Flair left WCW & took the belt that BELONGED to him & he was well within his right to take it til WCW paid him the $25000 deposit he had to put down to even HAVE the belt. Michaels never left the company to go to another but he did have a knack for forfieting titles when he didn't want to JOB to someone.
They aren't required to give him that money back until he gives the belt back. How stupid would that be to give him the money while he's still got the belt? It would be idiotic. He'd have no reason to give the belt back then. Flair took the belt, and whined like that, cause he felt like whining about the way things were going. I don't begrudge him for that, he's still one of my all time favorites despite that, but it's not like he was a victim there.
And, yes, HBK got out of jobbing to Bret Hart, probably others, like about 95% of big time main event talent have done at some point or another. Hogan, Austin, Hart, Goldberg, Ultimate Warrior, Flair, and countless others have refused to put one person, or another, over during their time. It's pretty common.
Bret was a Free Agent. He never thought about retirement as he was being persued by WCW to join them but he chose LOYALTY to the WWF & re-upped his contract with Vince that would keep him in the company for the next 20 years but Vince changed his mind after the fact. As for losing the Ironman match, storyline wise, it was BS to begin with. He has Michaels in the Sharpshooter ( that Michaels would have tapped out to like he had done many times before ) as time expired. They stop the match, let Bret walk almost all the way back to the dressing room & inform him to return to the ring for Sudden Death Overtime. There was no reason to STOP the match without a clear winner, the Overtime should have continued after regulation time expired. So in a sense ( storyline wise ) he got screwed over.
Oh please. That's a convient excuse that he was a Free agent and it took him, what, 8 months to resign with the company? He left after Mania in march and didn't return until nearly survivor series. He was pissy about the way things went down with Michaels and didn't want to be there. Again I don't begrudge him that cause it's how he felt he should handle the situation. It just means he's exactly like most other stars of his stature in that business.
This sentence makes no sense.
What about it makes no sense? Bret has said, and been quoted, many times trying to claim that the Ironman Match wasn't at all beneficial to him. I'm mocking his BS by saying that because it's one of the most remembered, most talked about matches of his entire career. I'd say that makes it pretty darn beneficial to him, even though he chooses to minimize that because he's still butt hurt over the fact that he had to put over Michaels.
Something that goes back to well before their arguing began and goes back to Vince having Michaels do the first Ladder Match on live WWE shows, instead of Bret, even though Bret was the one that pitched the idea of a ladder match to him. He's always been really upset about that as well, probably more so after HBK and Ramon tore the house down, and stole the show, at WM 10 with their ladder match.
Hogan is a joke as well.
Yet one of the most over, most popular, most wealthy, most well known wrestlers on the planet. But, yeah, I'm sure that 'joke' makes him laugh all the way to the bank.
Not even a matter of that. Just don't think Michaels was that great.