The Screwjob
HBK-"[Vince McMahon and Sgt. Slaughter started walking down to ringside] Bret didn't say anything. I whispered, "Why is Vince coming down?" We continued on with the match and a few minutes later reached the point where Bret was going to start his comeback. I would stop him and then clamp on the Sharpshooter. It was a good little transitional spot. I remember looking at Earl and saying, "Here we go." Wrestlers say that all the time in the ring, so if Bret heard it he wouldn't have thought anything of it. I called for the move, snatched him up, and put him in the Sharpshooter. I locked eyes with Earl as I spun Bret over and put the hold on. I yelled, "Ring it, ring it now!" As soon as Bret started pulling my leg, the bell rang. I let him pull my leg and did the best I could to carry through with our plans and have him start to reverse the move. I did not know Vince had called for the bell as well. I believe he came down to try and make it as clear as possible that it was his decision to do that and not mine. It was an attempt to deflect heat from me and put it on him, but I did tell Earl to ring the bell. After it rang, I acted like I was mad, and didn't know what was going on. I heard Vince yell, "Give him the belt!" I rolled out of the ring and grabbed the championship belt. Jerry and Hunter had run down to the ring and Jerry started walking back to the curtain. Hunter was right behind. The crowd was in a complete uproar. Then, right before I ducked behind the curtain, I raised the belt high up in the air as a heel would do to incite the crowd. Part of me was thinking, "Just get out of there!" My business sidethought, "Something is going on here, but I've got to act like whatever happend was supposed to happen."
Bret-"Halfway through what was to be a thirty-minute match, I made my way to the top corner. When I leaped off, Shawn pulled Earl in front of me, and the collision left both me and Earl sprawled out on the mat. Shawn then stepped over me to put on the Sharpshooter, but he crossed my legs wrong, so I called up to him, "The other way," and he switched them. As Shawn turned me onto my stomach, I saw Earl for a split second motioning with his fingers, and Vince, strangely, standing at the ring apron wearing an angry scowl. Then he screamed at the bell ringer, Mark Yeaton, "Ring the bell! Ring the F*cking bell!" Yeaton, in stunned disbelief, couldn't bring himself to do it. I frantically tried to reverse the Sharpshooter on Shawn as Vince snapped hard at Yeaton- and the bell clanged, over and over.
I couldn't believe Earl F*cked me. It felt like all the blood in my veins had just evaporated. Earl jumped out of the ring and ran away as fast as he could toward Jack Lanza and Dave Hebner, who were waiting at the top of the ramp with a car running. My first thought was that I'd somehow let the whole country down. Shawn put on a show, cussing and carrying on as if he wasn't in on the whole thing. I saw Vince on the floor. The thought crossed my mind to jump out and go crazy on him. I looked over at Mark Yeaton, his mouth open and tears in his eyes. I leaned over the top rope, carefully aimed, and spit at Vince, hitting him right between the eyes. I saw Shawn hoisting the belt in the air in victory, and then being hustled away down the aisle by Hunter and Jerry Brisco. Vince kept trying to wipe my spit from his eyes. The crowd totally got what had just happend and began angrily chanting, "Bullshit! Bullshit!" The Montreal fans were outraged: a spark was all it would take to have a full-scale riot- and that was a bad idea. I had to calm myself and think smart. What would my dad do?
Looking out at the stunned crowd, I fought the tears that were swimming in my ears and thought, Don't you dare give these backstabbers the satisfaction of seeing you cry over any of this! Don't you dare cry! I worked so hard for him, fourteen years, all I wanted was my dignity. They'd cut the ring mic, but the cameras were still rolling, so I painted WCW in giant letters in the air for all to see. Owen, Davey, and Jim soon surrounded me. Owen said, "You don't look bad for this, they do! You were all class!" When I met thier eyes, I could feel myself dying inside. My lower lip start to quiver, so I bit it. Owen stood beside me, and his strength helped me keep it together. He told me that he and Rick had been duped into looking everywhere for Hunter, when Hunter was at ringside all along. For what seemed like an eternity, I looked out at the sea of sad people who felt as betrayed as I did, knowing what disrespect had been paid to me, my family, and millions of fans all around the world. I told myself to never forget this feeling, ever.
