Wrestlemania 12: Was Shawn Michaels anger at Bret Hart justified?

[theHeadliner]

I want to go back to March 1996, Anaheim. The Iron Man match at Wrestlemania 12. The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels challenged Bret the Hitman Hart for the title in a most falls wins match. Michaels was known as a cocky talented wrestler who worked his way to the top of the card, but now without controversy due to the Kliq and his attitude. He and Bret never let on to each other they had any problems up until then, and they used to talk regularly. Shawn lost to Bret many times both when Bret was IC and his early run as heavyweight champ. Shawn was over, he was a gifted athlete and charismatic, and it was his time.

I never noticed this until someone pointed it out to me, but in the first 20 minutes Shawn worked the hell out of Bret's arm/shoulder with mat submission moves and other offense. After they got up, Bret no sold that whole sequence but acting fine. After Shawn gained the offensive again, he did a shoulder breaker, hammerlock slam, arm bar takedown, shoulder ram into turnbuckle, and then continued an arm/shoulder hold. After that sequence, Bret got up once again and no-sold the shoulder/arm and acted like he was fine. The way HBK was back then, something like that would definitely piss him off. In Bret's book he claims Shawn was being tricky with cheap shots, but when i watched it looked like Bret gave the first potatoes and Shawn potatoed in retaliation. Bret claims to be the best, fair, a worker's worker, a professional, but no-selling a long, serious offensive barrage on a single body part seems low. The match was a potato fest, and Bret got a bunch of cheap shots in but claims it was Michaels fault. At the end Shawn told Earl to tell Bret to get the fuck out of the ring. Bret said that set the course of things to come for them, but from everything that happened, was Shawn justified to be pissed off? The champ, the "leader" no sold Shawn on the biggest stage of them all and cheap shotted him numerous times. Knowing Shawn's state of mind back then, was his anger towards Bret in the events that followed the match justified?

 

[Budro5454]

Hard to say. Obviously Shawn was a pretty cocky guy and of course we've heard on his documentary that he was tough to work with but it sounds like Bret was a real pain in the ass himself. Bret was obviously upset because he felt like a stepping stone for Shawn at the time and i think Bret took his character very seriously like Hogan did.
You have to look at the time period when this took place, this was just a year or two before the attitude era came to place. They were two employees who were just pissed off at the world and nothing would have been good enough to them. At the end of the day, it took them 12 years to admit that it was stupid.

 

[Shane101]

Many matches have people initially sell a move to a body part then start no selling so they could actually not limit themselves, but HBK was getting little cheap shots in earlier in the match when they were making extra emphasis on sleeper holds and headlocks etc.

Bret then started retaliating with no selling even though most matches go like that.
No Shawn told Bret to fuck off... You never tell the leader of the locker room no matter how much of an ass he could be to "fuck off."

Bret was not being an ass but merely trying to give himself an opportunity to do more moves.
Bret was a better work than most people in the world ata point. He never hurt even one opponent.
He made everything look realistic. Even though he was not as professional as many in attitude so wasn't Shawn, anyway Shawn pretty much treated everyone out of the clique badly. No his anger was not justified.

 

[Adalam]

Hell yeah it was justified! Bret Hart ain't Hulk Hogan, Sting, or Undertaker, which happen to be the only guys that can use no-sells for their characters. Bret Hart had no class, no-selling barrages on his arm like that. Made Shawn look like a jobber! Plus, if Hart sold the attacks, then the Montreal Screwjob would not have happened cause backstage politics forced Bret to bail for WCW.

 

[byrnside]

The Montreal Screwjob will clearly be a never ending argument for years to come. Here we are some 12 years later and everyone still has their opinion. Everyone has their favorite whom they've sided with, and for some of us we are fans of both. I for one, am a huge fan of both. I recently finished reading "Hitman" and having read "Heartbreak and Triumph" twice, it's still hard for me to figure out just who was wrong and who was right. Everyone involved seems to have their own opinions that they feel strongly about. It's pretty obvious that in what was probably the biggest battle of egos of all time. Bret, Shawn and Vince all have their faults in the situation. I haven't watched their Iron Man Match in several months, so I couldn't tell you if I honestly thought Bret was no selling. Obviously if he was, it would've been a dick move, and unprofessional at that. On the other hand, I've always thought that Shawn was pretty out of line when he ordered Bret "the fuck out of the ring." For me, it would've been much cooler to have seen the two shake hands. But I guess in retrospect, if that had happened, it wouldn't have set up Bret's eventual heel turn. Having said all that, I don't think Shawn told him to get the fuck out because he was pissed that Bret no sold. I think Shawn was just extremely immature and selfish and wanted his dramatic celebration to be completely solo.

 

[theHeadliner]

The Montreal Screwjob will clearly be a never ending argument for years to come. Here we are some 12 years later and everyone still has their opinion. Everyone has their favorite whom they've sided with, and for some of us we are fans of both. I for one, am a huge fan of both. I recently finished reading "Hitman" and having read "Heartbreak and Triumph" twice, it's still hard for me to figure out just who was wrong and who was right. Everyone involved seems to have their own opinions that they feel strongly about. It's pretty obvious that in what was probably the biggest battle of egos of all time. Bret, Shawn and Vince all have their faults in the situation. I haven't watched their Iron Man Match in several months, so I couldn't tell you if I honestly thought Bret was no selling. Obviously if he was, it would've been a dick move, and unprofessional at that. On the other hand, I've always thought that Shawn was pretty out of line when he ordered Bret "the fuck out of the ring." For me, it would've been much cooler to have seen the two shake hands. But I guess in retrospect, if that had happened, it wouldn't have set up Bret's eventual heel turn. Having said all that, I don't think Shawn told him to get the fuck out because he was pissed that Bret no sold. I think Shawn was just extremely immature and selfish and wanted his dramatic celebration to be completely solo.

