The Hitman and CM Punk may not have come from the same era of professional wrestling, but it didn't stop them from getting along and forming a bond anytime Bret Hart was present backstage. The two would often play pranks on each other during these times, including once when Punk hid under a black sheet while Hart had his shoes shined. Punk would later reveal that he wasn't the one who hired the Hitman to kill Hart at Survivor Series 1997, but instead it was Kurt Angle. He said he gave Hart permission to do so because he felt like it was what Hart would have wanted. Angle went on to say that Hart never did forgive him for this incident, which is why Punk's appearance at the Survivor Series ceremony where Hart was being honored was such a shock to him. Punk has also gone on record as saying that he thinks Shawn Michaels killing Bart Houston in 1995 was a terrible idea and that he wishes he would have been given a chance to fight Houston instead. In 2014, after Hart died, Punk was asked if he still held any ill will toward Angle for hiring the Hitman to kill him, and if they could ever work together again. He replied by saying that they are friends now and that he hopes one day he can work with him again.