I jumped down from the ring and commenced smashing Vince's expensive TV monitors to the floor and tossing his headsets out into the crowd, surrounded by security gaurds who couldn't quite fiugre out whether this was part of the storyline."
Aftermath
Bret-"Surrounded by Paul Jay's crew, I went straight to Vince's office, and tried to break the steel door down. I gave up and walked back toward the dressing room, hounded by Japanese reporters who thought I'd explain everything that had happend for them right then and there. I felt like the Terminator. I wasn't the only one. I saw The Harris Twins kicking over barrels of garbage and punching the walls. The wrestlers were ready to riot to. Nothing to do but go home now. Blade trailed after me as I headed to the dressing room, but when I got to there, I found my bag sitting out in the hallway. I picked it up and walked inside only to see Shawn sitting in the corner. "Shaw, you weren't in on that?"
"I swear to F*cking god, I had nothing to do with it!"
"You weren't in on it?"
"So help me god, I don't know anything about it!"
He threw the belt on the floor and refused to wear it. Paul Jay's camera crew were right behind me filming everything they could. I wanted to rip Shawn to shreds- deep down I knew he was in on it all te way- but I didn't want to lose my cool in front of Blade. "Shawn," I said, "I'll judge you by what you do tomorrow on TV." I looked around at a rommful of stricken wrestlers and calmly said, "If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone. Remember that." Taker blew his stack and shouted, "F*ck! I'm gunna bring his ass down here. I want Vince to explain himself to me, you and everyone else!" He kicked the dressing-room door open. As he stomped off down the hall, I could here angry wrestlers calling out to Taker where he could find Vince. Paul's crew left so I could undress.
--
I went to take a shower. Rick Rude and Davey appeared just out of range of the showers to tell me that, true to his word, Taker had made Vince open his door. Vince has rounded up a makeshift crew of bodygaurds consisting of Slaughter, Brisco, and his son Shane. I had my friends: Taker, [Ken] Shamrock, [Mick] Foley, Vader, Rude, Crush, Savio [Vega] and especially Owen, Davey, and Jim. The whole thing could turn into a damn mutiny- or worse! Finally Vince came down the hall with his posse and stepped into the dressing room. "He says he wants to talk to you," Rick called to me in the shower. "Tell Vince to get the hell out of here before he gets hurt." Rick and Davey returned in seconds telling me in unison, "He says he's staying." I told them to please warn him to leave. "If he stays, he's gonna get knocked out." But they came back with the same answer. I came out of the shower sopping wet, with no towel, and calmly walked past Vince. I was actually thinking that if they ever did a movie about this, it wouldn't look very good if I beat Vince up naked. As I picked up a damp towel from the floor, Vince dryly offered, "It's the first time I ever had to lie to one of my talent."
"Who are you kidding you lying piece of shit?" I shot back. Shawn now sat crying in the corner.
Brisco and Slaughtern tried to clear everyone out of the dressing room. Owen was about to leave when Davey grabbed him by the arm. "Don't leave," he said. "Remember what happend to Bruiser Brody." None of my boys left. With Davey, Rick, Owen and Jim on my left, I sat down and glared at Vince, sourrounded by his henchmen, who all stood with thier arms behind thier backs, Taker was also there, offering me full support. Shawn was still blubbering like a baby, his head in his hands. "You told me I could leave any way I wanted. That I was Cal Ripken. That I was doing you a favour. That you appreciated everything I ever did. That for everything I've done there was no reason for any problems. You've told me nothin' but lies all week, all F*cking year!" I said in a surprizengly calm voice. Then I added, "If your still here when I'm finished getting dressed, I'll have no choice but to punch you out!"
