Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were once close friends who admired each other’s wrestling. Their friendship fractured amid personal conflict and mistrust, with their November 1997 match in Montreal becoming the defining break. They publicly reconciled on Raw in 2010; in a 2022 interview, both said the peace was genuine, and Hart said they had been friends ever since.
How Hart and Michaels became friends
In the early 1990s, Hart and Michaels were prominent singles wrestlers after establishing themselves in tag teams. Their connection extended beyond the matches they worked together. Hart later said he considered Michaels one of his closest friends in wrestling, welcomed him into his home, and remembered good times with him. Michaels recalled that they shared an appreciation for in-ring work and wanted to raise the level of wrestling craft in the WWF.
That mutual respect mattered because their later conflict was not simply a feud between performers cast as rivals. In a 2022 interview with Jonathan Snowden for The Ringer, Hart put the closeness plainly: “I considered Shawn one of my best friends.”
WrestleMania XII: a professional high point
On March 31, 1996, Hart and Michaels met for the WWF Championship in an Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. Hart later called it one of the greatest matches of his career. Their rivalry in the ring was paired with professional admiration: Hart praised Michaels’ ability, while Michaels praised Hart’s technical wrestling.
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The match is part of what makes their history more complicated than a simple friendship-then-feud story. They could compete intensely while valuing the other’s work; the eventual collapse of trust did not erase that shared craft.
Why their relationship deteriorated
By the mid-to-late 1990s, personal clashes and distrust had damaged the friendship. Hart’s later account includes a backstage scuffle and a conversation about whether either man would agree to put the other over. Hart recalled telling Michaels he was willing to work with him, and said Michaels replied that he would not do the same for Hart. That is Hart’s recollection of the exchange, not a neutral transcript accepted by both men.
The breakdown was already underway before Montreal. The match intensified it and gave the conflict a lasting public symbol, but it did not create every grievance between the two.
What happened at the 1997 Montreal match
On November 9, 1997, Hart defended the WWF Championship against Michaels at Survivor Series in Montreal. Michaels applied Hart’s Sharpshooter. Hart had not submitted, but the referee called for the bell, ending the match and awarding Michaels the championship. WWE later referred to the episode as the Montreal Screwjob.
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For Hart, the finish was a profound breach of trust. In a 2007 WWE.com interview, he said: “It should’ve never happened, but it did happen … and I have moved on.” The words capture both the injury and his eventual effort to put it behind him; they do not mean the two men had already reconciled.
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Hart returns to WWE
Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006. His return marked a renewed relationship with WWE, but it was not an immediate reconciliation with Michaels.
The handshake on Raw
On January 4, 2010, Hart called out Michaels on Raw to bury the hatchet. They spoke about the past, shook hands, and embraced. WWE’s recap of the episode describes the conversation as concluding “with a handshake and, eventually, a heartfelt embrace.” The televised moment made their reconciliation public; whether their friendship lasted is a separate question that the two addressed later.
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How Hart and Michaels described their friendship afterward
In their 2022 interview, marking the 25th anniversary period of the Montreal match, both men described the personal damage and the value of making peace. Michaels said, “It took us a long time to actually forgive one another and reconcile.” Hart said, “We’ve been friends ever since.” Michaels’ account emphasizes the time forgiveness took; Hart’s describes the friendship that followed.
Their later comments do not turn the Montreal dispute into a settled verdict about who was right. They show instead that two men who had been close, then deeply estranged, eventually chose to repair their relationship. Their story holds both the rupture and the respect that survived it: Hart continued to praise Michaels’ talent, and Michaels continued to praise Hart’s wrestling.
Why the friendship story matters to their rivalry
The Hart–Michaels story is remembered because its professional and personal strands became inseparable. Their matches showcased mutual ability, while the Montreal finish became a real-life rupture layered onto the scripted rivalries of wrestling. The public reconciliation in 2010 did not erase the past; their later accounts made clear that it took years to forgive each other. It did, however, give the history a different ending from permanent bitterness.
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