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The Montreal Screwjob will go down as one of the worst moments in wrestling history. The worst legit public betrayal of any professional athlete by their boss to have ever been caught on film.
It will also go down as one of the most influential. The Montreal Screwjob was vital in creating and advancing various characters in WWE while also giving a large section of their audience someone to truly hate. Legit heat, it's hard to find nowadays but it still exists. Wear some Shawn Michaels merch in Montreal and tell me I'm wrong.
Bret Hart was wronged by a company that he built his life around, betrayed by those who should've known that he'd never stab them in the back. It's a tale as old as time, when you think about it. The "I'll get them before they get me" mentality is as strong in life as it is in fiction, which is why it tied the two so well together twenty four years ago.
In case you, somehow, have never heard of the Montreal Screwjob, here's the rundown. Bret Hart was WWF Champion heading into Survivor Series which took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He'd signed a deal with WCW which would have him begin working for the company in December. That left Vince McMahon and company with a month to get the gold off of Bret.
At Survivor Series, Hart would face Shawn Michaels. However, a bitter personal feud on and off stage forced Hart to put his foot down. He refused to drop the belt to Michaels on that night, though was open to doing the job down the line. Unfortunately, that was when Bret Hart's fate was sealed, leading to the Montreal Screwjob.
During the title bout, McMahon came down to ringside. Shawn Michaels caught Bret Hart in his own move, the Sharpshooter, and the second he locked it in place, McMahon demanded Earl Hebner to ring the bell. McMahon handed the title off to HBK while Hart spat in his face, leading to years of justified anger.
Still, the aftereffects of the event quite possibly pushed WWF, now WWE, onto beat WCW. On Bret Hart Day, we'll be counting down the reasons WWE was right to pull off the Montreal Screwjob. I can't wait for the death threats!
#5 The Montreal Screwjob is still being used, to this day, for storylines in multiple companies
"Who's your daddy, Montreal?" Remember that line? One of Shawn Michaels' greatest lines of his entire career, that was. And that was eight years after the Montreal Screwjob. Wrestling companies have been using this real event to push storylines ever since it happened back on November 9th, 1997.
Various wrestlers have attempted to rile up Canadian audiences, simply by mentioning Bret Hart by name. Multiple companies have implemented the use of an "evil" owner in order to further storylines. We even saw AJ Styles "ousted" from TNA in 2014 after he was screwed over in a world title match by owner Dixie Carter and world champion Nick Aldis (then known as Magnus).
WWE has pulled off something similar with Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston in recent years. Elements of the Montreal Screwjob are consistently in rotation in professional wrestling.
#4 The Montreal Screwjob was Vince McMahon's only option after the Madusa/WCW incident
The Montreal Screwjob existed for one reason. Vince McMahon could not bring himself to trust Bret Hart. Did the Hitman give McMahon any reason to doubt him? Absolutely not, at least not from what we've heard over the years through countless documentaries and interviews.
Bret Hart didn't want to drop the championship to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series. He was happy to either lose or forfeit the title at a later date, but not on that night. He'd come to an agreement with HBK and Vince, and the match would end in a disqualification before Hart would lose the title down the line.
However, with one of his championships already appearing on WCW Nitro, the WWF Women's Championship, McMahon couldn't risk it, putting the Montreal Screwjob into effect. After their title was treated like garbage and literally thrown in a trash can on live TV, they couldn't take the chance. If the same thing had happened to the WWF Championship, that would've been horrendous for the company.
Again, would Hart have actually done that? No, odds are he would've done right by Vince and the company before going to WCW in December.
#3 The Montreal Screwjob gave fans a reason to hate Shawn Michaels and D-X
At a point in time where being bad was cool, D-Generation X was one of the coolest groups in wrestling. The phrase "Suck It" definitely saw a rise in popularity as Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna continued to break every rule known to cable TV at the time.
Fans loved D-X's attitude, and couldn't get enough out of their antics. At the end of the day, though, these were bad guys. These were the villains, and at some point they had to get the fans to realize that. What better way to do so than to outright screw one of the greatest and most beloved professional wrestlers of all time?
It worked exceedingly well, and Michaels rode the heat of the Montreal Screwjob all the way into WrestleMania XIV where he'd face a man from Hart's past.
#2 A certain Rattlesnake got a lot out of this event
While not often thought of as a benefactor of the Montreal Screwjob, Stone Cold Steve Austin was the one to dethrone Shawn Michaels. Between Survivor Series 1997 and WrestleMania XIV, HBK had a 140-day title reign.
Now, Austin had already had a run in with Bret Hart the previous year, in what's considered the greatest double-turn in all of professional wrestling. Austin's resilience turned him into a major babyface for fans to root for. Oddly enough, he'd be the one to get a bit of revenge for Hart.
Thanks to the inclusion of Mike Tyson, who seemed to be on Michael's side, it looked like he was about to screw another major star out of a title. As a special enforcer, Tyson was wearing a D-X shirt, and had gotten into a short brawl with Austin in the weeks leading to the event.
In the end, Stone Cold Steve Austin overcame the numbers advantage of D-Generation X and had an extra trick up his sleeve. He turned Michaels' plan around, and Tyson assisted Austin in capturing the WWF Championship that night. In an attempt to replicate the Montreal Screwjob, in a sense, Michaels was hoisted by his own petard.
Bret Hart essentially helped Stone Cold Steve Austin become a mega star on two separate occasions, and Austin was the one to right the wrong that was the Montreal Screwjob.
#1 There is no Mr. McMahon without the Montreal Screwjob
The greatest character in professional wrestling, and you're wrong if you think otherwise. Mr. McMahon was, essentially, created on this night when he screwed Bret Hart. Without the Montreal Screwjob, there is no Mr. McMahon.
Well, according to him, Bret screwed Bret. An arrogant, pompous boss that was out to save his own hide and the company, even at the expense of an employee. Many people understood what it was like to work for someone like that, and that made it so much better when Stone Cold Steve Austin got the best of him for years on end.
The Stone Cold-Mr. McMahon feud is possibly the greatest feud of all time. That doesn't even have to limit it to professional wrestling, but TV in general. A lot of that doesn't really happen if fans don't have a real, honest to God reason to hate the man. Thanks to the Montreal Screwjob, they did. And it was thanks to the creation of Mr. McMahon that Steve Austin truly achieved his next level.
