Thread: The Official Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart Thread
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Old 12-15-2007, 07:14 AM   #100
Mr. Nerfect
 
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I agree with Kane Knight and Heyman's analysis, to an extent. KK is right, because a lot of the shit hurled Bret Hart's way is ridiculous. I also generally agree with Heyman's break-down of their abilities. They were two completely different styles of wrestler, and Bret Hart did have comparable charisma to Shawn Michaels. He wasn't nearly as flashy, but he didn't need to be. His shtick was being a jock-like pure wrestler. Bret Hart did this well enough to leap over the barriers of being seen as bland. And some of you might say that you saw him as bland, but the success the man achieved does not agree with you.

Personally, I'm not as big on Bret Hart as others. I've seen very little of his work, and I'm not too keen to watch every match the guy has ever had, because I don't find something fantastically brilliant in each Bret Hart match to warrant its own viewing. To say the man has no charisma is asinine, though. His success and dedicated following is evidence of at least some form of charisma. Putting on a hat and dancing around to theme music you sung yourself does not make you more charismatic than someone, necessarily.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RottingFreak View Post
Bret Hart is a bigger star than Shawn Michaels. Has Shawn Michaels appeared in the Simpsons? Clase closed.
I was actually going to bring this up. Sure, it was only a cameo appearance, but the writers at The Simpsons found Bret Hart to be enough of a cultural icon to at least appear on their show. Shawn Michaels has never really been one of the major draws of wrestling. Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock are probably the biggest three, and then you go into the smaller, yet still notable stars wrestling has produced: Andre the Giant, Bret Hart, Randy Savage and The Undertaker. I'd never heard of Shawn Michaels until I was well and truly a wrestling fan.

This is a dodgy method of measurement, and I'll admit that, but look at how many World Championships they held during their era. Bret Hart ended his career with seven to his name, I believe. Shawn Michaels was nursing his back for four years with only three. If you look at how long each guy was WWE Champion, Bret Hart almost doubles the time HBK spent as Champion.

Yeah, it's a dodgy method, but I think it is worth bringing up. I really believe that Bret Hart is a little ahead as far as contributions to the industry go.

So yeah, everyone has their opinion, I guess. A Shawn Michaels match can be a lot more flat-out fun than a Bret Hart match, but I think each guy has his reasons to go down as one of the greatest, but all things considered, and not making this apples and oranges, and putting some kind of criteria on them that they can both meet, I think I'd go with Bret Hart, just for being a bit more relevant and iconic than Shawn Michaels.
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