The Montreal Screwjob Thread - Lets keep it all in one place

[Dave Youell]

Right then,

Something happened at a wrestling event nearly 10 years ago and people still feel the need to bring it up whenever the following words are mentioned in a thread:

Bret
Hart
Shawn
Michaels

PLEASE just do the bitching in this thread, I did request we have a Montreal ’97 forum a few months back to facilitate this need, sadly that was turned down, can a mod make this sticky as well, it won’t be overly active, but I feel it needs to be on the main page to stop the high jacking of other threads.

With Survivor Series approaching, I’m sure it’s going to get mentioned on TV after the summer, so you can guarantee that it’s going to start debates, lets just keep them all in here please.

Here’s all the info for anyone that doesn’t know about it (and if you don’t why are you even on a wrestling forum?)

Montreal Screwjob

The "screwjob" in execution - Earl Hebner calling for the bell as Shawn Michaels holds Bret Hart in the sharpshooter.
The Montreal Screwjob refers to the real-life double-crossing of the defending WWF Champion Bret Hart by Vince McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation during the main event match of the professional wrestling pay-per-view event Survivor Series held on November 9, 1997 at the Molson Centre (now Bell Centre) in Montreal, Canada. A secretive change of the match's pre-determined finish (known as a "screwjob" in professional wrestling parlance) was devised by McMahon and Hart's match opponent, Shawn Michaels. The plan was executed when the match referee, Earl Hebner, under orders from McMahon, called for the bell to ring and ended the match as Michaels held Hart in the sharpshooter submission hold (Bret's signature finishing move), even though Hart had not submitted. Michaels was declared the victor by submission and the new WWF Champion, even as Hart and the audience were outraged.
The screwjob was rooted in Hart's decision to leave the company for its chief competitor, World Championship Wrestling. Hart had offered to lose (referred to as "dropping the strap" in wrestling parlance) the WWF Championship at any event and to any wrestler save his slated opponent, Shawn Michaels, with whom he had an acrimonious relationship. Hart, who cited a clause in his contract that granted him "reasonable creative control", was particularly steadfast in his refusal to lose to Michaels in a match hosted in his home country, Canada. McMahon remained insistent that Hart lose to Michaels in Montreal, fearing that his company's business would suffer if WCW announced Hart as its latest entrant while he still held the WWF Championship. Although Hart and McMahon agreed to a compromise on the match ending that allowed Hart to retain the title, McMahon was determined to take the title off Hart without his consent.
The event's widespread impact led to its adoption in future matches and storylines of the WWF's Attitude Era and the creation of the widely popular character of the evil boss, "Mr. McMahon." Hart remained ostracized from WWF, while McMahon and Michaels continued to receive angry responses from audiences for many years. However, the relationship between Hart and McMahon healed to a great degree in recent years and culminated with Hart's induction on April 1, 2006 into the company's Hall of Fame.

--

Hart's departure from the WWE

Bret "The Hitman" HartBret Hart was a widely popular and well-respected veteran of the WWF for fourteen years. Beginning in the 1980s as one-half of the popular Hart Foundation tag team, Hart achieved tremendous success as a singles performer in the 1990s, winning the WWF Championship five times. However, Hart's prominence as a main event wrestler was increasingly challenged by The Kliq of Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman and Triple H, who had gained extensive booking influence in the company.[1][2] Faced with less promotion, Hart took a seven-month leave of absence from the company after WrestleMania XII, during which he negotiated a new contract with the WWF and an offer from its rival, World Championship Wrestling. In October, 1996, Hart declined a $9 million offer from WCW, opting to sign an unprecedented 20-year deal offered by McMahon, which made him the highest-paid wrestler in the company and secured him a major role with the company management following his retirement. Both Hart and the WWF saw the contract as an expression of mutual loyalty.[1][3]

