Ex-WWE Star Shares Memories Of Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels Hair Pulling Fight

A former WWE superstar have his account of the infamous backstage fight between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels that set in motion the series of events that led to the Montreal Screwjob.

By the spring of 1997, tensions between Hart and Michaels had been simmering for years. Things reached a critical level when Michaels made the not-so-subtle “sunny ways” comment during a promo, which implied that Bret was sleeping with Sunny, despite already being married.

That comment in particular caused Bret to explode as it had very real consequences for Bret’s marriage and for the rest of his family. In his anger, Bret confronted Michaels backstage and then got into a fight. That fight has since become known as “the hair-pulling incident” because Bret finished the fight with a clump of Michaels’ hair in his hand.

Most of the accounts on this story have come either from Bret or Michaels themselves, or from the odd witnesses like Jerry Lawler, who was in the restroom as the fight began. Now, Al Snow, who was employed by WWE at the time, gave his account of the incident on an episode of Wrestling Shoot Interviews.

“The most memorable backstage fight was probably the one that took place between Shawn and Bret because there was such a build-up to it. You knew there’s real personal heat there and these guys were to the point they were crossing the line on TV.

They were starting to go way overboard, Shawn making remarks about Bret, that really got Bret heat with his wife and family. You know, you can go too far, and that’s what resulted in that fight.

Bret like snatched Shawn bald, like there was literally, not bald like [he is] now, where he has lost his hair, but years later there was a bald spot on the side of Shawn’s head where Bret had snatched the hair out of his head.”

Shawn Michaels returned to WWE in July and then had one more match with Bret at Survivor Series 1997. It would be another thirteen years before Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would finally bury the hatchet and make amends over what happened during this tumultuous period in both of their careers.

h/t Inside The Ropes for the transcription