Bret Hart and Goldberg
Considering Bret “The Hitman” Hart’s history with another bald, goateed wrestler who wore simple black trunks, one would have expected him and Goldberg to make magic in WCW.
Hart saw stars while wrestling Goldberg at “Starrcade 1999” all right, though they were all his as a stiff kick from his opponent gave him a stinging concussion. Unfortunately, this concussion compounded with other similar injuries that Hart suffered resulted in him having to retire from in-ring competition indefinitely.
CM Punk and Ryback
CM Punk faced many opponents during his 434-day WWE Championship reign. Having stepped in the ring with the likes of Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, and The Rock, no one thought it would be his battles against Ryback that would become dirtsheet fodder. Appearing on Colt Cabana’s The Art of Wrestling podcast, Punk laid into Ryback, stating how working with the former Skip Sheffield took decades off his life.
“I’m already beat up and I have to wrestle ‘Steroid Guy’ and he’s very … I call it like I see it,” Punk said. “He’s very hurty. Sometimes deliberate. There was one time he kicked me in the stomach as hard as he could and he broke my ribs, right at the tail end. And I never got an apology for that.”
Hurricane Helms and Shawn Michaels
Hurricane Helms and Shawn Michaels experienced different careers in the WWE. While Helms certainly had some memorable moments with his superhero gimmick and teaming up with The Rock, he never had the title reigns or fanfare that turned “The Heartbreak Kid” into the showstopper, the main event, the icon. However, Helms didn’t think that HBK was quite as good as he made himself out to be, tweeting out in 2011: “[Ric] Flair got over people that absolutely SUCKED!! Shawn hadn’t gotten over anyone but himself in the last decade!!”
A fan took issue with Helms’ comment, asking him why he chose to come at Michaels so strongly. Helms replied that HBK had harmed his career simply because he could and added that Michaels loved to lie for his own benefit.
In 2019, Helms told 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast that he didn’t have heat with Michaels anymore, since the two were working for WWE behind the scenes and getting on well with one another.
Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart
While Hulk Hogan might have been the face of wrestling in the ’80s, the Hulkster built up a reputation as being one of the greatest politicians backstage. There have been numerous stories about his legendary off-screen feuds due to his tendency to go into business for himself. One person who holds Hogan in the lowest regard is Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Calgary’s favorite son has never missed a beat when discussing Hogan, calling him every name in the book. It’s rumored that their initial heat started after Hogan refused to put Hart over at “WrestleMania IX.”
Even when Hart was about to be inducted in the 2021 Canada Walk of Fame, he couldn’t help but send another parting shot to his rival. “I think if you look back at wrestling when it was the Hulk Hogan show,” Hart told the Calgary Sun, “he was six-foot-eight and a one-out-of-three wrestler. He didn’t know a headlock from a headlamp. He didn’t know very much. He knew how to do a clothesline and maybe a body slam.” The grudge between Hart and Hogan has been ongoing for decades, even outlasting the high-profile feud that Hart had with Shawn Michaels.
CM Punk and Triple H
CM Punk wasn’t interested in playing The Game — in both senses of the word. Not only did he despise the backstage politics of the WWE, but he also wasn’t keen on wrestling Triple H again.
After Punk left WWE in 2014, he revealed on Colt Cabana’s The Art of Wrestling podcast how he held resentment over all the losses he had suffered at Triple H’s hands, questioning if they were really what was best for business. When Vince McMahon proposed that Punk wrestle The Game at “WrestleMania XXX,” Punk looked at Triple H and said, “All due respect, I do not need to wrestle you, you need to wrestle me.”
Appearing on The Steve Austin Show (via Sportskeeda), Triple H replied to Punk’s comments and denied being aware of any issues between them. While he expressed regret over how the Punk-WWE situation had unfolded, he also blamed Punk for not communicating his problems when he had them.