The Undertaker recently reflected on what separated working with two of his most iconic rivals, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, and how each man brought something very different out of him inside the ring.

Speaking during an appearance on Cody Rhodes’ podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer was asked which of the two legends he preferred working with. Undertaker was quick to stress that choosing between them was no easy task, noting that either option could make him “lose a bet” because of how talented both men were.

That said, Undertaker admitted his in ring chemistry with Shawn Michaels stood above the rest. “I probably had the very best chemistry with Shawn,” Undertaker said. He went on to praise Michaels’ once in a generation ability, adding, “Shawn may be the only guy I’ve ever known that could have a five star match with a broomstick. I mean, he’s just that talented. But hey, I’ll give you first pick. I’ll take the other guy, right?”

While Michaels brought out his most natural performances, Undertaker explained that Bret Hart challenged him in a completely different way. According to Taker, Hart took his role as champion extremely seriously and was not prepared to fully lean into the supernatural elements of The Undertaker character. “There was only so far Bret was going to go with, as he called it, the Frankenstein sure gimmick, right? There was only so far he was going to go to, you know, to put, to put me over right with that.”

That resistance ultimately became a turning point in Undertaker’s development. He explained that working with Hart forced him to grow beyond relying on character alone. “Being able to work against Bret forced me to learn how, how to work within the gimmick and have not just a gimmick match, but to have really, really good matches. Bret forced me to get out of the comfort zone of the, you know, the Jason Voorhees, the Michael Myers stuff, and actually put on a wrestling match. So for that, I’ll always be grateful to Bret, because he pushed me and made me become better.”

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