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-   -   DISCUSSION - Could "Montreal" have been averted by Bret Hart jobbing to Undertaker on RAW the next night? (https://www.tpwwforums.com/showthread.php?t=131379)

Heyman 04-01-2016 01:01 PM

DISCUSSION - Could "Montreal" have been averted by Bret Hart jobbing to Undertaker on RAW the next night?
 
DISCUSSION - Could "Montreal" have been averted by Bret Hart jobbing to Undertaker on RAW the next night?

At Survivor Series, they play out Bret's idea of a DQ finish. DX does something stupid to Bret which causes Bret to be distracted and argue with the ref. HBK then nails Bret with Sweet Chin Music (reminiscent of their match at Wrestlemania 12), but then the Hart Foundation get involved causing the DQ finish.


The next night on RAW, Bret gives a farewell speech, but tells the WWE Universe that he lied to them, and intends to take the belt with him to "the other show."


Undertaker's music hits and Taker challenges Bret to one final match later on RAW. Taker then defeats Bret clean for the pin.


After Taker wins, you then go back to what originally happened where Shawn defeats Taker at the next PPV due to Kane interference. Things then resume as originally as planned.


Why couldn't the WWE have just done this?

Heyman 04-01-2016 01:10 PM

-Undertaker is a guy that Bret respected, and would have done the job to.


-Shawn would have still looked 'strong' against Bret due to the Hart Foundation having to interfere to cause the DQ.


One problem I have against the argument of, "Well - the whole point of Shawn going CLEANLY over Bret is that it makes Shawn look more credible for his inevitable collision with Austin," is that Shawn got absolutely man-handled by Undertaker at Bad Blood (before Kane interfered), and so "making Shawn look like a boss" was kind of in vain anyways.

The CyNick 04-01-2016 02:17 PM

Bret was the guy leaving the territory. Least he could do is put over the guy WWE asked him to on the date they requested. Nash didn't bellyache about putting over Taker is him home country. He also didn't whine about putting over Shawn also in his home country. It also didn't prevent him from getting over in WCW. Bret was selfish.

I don't see how some convoluted angle on RAW would do any good. As it worked out Bret being selfish was the best thing that ever happened to WWE. Some may call it karma.

Fignuts 04-01-2016 02:24 PM

Unless I'm mistaken, his contract literally ended the day of the PPV. Bret suggested dropping the title to someone the next night on raw, but vince and co. shot it down because despite Bret's long tenure with the company, it was the monday night war era and they didn't want to risk an alundra blaze repeat with their world title.

The CyNick 04-01-2016 02:29 PM

I think his contract expired just after the PPV.

But yeah the issue came down to Bret had "reasonable creative control" in how he was booked and WWE didn't want it to get out further that Bret was going to WCW. And yeah they were worried either Bret would leave with the belt or Eric would announce on Nitro that he signed the current WWF Champion.

It amazes me that anyone defends Bret.

Fignuts 04-01-2016 02:36 PM

The only leverage that Bret really has in the argument, is that Shawn was the biggest dickhead of a champion there ever was. A wrestler is supposed to job to the next guy on the way out, but in this case, the next guy had been spitting in the face of tradition and how a champion is supposed to conduct himself since he made it to the main event.

That's why I've seen and read about old school guys backing Bret here and there.

Not saying I am on Bret's side, as he seems to be not far off from where hbk was on the prick scale, but I can understand someone sympathizing with him.

The CyNick 04-01-2016 02:55 PM

I used to see Brets side too, then you start digging into how big of a politician Bret was and is hard to sympathize with him on his opinion about Shawn.

Shawn was someone who believed in his own abilities and thought he was more talented than his peers. Bret saw his as a threat and vice versa so they clashed. Make no mistake though, Bret was just as big of a prick.

road doggy dogg 04-01-2016 03:02 PM

so tired of hearing anything about Montreal screwjob... such an overblown event

harmsway 04-01-2016 03:06 PM

As I understand it, bret's creative control clause was only for 30 days prior to his contract expiring. If that was true, the bad blood ppv was on the 5th of October and I feel Bret should have dropped the title there. Vader wasn't massive over but would have been a believable transition champ for a month to get the belt back to shawn.

