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Bret Hart lost the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997 in an incident that became known as the Montreal Screwjob. According to Ken Shamrock, the controversial title change would have looked very different had Hart's original idea materialized.
Heading into the event, The Hitman refused to lose to Michaels due to their real-life tensions behind the scenes. This prompted Vince McMahon, WWE's Chairman at the time, to book The Heartbreak Kid as the winner without informing Hart.
In an interview on VladTV, Shamrock recalled how The Excellence of Execution wanted to drop the WWE Championship to him:
"Why the Screwjob happened was because Bret didn't wanna put over Shawn Michaels. He told me that he wanted to lose it to me, he wanted to put me over, and so I was like, 'Cool.' But, at the time, I didn't realize that the office wasn't with this. I didn't know. I was like, 'Oh, great, we're gonna get there, me and The Rock are gonna go at it [for the WWE title].' Didn't happen." [1:18 – 1:41]
Shamrock held the Intercontinental Championship and Tag Team Championship (w/Big Boss Man) during his two-and-a-half-year WWE run. However, the 1998 King of the Ring winner never captured the WWE Championship.
Ken Shamrock thought he would join Bret Hart in the main-event scene
Although his WWE stint was widely viewed as a success, Ken Shamrock struggled to cement his status as a main-eventer after the Montreal Screwjob.
Bret Hart's former training partner recalled how he expected his WWE career to take a similar path to The Rock:
"The Rock went there [to the WWE title picture] after I captured the Intercontinental title," Shamrock stated. "He went up and started working, so I felt like it was gonna be The Rock, Stone Cold [Steve Austin], Bret Hart, Ken Shamrock. It was gonna be that fight for that title." [0:45 – 1:00]
Shamrock also spoke in the interview about the time he asked The Rock to hit him in the face with a steel chair during a memorable RAW moment.
Do you think Ken Shamrock should have won the WWE Championship? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit VladTV and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
