hindsight montreal post
 

I know the screwjob has been talked to death but one thing that ive wondered and don't know what answers we can get, but looking back at summerslam that year, why put the title on bret?


its august 3rd of 97, what were the negotiations like between vince and bret? bret signed that big contract in late 96 so it doesn't seem bret was in a position to demand the title. I know it set up a way to get bret v shawn 2 but that match would have drawn even if there was no title involved.




does it seem baffling for vince to put the title on bret in august while bret's working a deal to go to wcw in 2 months? we all know what it led to, im just curious if its ever been explained why give the guy the title then be shocked he holds you up over it

I think Bret's angle was that he would never screw Vince over, but Vince didn't want to take that chance, so ultimately Bret felt disrespected over how the whole thing went down, especially considering that he just flat out didn't like Shawn Michaels. Shawn's attitude wasn't helping the situation, and I'm a huge Hitman fan.

That said, Shawn should have won the title that night. Canada or otherwise. It's not like it was even Bret's hometown. What if Shawn Michaels had refused to job anywhere in the United States had the situation been reversed? That would have been laughable. Bret should have just done business the right way.

no, im asking why put the title on bret at summerslam over taker retaining, trying to get at, was everything great backstage with vince and bret where he thought it would be a good idea?

Maybe Vince was trying to entice Bret to stay by giving him the title? I dunno. 1997 was a while ago.

When bret came back to wwf in 96 he was under the impression, from vince that, he (Bret) and shawn would be facing off at wrestle mania 13 where bret would put shawn in an ankle lock and brake his ankle (gimmick boot for the sound effect and twisted appearance)

Shawn then lost his smile (refusing to job to bret). Vince shuffled the card of that wrestle mania - and we got Bret vs Stone cold, Sid vs Taker for the title.

Before vince approached bret about his contract bret had told shawn that he would put Shawn over and despite any previous issues, shawn could trust him in the ring. Shawn told bret " I appreciate that but I'm not willing to do the same for you"

He had blatantly disrespected the champion ,who had previously put him over. This was the reason bret did not want to put shawn over at survivor series.

Also people forget that Bret had another month in WWF to drop the title. His contract was not up at survivor series.

This is the only question that I've never been able to find an answer to. The only thing I can figure is that McMahon knew the financial mire that Bret's contract was but kept to himself and his inner circle while trying to figure out if it would last or not.

People forget that UT'S reign was a backburner reign that was consistently overshadowed by Bret and the America/Canada Border Wars that started after WM 13. It was a good idea to put the belt on Bret because he was getting insane heat and could carry the belt in good feuds. However, about a month later, Bret was put on the backburner with cold angles(not helped either by Austin's broken neck) with the Patriot and Vader while UT and Michaels became the main event feud. I think this is when the booking reflects that Vince and the booking committee realized the contract was a bad deal and must be terminated.

The rest is all history with Bret refusing to drop the belt to anyone and Michaels being the biggest blight on wrestling since early 90's Hogan.

But getting back to the issue, at Summerslam I don't believe Vince knew the contract was fucked, and he was just putting the belt on his hottest heel. The booking afterwards kills the heat on the Border Wars and exposes Bret as a weak champion. That is when I believe Vince stated to panic and the Screw Job was set in motion.

Vince should have taken the belt off bret before telling bret to fuck off to wcw. He should have take the belt off jarrett and madusa as well. For all the genius he used to be, he was pretty fucking stupid to let people retain championships in their last month(whether they knew it was their last month or not).

Worse than that however, is bischoff debuting Bret Hart, the hottest wrestler in the business) in an angle where he is the referee. They should have had him come out with a replica belt(blureing the wwf logo on tv) and then putting his title up against whomever was wcw champion.

Im sure WWE would've tried to sue at that point

They were already gettimg sued for Hall and Nash looking and acting like Razor and Diesel.

Bret Hart doesn't get emough blame for his WCW run. He even stated in interviews that his heart wasn't init from the start.

According to his RF Video Shoot Interview and his book - he actually states the complete opposite so I don't know where you've got that from.

Gertner hates Bret Hart for some reason. I think he was a Shawn Michaels fan and he still "uses" that playgirl mag from time to time!

He just said it on Jim Ross's podcast

actually what he has said, repeatedly, that he wanted to make a difference in WCW. he wanted to prove himself. However, after being booking badly , being booked as a B player he eventually lost interest.

Who can blame him? They rejected every idea of his -except 2 : the steel plate promo with goldberg, and the chris benoit match.

Gertner, hates Bret hart, and thats fine...but don't pass your opinion off as fact or take quotes out of context.

Bret isn't remotely as big a star as he thinks he is.

And that's not what he said.

Who's "Chris Benoit"?