I could never understand vince's mindset of having one of your top stars go to competition with any kind of steam. I don't even know why they put the title on Bret at summerslam that year

rockman725 04-01-2016 03:07 PM

For the longest of time, I always thought Bret's contract expired at the end of the night (midnight). Therefore, he would technically not be obligated to attend the show the following day. However, in recent years it's been made known that Bret's contract actually expired almost a month later. In that case, he legit could have done anything on Raw and was still under contract. This is where the murky water is hard to tread through:

Was there an agreement made between Vince & Bret that the Montreal match no matter what would be his final appearance with the company before the idea of Bret dropping to Shawn became pitched? This would be a great question to get an answer to.

Bret has stated that he fulfilled all his required dates in the contract and didn't have to show up anywhere after & including that match. I wonder if Vince's big hang up was not the Bret/Shawn issue, but more of the Bret/Vince/Eric issue. I have a feeling that even if Bret said that he would do ANYTHING with the belt on Raw that Vince asked, Vince did not trust that Eric didn't shelve him 100 million or something to ditch Raw and go to Nitro instead. This would be a logical reason because Bret fulfilled his WWF responsibilities of his contract already there for it would be like a CM Punk walk out, minus the no-compete clause that didn't exist back then.

For the record, I do not think Bret would have shown up on Nitro with the belt if Vince agreed to let Bret retain at SS and drop it the following night. I truly believe Bret in that he felt shafted by Shawn as a friend & colleague at the time and that is the only reason why he refused to do the job at SS.

Anything, even tar & feathering Bret's character in the ring, the following night on Raw would have been better than what actually happened at SS.

Emperor Smeat 04-01-2016 03:21 PM

Dropping the title to Taker sounds like a good idea but feels like HBK and co would still have tried similar shenanigans for the Montreal match. Doesn't seem HBK would be ok with Bret getting the last laugh feud-wise considering the bad blood between the two.

In regards to contract status, doubt Bret would have pulled a fast one on the WWF considering the month gap between his departure and official WCW start. Since he was open about dropping the title post-ppv, likely had no problem with adding an extra date or two to resolve the title issue.

The MAC 04-01-2016 03:27 PM

Bret's contract did NOT end at Montreal. He was still under contract for a few more weeks.

this is why he didnt appear the next night on Nitro. He was still under contract with WWF

The Condor 04-01-2016 04:02 PM

Bret refused to job to non-Shawn guys in the month between Bad Blood and Survivor Series, including Shamrock, Vader, and, I believe Foley. Dude did it to himself as far as I'm concerned. His stubborness was his undoing.

BigCrippyZ 04-01-2016 08:20 PM

It's my understanding that the term for Bret's contract lasted for an additional 30 days approximately but even before Survivor Series Bret had already met his contractual number of performance dates. In other words, as an example, Bret was obligated to perform 200 days a year during the term of the contract, and Bret had already met this 200 day requirement prior to appearing at the PPV, but he was still under contract not to perform for any other promotion during the remainder of the term.

Any additional dates after Bret met his yearly minimum during the term, would've been one-off performance/appearance contractual agreements (probably oral/handshake agreements).

Jordan 04-01-2016 08:21 PM

^^^^ Yup

The MAC 04-02-2016 01:19 AM

He showed up at Montreal, he would have shown up at Raw. There was no reason for him to burn bridges especially since he did planon coming back to wwf after 3 years. He mentions so to vince and also on Legends of Wrestling show.

In any event, there was no legal way he could appear on WCW tv otherwise Bischoff would have charted a plane and had bret flown to Nitro the very next night.

Swiss Ultimate 04-02-2016 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heyman (Post 4792051)
DISCUSSION - Could "Montreal" have been averted by Bret Hart jobbing to Undertaker on RAW the next night?

