Shawn Michaels Addresses Whether He's A Better Wrestler Than Bret Hart

25 years later, those in wrestling still cannot stop talking about the Montreal Screwjob. They also cannot stop comparing Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, the two principles at the center of the notorious double cross. After all, they had similar rises up WWE, going from tag team stars to arguably the two top names in WWE by the mid-'90s. As such, their personal and professional rivalry, in addition to the Screwjob, has made it clear the question of who was the better wrestler isn't going away, even all these years later.

Speaking to Jonathan Snowden as part of his article "The Great Divide: How Montreal Created The Cult of Bret and Shawn" for The Ringer, Michaels himself delved into the "Michaels or Hart?" debate, and "The Heartbreak Kid" offered a rather nuanced take regarding where he stands compared to Hart when it came to their in-ring and performance abilities.

"It's the age-old question: 'Who's better? Shawn or Bret?'" Michaels said. "At some point it dawned on me 'Oh my goodness, yeah, Bret was easily a better wrestler than I am. But I think I was a better performer.' When we came into the age of the sports entertainer, I think that was my space, that was my area. It had to do with more than just the technical wrestling of a match. It had a lot to do with emotion and story. And also, look, the charisma, the entrance, all of it sort of combined. At the end of the day, there's no defining the best and the greatest and all that kind of stuff in this line of work. Every bit of it is personal preference. And I try to remind everybody like 'Hey, just the fact that I'm even in the conversation is fricking fantastic with me.'"