Original subtitles

- There’s the Hitman.

He’s a great family man.

He’s a great athlete. No doubt about it.

- There’s only one Mr. Flamboyant,

Shawn Michaels!

- They were perfect for each other.

They hate each other,

but they were perfect for each other.

- When you look at long-term rivalry,

Shawn Michaels versus Bret Hart will forever live in infamy.

- Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels loath one another

whether it be out here or back there.

- Neither one of those guys wanted to be number two.

They both wanted to be number one.

- Bret was more vulnerable than Shawn.

- Get out.

- And that was sort of

the seeds of things to come.

- You’re nothing but a degenerate.

- I don’t think there’s ever been a rivalry

that has been talked about as much

as this issue between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

- It made things interesting to go to work

’cause you never knew.

Like, it was a powder keg.

- [bleep] you.

- You know, we started out

pretending to be real

and then it got real.

- Ring the bell! Ring the bell!

[bell dinging]

- I was the bad guy.

It wasn’t fun to do.

- I could’ve killed him with my bare hands.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- This rivalry has just escalated into a war.

- When two legends collide,

their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories

behind the greatest rivalries of all time.

I’m Freddie Prinze Jr.,

and this is "WWE Rivals."

One of the most heated and celebrated rivalries

in the history of the business,

Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

Both of these men are on a collision course

and we’re at a time where the larger men of the WWE

are now giving a little bit of room

for the smaller wrestlers to get over.

- This is a land of giants, right?

When I told people that I wanted to be

a WWE superstar,

I got laughed at because I wasn’t 6’8",

I wasn’t 300 pounds.

And for me, it just drew me in more

because it made me feel like maybe I do have a shot

because these guys aren’t as big as the other guys,

but I like watching these matches

more so than the big guys.

- I want you to take a good look

at the wrestler of the 90s.

- In the early 90s, the shift was to a more athletic

in ring-based characters

where you were getting guys that could really go

in the ring and have great wrestling matches.

- Whoa! - What a high-risk move.

- It was the opportunity for us

because a lot of the stalwarts, I guess,

from the early WWE days were starting to leave.

- Hulk Hogan is here in the WCW.

- People can say what they want about Hogan

and all the talent they had over in WCW

and what they were doing,

but to be honest, you know, there’s no comparison

to what Shawn was doing and what I was doing.

- There are certain ones that you get in there with

and it’s hard to describe,

but you just recognize a real comfort level there.

It felt like you could probably do it

with your eyes closed.

I had that with Bret.

- Looking at Shawn looking at Bret,

they’re both flag bearers of the new generation.

- Now, what you’re seeing,

the blast-off of the next decade

in the World Wrestling Federation.

- It was vital for our success

that those guys were at the top of their game

and, you know--and brought what they did to the table.

- Whoa, take a look at that.

Yeah, Bret Hart vision.

- I grew up very much snowballed in

with the Hart family

since I was a ten-year-old boy.

Growing up in Calgary, like, he definitely came across

as a Canadian hero.

- He’s the best there is, the best there was,

the best there ever will be.

He’s my hero and I think he’s everybody else’s here, too.

- I always had a crush on Shawn Michaels.

People always laugh and they’re like,

"You had a crush on Shawn Michaels?"

He just had that, like, charisma about him.

You know, he was the Heartbreak Kid.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

- Bret and Shawn were like the epitome

of what WWE was trying to be.

- I’m gonna be carrying the flag for the new generation.

Who was a better wrestler?

I would say Bret, easy.

- The excellence of execution.

The most scientific

World Wrestling Federation champion

perhaps of all time.

- Bret was just very good and fluent.

Almost everything had a purpose and a reason.

- You could give Bret Hart a pail,

and Bret Hart could go out and have

an entertaining, realistic match.

- Just a skilled technician in the ring.

There are no holes in his in-ring work at all.

I mean, he had the mat game.

He could brawl. He could do it all.

He was something special inside the ropes for sure.

- I think I was in my prime at that time.

’Cause when I think of Shawn Michaels,

sometimes he kinda-- he kinda reminds me of me.

Shawn was just a really talented athlete.

I don’t know of anybody ever having a bad match with Shawn.

- I was a better performer.

- Michael heads right back in.

That’s the kind of effort-- - Hey!

- Once the term "sports entertainer" came out,

I felt like I embodied all of that.

You will not ever see a man more charismatic,

more flamboyant, or more talented

than the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels.

- High-risk maneuver!

- In my opinion, Shawn Michaels is

the most talented in-ring performer of all time,

and he knew it.