At Survivor Series, they play out Bret's idea of a DQ finish. DX does something stupid to Bret which causes Bret to be distracted and argue with the ref. HBK then nails Bret with Sweet Chin Music (reminiscent of their match at Wrestlemania 12), but then the Hart Foundation get involved causing the DQ finish.


The next night on RAW, Bret gives a farewell speech, but tells the WWE Universe that he lied to them, and intends to take the belt with him to "the other show."


Undertaker's music hits and Taker challenges Bret to one final match later on RAW. Taker then defeats Bret clean for the pin.


After Taker wins, you then go back to what originally happened where Shawn defeats Taker at the next PPV due to Kane interference. Things then resume as originally as planned.


Why couldn't the WWE have just done this?


It wouldn't have created enough drama and we would not be talking about it right now. The screwjob is a beloved part of wrestling.

Heyman 04-04-2016 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The CyNick (Post 4792081)
Bret was the guy leaving the territory. Least he could do is put over the guy WWE asked him to on the date they requested. Nash didn't bellyache about putting over Taker is him home country. He also didn't whine about putting over Shawn also in his home country. It also didn't prevent him from getting over in WCW. Bret was selfish.

I don't see how some convoluted angle on RAW would do any good. As it worked out Bret being selfish was the best thing that ever happened to WWE. Some may call it karma.



Oh don't get me wrong - I largely agree with you on Bret. Bret, in many respects, was as much a pain in the ass as HBK even if Bret had more noble intentions much of the time.


However - given the personal relationship between Bret and Vince, I just think the ugliness could have been averted.


1) Legally, Bret would not have been able to show up with the WWF title on WCW anyways.


2) The whole idea of wanting to make Shawn look 'strong' via clean win over Bret, was completely negated by the fact that Undertaker manhandled him at the next PPV anyways.


The only way Shawn cleanly defeating Bret would have made sense, was if Shawn defeated Undertaker in a convincing way as well, but this obviously didn't occur. Hence - my suggestion for the DQ finish where you have a similar ending to Wrestlemania 12, but with the Hart Foundation interfering.


On RAW the next night, Bret threatens to leave the WWE but then Undertaker (a.k.a. "The Conscience of the WWE" challenges Bret). Bret then admits that he's always respected the Undertaker and that Bret never backs down from a fight, and so he accepts the challenge.


Voila - Taker defeats Bret, and then jobs to HBK at the next PPV as par the course.

RaginRonic 04-05-2016 04:20 PM

I don't think that Bret would have dropped the WWF Title to The UnderTaker the night after Survivor Series, where Raw was held at the current Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario(suburban outskirt of Ottawa, Ontario).

The earliest I'dve seen Bret drop the title to a U.S. born talent would have been when Raw was held in Fayetteville, North Carolina's Cumberland Civic Center on Nov. 24, 1997.

For the record, Bret was under contract to WWE then until Nov. 30, 1997, where afterwards, he was free to leave for WCW.

And Bret dropping the title in North Carolina instead of Montreal may have saved a lot of bullshit happening afterwards, including Owen Hart's death.

Swiss Ultimate 04-05-2016 04:34 PM

I don't know much, but I do know this. Universal health care works great in Canada, Ted Cruz is a Canadian citizen, and Bret Hart should have been fired months before. That kind of insubordination, I would not tolerate it. No I wouldn't.

Bret Hart was a loser and I'm glad Goldberg ended his career. Wish he'd end Ted Cruz the same way, but you know he won't because he's a Jew and Jews seem to love Ted Cruz.

RaginRonic 04-06-2016 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by realDonaldTrump (Post 4796076)
I don't know much, but I do know this. Universal health care works great in Canada, Ted Cruz is a Canadian citizen, and Bret Hart should have been fired months before. That kind of insubordination, I would not tolerate it. No I wouldn't.

Bret Hart was a loser and I'm glad Goldberg ended his career. Wish he'd end Ted Cruz the same way, but you know he won't because he's a Jew and Jews seem to love Ted Cruz.

