It's funny how life often imitates art. In the world of professional wrestling, there have been numerous situations where the storylines have reflected a very real situation backstage. In the cases of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, the tension was all too real.

Going into the famous Iron Man Match at Wrestlemania XII, Bret was against dropping the title to Shawn, for both professional and personal reasons. On the professional side, Hart felt that with his show of loyalty, ability, and drawing power, he should not yet be unseated as champion, despite his lacklustre reign. Personally, and much more importantly, Bret intensely disliked Shawn, and the feeling was indeed mututal. Hart saw the Heartbreak Kid as too egotistical and immature to be the leader of the WWF, whereas Michaels found the Hitman to be too wrapped up in his character and too serious for his own good.

But Bret Hart, being the loyal company man that he was, agreed to drop the title in the end, and what resulted was one of the greatest matches of the 1990's, perhaps in wrestling history. For one hour, the two most beloved and athletic wrestlers in the WWF traded moves, exciting near falls, and easily conveyed a feeling of hatred between them to the fans. Although many are critical of the "sudden death" finish since neither man wanted to do a "regular time" job, there's no doubt that they provided a memorable, classic match that took them to the limits physically, and helped to launch a new era in the World Wrestling Federation.

Ron Gamble on Overtime Announced at WM XII
Bret Hart was champion. Shawn Michaels was the challenger. They wrestled in the main event in an Ironman match for 60 minutes with no decisions. Bret, knowing 0-0 means draw, and draw means he retains the title, grabbed the belt and walked to the dressing room. Then, the voice of Howard Finkel came over the speakers at the Alamodome, announcing Commissioner Gorilla Monsoon decided the match is going to overtime. Hart turned around, completely peeved that he now had to go back to the ring after wrestling a full hour. Less than five minutes later, Michaels hits the sweet chin music, and Hart became a former champion.