Just what is the most personal rivalry in WWE History

[Atrue1onewo1f]

As I watch The main event match of WM 17, I couldn't help but hear JR say that it was one of the most personal rivalries in the WWE. So, My question is Just what is the "Most personal rivalry" in WWE History? I would say Shawn and Bret but that would be cheating lol.

IMO, I believe that the most personal rivalry in WWE history would have to be...

HBK/HHH

The reason being is because I believe it stems all the way back from the night after WM14. here are some highlights...

HHH already shared is displeasure with Michaels' decision to bring Mike Tyson into D-Generation X and replaced him with X-pac.

4 years later They "re-united" only for HHH to give HBK a pedigree (IMO the greatest one ever delivered still to this day)

HHH ran his HBK's face into the car window

HHH tried to "Cripple" Shawn at Summerslam 2002 by hitting him in the back with a
Sledgehammer.

HBK would then take HHH's Title at the 2002 Survivor Series.

HHH would take it back one month later at Armegeddon 2002.

HHH and HBK fought to a draw in an awesome last man standing match at the 2004 Royal Rumble.

HBK interjected himself on C**** B*****'s WM contract thus making it a triple threat match. all because he wanted to be the guy who dethroned HHH.

At WM XX, HHH and HBK double suplexed C**** B***** through a table just to make that match between them But that strategy did not work because neither of them won....


HBK fought in the longest Hell in a cell match in history (47 mins. +) at bad blood 2004

They had so many ups and downs you never knew what was gonna happen... The matches were always intense and they always told a great story The promos were always good and you believed that they honestly hated each other although, They were best friends. So this is why i believe that HHH and HBK IS the most personal rivalry in WWE History!

So there is mine what do you believe is the most personal rivalry in WWE History

 

[Sweettre15]

To me HBK vs Y2J in 2008 is probably as personal as it can get with Jericho hitting Shawn's wife etc and Jericho came out of that feud and it's showstealing matches victorious too.

 

[zhaff2004]

Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels. That was about as personal as it got, simply because (on the mic at least) you did not know what was scripted and what was real, you always had that feeling that they were going off the script...

Eddie vs Rey was another really personal feud, I mean, they feuded over Rey's kid! Doesn't get more personal than that haha.

My personal one is Rock vs Austin. Growing up, watching these 2 go at it, man, nothing seemed more legit and personal than this...

Also, the whole undertaker/kane feud gets a mention... brothers fighting whilst their father watches on, encouraging it? Burying each other alive and setting each other on fire? count me in

 

[PaulEnglish]

If you're talking personal, as in real life personal, then there can't be any rivalry more intensely personal than HBK/Bret Hart. From Hart questioning Michaels' manhood and relationship to HHH to Michaels' and his comments about Hart's family and the "Sunny Days" crack. There hasn't been a more personal, real life, rivalry, ever.

 

[JohnJohnson]

A few that come to mind...

1)Bossman vs Big Show- Bossman made fun of the fact Show's dad was dying. Even hired a fake cop to tell him his dad was dead just to have Big Show leave and forfeit a match. Then Bossman interrupts the tolling of the bell 10 times just to talk more shit. Plus the fact he crashed the funeral and stole the casket. I think they really made that a personal one.

Bossman and Al Snow- Just because he kidnapped his dog and fed it to him.

Kane vs Taker- Especially their first feud with the way they spent weeks setting up the back story before Kane even debuted and then the Undertaker refusing to fight him until he finally did.

Austin and McMahon- They hated each other guts. It was at the point where Vince's life revolved around screwing Austin. My favorite feud. I love the training video "I hate Steve Austin! i hate Steve Austin!" Lmao.

Mach Man vs Hogan- Best friends and partners being split up and going after each other because one feels the other is going after his wife.

Hell how about Edge and Matt Hardy? All the above were Kayfabe but this was legit as well. Or for that matter Kevin Sullivan vs KHris Benwahh(that's weird, auto correct changed it to this).

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Let's see.. We have HHH running over Austin, HHH almost re-breaking Shawn's back, HHH invading Orton's house and Orton RKOing Steph, HBK vs Y2J of course, Flai-Savage and many others..

Tough choice.

I'll go with Orton vs Triple, 2004-2009. From Triple H "ruinning" Orton's carreer to Randy Orton destroying Triple H's family this rivalry was intense. Orton and HHH made its other lives a living hell all those years.

It seemed like, everytime Orton had achieved something, Hunter was there to crash it. RAW after Summerslam in 2004, No Mercy in 2007, Wrestlemania Headliner in 2008. All these events resulted in one epic final showdown between Orton and HHH in 2009 where Orton took his blood back by punting HHH, Shane and Vince and RKOing and kissing HHH's wife in front of his very eyes.