And I know that ol' Donnie Trump loves to get fucked in the ass by a huge Mexican while playing 'La Cucaracha' off some bongo drums attached to Melina's fat ass. XD

Heyman 04-06-2016 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronic (Post 4796073)
I don't think that Bret would have dropped the WWF Title to The UnderTaker the night after Survivor Series, where Raw was held at the current Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario(suburban outskirt of Ottawa, Ontario).

Bret had zero issue with dropping the belt in Canada. He just had an issue in dropping it to Shawn Michaels.

The biggest arguments for "Bret should job to HBK' were......

1) Time honoured tradition to job before you leave
2) Contract expiration + possibly showing up on WCW with the title
3) Making HBK look as strong as possible since he was going to be the #1 heel moving forward (to put over Austin at Mania).

However - both points were nullified.

1) Bret had reasonable creative control over his character
2) Legality would have prevented Bret from showing up in WCW with the WWF title.
3) HBK got manhandled by Undertaker in the next PPV before Kane interfered, and so the whole idea of making HBK look strong was moot anyways.

Yes - the screwjob was the best thing that could have ever happened to the WWE......from a business standpoint, but taking into account interpersonal relationships, morality, integrity, etc., Bret jobbing to Undertaker the next night on RAW was arguably the best course of action.

Swiss Ultimate 04-06-2016 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronic (Post 4796217)
And I know that ol' Donnie Trump loves to get fucked in the ass by a huge Mexican while playing 'La Cucaracha' off some bongo drums attached to Melina's fat ass. XD

Very sad that you tried to attack my wife and couldn't even spell her name right. Newsflash: Nobody cares what you know, what you think you know, or whether you live or die. You're a flea and I'm the alpha-dog. My normal size hands have seen the inside of more super-models than you've taken showers.

When I'm President you're going to Mexico.

road doggy dogg 04-06-2016 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronic (Post 4796073)
And Bret dropping the title in North Carolina instead of Montreal may have saved a lot of bullshit happening afterwards, including Owen Hart's death.

I know your shitty gimmick is essentially "being Don Cherry", but lol that's a bit of a stretch

The CyNick 04-06-2016 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heyman (Post 4794895)
Oh don't get me wrong - I largely agree with you on Bret. Bret, in many respects, was as much a pain in the ass as HBK even if Bret had more noble intentions much of the time.


However - given the personal relationship between Bret and Vince, I just think the ugliness could have been averted.


1) Legally, Bret would not have been able to show up with the WWF title on WCW anyways.


2) The whole idea of wanting to make Shawn look 'strong' via clean win over Bret, was completely negated by the fact that Undertaker manhandled him at the next PPV anyways.


The only way Shawn cleanly defeating Bret would have made sense, was if Shawn defeated Undertaker in a convincing way as well, but this obviously didn't occur. Hence - my suggestion for the DQ finish where you have a similar ending to Wrestlemania 12, but with the Hart Foundation interfering.


On RAW the next night, Bret threatens to leave the WWE but then Undertaker (a.k.a. "The Conscience of the WWE" challenges Bret). Bret then admits that he's always respected the Undertaker and that Bret never backs down from a fight, and so he accepts the challenge.


Voila - Taker defeats Bret, and then jobs to HBK at the next PPV as par the course.

The issue isn't would Bret go off to WCW without doing the favors. It's would Bischoff open Nitro with "I just signed their world champion, he's coming here Dec xx and this is yet another example of why WCW is superior"

At that point it doesn't matter what Bret does, the cat is out of the bag, and WWF title would look like a joke.

To make an angle of Bret leaving would make any subsequent match seem phony.

The issue to me was always its reasonable for WWE to expect Bret to drop the strap to the guy and on the date they wanted.

I've also heard interviews from people who claim Bret balked at several scenarios where he would drop the title.