Back when I came in, Shawn Michaels was

a spoiled brat.

It was Shawn’s world

and the rest of us were just playing in it.

- In the ring, there’s probably no one

that I’d rather work with than Shawn.

- Oh!

That’s how good he was.

Personally, it was a whole another issue.

[dramatic music]

I think initially there was friction

professionally that way.

- Shawn Michaels, I think you’re

one of the greatest wrestlers

I’ve ever had the privilege of watching.

Shawn and me were really good friends once upon a time.

It’s important to know is that Shawn was

a really close and dear friend of mine.

I consider Shawn Michaels a friend.

Somebody I invited to my home and had in my house,

and somebody that played with my kids.

- Quick, quick!

Cover him! Cover him!

- I remember a live event in Calgary.

Razor, Shawn, Diesel, they all were at Bret’s house.

They put milk in super soakers and were, like,

all shooting each other with milk for, like, hours

and, like, having fun.

You know, they were all just having a fun day

at Bret’s house before going down

to the Saddledome and working.

So I knew they were friends.

- He would talk about Shawn, and like, you know,

how much he admired him

and how great he was in the ring,

but, like, he didn’t like his--some of his ways.

Maybe his attitude sometimes.

- He was unprofessional a lot of the times.

- Why don’t you say it to my face, huh?

- The truth hurts. - Huh?

- He had a attitude to me and I think more like

it was all about him and nobody else mattered.

- You can’t have a main event without me, for God’s sakes.

- There you go.

- Basically, here’s this punk kid who’s really good,

can back up everything he says...

- Can you believe the performance thus far?

- But he doesn’t have that maturity.

- Even though I was absolute hell to deal with,

I was just so passionate about doing this

and was not going to be happy unless I could

fulfill absolutely everything.

- Shawn Michaels going to WrestleMania

to face the WWE champion.

- The rafters are rattling

as the WWE champion makes his way to the ring.

- Bret was the champion and that was, you know,

one thing that Shawn wanted.

- For Shawn, he was fixated on the title

at that point in his life.

- Oh--this was it, you know?

You can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

- The quest of a 12-year-old-boy

from San Antonio, Texas officially begins.

- The two greatest athletes in the history

of the World Wrestling Federation

going at it at WrestleMania.

- Going into WrestleMania,

they had had rivalries in the past.

This was different over the championship.

- Shawn and Bret’s style

complemented each other perfectly,

so the story was simple.

It was organic. It was easy to get to.

- We expect to see

the single greatest athletic event

in World Wrestling Federation history.

- This match is gonna be 60 minutes long.

- 60-minute Iron Man Match is one in which

at the end of that, the one that has got

the most falls becomes champion.

- You could have offered an hour match

to anybody in wrestling back then,

and I don’t think anybody would have taken you up on it.

Even though you can be on a pay-per-view,

it was like, "Uh-uh, I’m not gonna

go out there for an hour."

- It was kinda thrown out to us like a challenge.

"Can you guys do it?"

- Bret and I being the main event,

we knew it was a big chance,

but he and I felt confident we were the guys to do it.

- It’ll be maybe the greatest match of all time,

and I’ll be proud to be part of it.

- You know, we were both just in our peak.

I would say we were both without a doubt for sure

the two best wrestlers in the world.

I knew Shawn Michaels three or four years ago.

I said this is gonna be the guy

that’s gonna try to take my spot.

Unfortunately, I’m not ready to leave yet.

- The vignettes were awesome ’cause you saw

Shawn doing these, like, handstand pushups.

I thought that was so cool.

The story’s already being told of Shawn’s gonna use

his speed and his quickness,

and Bret’s gonna use his hard-hitting,

submission, technical style.

The stage was set.

- Who’s better? Me or Shawn Michaels?

- You.

- It just made it feel like Rocky and Drago.

You remember the montage of them both training,

and they have different training styles.

Drago’s is more modern.

And then--but you got Rocky over here

running up mountains and carrying logs.

- Shawn Michaels is very good,

but he is not

and he never ever will be the best.

- They both thought they were the best

and were gonna prove it.

Neither one of those guys wanted to be number two.

They both wanted to be number one.

- I think tomorrow in the 60-minute Iron Man Match

that I’ll prove beyond a shadow of a doubt

that I’m everything that I say that I am.

I’m the best there is, the best there was,

and the best there ever will be.

- This contest is the special Iron Man Match

for the World Wrestling Federation Championship.

- If you look at the Iron Man Match,

no match has ever been more calling

for that type of matchup

than those two-- an Iron Man Match.

