The history of professional wrestling shows that real life conflict will exist backstage almost as much as being portrayed in the ring. Many of the biggest names have hated each other for real due to some interesting scenarios unfolding. The recent AEW drama between CM Punk and various AEW personnel show how fast things can fall apart.
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Most examples of wrestlers having heat with each other will exist for years without making peace. The wrestling world makes it easier for wrestlers to hate each other but not as easy to get back on the same page. Few moments have played out where the unlikely scenario unfolded with things working out. The following wrestlers had high-profile real heat that led to a happy ending.
The biggest instance of two wrestlers hating each other while working together was Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Both wrestlers ended up having huge tension backstage when things grew personal after years of competing for the same top spot.
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Vince McMahon essentially chose Michaels over Hart to set up the whole Montreal Screwjob scenario. Years of negative comments from Bret finally ended when he returned to WWE in 2010. The claims of Michaels being a changed man were true with them making peace and remaining friendly today.
The first WWE stint is barely discussed today since he's made so many big returns, but it was a disaster at the time. Goldberg felt out of place and hated how he was booked. Triple H pinning Goldberg after a few months and winning their feud for World Championship created a lot of issues between the two.
Goldberg buried Triple H in interviews for years and essentially blamed his backstage influence for the weaker run. The returns to WWE in recent years opened up communication for them to make peace with Triple H in a powerful role. WWE 24 cameras even caught them joking around backstage about how they used to view each other.
Ric Flair has gone on the record that he doesn't know how he forgave Eric Bischoff after all the hatred shared between the two. WCW witnessed Bischoff's ego growing to the point where he wanted to make Flair bankrupt after a disagreement about Ric attending his son Reid's wrestling competition over Nitro.
The issues were growing even before then when Bischoff once said no one in that locker room drew money outside of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Roddy Piper as Flair sat there. WWE even saw them having a small fight, but they ended up making peace in TNA when Bischoff and Hogan hired Flair.
One overlooked past source of wrestling drama featured Chris Jericho and Taz having tension over podcast comments. Taz felt Jericho said some inaccurate things about their past and even made fun of Jericho's podcast viewership claims of tens of millions of listeners.
The two eventually settled it when Jericho did an interview with Taz for his radio show at CBS Studios. Taz and Jericho get along well today working in AEW and have even shared the commentary duties together on Rampage.
Few wrestlers have changed their general reputations more than Randy Orton has in the later stages of his career. Orton was viewed generally negatively for a long time with stories of rubbing others the wrong way. The infamous moment of Orton calling Kofi Kingston "stupid" in the ring showed it publicly.
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WWE went back to this story years later when Kofi won the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan. Orton put over Kingston this time to make the incident that ruined Kingston's earlier push come full circle. Orton is in a much better place now and even referenced loving getting to put Kofi over.
WWE witnessed one of their most high-profile scandals when Lita cheated on Matt Hardy with Edge and Hardy was the one fired. Vince McMahon eventually rehired Matt later that year after months of "we want Matt" and "you screwed Matt" chants.
Edge and Matt tried to make money off the angle, but they legitimately hated each other for a short time. The two started to show signs of being on the same page again within the past five years when Hardy appeared on Edge & Christian's vlog and podcast respectively.
WWE had high hopes for Big Cass and Enzo Amore to become a major tag team for the company's future. NXT showed that Enzo and Cass could have a massive arena chanting along with them. However, both men running into personal issues backstage led to a breakup and WWE firing them respectively.
The post-WWE interviews showed how bad their falling out as at the end of WWE. Enzo claimed that Cass was weak for not finishing their televised match due to an injury. Cass and Enzo eventually cleared up the bad blood when wanting to reunite as a tag team to remain friends today.
One of the few real-life wrestling feuds to last in both WWE and WCW featured Chris Jericho and Goldberg unable to get along. The WCW promos of Jericho upset Goldberg to the point where Goldberg didn't want to even have a match between the two.
WWE signing Goldberg saw them getting into a huge scuffle backstage where Jericho applied a headlock and would not let go until people got between them. Jericho recently hosted Goldberg on his podcast talking about their memories while expressing they are now friends after all the history.
Triple H ended up having longstanding real-life feuds with a lot of wrestlers during his career. Scott Steiner may have been the most vocal critic of Triple H after their infamous failed feud together in early 2003 for the World Championship.
WWE introduced Steiner with his greatest momentum since he was WCW's top heel when the company ended. Triple H winning the feud exposed all of Steiner's weaknesses and ruined any chance at WWE success. Steiner bashed Triple H for years until recently entering the Hall of Fame with his brother Rick and even posing with Triple H and Vince McMahon.
Bret Hart and Ric Flair never had the chemistry between their matches in WWE and WCW to make them question the other. Both wrestlers are considered among the greatest in-ring workers of all-time, but they didn't understand the hype for the other.
Insulting comments for years saw Flair and Hart calling the other overrated or growing even more personal. One of the better feel-good endings to a wrestling drama saw them making peace after managing their relatives Charlotte Flair and Natalya against each other. The two are now close friends today with Ric admitting that he partied with Bret for hours after his recent retirement match.