WWE Rivals: Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Shawn Michaels

Tonight, it’s the series premiere of WWE Rivals on A&E! Well, that’s what I would’ve said had I written this on July 10, 2022. But I didn’t.

I noticed this series was up on Amazon Prime with the first season free with FreeVee, as well as Most Wanted Treasures and the Biographies. Why not?

I don’t think we’ve ever discussed Bret vs Shawn before here, so this will get us a fresh topic! (That was sarcasm for the one person that will miss it.)

This covers a rivalry that I don’t feel like we can possibly dig up new information on, but we’ll see what the fine folks at A&E have for us.

Voiceovers of the announcers pumping up Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels starts us off. In promo, Shawn tells us that he loathes Bret. Undertaker calls it a powder keg and Bret tells us it started out pretending to be real and then it became real. This is Rivals!

Freddie Prinze Jr. is here with Tamina Snuka, Kevin Nash, JBL and Kofi Kingston at the table with him. Kofi notes that WWE was a land of giants, and matches between Bret and Shawn made him feel like he could fit in.

Bruce Pritchard tells us the early 90s brought us to smaller, more athletic superstars. Shawn says it was an opportunity because a lot of the stalwarts were leaving – footage of Hogan and Flair in WCW – and Bret tells us nobody was doing it like him and Bret.

Cody Rhodes is here to tell us they were the faces of the new generation, while Undertaker says they were the top of the game. Natalya tells us she always had a crush on Shawn Michaels. Kevin Owens tells us Bret and Shawn were what the WWE was trying to be.

Shawn appears to say Bret was the better wrestler. He says he was good, fluent and everything had a purpose. Bruce Pritchard tells us Bret could have a good match with a pail. Bret tells us he was in his prime and says Shawn was a talented athlete. Shawn tells us he was a better performer and that he felt he embodied the term sports-entertainer.

Mayor Kane tells us that Shawn was the most talented wrestler he ever faced, but when he came in Shawn was a spoiled brat. Taker says there was nobody he’d rather work with, but professionally at the time it was different.

Bret tells us they were dear friends at one time and we see some footage of Shawn playing with Bret’s kids. Sean Waltman tells us Bret would tell them how much he liked Shawn but would call him unprofessional. Then Bret reappears to say the same, with Kane calling him a punk kid. Shawn says he was hell to deal with, but he was trying to fulfill his dreams.

Shawn wins the Rumble. We go to the round table, with Nash saying Shawn was fixated on the title. HHH says the story for their title match was organic and easy to get to, as Bruce explains the Iron Man match. Shawn says nobody would have taken an hour match at the time and Bret says it was thrown out like a challenge. We see the training vignettes of the men leading up to Mania, with Waltman saying it felt like Rocky.

We come back from the commercial to Howard Finkel introducing the Iron Man match. Cody says the match was “a calling” for the two men and that you were either a Bret fan or a Shawn fan. Kofi says they wanted to be the best or nothing else. TJ Wilson wondered if it was going to be boring (it kinda was). Shawn says they had nerves and anxiety. Bret tells us they didn’t want to lose the audience, with Natalya wondering how they could pace it. Bret says they were trying to outshine each other for sixty minutes, with Jerry Lawler popping in to say it stood out.

Bret mentions Shawn coming off the top rope at the last minute, and Shawn thought it was neat to be in the Sharpshooter when the bell rang. Fink announces the sudden death rules, and Bret says he could argue there should have never been an overtime. Shawn hits the Sweet Chin Music and gets the pin and the title, saying he’s proud of the match. Bret says he could have never done it with anybody but Shawn, and Shawn echoes that. JBL says the match made him feel like he didn’t belong there and it was magic.

Shawn tells us his immaturity took over, with him yelling to get Bret out of the ring. Bret says he passed the torch and Shawn disrespected him on the way out. Shawn calls it a blur, saying he was frustrated when Earl Hebner couldn’t put the belt on him. We see backstage footage of Bret walking through backstage and throwing the camera person out of the dressing room.

Back from the commercial, Cody says the babyface telling the other side to get out of the ring was weird. Shawn said he and Bret would always pull back when they felt things going out of control, but every time they did something happened. This brings us to Raw in March 1997. Bret tells the crowd they need a hero, not somebody who poses for girlie magazines. We see them attacking each other, with Cody saying it made great television. Natalya says Shawn was pushing the envelope while Bret wasn’t about that, and it was real life drama. Shawn tells the crowd that he and Bret loathe each other and we see a backstage shot of Bret reacting. HHH says Bret was “way more vulnerable.” Shawn says he’ll say ANYTHING on television and he has no shame.

Natalya leads us into Shawn talking about the “Sunny days,” with Bruce explaining Sunny. Bret says it never happened and it crossed a line, saying it could topple his marriage with Julie. His son asked about Sunny. Shawn says he was single, successful and Bret was bringing a spoon to a guy who had a shotgun.