- Get ready, ladies and gentlemen

for a long, solid hour

of non-stop World Wrestling Federation action

between, perhaps, the two greatest athletes

who have ever donned the tights.

- You’re not undecided coming into that match.

You’re either a Bret Hart fan

or you’re a Shawn Michaels fan,

but you are aware and respect the other.

- You talk about, like, Bret and Shawn

and you have to appreciate the fact

that these guys really genuinely want to be the best.

The best or nothing else.

- We were kind of sitting near the top

and I just remember being like,

"I wonder if this match is gonna be boring,"

because earlier in the day, we were eating

this WrestleMania breakfast in the hotel,

and I remember we see Shawn eating

and he said, "I’m really nervous."

I just remember being so blown away

that here’s Shawn Michaels about to be

in the main event of WrestleMania

and he’s saying he’s nervous.

- We were excited about it,

and always a little bit of that excitement is nerves,

you know, and anxiety.

But that’s what makes somebody competitive.

That’s what you live for is overcoming

and achieving in the face

of some of that stress and that anxiety.

- The man who wins the most decisions

will be declared the winner

and the World Wrestling Federation champion.

- Here we go. 60 minutes long.

- You know, as the match goes

it’s really important to make sure

we didn’t lose the audience.

- How in the hell is anybody gonna

keep their attention span for 60 minutes

on a wrestling match?

- Look out! - It’s that boot!

Did you see what he did?

- It’s what made the match so special

is that there was a certain pacing to that match.

You didn’t know who was gonna win.

It was so back and forth and real.

- 20 minutes into this matchup,

ladies and gentlemen, and surprisingly,

there has not been a decision.

- Both these guys are pitching a shutout, McMahon.

- Those guys were able to tell a story

over the course of 60 minutes.

If anything, they didn’t slow down, they sped up.

- Oh, my goodness.

The intensity beginning to build here.

- Trying to outshine each other for 60 minutes.

- Wait a minute, Michael is going upstairs!

- Look out! - Look at that!

- I’ve called a lot of matches.

There are very few that really stand out.

I’ve never seen two more determined individuals.

- Both individuals not wanting to be

the one who makes the mistake.

- When Shawn came off the top rope

in the last minute of the match,

that blew everybody away.

- He caught him! Sharpshooter! Sharpshooter in--

He got him! He got him! - Unbelievable!

He got him, McMahon!

- I just thought it was so neat to be in this hole

of "Oh, I’m about to give up."

- Michaels, trying to hang on!

all: Three, two, one!

[bell dings]

- We ended it at 60 minutes.

No one had defeated anyone.

It was a draw. It was unprecedented.

It was like, "Okay, now what do you do?"

- Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

This match has been ordered to continue

under sudden death rules.

- We’re in overtime, McMahon!

- In a lot of ways I could argue, like,

I got through the 60-minute Iron Man Match

and there should never have been an overtime.

It was a great little swerve in the storyline.

- I can tell you right now, Bret Hart does not like

this decision, and he’s gonna take it out on Shawn Michaels.

- It’s a match that’s so vivid

it’s just left etched in your mind.

- Michaels has got it! Shawn Michaels got it!

- So many people have said,

"That is the match that made me wanna be a wrestler."

- Michaels superkick!

He got all of it.

Michaels got all of it! Michaels with a cover!

One, two, yeah! - No!

[bell dings]

[sentimental music]

♪ ♪

- I look back on it

as a match that I’m proud of.

I thought it was monumental.

- I could never have done that match with anybody

but Shawn Michaels.

- Honestly, I don’t know

that I could have done it with anybody else.

So for all the differences he and I had after that,

not another dude I would rather be out there with,

and certainly not at that time in my life.

- I remember seeing Shawn Michaels repel

from the ceiling that night,

and seeing that incredible Iron Man Match

and thinking afterwards,

"You know what? I don’t think I belong here."

It was that good. A masterpiece.

One of the greatest matches of all time.

Those guys performed

in the ring together masterfully,

even though they disliked each other very much.

They were very professional, you know?

But it tells you how great they both were.

They put magic together.

- The boyhood dream has come true for Shawn Michaels.

- My immaturity and my hot-headedness

took over at that point.

- And Shawn Michaels being awarded

the WWE title right in front of Bret The Hitman Hart.

- Shawn, you can see him right on camera

telling me to get the F out of the ring.

And he’s yelling at the referee

who comes over and tells me

to get out of the ring.

And I’m like,

"I just gave you an hour match

"of everything I could give you,

"passed the torch to you,

and you disrespect me like that on my way out."