The only thing that rivalry missed was a Hell In A Cell match to end it all once and for all. The storytelling was amazing. I'll admit that as evil as Orton was back then, I always wanted him to make HHH pay for what he did to him 5 years ago.

 

[Kliq69]

Are you talking personal "kayefabe"? You have to be, because neither of those examples were truly personal.

If you're going to go kayfabe: HHH and McMahon would be right up there. The guy drugged, married, and raped his daughter (storyline) the night before her wedding, assaulted his wife, his son, and himself. In a match, Vince gets turned on by his daughter, who's honor he's fighting for, and loses the match. That alone would seal it, but then you have McMahon title win over HHH, all the DX stunts, and the rest of their feuds and it easily tops the most personal (kayfabe) list.

A close 2nd, Taker and Kane. Taker's former manager brings in Taker's long-thought dead little brother to destroy him. Through the entirety of the storyline, it's been revealed that Taker light the fire that killed both his and Kane's parents and burned Kane (but then it's revealed he was never burned, but whatever), that Paul Bearer screwed Taker's Mom and he's Kane's father. Kane lights Taker on fire, buries him at one point, only for Taker to be brought back by Kane's father, Paul Bearer. Then a short time later, Taker "kills" Paul Bearer by burying him in concrete. ( So in Kayfabe, Taker has killed Kane's father, his own father, and their mother, and disfigured Kane, while Kane has burned and buried his brother on two separate occasions). When I mean a close second, I mean a close second. This long-term angle had everything, murder, betrayal, assault, attempted murder, and are we sure we're finished with the storyline yet. The only reason I list it as second, is that all three men in this angle (Taker, Kane, Bearer) were in direct conflict with each other. The HHH/Vince feud involved both Stephanie and Test, who were involved through no fault of their own. Whether she ended up enjoying the relationship with HHH and turned on Vince, the night she was abducted, married against her will (or knowledge), and had the marriage consummated while unconscious (date rape in nearly all 50 states); she was an innocent victim caught between her father and HHH.

 

[TheLittleOne]

Macho Man Randy Savage vs Nature Boy Ric Flair. from WWF 1992.. that was a fun, captivating feud that began early in the year , flair had faked photos of him and Macho's "wife" Elizabeth and also made accusations of an affair.. this led to a great match @ Wrestlemania 8 where Randy won the title, the two continued their feud through the spring and summer with 5 star matches @ non televised house shows, at summerslam 92 randy defended his title against the #1 contender Ultimate Warrior but Flair and his advisor Mr.Perfect played an important role in that match which led to survivor series 92 Macho Man teaming with the new babyface Perfect against Flair and new heel Razor Ramon...

not sure if that gets my vote as most personal, but it comes close..

Bret vs Shawn is the real life winner hands down, and did start with professionalism, ( dnt forget they headlined survivor series 1992 with brets world title on the line 5 years before the screwjob at surv.ser.1997)

the ROCK vs AUSTIN never seemed " personal" to me more like a feud based on passion for being the best..

stonecold and brian pillman had a very personal feud beginning in 1996 in WWF with roots dating back to wcw, but pillman's injuries stopped it from being settled in the ring and led to a great feud with Stonecold vs BRET HART , which was more wanting to win then personal..

i would say hands down HBK vs BRET, then HBK vs HHH, then HHH vs Randy Orton.. loved that feud and orton hurting stephanie and then hunter breaking into Orton's home thats personal!! the y2j vs hbk feud was also great and personal..

i hope we get another feud that gets personal , because it helps to add that extra level of intensity and makes the suspension of disbelief more enjoyable!

 

[TheLittleOne]

oops i forgot to add this point, i love the current Paul Heyman / CM Punk feud.. it is very personal.. we all know its a shoot that heyman helped punk thru the red tape when punk was in ovw , and helped create an idea to get punk brought up to the main roster faster, then their recent pairing with Punk hold the WWE Title breaking MAJOR records was fun and adding strength to their friendship and connection which in turned made Heyman throwing that Ladder in punks head all more shocking and personal..
then it gave us a GREAT match with punk vs lesnar.. now its helping give a rub to curtis axel.. this is the most personal feud in WWE today and atleast the past 2 years imo.

 

[Slash-LN]

If we aren't allowed to say Bret and Shawn then I would say Bret and Jerry Lawler was pretty personal. Lawler repeatedly mocked Bret and his entire family. He ruined Bret's King of the Ring ceremony. He used people like Hakushi and Issac Yankem to try take Bret out. Really if you bring someone's family into it then that makes it personal. Then it kind of intertwined with another feud that was personal being Bret and Owen. Bret and Owen did a good job of making it seem realistic and once again their family was brought into it. Family members took sides. Owen tricked his own mom into costing Bret the WWF title. Brother vs. brother is always personal but I think Bret and Owen made it more personal than some of the others.

