November 9 1997, Survivor Series
Bret-"[Bret and Shawn were working out thier match together earlier on in the day] Pat told me that he thought it would be a helluva spot to let Shawn put me in the sharpshooter and then reverse it on him. It would be a great spot that would set the stage for a fantastic second half.
"Who's the ref?" I asked.
"Earl," Pat said.
I smiled to myself. "Okay.""
HBK-"Bret and I started to go over the match. Pat [Patterson] was coming in and out of the room every now and then, to check up on us and throw in some ideas. We were talking things through, and Bret came up with this spot where I get him in the Sharpshooter and then he revereses it by pulling on my leg.
Ding! The bell went off in my head. I can't remember the rest of our conversation and how we laid out the match because I knew it was never going to happen.
--
[Later on in Vince's office] "You are not going to believe this, but he came up with a spot where I get the Sharpshooter on him and then he's supposed to reverse it by pulling my leg. When I put him in it, when I turn him over, we can ring the bell right there."
"That's it. That's the one. Have you told Earl yet?"
"No, I wanted to tell you first. I wanted to make sure it was ok."
--
[Later on in the locker room] "Earl, I need you to listen to me very carefully." I was speaking very softly. "We are doing a big swerve tonight. I am going to get Bret in the Sharpshooter, and I need you to ring the bell." He was a bit confused and in a normal tone of voice said, "Wait a minute."
"Earl, be very quiet. I need you to listen. This is very serious. Earl, we are screwing Bret tonight. We are going to be having the match, and you have to ring the bell. We are taking the title off him tonight. He doesn't know. Can you do it?"
"What are we doing?"
"I am going to get him in the Sharpshooter, and I need you to ring that bell. I need you to ring that bell and just get out of there."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Okay. I'll do whatever I have to do. Does Vince know about this?"
"Yes of course. You can confirm that with Vince. I'll let you know if anything changes, but for now, that's what we are doing, no matter what you hear.""
Gorilla position before the match
HBK-"I walked up to the Gorilla position. Hunter was there, so was [Jerry] Brisco. Vince started drifting to us and Pat was there as well. Then Davey Boy, Jim Niedhart, and Owen Hart came up next to us. The finish, as far as everyone else new, was that Hunter was going to come down and interfere, and then those guys would come down, and there would be a big fight and a DQ. But when guys are going to do a run-in, they don't stand in Gorilla before the match starts. It was very unusual for them to be there, and since I knew what was happening, I was thinking they were there in case something happens. After all, they didn't need to be there for another twenty minutes."
Bret-"I grabbed my own flag, handed it to Blade (His son) and said, "Let's go boy!" He marched all the way to the curtain with me, Jim, Davey, and Owen, with Paul Jay's crew following right behind us. (In process of making the Bret Hard documentary that came out in 1998 entitled "Wrestling with Shadows") Hunter was not where he was supposed to be for the run-in. An annoyed Rick Rude was suspicious. He pursed his lips and told me, "I'll watch your back in case they try and jump you or pull anything funny on you out there.""
Coming out to the ring
Bret-"I had no idea that he [Shawn] had just pretended to wipe his ass with the Canadian flag and the laid it out in the middle of the ring and pretended to F*ck it hard. Back home in Calgary, Stu [Hart] was watching in disgust. He took very real offence to Shawn's actions, as did everyone in the building and all across Canada. If I'd done that in the United States, I might have been lynched."
HBK-"As we were going over the match, Bret asked, "Do you want to do something with the flag again? When you stuck the flag up your nose in that one match, you got a ton of heat up in Canada. I'm telling you they were just livid. You want to do it?"
"Sure, I'll do whatever you want."
After the deal went down, everyone made a big deal about me jerking around the Canadian flag, but like the Sharpshooter, it was his idea. This was beyond the Twilight Zone."