DISCUSSION - Could "Montreal" have been averted by Bret Hart jobbing to Undertaker on RAW the next night?

[Heyman]

Originally Posted by Ronic I don't think that Bret would have dropped the WWF Title to The UnderTaker the night after Survivor Series, where Raw was held at the current Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario(suburban outskirt of Ottawa, Ontario).

Bret had zero issue with dropping the belt in Canada. He just had an issue in dropping it to Shawn Michaels.

The biggest arguments for "Bret should job to HBK' were......

1) Time honoured tradition to job before you leave
2) Contract expiration + possibly showing up on WCW with the title
3) Making HBK look as strong as possible since he was going to be the #1 heel moving forward (to put over Austin at Mania).

However - both points were nullified.

1) Bret had reasonable creative control over his character
2) Legality would have prevented Bret from showing up in WCW with the WWF title.
3) HBK got manhandled by Undertaker in the next PPV before Kane interfered, and so the whole idea of making HBK look strong was moot anyways.

Yes - the screwjob was the best thing that could have ever happened to the WWE......from a business standpoint, but taking into account interpersonal relationships, morality, integrity, etc., Bret jobbing to Undertaker the next night on RAW was arguably the best course of action.