 

[That Zon Kid]

I don't know about all time but most recently I'd think it was Cm Punk vs. Undertaker. That one got pretty personal with Punk making Paul bearer right after his death. Again I'm talking about recently not all time.

 

[MCMG]

Surely CM Punk mocking and taunting The Undertaker after Paul Bearer's death is ranked very highly. That was one of those moments where,as a viewer, it was easy to question how the WWE were writing the storyline.

If we are talking about real-life then it is almost certainly Edge/Hardey/Lita. That was something that was pretty incomprehensible. Edge and Hardey and worked and travelled together for years so I can't think what it would be like for Matt to find out that Lita was cheating on him with his colleague.

 

[R.K.O]

Personally I got to say Matt Hardy vs Edge. It started from something real and turned into a great rivalry that blurred the lines of kayfabe. I am a Hardys fan and I know how much Lita meant to him so that affected me so much more. Many segments such as Matt Hardy attacking Edge backstage, etc there were even doubts that they were scripted, many people said that Matt was visiting friends backstage before he took it upon himself to jump Edge. They were extra physical during their matches as well and during the whole feud it can't get anymore personal than that. I know someone said this already but I had to add to it because this is one of my favorite feuds.

Kayfabe personal though, I'd have to go with CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy since many have been mentioned already. Both of them have legit contrasting lifestyle and Punk went as low as could have gone during their feud, even costing Jeff his job (in kayfabe) in the end. It's sad that this feud couldn't have gone longer and if Jeff returns in the future I would like to see it continue.

Just another mention: A potential personal feud in the future would definitely have to be Kurt Angle vs CM Punk. They have been great animosity between the two for these past years and if Kurt returns to the WWE this would be a great feud.

 

[Kris Benwa]

I was gonna chose Orton vs HHH and make the point that someone else made already but because I can't add anything to that I'm going to go with Triple H and Ric Flair. Even though it didn't last long, it was very personal with Flair being a mentor to Triple H and being his tag partner on his return only to have Trips beat the hell out of him with a sledgehammer. Triple H would say he watched him as a kid and looked up to him but then was disgusted with how he was happy with being the IC champion when he held the World Title 16 times and Ric Flair did a great job of looking like a broken man who was betrayed by his once pupil of sorts. Also, the matches were pretty gruesome also adding to the effect of the rivalry being so personal.

 

[Raiden46]

Bret/HBK and it's not even close. This was a rivalry that went beyond kayfabe and into reality. Very few, if any, can even touch the intense hatred these two for each other.

 

[prush80]

I think the Edge/Matt Hardy/Lita one was pretty personal.

Kayfabe-
I think the CM Punk/Mysterio feud when Punk sang Happy Birthday to Mysterio's daughter was prett y personal.
The Lawer/Jake the Snake when they used Jake's sobriety and Lawler was dumping bottles of alcohol on Jake.
JBL/Eddie when JBL was trying to deport Hispanic people.
In ECW the whole Dreamer/Raven angle was set up as a personal feud

 

[wickedcreepy24]

Bruno Sammartino and Larry Zybisco. It was a really intense, personal feud that lasted decades.

 

[RicSpade]

Real legit rivalry in wrestling history is either Hardy/Edge or Sullivan/Benoit or Raven/Dreamer guess if we are going WWE let's say the one with the most heat was Hardy/Edge Although some would say CM Punk and his feud with Triple H was legit management heat from Punk shined in real life over all the grievances he had about his career (which was legitmately explained in his DVD).

 

[EastCoastFan]

Of the modern era, I'd say Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels. These two hated each other in the ring AND real life. They were the top two guys in the WWF in the mid-90's and both of them wanted to be Vince's #1 guy.

Another would be the aforementioned Matt Hardy vs. Edge & Lita. The two men respected each other and were most likely good friends - until one got involved with the other's woman. This feud put Edge over the top into the main event ranks, and was the biggest program Matt was ever in in his career.

 

[only1]

I'm glad other people mentioned:
Matt/Edge/Lita--- that thing was INTENSE! Matt came out and said ROH on WWE tv, he called up Byte This! and went whole on personal when Lita was a guest. Definitely blurred lines.

Flair/Savage--- of the "modern era" this is probably THE feud to base all "personal" (kayfabe) feuds on. Damn, their intensity was crazy. I'm glad WCW revisited it in '95.


I'll add to the list:
Savage vs DDP--- for every reason Flair/Savage worked in WWF, Savage/DDP worked in WCW. Macho Man came out with a Playboy that DDP's wife was in! They seemed to take shots at one another. It was consistently the best angle on the show at the time.

