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The history of professional wrestling wouldn’t be complete without the infamous Montreal Screwjob and it’s been 17 years since that night in Montreal happened.There wouldn’t be many wrestling fans that are not aware of the incident but just for the sake of the minority, here goes: Montreal Screwjob happened at the 1997 edition of Survivor Series which took place at Montreal (Duh!). The main event had Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart fighting it out for the WWE championship with Bret being the champion.Now, the plan was to let Bret win against Michaels and retain the title in his home country. However, as the match neared its end, Michaels put Bret into a sharpshooter and McMahon ordered to ring the bell even though Bret didn’t tap out.The incident sparked worldwide rage against Vince as everyone realized that Vince really screwed Bret. Well, though we still believe that everything happened for real, here are some reasons why Montreal Screwjob might’ve been the biggest work in wrestling history.
#5 Nothing negative came out
A majority of the professional wrestling fans sees Montreal Screwjob as this negative mark in the course of history. However, it’s hard to find even a glimpse of bad business in the whole incident.
Yes, the promoter screwing a wrestler was not a good thing for all the superstars on the roster but that’s because they weren’t in on the whole scam.
Names like Mick Foley, Undertaker threatened to walk out of the company after what happened, but they didn’t. Even Bret’s brother Owen stayed put for some reason. (will get to that soon)
Now, apart from that it’s was all good for business. Vince McMahon produced his evil character, Bret Hart got the sympathy from everyone, Shawn Michaels was the champion, Steve Austin became WWE’s face, WCW got what they wanted, the business boomed and most importantly the lines between reality and kayfabe was blurred which is always good for business.
#4 The relationship between Hart Family and McMahon
It was mentioned earlier that Owen Hart stayed in WWE despite being there in flesh when McMahon screwed his brother. Owen’s reaction to the incident was clearly mysterious and so was that of the entire Hart Family.
The patriarch of the family, Stu Hart apparently had a good relationship with Vince before and after the Screwjob. Owen on the other side would’ve earned double money in WCW if he jumped ships but still chose to remain with McMahon.
Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart did jump to WCW but they were not as close to Bret as Owen was. It is natural for Bret’s family to hate Vince for what he did, but that never came by which is surprising to say the least.
#3 Conflicting claims
So who came up with the idea of screwing Bret Hart?
Vince Russo claimed that it was his idea. He stated that he just spat out the words out of pure frustration one day and McMahon pulled it off at Survivor Series.
At the same time, there is Shawn Michaels who said that it was Triple H that had the idea of screwing Bret. Meanwhile, Bret’s autobiography claims that it was Gerald Brisco who came up with the whole thing.
Earl Hebner, who was the referee of the match also, had conflicting claims. And of course there is another portion of people in professional wrestling that say it was Vince and Bret all along.
I know, it’s incredibly hard to figure out the truth amidst all these conflicts and that’s why professional wrestling at its peak was even more confusing than Christopher Nolan films.
#2 The wrestling with Shadows DVD
Bret Hart’s ‘Wrestling with the Shadows’ DVD was released back in 1998 which was just and year after the actual Screwjob. The DVD covered Bret’s final year in WWE and ended with the Screwjob itself.
It was nothing less than groundbreaking as the DVD took the fans through all the backstage incidents that followed and preceded the event.
Before the match, there is a conversation where McMahon agrees to end the match with a Bret Hart win while the post-match scenes include Bret’s wife scolding Triple H while Shawn Michaels was running around shouting he wasn’t part of the whole thing.
Now, have you ever wondered why a filming crew was allowed backstage in the first place if Vince was planning such a big thing? Not only allowed, but they recorded all the incidents that led up to the screw job and even had that conversation mentioned above.
#1 Bret didnt sue McMahon even though his contract allowed him to
Bret Hart is someone known for taking out the law sword whenever needed. He has been involved in a lot of lawsuits throughout his career including one with the Insurance company which was something that forced him to stay out of a wrestling promotion after WCW sank ( if the suit wasn’t there, maybe Bret would’ve come back to WWE sooner).
Bret’s contract with WWE allowed him to have creative control of his character. This meant that Bret was allowed to sue McMahon if the latter did anything that Bret didn’t like.
So if Bret actually didn’t like what happened at Montreal he had the right to go into court with McMahon and get a landslide win, but Bret didn’t.
And the reason is either because the whole thing was a work or is because Bret is the best gentleman in the world. I prefer to believe the first since Bret has the hobby of going to court every now and then.
