Feud: Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart

Backstage heat boils over in the ring

The Kliq was changing the face of pro-wrestling on screen and off it

En-route to their high profile match at Wrestlemania 12, things truly got tense between Hart and Michaels. Bret Hart detested Michaels founding of the Kliq with friends Diesel, Razor Ramon, Sean Waltman and Triple H. Their backstage influence kept them at the top, even though Hart was world champion going in.

Michaels, meanwhile, believed ironically that Hart was breaking wrestling/kayfabe tradition by bringing in family matters into the ring, with his all too personal feuds against his brothers and brother-in-law.

Both clashed in an epic if somewhat dry iron man match with HBK coming out on top and achieving his boyhood dream. A year later it was expected of Michaels to do the deed and put over Bret in a re-match. Instead, the notorious show-stopper pretended to be injured and could not compete. So, at Wrestlemania 13, Bret decided to steal Shawn's own show with a thrilling match against a rowdy man known as 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.