Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were involved in one of the most infamous feuds in professional wrestling history, which culminated in a real-life rivalry behind-the-scenes.

Inside the ring, they were two of the industry’s top stars with complimentary styles.

Hart and Michaels shared a legendary rivalry

Hart was the most technically proficient wrestler of his era, while Michaels was known for being innovative and over-the-top, making for one hell of a heated rivalry.

While they began as little more than competitors on opposite sides of the WWF’s tag team division, they broke out as singles’ stars in the 1990s – putting them on course to collide on the same path.

Perhaps their most legendary battle came at WrestleMania XII in 1996, in a 60-minute iron man match for the WWF World Championship.

The bout went the distance, with neither man getting a pinfall in the hour time frame, resulting in sudden death. It was Michaels who finally got the pin, winning his first world title in 61 minutes and 52 seconds.

Hart has previously looked back on that match fondly, suggesting they were the only two who could have successfully pulled off such a classic.

But a year later, the infamous ‘Montreal Screwjob’ unfolded, and changed everything.

In what would be Bret’s final WWF appearance for 13 years at Survivor Series in 1997, he was ‘screwed’ out of the title by Vince McMahon.

The boss called the main event match between Michaels and Hart prematurely – without the latter’s knowledge – ensuring he dropped the world title ahead of his departure for rival company WCW.

In retaliation, Hart referenced WCW on camera, spat in McMahon’s face and punched him backstage.

Regardless of how much knowledge Michaels had of the situation himself, any relationship with Hart was destroyed for more than a decade.

The Montreal Screwjob is one of WWE’s most infamous momentsWWE

In the years that followed, it was unclear if Hart would ever return to wrestling, given his WCW career was cut short by numerous, severe concussions.

Behind the scenes, in the years that followed, Bret and Shawn were able to reconcile.

To the shock of many, they reunited on an emotional 2010 episode of Raw as Hart returned to “bury the hatchet”.

In a new interview 14 years on, Natalya Neidhart has revealed her husband TJ Wilson – known in WWE as Tyson Kidd – played a part in squashing the beef.

“TJ had said something to Bret like, ‘I had a really great talk with Shawn and he was awesome. He was so nice to me and he was so nice to Nattie and he was just such a cool guy. He was giving me advice and being really helpful. Shawn had said that he had felt so bad about everything that had happened with you guys in the past,’” Natalya said of Wilson’s conversation with Bret Hart.

“TJ was the one that opened up the conversation between Bret and Shawn for them to kind of reconcile.

Hart and Michaels went to war in some classic matches in the 1990sWWE

“So, we can all thank TJ for being the person that opened up that door because TJ is somebody that Bret really respects, and [he] trusts his word.”