- I definitely noticed some animosity.

and then at the end of that match

it almost boiled completely over.

- It’s almost a blur now, honestly.

What I remember is Earl trying to put the belt on me.

He snapped it in,

and fumbling around and fumbling around,

and that’s one of those moments where you go, like,

"This is not turning out like I thought it would."

We call it a cluster [bleep].

- Bret’s walk back to the locker room

where he’s, like, visibly pissed off.

But, like, that’s iconic, you know?

Like, I have the visual in my head so clearly.

- Good business, good business. [applause]

- Great match, brother.

- I just thought it was part of the show.

I didn’t think it’s any kind of

actual personal thing going on.

I’ve later found out that it was.

Bret didn’t go to the WrestleMania after-party.

At the talent one, he wasn’t there.

Shawn was.

- Get out! Get out.

Get out!

- It just all added to the real tensions

between us as professionals.

- And Shawn Michaels is being awarded

the WWE title right in front of Bret The Hitman Hart.

- At WrestleMania 12, the babyface is telling

the other guy to get the F out of the ring.

The whole story is filled

with the backstage coming alive.

- Get out!

- Shawn and me buried the hatchet two or three times

when we had started to get too--too tense.

And I don’t want anybody else. I want you at 100%.

- Bret and I always tried to catch ourselves.

We knew that it was getting out of control.

It’s steamrolling, and we would try to pull ourselves back.

And every time we would do that,

something would happen.

[explosions booming]

[tense music]

- The World Wrestling Federation needs a hero.

They need a role model.

They need somebody they can look up to.

Not somebody that poses for girly magazines.

- In my mind, you have two choices.

I can either crawl inside myself and fold,

or I’d come back guns a-blazing.

By the way, how’d you know I was in that girly magazine?

You couldn’t help yourself, could ya?

You had to flip through the pages just a little bit.

- There’s a lot of times when you have personal tension

that it translates well on television.

- Look out! Wait, wait, Shawn Michaels, no!

- I think the whole thing added to the mystique

and to the rivalry itself.

- Hitman, when I get a hold of you,

I am gonna tear you to pieces.

I guarantee it.

- It was really great television.

And they were the best.

- Shawn Michaels, I will kick your ass.

- Shawn Michaels-- they were pushing the envelope,

and Bret wasn’t about that.

He wasn’t about pointing at your crotch

or pulling your pants down.

- You’re a disgrace to wrestling.

You’re nothing but a degenerate.

- It took on a life of its own.

It was very, very personal.

- What?

I love Canada.

- You were seeing real-life drama play out on television.

- I can’t stand you, and you make me sick.

- That was different than

the rest of the things happening on the show.

[cheering]

- To me, coming from down in Tennessee,

we used to have a sign on the wall in our office

that said "Personal issues draw money."

- You’re nothing but a punk.

- I think it was the first time

that we were trying to view the product

as a little more reality-based.

That there are human beings behind the characters

and that the human beings have feelings.

Sometimes those feelings get hurt.

- I’m not gonna lie to you.

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels loath one another

whether it be out here or back there.

- Bret was way more vulnerable than Shawn,

and Shawn had the gift of gab,

which bothered Bret,

and I think that was sort of the seeds of things to come.

- You know, we started out pretending to be real,

and then it got real.

- Hitman, I’ve seen you on the road,

and bro, you ain’t no role model.

- I’ll say anything on television.

I have no shame.

- The real turning point was the promo

that Shawn cut on "Raw" about Bret having Sunny days.

- Even though lately you’ve had some Sunny days, my friend,

you still can’t get the job done.

- That was implying that there was

something going on between Bret and Sunny,

who was a valet.

- Look at Sunny. She looks great, doesn’t she?

- Basically said Bret slept with Sunny.

- The Sunny days that are supposed to have happened,

they’ve never happened.

He crossed the line that nobody should ever cross.

You know, those are the kinda of things

that could topple my marriage.

When I came home the next day,

my son Dallas had been at school.

First thing he asked me, he goes,

"So what’s going on with you and Sunny?"

I got really mad then.

- Breaking the fourth wall, peeling the curtain back,

it’s everything.

It’s breaking every rule.

- At that time in my life,

single, successful,

not a care in the world.

I used to tell everybody all the time,

"Dude, you are bringing a frickin’ spoon

to a guy with a frickin’ shotgun."

I got nothing to lose.

- Two words which every fan remembers--Sunny days.

- Shawn had nothing to lose. - Yeah.

[laughter]

- Shawn’s single. - Right.

