In a bombshell that has rocked the professional wrestling world, former WWE champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart is doubling down on his theory that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels have been involved in a long-term romantic and sexual relationship spanning nearly three decades.
Hart made headlines this week by revisiting ’90s backstage tension and taking a shot at Michaels and McMahon, claiming his issues with them went beyond politics and even suggested the WWE boss and wrestler were lovers.
“We all knew Vince was in love with Shawn,” Hart said. “The real question was whether Shawn loved him back, or if he just knew how to play the game better than anyone else.”
Neither McMahon nor Michaels has publicly commented on the allegations as of press time. A spokesperson for Michaels told Wrestling Insider, “Shawn is focused on his family and his work with NXT,” while declining to address the relationship claims directly.
The revelation comes at a particularly sensitive time for WWE, which is still dealing with the fallout from McMahon’s federal investigation into hush-money payments and sexual assault allegations. Legal experts speculate that any confirmed decades-long consensual relationship with a male talent could complicate narratives surrounding McMahon’s previous settlements, many of which involved male employees.
For decades, fans joked about McMahon’s apparent obsession with Michaels – the constant title pushes, the refusal to punish him during the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” fallout, the emotional 2008 retirement match kiss on the forehead that left commentators speechless. What was once dismissed as kayfabe or favoritism now appears, according to multiple corroborated accounts, to have been something far more personal.
