Four years ago, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and Shawn Michaels stood in the middle of the ring on Monday Night Raw and made peace about what happened at Survivor Series ’97. If you’re a new fan or haven’t heard WWE’s constantly revised version of the story, Bret was leaving the company but didn’t want to lose to his then-blood rival Michaels. Michaels put Bret’s own Sharpshooter submission hold on Bret and referee Earl Hebner rang the bell. It was a scheme to “protect the business” orchestrated by Vince McMahon himself, and resulted in a physical altercation. Hart went to WCW and languished. McMahon turned into the evil “Mr. McMahon” character and did huge business. Earl Hebner, the man who swore on the lives on his children that he wouldn’t double-cross Bret, spent the next 15 years wearing a t-shirt bragging about how he double-crossed Bret.
After all of that, Hart finally found himself in the ring with Hebner at Saturday’s Big Time Wrestling event in Prince George, VA. It’s pleasant, and involves a lot of hugging. Lucky for Hebner he chose to do this here and now instead of any time between 1997 and 2009-ish, when it would’ve ended with an old Canadian man beating him to death with a tire iron.
Check it out:
All we need now for closure is Bret’s ex-wife Julie checking in to see if Triple H has gotten his karmic response for participating in the screwjob, or if, you know, he ended up rich and famous and in charge of the company.