- You know when two guys are on a collision course for--

for a fight at some point.

We knew it probably wouldn’t happen in the ring

’cause they were both very professional.

We knew it’d probably happen backstage.

We were just hoping we’d all get to see it.

[fireworks exploding]

- Yes, indeed!

They are ready for action tonight on "Raw".

- I flew in for the TVs for Hartford.

I made up my mind that I was gonna snatch Shawn.

I was really ready to kill him when I saw him.

Walked right up to him, pushed him with my hands

against the wall.

- All of a sudden, these two guys

burst through the wall.

- Some other people came and pulled us apart,

and--[imitates ripping] as he did that,

he ripped out a huge clump of hair.

- It was one of the wildest scenes

that I’ve ever witnessed in all the years

I’ve been in the business.

- These two men were done being professional.

They had an actual fight that broke down in the locker room.

- They just didn’t--genuinely didn’t like each other at all.

It’s much tougher to work with somebody

that you don’t like because you don’t trust ’em.

- It must’ve been miserable for everybody

to go through, too, in the locker room

and the drama and your two main guys constantly at it.

- [bleep] you.

- It made things interesting to go to work.

’Cause you never knew. Like, it was a powder keg.

[cheering] [bell dings]

- And Bret Hart is once again WWE champion.

- Bret was still kind of unhappy.

And this was also during a time

that Bret’s contract was coming to an end.

WCW, our competitors, were offering guaranteed contracts.

- They made their offer to me,

and I finally got it in my fax machine.

And it was right there,

and it’s, like, all I have to do is sign it,

and then I call Vince.

- The story of Bret leaving WWE

is actually pretty complicated

because there’d been a bidding war between WCW and WWE.

- Bret was negotiating on the other side,

seeing if the grass was greener down south at WCW.

- This was right at the height of the Monday Night Wars.

People had jumped ship,

but nobody of the stature of Bret The Hitman Hart,

because he was the champion.

- It was very hard for me to picture

the WWE without Bret in it.

I just figured it would get worked out.

- Bret was being offered the highest contract of all time.

- Yeah, I think I got offered about 2.6 million a year,

and I remember Vince pretty much said,

"You better take the WCW contract."

- Is he going WCW?

- Well, I’ll tell you exactly what--

what situation I’m in right now.

I’ve given my 30-day notice.

It is common knowledge at this point

that Bret is going.

- But at the same time, he’s WWE champion.

So you have to figure out

okay, how do you maneuver through that?

- I’ve got you in the Survivor Series,

and when that day comes,

I’m gonna kick your little scrawny ass.

[cheering]

I found out I was wrestling Shawn.

It was me and Shawn at Survivor Series in Montreal.

I remember I said, "Hey, Shawn,

"I know we’re wrestling at Survivor Series,

"and I just want you to know,

"I don’t have any problem whatever the finish is.

Like, if they want you to win. I’m okay with that."

I’ve always been a company guy, and I’m professional.

And I remember Shawn looked at me and said--

he goes, "I appreciate that, but I just want you to know

that I would never do the same thing for you."

- It’s a dicey thing,

but I don’t have any recollection of it.

At the very least, I’ve never tried to run away

from my very blatant unprofessionalism back then.

- When I told Vince I said, "I can’t drop the belt

"to a guy that would be that unprofessional

and tell me that he would never do the same thing for me."

- Doesn’t matter whether it’s Shawn or anybody else.

This is what you do for the company

that you helped build.

- Everybody was talking in the locker rooms.

"Can you imagine if Bret jumped ship,

shows up at WCW, and he’s still our champion?"

- Bret couldn’t be allowed

to go to WCW with the championship.

He had to drop that title

to somebody in WWE.

There was no way

we could allow Bret to go to WCW

with that championship.

♪ ♪

- You gotta understand, Bret Hart said

he was not gonna leave with the title.

That he would not use it at WCW.

Bret Hart’s a man of integrity.

I believe Brett.

Problem is, Bischoff had already done it.

- And that’s what it’s all about.

The current title holder.

- Madusa goes down there and throws

the women’s championship in the trash.

- And that’s what I think

of the WWE women’s championship belt.

- We’re losing one of our great champions.

We can’t lose the championship with it.

- Welcome, everyone, to the 11th annual Survivor Series.

[cheers and applause]

- There were rumblings as far as how are we gonna do this

from Bret for the entire week.

There was a documentary that was there,

and they secretly recorded the conversation.

- The championship does not change hands

on a disqualification.

In order for a championship to change hands,

you have to win by a pinfall or a submission.