Freddie Jr. brings up “Sunny days” to the round table. Nash says Shawn had nothing to lose, and JBL was hoping they’d get to see the explosion backstage. Bret tells us he went after Shawn and pulled out a clump of his hair backstage. JBL says it’s harder to work with someone you don’t like because you can’t trust me, then Taker tells us it made it interesting to go to work.

Bret tells us WCW sent him a contract “in my fax machine” and all he had left to do was call Vince. Commercial.

Kane tells us there was a bidding war, with Lawler explaining the Monday night wars. Shawn says it was hard to picture WWE without Bret. Bret says Vince told him to take the contract. This leads us to Survivor Series, a little known event.

Bret tells Shawn he has no problem with losing to Shawn, and Shawn tells him he would never do the same for him. Shawn says he has no recollection but he knows he was unprofessional back then. HHH says this is what you do for the company and Bret has to drop the title and not take it to WCW. JBL says he believes Bret would do the right thing, but the problem was that Eric Bischoff had already shown he had no problem doing it as we flash back to Medusa.

Survivor Series arrives. Bruce says there were rumblings all week about how Bret would lose. Bruce mentions Bret was recording conversations with the documentary crew, and we get actual footage from said doc. Bruce says it isn’t Bret’s choice and Bret was unwilling to do what they asked. Shawn recounts telling Vince on the phone that he will do whatever he wants him to do to keep the belt. Bret mentions he and Shawn talked for about an hour, being sorry for how things had gotten between them.

Bret tells us it was a masterpiece of a match and they poured their hearts into the match. He says the match was going to go 40 minutes. Kevin Owens says he was there in person, and he was confused when Vince McMahon came out in a suit. HHH says Vince wanted Bret to know he was there in person and whatever happened had been his decision. Shawn puts the Sharpshooter on Bret and Earl calls for the bell. “And that’s when I knew they screwed me.” Commercial break.

They replay the call for the bell. HHH says Vince was doing what’s best for business as Lawler recounts the spit onto Vince. Bret says it was a huge betrayal and Shawn says he was out of there like a scalded dog. Taker says he was watching it in Vince’s office and he knew it was about to blow up. Kofi says it was anticlimactic and confusing as a fan. Tamina says Bret was so emotional and Nash laughs about the big “WCW.”

We see the doc footage of Shawn telling Bret he wasn’t in on it. Taker remembers telling Shawn to not interject into Vince and Bret’s argument. Bret says Vince was coming towards him and he hit Vince with a right hand. Cody says it wrapped Shawn in a perfection that he will never be able to escape. Bret tells us he was obsessed with it, and he could’ve killed Shawn with his bare hands if they crossed paths again.

Bruce says they both went to doom and gloom in their careers, with Shawn breaking his back and Goldberg breaking Bret. They were both gone a few years after Montreal. Shawn finds Jesus and his wife, which Taker says is a long way from where he was. Shawn came back as a new human being to the company, and Bret says he could tell Shawn had changed.

2005 Bret footage tells us he had always hoped for a better apology for what happened. Modern Bret tells us it was like carrying a big bag of bricks around. Shawn says they never ran into each other or spoke for over a decade.

TJ Wilson told Shawn he thought Bret would be open to talking to him. Bret said it meant a lot to him and at least Shawn felt bad. Bret told TJ to give him his number and we’ll see how sincere he is. Commercial!

TJ says every few weeks, Bret told him Shawn hasn’t called and TJ knew it had to happen face to face. Bret says later on Shawn told him he was too scared to call him, and Bret said he wanted to see him in person and bury the hatchet.

This brings us to Monday Night Raw on January 4, 2010. We see backstage footage of Bret walking into the arena. We see footage of Shawn walking up to Bret in catering, and they immediately start talking. Bret told him stop and we’ll do it in the ring. We go to Bret calling Shawn to the ring and we get the face-to-face we never thought we’d get.

Bret offers his hand in friendship and Shawn shakes. KO said it was surreal and he never thought it would happen. Shawn and Bret hug, and Bret says Shawn told him he was so sorry. Shawn says having the weight lifted off was the big thing for both men.

Kofi said it drew him in as a fan. Bradshaw says it was magic when they got together. We go to 2022 and see Bret and Shawn embrace backstage. Shawn says he didn’t have the maturity at the time to understand what he had with Bret. Taker tells us people remember the rivalry years down the road. Bret tells Shawn the Mania match is one of his favorites and a masterpiece. Bret says it’s a shame they never got to finish telling the stories they could have told and that the opportunity was probably lost by both of them. Bret tells Shawn how good it is they can talk about kids and Bret always reaches out. They laugh about the possibility of grandkids and we end the episode on a hug. Bret says he wishes they could go back and redo it all, because “there was nothing but magic left to do.” End scene.

I enjoyed this. I wasn’t expecting much out of it and got a lot more out of it than that. It was well done, I appreciated the integration of “Wrestling with Shadows” and this having an actual happy ending was nice.

Next time on Rivals, Undertaker vs Kane!