Blue Demon 04-06-2016 04:36 PM

I basically think it all comes down to Bret & Shawn's relationship. He stated at the time he would've jobbed to anyone ELSE (he said something along the lines of telling Vince "Hell, I'll job to Lombardi in the Garden, I just don't wanna lose to Shawn") as he felt that Shawn had slighted him and refused to put him over in the past and was generally unprofessional. To be fair, Bret was stubborn, but Shawn was an all around pain in the ass.

The CyNick 04-06-2016 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sascha (Post 4796360)
I basically think it all comes down to Bret & Shawn's relationship. He stated at the time he would've jobbed to anyone ELSE (he said something along the lines of telling Vince "Hell, I'll job to Lombardi in the Garden, I just don't wanna lose to Shawn") as he felt that Shawn had slighted him and refused to put him over in the past and was generally unprofessional. To be fair, Bret was stubborn, but Shawn was an all around pain in the ass.

Even Kevin Nash says HBK was a prick, thats just how it is in an environment that is dog eat dog.

To me thats not a good enough excuse to refuse to do business. If Vince had said I want you to lose to Shawn in a 30 second match, I would say he has a point, but I'm sure that wasnt the plan.

Swiss Ultimate 04-07-2016 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The CyNick (Post 4796385)
Even Kevin Nash says HBK was a prick, thats just how it is in an environment that is dog eat dog.

To me thats not a good enough excuse to refuse to do business. If Vince had said I want you to lose to Shawn in a 30 second match, I would say he has a point, but I'm sure that wasnt the plan.

I think they should have had a Loser Leaves Canada match. Would have been phenomenal to see Bret Hart deported from his own country.

Hmm...wonder if we can send Ted Cruz back to Canada in a similar fashion. I'll talk with my lawyers.

The CyNick 04-07-2016 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by realDonaldTrump (Post 4796700)
I think they should have had a Loser Leaves Canada match. Would have been phenomenal to see Bret Hart deported from his own country.

Hmm...wonder if we can send Ted Cruz back to Canada in a similar fashion. I'll talk with my lawyers.

I know he's a liar and all but i would prefer him over our current prime minister

Swiss Ultimate 04-07-2016 06:59 PM

That Prime Minister of yours has a pretty mouth. I wouldn't kick Justine out of my bed.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam...-super-169.jpg

harmsway 04-07-2016 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heyman (Post 4796221)
3) HBK got manhandled by Undertaker in the next PPV before Kane interfered, and so the whole idea of making HBK look strong was miot.

October comes before novemeber. Bad blood happened before survivor series. Shawn wrestled shamrock after bret, not taker

Ol Dirty Dastard 04-07-2016 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad News Gertner (Post 4792159)
So you really want the WWF on one of their Big 4 ppv's that they've been building up, do a bullshit dq finish? How about Bret not being a whiny faggot and drop his fake title.

a feeeeehckkkk a yewwwwwww

Ol Dirty Dastard 04-07-2016 07:16 PM

tho honestly the "fake belt" and "dq finish" argue it bullshit. It's amazing the lengths people other than Bret Hart have gone to keep the "fake belt" to "look strong". Also, let's not act like a dq finish was anymore fucky than that ridiculous montreal finish. Tons of main events end in fucky finishes including several Wrestlemanias.

Heyman 04-07-2016 10:22 PM

Given all that happened, and given some of the feedback in this thread, my new solution would have been to have Undertaker defeat Bret Hart cleanly at Survivor Series, with HBK then defeating Taker at the next PPV (par the course).

Ol Dirty Dastard 04-07-2016 10:28 PM

Wrestlers being wrestlers.

Bad News Gertner 04-07-2016 10:33 PM

Hart should have changed his tampon and dropped the title

Ol Dirty Dastard 04-07-2016 10:36 PM

Vince should have removed Shawn Michaels sweaty ballsac from his mouth

SlickyTrickyDamon 04-08-2016 12:28 AM

The next PPV was not Undertaker. It was Ken Shamrock for the title. HBK was booked weak against him too though.