Raven vs Sandman--- Geeze, man. We've seen wive's used as part of feuds before.... but, DAMN! Sandman's SON! His young son.... what was Tyler, 8 or 9 at the time? Coming out dressed like Raven, saying horrible things to his dad as a follower of Raven! The time he dressed like Sandman and said he was wrong and sorry he followed Raven only to hit Sandman with a Singapore cane! This was just drama on a whole other level.

 

[Tom]

Edge and Matt Hardy. This was definitely one I hated but loved to watch. Knowing what had happened and to see them turn it in to a storyline was shocking. Their match at Summerslam where Hardy hit his head on the turn-buckle gave me a lot of sympathy for the dude back then.

Jeff and Matt Hardy. It was short lived back in 2009 but I loved how they brought past real events into the story. That it was Matt who burnt Jeff's house down, etc.

 

[fenderjapan]

If we are only talking WWE, I'd have to leave this out...but Kevin Sullivan vs. Chris Benoit was, to me, the only one I ever saw where I thought "man I wonder if one of these guys will legit hurt the other on purpose"

 

[FlairFan2003]

It depends on your version of "Personal" - There were definitely some feuds, such Matt Hardy/Edge/Lita, HBK/Hart, Dusty Rhodes/Ric Flair, Flair/Eric Bischoff, Hogan/Savage, etc where there was legit real animosity or "Heat" between the participants. The personal animosity between HBK & Hart was more intense than the backstage issues between Flair & Rhodes and both those feuds lasted longer onscreen and produced better matches than the others (though Hogan/Savage and their on again/off again rivalry, both backstage and in front of the cameras lasted a very long time, maybe the longest), so if we are looking at onscreen feuds with real life animosity behind the cameras I'd have to go with HBK/Hart.

There were some very intense, brutal feuds however over the years between characters who were either close friends behind the scenes or who didn't have any real backstage animosity with each other, yet onscreen the hatred was incredible. Most of those have been mentioned such Freebirds/Von Erichs, Flair/HHH, Flair/Savage, Savage/DDP, there was definitely some great onscreen chemistry in the rivalry between Austin & Rock, Sammartino vs Zybysko, etc. Austin vs Hart, though not as long a rivalry, was incredibly intense. Here I would say Flair/Savage...very personal, lasted several years and ran in two promotions...Flair showing romantic photos of him & Savage's wife Liz insinuating he had an affair with her and she is only with Savage because he dumped her, Flair's mind games with Savage causing him to get injured vs Ultimate Warrior at S-Slam 92 leading to a title loss, Savage bringing Flair's on screen ex manager/girlfriend Woman, along with Liz, to help manage him vs Flair in 95, Flair stealing both women, with Liz costing Savage another title at SuperBrawl 96, all the great promos with Flair & Liz spending all of Savage's money ("Don't Worry Ric, It's On Randy!"), Savage nearly getting institutionalized and for awhile being banned from WCW until he got mental help for his uncontrollable anger issues, and unlike Savage's great, intense, who really is the best feud vs Hogan, there was a lot of give and take in this run, both men getting major wins (and losses) during the feud. They main evented a WrestleMania, a Survivor Series (both events listed as having Co-Main Events), a Starrcade, and a SuperBrawl and had 5 World Title Changes between them. At least since 1990, given the length, the quality of the matches, the twists and turns and personal nature of the storyline, this was the most intense feud, although all reports indicate that the two got along fairly well in both WWE & WCW behind the scenes, you would never had known it for how personal it looked onscreen.

I think in more recent times Edge vs Cena deserves some mention (very well run rivalry between two polar opposite characters fighting for control of the top spot in the company, surprisingly good matches, probably Cena's best feud thus far), and back in the 80s the very nasty feud between Tully Blanchard & Magnum TA deserves mention (Blanchard cheating Magnum out of the US Title as a way to stick it to TA's best friend/partner Dusty Rhodes, Blanchard's all time worst nemesis, a guy who had embarrassed him in several big matches, won titles off him, and stole his girlfriend, great promos, several intense, physical matches, tied in well with exiting rivalries between Rhodes & Flair and Rhodes & Blanchard, as well TA's run vs Flair earlier that year in 1985, ended with one of the most dramatic "blow off" matches of all time, the king of "I Quit" Matches in the extremely violent, bloody US Title Cage Match at Starrcade 85, with one of the best endings for an "I Quit" match, Blanchard, exhausted, covered in sweat & blood, trying to stop TA as he drives wooden splinters from a busted chair into his forehead, gouging him repeatedly, as Blanchard screams "No, No", refusing to quit, until he cant take anymore and screams "Yes, Yes", signaling the submission and win for TA).