- There was lots of things we could have done

that would have been okay.

- That’s not Bret’s choice.

And it’s not what we wanted--

from a creative point of view, what we wanted to.

Bret was unwilling to do what he needed to do

which was make sure

that Shawn left that night as the champion.

- I want to say the Wednesday before that pay-per-view,

I was in Texas,

on the telephone with Vince McMahon,

discussing about the belt not leaving the WWE.

And of course sort of talking around the whole,

like, "Do we wanna, you know,

we wanna frickin’ get that thing

by hook or by crook.

And Vince was like, "What are we talking about?

And you know, "Look, I’ll do whatever

it is you want me to do."

- Shawn seemed like he didn’t want any problems with me.

We had a big talk in the dressing room

for maybe at least an hour

about how he was sorry that things got

the way they did and sorry that I was leaving.

- You know, how did we get here?

I guess at one time X amount of years ago,

you know, we’re pretty decent friends, you know?

And we really liked each other and it--and it really did it.

I mean, it--it did suck.

- This is what it’s all about.

How many times have we heard Shawn Michael say

"I don’t lay down for anybody?"

- Well, folks, this is very, very personal.

This match is gonna be stiff.

- The Survivor Series is a masterpiece of a match.

- Oh, my God! What a suplex!

- Poured my heart out in that match,

and Shawn’s working his heart out.

- It’s just a down and dirty fight between two guys

that hate each other’s guts.

- We’re ten minutes into the actual match.

The match was gonna go 40 minutes.

- It’s in Montreal, so I’m there in person.

I didn’t know Vince was the owner.

I didn’t know this.

I just thought Vince was a commentator.

So then at one point during the match,

he comes out in this suit, and I’m like,

"What is going on?" And I was so confused.

Like, "Why is Vince McMahon there?"

- I see Vince McMahon there. - Get him to the ring.

- Trying to convince these guys to get in the ring.

- He wanted Bret to see him there.

He wanted Bret to know

that whatever went down

was his decision to have it happen.

- Oh, you’re kidding me.

- Michaels-- - Are you kidding me?

- Is he gonna try and beat Bret Hart with a Sharpshooter?

Yes, he is!

- Shawn puts him in the Sharpshooter.

Bret’s in it, and he never tapped.

And all of a sudden, the bell rings.

- Ring the bell! Ring the bell!

[bell dings]

[Shawn Michaels’ theme playing]

- Well, you talk about controversy.

- And that’s when I knew they screwed me.

- Look at this. - Oh, you’re kidding me.

- Michaels-- - Are you kidding me?

- Is he gonna try and beat Bret Hart with a Sharpshooter?

Yes, he is!

- Shawn put Bret in the Sharpshooter,

and Earl Hebner rang the bell.

- Ring the bell!

Ring the bell! [bell dings]

- Shawn wins, and they just act like Bret tapped out.

- Bret Hart gave up on the Sharpshooter.

- Vince was doing what was best for business.

- All of a sudden, Bret just

looked him right in the eye and went...

[snorting]

I said, "Did he just spit in Vince McMahon’s eye?"

That’s the moment, for me,

that I knew everything had gone off the rails.

- Bret just disrespecting Vince.

He didn’t really care. You know, it washes off.

- What he did to me was a huge betrayal to me.

- It’s all a blur to me.

And-- [imitates rocket]

I was out of there like a scalded dog.

- I was at the gorilla position,

which is the last bastion

before you walk out to the curtain.

And at that point...

- I was by myself in Vince’s office,

watching it on the monitor.

It goes down, and I’m just like,

"Holy crap. This is about to blow up."

- We were just as stunned as everyone else.

We had no idea what had just happened.

- The entire arena could tell that Bret was screwed.

So that’s where it was called the Montreal Screw Job.

- This was the moment that changed wrestling

for an entire generation and forever more.

- It was almost, like, kind of anticlimactic.

- It was such confusion! - The match was going great,

and there was so much confusion.

Like, wait, what happened? Did he tap?

Why is the bell ringing?

Why are they-- you know, what’s--

just chaos in the ring, and then Bret being pissed.

- The reaction that Bret had.

Like, his emotions and just everything.

and him walking around he’s just, like, so furious.

- After he spits and does everything else,

he goes W-C-W on that screen.

- For all of our animosity,

for all of the rivalry that he and I had,

I was the bad guy.

And then on that night,

I was gonna frickin’ make it even worse,

and never be able to-- never be able to turn

that back again ever.

- I walk in, and I said to Shawn I just go,

"Well, were you in on that?"

