Survivor Series 1997

**ColdwaVer** · 07-15-2004, 08:23 PM

Ok, I have to vote Bret on this one. The fact that the incident happened is Vince McMahon's fault for sure. But the fact that it happened the way it happened is down to Bret's behavior, for the simple reason that Bret was the only one who could have stopped what happened. Bret had been in the company fifteen years; he knew what kind of game Vince played, he knew what kind of game Shawn played. Why he assumed that they would follow through on what they promised will forever escape me. And it's not like he didn't have suspicions, or else why would he have asked Hebner to swear to him that nothing was going to go wrong? Bret had a chance to immortalize himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that night. He could have given the performance of his life, lost the title in a fighting blaze of glory, and then stood alone in the ring afterwards to pay tribute to the fans. The story would have gotten out all the same, that Bret was forced against his will to drop the title to Michaels, and that though it went against every fiber of his being to do, in the end he swallowed his pride and made that sacrifice. Bret would have been hailed as a saint, and the scales of blame would be undeniably tipped towards Shawn and Vince (and Earl.) The way he's handled it since then has served to drive it into the heads of a lot of fans that Bret is a bitter crybaby. In the end, two wrongs don't make a right, and although Bret has every right to be angry and bitter over how things happened, I'll never get past the idea that Bret could have made that night a glorious moment for himself, but chose to make it the blight on the wrestling world that it is.

View Poll Results: Survivor Series 1997
Vince McMahon	37	69.81%
Bret Hart	12	22.64%
Shawn Michaels	4	7.55%
Voters: 53. You must log in or register to vote on this poll.

07-15-2004, 08:23 PM	#34
ColdwaVer Darth Teedious Posts: 4,634	Ok, I have to vote Bret on this one. The fact that the incident happened is Vince McMahon's fault for sure. But the fact that it happened the way it happened is down to Bret's behavior, for the simple reason that Bret was the only one who could have stopped what happened. Bret had been in the company fifteen years; he knew what kind of game Vince played, he knew what kind of game Shawn played. Why he assumed that they would follow through on what they promised will forever escape me. And it's not like he didn't have suspicions, or else why would he have asked Hebner to swear to him that nothing was going to go wrong? Bret had a chance to immortalize himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that night. He could have given the performance of his life, lost the title in a fighting blaze of glory, and then stood alone in the ring afterwards to pay tribute to the fans. The story would have gotten out all the same, that Bret was forced against his will to drop the title to Michaels, and that though it went against every fiber of his being to do, in the end he swallowed his pride and made that sacrifice. Bret would have been hailed as a saint, and the scales of blame would be undeniably tipped towards Shawn and Vince (and Earl.) The way he's handled it since then has served to drive it into the heads of a lot of fans that Bret is a bitter crybaby. In the end, two wrongs don't make a right, and although Bret has every right to be angry and bitter over how things happened, I'll never get past the idea that Bret could have made that night a glorious moment for himself, but chose to make it the blight on the wrestling world that it is.