By mid-1997, the WWF was facing financial difficulties due to stiff competition from WCW, which had taken over as the largest promotion in the United States. At the same time, McMahon's plans to take the WWF public required him to minimize any long-term financial deals.[2] Regretting his decision to offer Hart a large and expensive contract, McMahon began to defer payments to Hart while letting him know of the WWF's "financial peril." McMahon also began encouraging Hart to seek employment with WCW.[1] Hesitating out of feelings of loyalty, Hart entered into negotiations with WCW after McMahon informed him that he would have to defer Hart's pay indefinitely. While Hart considered a $3 million contract offer from WCW's Eric Bischoff, McMahon reversed his position and informed Hart that the company wanted to honor their contract. However when Hart talked to McMahon about future plans and storylines he was disappointed by McMahon's mixed response and lackluster suggestions.[1] In the final phase of negotiations, McMahon again expressed doubts about being able to honor his contract. Hart had also been unhappy at his heel character storyline and the WWF's move towards more controversial subject matter, which the Federation called the "Attitude era". Convinced that McMahon's future plans did not include him, Hart gave notice to the WWF and signed an agreement with WCW on November 1, 1997. When Hart asked McMahon if he would be mocked after leaving for WCW (as had occurred with other wrestlers who had shifted to WCW from the WWF), McMahon assured him that nothing of the sort would happen. Furthermore, McMahon promised Hart access to all of his WWF-owned footage. Hart believed he was leaving on good terms, despite feeling that McMahon had been trying to push Hart out from the company.[1]

--

Title transition

Vince McMahonHart's imminent move to WCW created a tense situation, as Bret Hart had won the WWF Championship at SummerSlam 1997 from The Undertaker. Hart's WCW contract was scheduled to begin on December 5, one month after the WWF's annual Survivor Series event, which was to be held in Montreal.[4] Shawn Michaels, the leader of the emerging stable D-Generation X had been booked into a main event title match with Hart. McMahon, anxious for Hart to drop the title, sought Hart's consent to job to Michaels. Hart refused to do so, citing his popular standing in Canada, where he felt he was widely regarded as a national hero.[1] Hart, who had been leading an anti-U.S., patriotic Canadian Hart Foundation did not want to lose the title in Canada — also, for their rivalry storyline, Michaels had repeatedly performed acts insulting the Canadian flag and Canadian fans. Hart believed that a loss to his archrival in his home country would be humiliating to him and his fans and conceivably affect his career in WCW. Wrestling fans also knew of Hart's long-standing personal difficulty with Michaels — Hart had been angered at Michaels' forfeiture of the WWF Championship on a Raw Episode, nixing plans for a Hart-Michaels rematch at WrestleMania 13, where Michaels was expected to drop the title to Hart.[4] Many suspected that Michaels had faked a knee injury to get out of the planned match.[5][6] While Michaels denied rumors that he did not want to lose to Hart,[7] Hart felt certain that Michaels, who had reputedly declared that he would not perform jobs for anyone, would not have offered a loss in return if he had been staying with the WWF.[8] The two had been involved in a real fight after Michaels accused Hart of having an affair with WWF valet Sunny.[2] The recent storyline rivalry had also seen Michaels make insulting remarks about Hart's father Stu Hart, which had left Bret and others in the Hart family upset.[1] McMahon's offering of a $3 million contract to Hart in 1996 had reportedly also upset Michaels.[9]

McMahon remained insistent about Hart dropping the title. The WWF owner was anxious over a possible reoccurrence of the reigning WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze's defection to WCW in 1995, which resulted in her dumping the WWF Women’s Championship belt in a trash can before a live audience on WCW Monday Nitro. Hart continued to refuse to drop the title to Michaels, offering to lose the title anywhere in the U.S. prior to Survivor Series or to surrender the title to McMahon on the episode of Monday Night RAW the day after Survivor Series, in Ottawa.[1][8] After several disagreements, McMahon, Michaels and Hart agreed to a proposal of a disqualification finish, which would be the result of a brawl between Hart's allies Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith with Michaels' allies Triple H, Rick Rude and Chyna, who would intefere in the match to aid Michaels.[10] Hart would then hand over the title to McMahon the next day on RAW or lose it to Ken Shamrock. Hart also asked for and obtained McMahon's permission for an opportunity to explain his actions, his heel character, praise McMahon and WWF and thus leave on good terms with the company and the fans.[1][11]

--