I've read both books as well and take sides with both of them on certain issues. I was looking at it in more of the aftermath of the Iron Man Match and the animosity they had toward each other in shoot interviews, TV segments, and backstage politics which ultimately led to their backstage fight. He told Earl to tell Bret to get the fuck out of the ring possibly because of the no-sells and cheap shots throughout the match. Even though Shawn was a politic machine in the back, others have said Bret was the same way and did little things to Shawn to purposely get under his skin as well.

 

[Calderownz]

Both had immature moments. Neither is as nice of a guy as they claim to be.

However, in terms of the no-selling. It was the wrong thing for Shawn to do in the first place. This match lasted longer than an hour. Trying to sell an injury for 40 minutes or so at that point would make you look incredibly weak as a champion. Not to mention that this happens in plenty of matches. Think of it this way, someone will hit a lot of slams, all working on the back. You rarely see a wrestler work that into his movements in the ring, because it limits your movements. It has to be that way in some matches.

Shawn should have known that you can't ask a guy who doesn't want to look weak to hold his shoulder for 40 minutes. It's the first of it's kind style match and Shawn wanted to win it, dominate the in ring action and make Bret look weak all at once? C'mon.

 

[RicSpade]

Definitely agree with the above argument there is no way your going to sell an arm or a shoulder for 60 solid minutes, not to mention the fact that this is a match that was set to last the full duration not a match that possibly could go 60 minutes, it was going 60+. Now there are two ways to argue that. Shawn got heated on more than one occasion from other wrestlers doing the same thing to him, Vader is the biggest example that comes to mind.

Mirrored image of Shawn back then is Randy Orton who seemingly gets pissed off on camera at guys for blowing a spot or not being on the mark (Kofi a few weeks ago, and the suplex that led to Mr. Andersons WWE release) so look at that is his anger justified? If you can answer yes then yeah a young HBK could be justified for a guy no selling or maybe you answer no.

Two things people have to take into consideration though if you don't know the ins and outs of pro wrestling and you take it from an OK this isn't fake standpoint is HBK is known for high flying and risks and not from a technical side of wrestling like Bret was so one would argue that HBK can't calculate those moves like Bret could, and thus could justify Bret "no selling" his technical offense. The other is how often do you see a wrestler stop selling an injury due to adrenaline rush or blocking out the pain for a few minutes of offense? Flair, Bret, Triple H, HBK, Cena, Hardy, AJ Styles, 3D, Henning, Benoit, Guerrero, Rock, Angle and Austin are all cases of it happening for a good portion of a match so can you really call what Bret did straight up no selling? Would we be making this argument if Bret oversold everything to make HBK look stupid? (HBK did this to Hogan)

Think about it

 

[CaptainCrazy74]

Hell yeah it was justified! Bret Hart ain't Hulk Hogan, Sting, or Undertaker, which happen to be the only guys that can use no-sells for their characters. Bret Hart had no class, no-selling barrages on his arm like that. Made Shawn look like a jobber! Plus, if Hart sold the attacks, then the Montreal Screwjob would not have happened cause backstage politics forced Bret to bail for WCW.

You have obviously not watched the match in a while. I would say you are not looking at this objectively. I disagree with every aspect of your comment and find your perspective uneducated and completely without real foundation. I have been a fan since birth over 30 years ago. I find comments like this an abomination to true fans and wrestling in general. Educate then comment and try not to be such a mark when you "speak out" on here.

 

[T-Jay]

The main differences between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels was HBK was an arrogant egomaniac who would stop at nothing to be pushed to the top (mostly due to creating anomosity within the locker room which was good fodder for Vince to create in-ring rivalries).... Also, HBK demanding his own star change room was a slap in the face to most of the locker room talent anyway.....

Bret Hart on the other hand, worked hard to make anyone he could seem much better than they were in the ring... and most of the time would be prepared to do the job if it made sense within the storyline and didn't hurt his character's heat or star power.

When Bret was champ, everyone made a lot more money due to how he treated being the WWF leader.... whereas HBK (much like Hogan) got all the big payoffs while the share for everyone else went down. He may have become champ but he wasn't a leader which is what the top champ should be....

The Heavyweight champ should be the one who rallies the troops to push into the next level or break into new ground with mainstream culture.... many other champs took that as their role and did very well as a result. The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, John Cena among others.....

One last thing ... regarding the Screwjob.... I've never heard anyone mention this but it's quite likely that Vince's main reason to fading out Bret Hart's role (which lead up to the montreal incident), may have had a lot more to do with the direction D-GenerationX had taken and Bret Hart's constant refusal to take part in the more sleazy and crude way the WWF had turned... He was very vocal about not wanting to head down that path as it would turn the kids off (due to parental censoring).

History has shown that anyone that is opposed to a direction Vince McMahon wants to take the WWF/WWE, and consistently speaks against it are usually either jobbed out ... or given the pinkslip.... or in some cases basically have their character assassinated in the ring.

How many current WWE stars have suddenly been made to job out to workers that would have never been a consideration.. while losing their push as well...... Carlito is one that comes to mind......

Bottom Line.. it's Vince's way or the entertainment graveyard.....

 

[Hitman_Attitude_Era_Forev]

Why is this even an issue now? You guys just love to complain. These two wrestled probably the best match of all time and you're complaining about no-selling? Everyone loved the match and even Bret and Shawn have moved on which means no one else should have an issue with it. And yes, everyone no-sells. Just move on and appreciate what these two have done for wrestling