"Shawn, you weren’t in on that?"

- My hands are clean of this one, I swear to God.

Vince told me, "You deny it no matter what."

So I told him no.

It wasn’t fun to do.

- So Bret’s on one side of the room,

Vince is on the other side of the room.

And so Shawn was there.

I was sitting next to Shawn.

Vince is over here. Bret’s down here.

And it’s going back and forth,

and I do remember Shawn

trying to chime in at one point.

I remember grabbing his leg and saying, "No,

this isn’t the time. Shut up."

Vince is explaining his position.

- Vince told Bret, "What’d you expect me to do?

"I did it for the company.

"I did it for everybody in this locker room.

And I’d do it again."

- Vince and me walked towards each other

just like two wrestlers.

I walked towards him. He came right towards me.

So it wasn’t just me going and attacking a man.

Like, he came. It was a accepted fight.

I hit Vince with a right-hand punch.

It was--like, it was a knockout punch.

- Looking back on it,

it produced very real feelings.

- Bret, The Hitman Hart, he got cheated.

- That’s disgusting.

- It’s an injustice. It’s not fair.

- Also wrapped Shawn Michaels in a perception

that to this day he can never shake.

Shawn Michaels is a wonderful human being,

but if you’re somebody who liked Bret,

he’s a piece of [bleep].

- This was not something that was going away.

It really bothered me.

I was obsessed with it.

I mean, even when I was in WCW.

Nobody knows better than I do

what it’s like to get screwed over by a referee.

I remember actually being in a WCW show.

We were both in the same town.

I went to my room and stayed my room

so I wouldn’t bump into him.

Like, I feared, like, if I bumped into Shawn,

and he walked in the same elevator with me--

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you

I think there’s a possibility

that I could have killed him with my bare hands.

♪ ♪

- Both guys kind of went in a gloom and doom direction

in their personal lives and in their careers.

For Shawn, an unfortunate accident

in a Royal Rumble Match--

He literally broke his back

and he had to step away from the business for a while.

Bret, same thing.

Bret had a career-ending injury in the ring.

- Standing side kick.

- Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were

the pinnacle of the industry.

Both were gone a few years after Montreal.

- I was at such a crappy place then.

Finding something more important than this stuff

was obviously huge.

Come here, girl. [kisses]

- Yeah!

- After he got married and had a family and matured,

he quit being Shawn Michaels outside of the ring.

- And he took the steps to turn his life around

which is a long, long way from the way it was in the 90s.

- Shawn was able to come back.

Shawn was able to become

a completely new human being behind the scenes.

- I could tell that Shawn had a sort of a skip in his walk.

I think anybody that remembers and knows me from those days

would say, "Yeah you were pretty mad for a long time."

I’ve always expected a proper and more fitting--

I don’t know if apology is the right word, but just to--

someone to own up for what happened

and accept responsibility

for the actions that were taken.

I made the comparison a lot of times

it was like carrying a big bag of rocks around.

- Since the Montreal Screw Job,

I never ran into Bret.

We never spoke for easily more than a decade.

I know that there are times that I mentioned

that I would love to be able to put that behind us.

Things that led to it were TJ.

- TJ told Shawn, "Yeah well, I’m, like, you know,

close to the Hart family."

And TJ said to-- to Shawn he’s, like,

"Yeah, I think Bret would be, like,

really open to talking to you."

- Shawn started to get a little bit emotional

and he said some days he just would like to fly up

to Calgary and knock on Bret’s door,

and if Bret punches him out,

that’s okay as long as they can talk after.

- And TJ told me that, and that meant a lot to me.

I was like, "Okay, you know, at least he feels bad."

- The bombshell that Bret hit me with

at the very end of our conversation was,

"Give Shawn my number

"and I’ll see if he calls me.

And then I’ll see how sincere he is."

I remember thinking, "Wow."

- Every couple of weeks, like, Bret would be like,

"He hasn’t called."

There was a very big part of me that knew

with all the history these two had,

they have to see each other face-to-face.

They can’t--a phone call is not gonna do

a damn thing with these two.

- I remember Shawn said he was too scared to call me

and so he never called me and it never got resolved.

I remember saying "I just wanna see him in person

and we’ll bury the hatchet."

It all comes back.

- Since the Montreal Screw Job,

I don’t recall Bret Hart and myself

ever seeing or talking to each other

again until I think that night.

- When I saw Shawn, he was in the catering I believe.

- I could tell it was real,

is just started to pour out of us straightaway,

like, you know, I’ve been wanting

to talk to you for so long.

