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On 9 November 1997, one of the most controversial incidents in the history of the wrestling business took place when Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart in the main event of the Survivor Series pay-per-view to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
“The Hitman” had already agreed to join WCW but refused to drop the title to his long-term rival in Canada, where Survivor Series took place that year, and thought he had come to an agreement with Vince McMahon & Co. about the match ending in a disqualification, with the title change (or title forfeit) happening at a later date.
However, Vince changed the finish because he didn’t want WCW to announce the signing of Bret when he still held the World Heavyweight Championship, which they legally would have been allowed to do the following day.
To avoid the bad publicity of WWE losing another major star – and their champion, no less – to WCW, Vince ordered referee Earl Hebner to end the match when Michaels locked in the sharpshooter, even though Bret didn’t actually submit, meaning HBK won the title.
Over the last two decades, there have been many arguments for and against Vince’s decision to ‘screw’ Bret, while fans have debated what would have happened in the Monday Night Wars if the Montreal Screwjob never took place.
In this article, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at five ways that the wrestling industry would have been different if Bret never left WWE in the first place.
#5 Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WrestleMania XIV)
By the time WrestleMania XIV came around in March 1998, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin had cemented his status as WWE’s next megastar and it was clear that, regardless of his opponent, he was going to emerge from the event as WWE champion.
That’s exactly what ended up happening, with “The Rattlesnake” defeating Shawn Michaels in the main event of the show, but there’s a very good chance that the headline match that year would have been Bret Hart vs. Austin if “The Hitman” didn’t join WCW.
Bret would potentially have remained WWE champion all the way until WrestleMania XIV, where Austin could have exacted revenge one year on from losing the legendary submission match that the two had at WrestleMania 13.
#4 Would D-Generation X have been the force they became?
The build-up to Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV largely centred around boxer Mike Tyson, who aligned with D-Generation X a month before the show and acted as the “special outside enforcer” for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event.
Tyson’s involvement at ‘Mania in 1998 proved a massive success for WWE, but would D-Generation X have received the same pop culture recognition that they did in the late 90s if “The Baddest Man on the Planet” aligned with The Hart Foundation instead?
Had Bret stayed with WWE, Tyson might not have been involved in a storyline with D-Generation X, and it could have been Bret, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and The British Bulldog in that main-event position rather than Michaels, Triple H & Co.
#3 No Mr. McMahon character
Between 1971 and 1997, real-life WWE owner Vince McMahon worked on-screen as a commentator and interviewer, and he never had any serious intention of becoming a character beyond the announce desk.
However, due to the backlash that he received from the Montreal Screwjob, Vince inadvertently became one of the biggest bad guys that the wrestling business had ever seen and he could no longer be part of the announce team.
That, of course, led to the introduction of the heel Mr. McMahon character – something that definitely wouldn’t have happened had Bret Hart stayed with WWE.
#2 No Eric Bischoff rivalry
One of the never-ending rivalries in pro wrestling right now is between Bret Hart and former WCW executive vice president Eric Bischoff.
Speaking in 2017, Bischoff claimed that Bret was “like a broken toy” during his time in WCW and advised him to "undergo a dementia check" after the five-time WWE champion claimed that his former boss rejected the chance to sign Mike Tyson.
Bret hit back in typical Bret fashion, calling Bischoff “the worst loser maggot that ever got into wrestling”. So, needless to say, this war of words would not be happening right now if “The Hitman” stayed in WWE!
#1 Legendary WWE rivalries
If Bret Hart stayed with WWE, he would have been given the opportunity to face a whole host of new opponents throughout 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Still only in his early 40s around that time, “The Hitman” could have had pay-per-view rivalries with up-and-comers like The Rock, Kane, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, and he certainly would have had higher quality matches in WWE than he did in WCW.
Instead, Bret had a couple of standout PPV matches in WCW, notably against Ric Flair at Souled Out 1998 and Chris Benoit at Mayhem 1999, but he wasn’t anywhere close to reaching the same level that he did in WWE.
Who knows, if he stayed in WWE, maybe he would even have wrestled into his late 40s and competed against the likes of John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar!