Vince seemed unfazed, even tried to take credit for my deal with Turner, but I cut him off to remind him that I'd taken the lesser deal from Vince because I'd wanted to stay loyal to him. "After fourteen years, you just couldn't let me leave with my head up?" I shot him down on every lie. I was calm and rational asd I sized up the room and who was there, noticin too the look on Owen's face: I could see he was afriad of what it might be like to stay on with Vince after this, whatever this was, was over, but that he was backing me to the fullest. Like one of my best matches, I could see it all play out in my head. I knew a fight with Vince was likely to come down to a half-assed pull-apart, so I intentionally left my shirt off so no one could grab it. I'd be lucky if I got one good shot in before they all pounced on me. When I tied the laces of my hi-tops, I stood up and said, "Okay."
I picked up my kinee brace, thinking to smash Vince over the head with it, but I tossed it down, declaring, "I won't need this!" and went straight for him. Cockily Vince came back at me and we actually tied up. Fourteen f*cking years! I launched a rocket-launcher upper cut that connected with Vince's jaw. My right fist actually popped him like a cork off the ground, and he collapsed unconscious to the carpet. His cavalry jumped in, but they were too late. I found myself jostling with Jerry Brisco, who I would find out later was the one who had designed the whole screwjob for Vince. I told him if he so much touched me again, I'd give him exactly the same as I had given Vince, and the lying little coward backed away with his hands up. For the next forty seconds we all stared at Vince unconscious, splayed like an X on the floor.
I calmly took my seat again and noticed that my hand was throbbing. I thought it might be broken. Shane pulled Vince into a sitting position and pleaded with me to let his father get his bearings. I angrily shouted, "Get him out!" Slaughter and Brisco dragged him backwards by the armpits and plopped him in the bench across from me. I stood up and snatched my knee brace with a wild, mad look on my face, and I think I meant it when I shouted, "Get him the F*ck out right now or I'll finish him with this!" When I came toward him, Shane and his helpers propped Vince on his feet and walked him limping out the door. I would find out later that my punch liften him high enough off the ground that when he came down he rolled his ankle and nearly broke it. And as history would have it, Paul filmed a dazed Vince staggering down the hall. The dressing room was now quiet, except for Shawn's sniffling. I walked toward him, thinking I should kick the shit out of him too, while I had the chance. Instead I held out my hand. "Thanks for the match, Shawn." He shook my broken hand and started crying even harder."
HBK-"When I got behind the curtain, it was complete chaos. Davey Boy yelled, "What happend?"
"I don't know. They rang the bell." Jerry and Hunter kept moving me. Earl was gone. He left the ring and ran to the back, where his brother had the car running for him. He jumped in and was out of the building in no time at all. They shuttled me into the locker room. There was this stunned look on a lot of people's faces. I saw the DOA guys (Ron and Don Harris) and I went and sat next to them. Hunter was pacing. Then he left to go check out the situation. Everyone was rushing around in the back, and out in the arena, Bretv was tearing up the television monitors and spitting in Vince's face.'Taker was sitting in the locker room, not far from me. He looked over and asked, "Did you know that was going to happen?"
"No, I didn't."
"All right."
By this time Bret had made his way back, and he was beyond furious. He asked me if I knew anything about it. "As god is my witness, I didn't know anything about it, Bret." I lied, plain and simple. As a Christian now, I wouldn't say that. But I'm not going to pretend that I didn't. That's what I told Bret. I wasn't afraid of him. I was sitting with the DOA. If we got into a fight, we got into a fight. I had people around me. Davey Boy was yelling. I didn't say a word. I just sat there between the DOA. All of a sudden, Vince, Brisco, and Shane walked into the locker room. Vince told Bret, "You left me no choice. I'm sorry that this had to happen, but it's a decision that I made." Bret walked up to Vince and punched him in the face. Vince took what looked like to me the worst dive ever. He crumbled down to the floor, and Shane and the others helped him up. After he was back on his feet, Vince looked at Bret and said, "I owed you that." He then left the room. I heard a little while later that Bret was so full of pride because of the punch. I don't think that he was aware that Vince knew that he was going to do it and took a dive. Once Vince left the room, Bret took his boots off, put his shoes on, grabbed his bag, and left. While all this was going on, Hunter was out in the hallway getting cussed out by Bret's wife. They captured that in Bret's film."
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