Professional wrestling legend and two times WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels who is also a former four times WWE World Champion recently discussed his comparison with Bret Hart and said that Hart might have been a better wrestler but he was a better performer.
Bret Hart had been one of the biggest rivals of Shawn Michaels at the early stages of his career. This rivalry picked up its pace after WrestleMania XII, where Hart defended his WWE World Championship against Michaels in an Iron Man match. Michaels defeated Hart in this match to win his first WWE Championship. It is considered as one of the best WrestleMania matches ever.
Shawn Michaels Reflects On Comparison With Bret Hart
Fans at that point thought this might be the end of this epic rivalry. But this was just the beginning. Of course there was an unwritten truce between the duo but it was far from over. Hart got involved in some different feuds whereas Michaels had some injury issues. But in 1997, the feud was reignited. It reached the ultimate height at the Survivor Series pay per view event of the mentioned year, and also ended here, unfortunately.
The original booking was a victory for Shawn Michaels in this mentioned match, but Hart wanted it otherwise. During the match, Michaels was locking Hart into the Sharpshooter, and Vince McMahon called for the bell, but Hart never tapped. After this incident, Hart went to WCW and the feud had to end here. It could never be restarted as a deadly injury in 2000 ended Hart’s career. This will always be remembered as one of the best feuds in professional wrestling history.
Shawn Michaels who is also a former four times WWE World Champion recently spoke to The Ringer where he discussed his comparison with Bret Hart and said that Hart might have been a better wrestler but he was a better performer. He said;
“Over the years, I have sort of come to understand Bret and I will always be linked. I was the Joker to his Batman, or the Lex Luthor to his Superman. I think we were just two very different people who [saw] the wrestling business differently.
“But I think we were both fricking fantastic in our roles because when you talk about wanting to be out there with a guy, I’d pick him any day of the week [and] twice on Sunday… If we had 100 Brets come through here, I’d be thrilled. If we had just one Bret, and I could work with him and Norman Smiley and Robbie Brookside could make him even better, oh my goodness, I’d give my right arm for something like that. It would be a blessing…
“It’s the age-old question: ‘Who’s better? Shawn or Bret?’ At some point it dawned on me, oh my goodness, yeah, Bret was easily a better wrestler than I am. But I think I was a better performer. When we came into the age of the sports entertainer, I think that was my space, that was my area.
“It had to do with more than just the technical wrestling of a match. It had a lot to do with emotion and story. And also, look, the charisma, the entrance, all of it sort of combined. At the end of the day, there’s no defining the best and the greatest and all that kind of stuff in this line of work. Every bit of it is personal preference. And I try to remind everybody like, ‘Hey, just the fact that I’m even in the conversation is fricking fantastic with me.’”