And I remember I just said, "Just stop.

Let’s do it in the ring."

♪ ♪

- It’s been 12 long years since anyone’s seen Bret Hart.

- I got 12 years of things that I’ve wanted

to get off my chest,

and the very first thing I wanna do

is I wanna call back there and ask Shawn Michaels

to come out here. [cheers and applause]

- Whoa. Well, Hitman not wasting any time.

- There’s something I’ve been waiting

12 years to say to you.

In the last 12 years, a lot of things

in my life have changed.

You’re not the only one that’s been

carrying this around for 12 years.

You’re not the only one that wants to bury the hatchet.

- I was happy to see Shawn and Bret come back together

and just share a ring again.

- So I offer my hand to you in friendship.

If you wanna bury the hatchet,

let’s bury it right now.

[audience shouting]

[cheers and applause]

- That was so surreal.

I really couldn’t believe what I was watching.

That’s, like, the one thing you didn’t think could happen

[cheers and applause]

- When Shawn hugged me, he told me--

he goes, "I’m so sorry,

so sorry for everything that happened."

- What we carried, you know, as a result of everything,

to have that lifted off was honestly the best thing.

- It just shows the growth of both of ’em as men

and human beings.

To be able to witness that, that was really cool.

- When two egos hit and they don’t mix well,

a lot of crazy stuff can happen.

- Bret Hart is going at it with Shawn Michaels!

- You know, you don’t have to be

best friends to put on these matches,

to make big money, to put butts in seats.

- It drew me in so much, you know?

And all the while, like, I really didn’t have an idea

like, the gravity of this situation

and even, like, how it built.

When those heads butt it sucks for the people involved,

but for everybody watching, like, we get the best

possible product ’cause everyone is bringing

their best to the table.

- Both are incredible.

Two of the greatest performers of all time.

This was absolutely magic when these guys got together.

[sentimental music]

- [laughs] Hello, there.

- No, I knew you’d come around there looking to tie up the--

- [laughs] No, heavens, no. How are you doing?

- Good. How are you? - Oh, my goodness

I’m doing pretty good. - Good to see you.

- Busy. - Busy?

- The rivalry stood the test of time

because it was real.

It was real, and it was with two guys

that were so different in a lot of ways

but so alike competitor-wise.

I don’t have anything to say.

I didn’t have the-- again, the ability

or the maturity to see that and understand that.

- I think that when you look at long-term rivalry,

Shawn Michaels versus Bret Hart

will forever live in infamy.

- These two men truly believe in their hearts

that they are the better man.

- That’s the greatest thing that you can get

from a rivalry, is that people remember it

ten, 20, 30 years down the road.

- I think about, you know, the WrestleMania match.

To me, it is, you know, what a huge risk that was

to, you know, have the balls to try to do an hour.

- Oh, yeah. You know, one fall.

- Yeah, you know what I mean? And I’m more proud of that

than anything else. - Really a masterpiece.

- Yeah. - One of my favorite.

One of my best memories.

- The chemistry between Bret and Shawn

was undeniable, and it created

an unbelievably great rivalry.

[cheering] - And here we go!

He got-- [audience cheering]

- It’s a shame that things got off track with Shawn

and we never got to really finish telling the stories

that we could have told.

Me and Shawn could have wrestled one time every year

for the next ten years,

and it’s been the biggest matches in history.

It’s a shame that that opportunity

was squandered and lost probably by both of us.

♪ ♪

- Absolutely, of course.

I would love to go back

and not make any of the mistakes that I made.

But then I have to see where I’m at now

and I’m overjoyed with having come out on the other side.

- And it’s good to be in a place today

where you can talk about your kids

and, you know, pretty soon it’ll be grandkids, and--

- We’re not best friends, really, but you know,

he’s always nice to--about reaching out on a birthday

or a wedding anniversary.

- The stuff that you worried about 20 years ago is--

sort of pales-- - Looks small now.

[laughs] Yeah, exactly, yeah.

- You know-- - Especially when you say

something like grandkids.

It’ like, "Oh, my goodness."

[laughs] - Yeah, well it’s coming.

Brace yourself. - Yeah. [laughs]

- I know, I know, I know.

- We just had a great conversation about being dads

and he was really a joy to be around.

- Well, it was wonderful to see you, man.

- Good seeing you. - Thank you so much.

I appreciate you. - Take care of yourself

and stay in touch. - I will.

- I wish sometimes that we could just go back

and redo all that ’cause it was--

it was nothing but magic left to do.

♪ ♪