SlickyTrickyDamon 04-08-2016 12:30 AM

I don't think we'd be talking about wrestling right now if Mr. McMahon wasn't born that night. It had to happen.

It was all a work anyways. Bret got a hot angle to work with when coming to WCW. Not his fault Bischoff dropped the ball making him a ref and keeping from wrestling for 2 and a half months. When he said he signed him because he was starved for top talent.

hb2k 04-08-2016 05:12 AM

Just to clear up a few things throughout the thread:

As mentioned by others. Bret handed in his notice on midnight November 1st. He was obligated to the company for all of November, and had an agreement in place with Vince and Bischoff that he was allowed to stay until December 7th, after his actual deal was over, so that he could lose the WWF title in a four way against Taker, Shamrock and HBK at the DX IYH show. So him losing it at Badd Blood on October 5th wouldn't have crossed anybody's mind at the time. Bret wasn't showing up on Nitro after Survivor Series no matter what.

Bret didn't want to lose in Canada. He can say years later it was a more personal thing with Shawn, and no doubt that's part of it, but the blow by blow account of what happened from Bret and the company was him saying he didn't want to lose in Canada. And to me, that's fine, and here's why.

The anti-Bret attitude is "lose your fake title, what if so-and-so didn't want to lose in America", etc. But I actually think it's a perspective that really misses the obvious. Bret Hart had signed a $2.8 million deal with WCW. He wasn't worth that based on his value to PPVs, ratings or house shows in America relative to other salaries in the business. But to WCW, Bret was the key to breaking into Canada, where they'd never done any business historically. At the time Canada was the second biggest market the WWF had, and it was a huge investment based on Bret's value in Canada. Bret was in a situation where he felt losing to Shawn in Montreal (especially when the match was built mocking Canada) could hurt that value, and he may have been right. Given how much money was on the line on this deal (if WCW had broken through to Canada based on him, long term Bret could get another big contract after this one), I can easily see why he wanted to get out of Canada before he lost the title. And Bret suggested several options for guys to beat him the following week as soon as they were out of Canada if they decided he had to lose before the December PPV, the originally agreed plan.

Vince McMahon is the one who was stupid enough to breach Bret's contract (by not paying his agreed amount, which meant Bret was allowed to negotiate with WCW), and pretty much force him out the company while he was WWF Champion. He was also the one that agreed to the reasonable creative control clause into Bret's deal that let Hart have veto power if he thought what they were asking could damage his value. The people saying "what if I don't lose in America!" are usually guys like JBL who have never been in a position where they have value to an international market and huge potential revenue source as Bret was, so their opinion is worth less than salt grit on a sunny day.

What it really came down to was Vince forced Bret out on November 1st as WWF Champion. The next day, Bischoff went on Nitro and promised a big surprise next week. And Vince shit himself, realising he hadn't thought it through. All of a sudden, the plan that everybody had agreed to (the December PPV) didn't seem so appetising, especially when the internet, hotlines and Canadian newspapers picked up the story two days later. Vince got nervous because he thought WCW announcing they'd signed the WWF champion was damaging, after Vince encouraged the WWF champion to sign with WCW. Right. Clearly, there is some stupidity somewhere.

Legally Vince couldn't force Bret to lose at Survivor Series, and it became a situation where both sides had their own interest in mind and the legal footing where neither of them was in the wrong for wanting what they wanted and standing their ground. But it was Vince's fuck up in the first place. Bret didn't even suggest to beat Shawn, just to get out the match (and let's not pretend this company is above main event DQ finishes on PPV, the very next one had one).

Ultimately both sides are at fault. Bret was being more difficult than he needed to be, probably based on paranoia, realising how much money was at stake, and no doubt there is ego involved (as I imagine there would be when you're champion and being forced out). Vince was just a moron who put himself in an awful position in the first place and did something that was, for his actual intention (get the belt off Bret and not draw attention to the champion leaving) was even dumber. The only saving grace was that this move and his attempt to babyface himself afterwards came off so poorly and was rejected so much he accidentally stumbled upon something great.


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