RING THE BELL! November 9th, 1997. Bret Hart defends his WWF Championship against his longtime rival, the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. These two had fought several times over the years, including the first ever IronMan Match at WrestleMania XII which saw the two wrestle a 1 hour draw before Michaels won in sudden death overtime to win his first WWF Championship, The boyhood dream has come true. A year later, the two were set to wrestle again for the title, this time Michaels defending against Bret. Or, they were supposed to. Michaels, known for being a huge prick backstage in the 90s, didnt want to lose as scheduled to Bret at WrestleMania. In fact, he adamantly refused to lose to Bret if the title was on the line. Weeks before the event, Michaels retired from action, claiming to have lost my smile and needed time away from the ring. Yep, Michaels would rather forfeit the World Title, and miss a payday at the biggest event of the year, and miss a WrestleMania main event, all because he didnt want to lose to Bret. The whole event had to be reconfigured with weeks to go, all the careful months-long planning of the card thrown out at the eleventh hour because this was 1990s Shawn Michaels they were dealing with. In what went down as one of the worst WrestleManias of all time, headlined by a thrown together Sid v. Undertaker main event, there was a bright spot in a 5 star classic between Bret and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin refusing to give up, passing out from the pain of Brets Sharpshooter rather than tapping out, made him a hero, while Brets pissy attitude afterwards made him hated by fans...at least in America. Canada could never boo their hero, their countryman, so when Bret began spitting rhetoric about how WWF kept his family and his fellow Canadian wrestlers down, he was getting different reactions from crowds depending on where they wrestled. While Bret was exploring new territory as a Canadian sympathizer, Michaels came out of retirement and continued being his 90s era massive prick self. By November, Bret was Champ again and Michaels, having survived his own 5 star classic inside Hell in a Cell against Undertaker, was challenging him at Survivor Series in Montreal. Bret was leaving WWF after the match, having taken an offer to go their rival, WCW, and according to wrestling code, the guy leaving the territory loses his last match to someone staying around. By all accounts, Bret should lose the title to Michaels. Except that Bret refused to lose his world title in Canada, where he was treated as a hero, and refused to lose to Michaels, period. What was WWF Chairman Vince McMahon to do? Bret was leaving the next night. He couldnt very well leave the company still the champion. A year earlier, Medusa had jumped ship to WCW while still WWF Womens Champion and famously tossed it in a trash can live on WCW Nitro. Vince didnt want Bret to do that with his World Title. They were losing the ratings war against WCW as it was; it would kill them to have their current World Champ toss their belt in the garbage on live TV. And he knew WCW showrunner Eric Bischoff would force Bret to do it; anything to stick it to Vince and try and kill the WWF. The day of the event, Vince and Bret came up with an agreement. Shawn would put Bret in his own signature hold, the Sharpshooter, which would be a huge slap in the face to Canada by trying to make their boy tap out to his own hold, and Bret would reverse into his own Sharpshooter. Brets family, the Hart Dynasty, and Michaelss running buddies, D-X, would interfere in the match at that point, drawing a double DQ for the two, and Bret would forfeit the title on WWF Monday Night Raw the next night before leaving for WCW. Neither man would look bad, Bret wouldnt have to lose to Michaels, or in Canada, and Bret could walk away from the company on good terms with Vince. What actually happened that night has gone down as the infamous Montreal Screwjob. Blurring the lines of kayfabe and reality in pro wrestling, the consequences of this match can still be felt today. Within the next few months, the direct repercussions of this match would begin the downward spiral of WCW and give rise to the Attitude Era of the WWF.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 03:09:49 +0000