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The Montreal Screwjob
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Week leading up to Survivor Series 1997
Bret-"On Sunday morning, I called Vince at home. He was friendly and more then a little quick as fas as I was concerned to advise me that I'd done the right thing. (Regarding Bret signing with WCW) He still wanted Shawn to beat me at Survivor Series the following weekend. I cut him off. "I'm sorry Vince. I've always done everything you've asked, but I can't do that. I'll put over anybody you want, but I will not, under any circumstances, put over Shawn Michael's."
"Where do you get this stuff?"
"Come on, Vince. I made myself clear to both you and Shawn in Tulsa. I'll drop it to Austin or Taker. Hell, I'll even drop it to Lombardi at the Garden. Vince, you told me I could leave any way I wanted! Remember?"
"I'll have to sue you."
"In my contract, I have creative control for my last thirty days."
"We could tie our assholes up in court for years over this."
I told him again that I wouldn't do it. "Everything has been geared toward the Canadian hero winning this match. It'll kill me off to lose to Shawn in Montreal after everything he's done. He's picked his nose on TV with the Canadian flag, and just last week he said that Stu [Hart, his father] is dead on international TV. I'd lose all my self-respect. If he puts me over, I'll be happy to put him over. We've got over a month until I go to WCW, Vince, surely we can come up with something." For the rest of the week we went back and forth. He'd tell me I could win, then he'd tell me I couldn't. I stood my ground and refused to lose- for the first and only time in my career."
HBK-"[On the phone on Wednesday November 5th] "Shawn, barring some miraculous change this weekend, we are going to work a DQ. The next night, Bret has promised me that he will come out and give up the title. He will go off to WCW, and we can work some sort of tournament or something like that. I'm not comfortable with that, but Bret has given me his word. I feel I can take him at his word. Regardless of the relationship that you and he have, I've always asked him to do business, but he's just not willing to do it for you. I can't change the match with someone else."
I asked Vince why he didn't just have Bret drop the title to someone else the following night on Raw. I recall Vince then saying Bret had creative control over his last thirty days.
"So it's not really just me, is it? He doesn't want to drop the belt before he leaves?"
"No he doesn't. It would be one thing if it were in the States, but especially in Canada. He just doesn't want to do it."
"All of Canada is his? We're not in Calgary. What if I didn't want to do any jobs in the United States?"
"I know, I know, but that's the situation. He has creative control."
There were a few seconds of silence.
"I know I'm not supposed to be talking here," it was Hunter. "Maybe I'm out of line here, but what kind of business is that? Who in the world says, 'I don't want to drop the belt'? You helped him to get a better deal there (WCW) and he is leaving. That isn't right. That's b.s. How in the world can you trust him? We have people leaving in the middle of the night and taking thier belts and dropping them in trash cans in WCW. (This was in reference to former women's champion Alundra Blayze, who had done that.) We can't afford for that to happen with the World Wrestling Federation Championship!"
"There's nothing we can do about that. My hands are tied. What can we do about that?"
It was my turn to chime in. "I'll do whatever you want. We'll just take it off him. I'll just swerve him or whatever I have to. You tell me what needs to get done. you and this company have put up so much from me. My loyalty is here with you. I will do whatever you want."
"What are you talking about Shawn?"
"Whatever it takes. If we have to do a fast count or get him in a hold and tell someone to ring the bell, I'll do whatever you want me to do."
"That's pretty serious. That has to be a last resort. I still have till Saturday to talk to Bret. That may have to be a real option. This cannot be discussed with anyone. Pat [Patterson] can't know, nobody can know about this but the three of us right now. It's something we will have to talk about.""
November 8 1997, The night before Survivor Series
Bret-"I was in the dressing room in Cobo Hall in Detroit. Vince and I were still stalemated. I was worn out with conflicting emotions, grief vying with an adrenalin rush of clarity. I was convinced Vince would ruin me just for the sick pleasure of it. I kept reminding myself that if I'd stayed in the WWF, Shawn and Hunter would have done all they could to drive me out anyway. Jack Lanza pulled me aside to tell me that I was doing the right thing for the business: "I wouldn't drop the belt to that little mother-F*cker either!" I never knew whether Jack meant what he said or was trying to provoke a reaction out of me that would somehow play into his boss's hands. I called Earl Hebner into a dingy dressing room bathroom. I looked him right in the eyes and said, "Tomorrow, Earl, they're going to ask you to F*ck me." His mouth twisted and his eyes filled with tears as he promised, "I swear on my kid's heads, I won't do it. I'll quit first! If they ask me to do that, I'll tell them to go F*ck themselves, Bret, I swear!" I calmed him down saying that all he had to do was tell me what the plan was, and I'd take care of it. I told him that I was going to insist that he be the ref because I trusted him to watch my back. The longer we talked the stronger his resolve became. I'll never forget the tears in his eyes as he shook my hand."
HBK-"[Meeting with Vince in hotel] "He's not willing to bend," Vince said. "Are you willing to do what we discussed?"
"Yeah, I'm willing to do what it takes."
"This is serious." I knew it was. I could hear it in Vince's voice. I had heard urban legends of swerves in the past, but nothing of this magnitude. "I don't know what's going to happen, but he is going to flip. Jerry [Brisco] can show you some holds."
"I'm not worried about that. We can run Hunter down to the ring if anything happens." We couldn't discuss how it was going to happen because we didn't know how Bret and I were going to set up the match. Once Bret and I figured out what we were going to do, then, and only then, could Vince and I decide how it would go down. "I don't want you telling anyone about this," Vince continued. "And when it happens, you deny you knew anything about it until the end. This is my decision, but I can't physically do it. I don't want the heat going on you. Some is going to go on you inevitably because of your history with Bret and because you are the guy doing it, but this is my decision. I don't want you telling anyone. If anyone asks you, you didn't know anything about it.
But when it's over with, it's over with. Bret's going to be hot. You have to put the heat on me. He needs to be mad at me. He is going to be mad at me, and he is going to want to hit me. I'm going to let him. I owe Bret that much." Vince also said that Earl Hebner was going to be the referee, and he didn't know anything yet. "I'll talk to him," I said. I'll clue him in.""