When Earl Hebner pointed for the bell at Survivor Series 1997 and officially named Shawn Michaels the new WWE World Champion at the Molson Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, it turned the long-time referee into one of the most hated men in professional wrestling history.

Fans booed Hebner for years, his integrity was called into question from that point on, and even as the long-time referee left WWE for other opportunities, his reputation proceeded him, even if he attempted to capitalize on it with merch a few years later.

Discussing the defining moment of his professional wrestling career with Steve Fall of WrestlingNewCo in the lead-up to his new book, Earl Hebner: The Official Story, Heber revealed that he has since reconciled with “The Hitman” and the duo are on good terms.

“I have a merch shirt that says, ‘D*mn right I did.' And a lot of people want me to say, Can you write on it, ‘I screwed Bret?' I go, ‘No. I can't do that.' A while back, maybe three or four years ago, I would do it, but Bret and I made up. And before my brother passed, we were at a house show or indie show, and he was there, and he called us into the ring, and he put us over like big time. So now Bret calls me now and then, and I'll call him, and we got a good relationship back, and I'm not gonna screw it up by writing something over a dumb a** shirt. It's gonna destroy our friendship,” Earl Hebner told WrestlingNews.co.

“For a long time, it honestly bothered me. It was bad for me, you know, cuz I carried it with me for a lot of years. We met one time an airport, and I wanted to talk to him, and he said, ‘I don't want to talk to you.' … I said, ‘Can I talk to you for a minute?” He goes, ‘I don't want to talk.' I said okay, so I let it go, and that was it. And as time went on, you know, it finally worked out well. We got to see each other [and] communicate…”

Would anyone have held it against Hart if he had never spoken to Hebner again, as he was arguably the lynchpin of Mr. McMahon's plan to screw Bret out of retaining his World Championship in front of his home crowd in Canada? No, that decision was one of the defining moments of Hart's career and led to some pretty horrible things happening to “The Hitman” inside the ring and out of it as he left The Fed – and his brother Owen – behind for an ill-fated run in WCW. Still, finding it inside himself to reconcile with Hebner over what happened, which was an order, not a choice, is pretty cool on Hart's part, as he certainly didn't have to do it.

Earl Hebner reveals why he didn't make WrestleMania in 1998.

Now, as long-time fans of professional wrestling fans may recall, Earl Hebner did not make it to WrestleMania XIV in 1998, an absence that was noticeable but not widely publicized on the broadcast.

Discussing his absence with Steve Fall, Hebner revealed that he had a medical emergency in Massachusetts, later diagnosed as a brain aneurysm, and credited the fine folks at the New England Medical Center for helping to save his life.

“In 1998, I was in Boston, Massachusetts, and I had a brain aneurysm the day before WrestleMania. That night, I was drinking beer with The Undertaker, and I had a big pain in my head, and I said, ‘Something ain't right.' Anyway…He took me to the New England Medical Center, and those people saved my life,” Earl Hebner explained via Wrestling Inc.

“I owe Boston everything. I never made WrestleMania that year, but when we went back down the road, I went there and must've taken 50 people in the ICU to the show. They helped me, they stayed with me, and took good care of me, so I could make it. That was awesome.”

In professional wrestling, some things are more important than doing one's job in the ring. Sure, working WrestleMania, even as a referee, is the pinnacle of Sports Entertainment, as it's the biggest show, in front of the biggest crowd, watched by the most fans of the biggest promotion in the world, but doing so at the risk of one's health, especially suffering something as potentially life-changing as a brain aneurysm, simply isn't worth it. Good on Hebner for getting help, and good on the folks at New England Medical Center for getting him better, even if more than a few were likely Bret Hart fans.