuable to his persona and the WWE Universe to come to an end regardless of HBK’s legendary status in this business. Sure the lines between fact and fiction are blurred here, and Bret putting the screws to Shawn wouldn’t be anything nearly as life-altering and controversial as what he endured in Montreal. It simply wouldn’t be real. Just another comic book ending in a fantasy world where nobody’s hair moves. There would be no “true” retribution for the Hitman. Not in real life and not in the wrestling world. Bret Hart’s decade long career crisis would climax in the fictitious world penciled by the WWE creative sitcom writers.
On the same token, does today’s average wrestling fan even care about what transpired 13 years ago? The business has changed so much since then and the WWE’s current target audience doesn’t understand the world of “kayfabe”. What happened then doesn’t matter now. And what makes matters worse for Bret Hart is that he’s been forgotten. Of course, not by the legions of fans in their mid-30′s (such as I) who watched Bret throughout his career and compete in his prime. Sure young fans have heard the legend of Bret Hart and respect him as an industry icon. But now this angry old man comes back to the WWE after 13 years to pick a bone with their beloved Heartbreak Kid who has entertained them since returning to the ring full time in 2002. Today’s fans have a loyalty to the “new” Shawn Michaels who pledges himself to his savior, allies himself to Triple H and performs in the main event against the best in the business in 2010.
The business is over-saturated with wrestling programming. So much that history no longer matters. When I was young, – I can’t believe I just started a sentence with that – I could recite title histories, full cards to major events, and key storylines. History had so much more meaning then than it does now. It was the golden rule to know where you came from in order to pave where you are going. Not anymore. Now history is offered up weekly in stylized video packages to make sense of the garbage you’re about to pollute your eyes and mind with. Maybe I’m just like Bret? An old man going off on a rant that nobody cares to hear. So let’s take it back to the “gimmick”.
Mark my words…I’m predicting that Bret Hart’s 13 year long storyline will come full circle when he pulls a screwjob of his own and causes Shawn Michaels to retire. And on the same night, Bret will have the ultimate excuse to work stiff against Vince McMahon as he writes the final chapter in the Montreal story while having the last laugh. If the creative geniuses with the power of the pencil drop the ball on this one, it will be the single biggest missed opportunity since changing the Hogan vs. Flair match at Wrestlemania 8…Yeah, I went way back! That’s what old men do! Can you dig it!?
This Post Sponsored In-Part By: Mirage Outerwear by Hank Shalom