WrestleMania is where legends are made. It’s the dream of any wrestler to walk out of “The Showcase of the Immortals” with a victory to their name, and yet, in all of WrestleMania history, two victors stand out: “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels and “The Hitman” Bret Hart. Michaels and Hart’s Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII not only modified their careers’ trajectory, however it cemented the 2 as timeless legends.
By the point WrestleMania XII got here around in 1996, Hart was in his third reign with the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, while Michaels was a 3x WWF Intercontinental Champion. The premise of their WrestleMania XII match was easy: each men had an hour to prove, and not using a shadow of a doubt, which ones was the perfect wrestler.
An Iron Man match is built around scoring as many falls as possible in an hour. Successful pinfalls and submissions are routine as competitors change into worn down. As Anaheim watched Michaels and Hart’s one-hour Iron Man match progress, nevertheless, neither man scored any falls. For each submission Hart had, Michaels had a solution. For each pinfall Michaels attempted, Hart kicked out in response. For nevertheless good one man was, the opposite was just pretty much as good. The match continued in gridlock, with neither man scoring a fall. The gang hung onto every move. Minutes become an hour, and neither Michaels nor Hart had a pinfall to their name. There was no defeating “The Hitman,” and there was no defeating “The Heartbreak Kid.” Each men truly cemented their resiliency with this iconic, hour-long wrestling masterclass.
This match made Michaels and Hart the epitome of iron men.
The Iron Man match ended with no falls on either side as Michaels refused to undergo a last-minute Sharpshooter from Hart. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon then ordered the violent contest to proceed — this time, under “sudden death” rules. After an hour of fighting, it now took only one pinfall to find out who the perfect wrestler on the planet was.
“The Heartbreak Kid,” worn and exhausted from a 60-minute contest, geared himself up, and connected with Sweet Chin Music twice. Hart could now not kick out, now not fight back, and after one hour, one minute, and 56 seconds of fighting, Michaels defeated Hart via pinfall to earn the WWF World Heavyweight Championship for the primary time.
While Hart walked away from WrestleMania XII with no title and a loss to his name, their critically acclaimed match cemented each of them as wrestling legends. Their expertise in each in-ring technique and storytelling showed as they kept a live crowd of 18,000 engaged throughout their entire match. This Iron Man match set the precedent for Michaels and Hart’s SummerSlam sequel, where they made wrestling history once more with the Montreal Screwjob.
Just as Michaels and Hart refused to remain down that night in Anaheim, so too does their legacy survive. Michaels and Hart didn’t just leave WrestleMania XII as Iron Men; they left as WrestleMania-made legends.
