Two Top WWE Stars Proved WrestleMania Isn't Just About Burying Stars

WrestleMania is where legends are made. It is 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 changed their careers' trajectory, but it cemented the two as timeless legends.

By the time WrestleMania XII came 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 simple: both men had an hour to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, which of them was the best 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 become worn down. As Anaheim watched Michaels and Hart's one-hour Iron Man match progress, however, neither man scored any falls. For every submission Hart had, Michaels had an answer. For every pinfall Michaels attempted, Hart kicked out in response. For however good one man was, the other was just as good. The match continued in gridlock, with neither man scoring a fall. The crowd hung onto every move. Minutes turned into 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." Both men truly cemented their resiliency with this iconic, hour-long wrestling masterclass.

The Iron Man match ended with no falls on either side as Michaels refused to submit to a last-minute Sharpshooter from Hart. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon then ordered the violent contest to continue — this time, under "sudden death" rules. After an hour of fighting, it now took just one pinfall to determine who the best wrestler in the world was. 

"The Heartbreak Kid," worn and exhausted from a 60-minute contest, geared himself up, and connected with Sweet Chin Music twice. Hart could no longer kick out, no longer 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 first time.

While Hart walked away from WrestleMania XII with no title and a loss to his name, their critically acclaimed match cemented both of them as wrestling legends. Their expertise in both 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 again with the Montreal Screwjob. 

Just as Michaels and Hart refused to stay 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.