Spinoff thread: Was the Montreal Screwjob a work?

It was a shoot all day bro

Why would hart be a jobber in his last match?

Hart's ego got the best of him.

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but Bret needs to get over this "But we're in Canada and I'm Canadian" bullshite. By that logic you should only be winning titles in Canada too.

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Later he said it was mostly because Shawn had told him a month or two before that he wouldn't put him over under any circumstances, and Bret wanted Shawn to do the honors first on RAW and then Bret would drop it to him at SS

As a WWE historian, I can say with 100% certainty that it was not a work.

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I have no idea what any of this means, but the title "Montreal Screwjob" got my attention.

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Wrestling has pre-planned finishes that are to happen.

This is one where the promoter and the other wrestler involved changed the finish on the fly and beat the champion in a match where the champion was supposed to retain.



It's a bit long and convoluted to tell, but the results were Bret Hart leaving WWF for WCW, Shawn Michaels becoming WWF champion until Wrestlemania 14, where he lost to Steve Austin and then retired for about 5 years due to a back injury suffered at Royal Rumble two months prior to Wrestlemania, and Vince McMahon using the situation to become a bad guy figurehead for the company and set up the McMahon vs. Steve Austin feud that catapulted WWF into victory over WCW.

I think Bret made a good financial decision but he could have been utilized better. Unfortunately he had a stroke shortly after Goldberg kicking him.

There was real pressure on Bret that year, he knew WCW was going to double what WWE was paying him even though he was supposed to be a WWE lifer. He had real backstage problems with HBK and anybody who hung out with him, going back to the days of the klik with Nash and Hall. Arguably Bret could have gave a little bit but he didnt feel he had to, and eventually McMahon got pissed with him and it became Bret vs. Vince. It was known that Survivor Series was going to be his last match, and he wanted to go out with glory not getting punked.

No.


During that time Shawn would have bragged, he was scared. By that happening it allowed the Mr McMahon character to take form, which in turn allowed Steve Austin to ascend into the best tv wrestling ever offered.

After all these years, if it was a work it would have came out by now. No one, especially shawn, could have kept that secret for so long.

He was in the office when hunter told Vince "frick Bret, if he doesn't want to do business, we will do business for him".

Just the way everyone acted, earl running off the backstage drama. Everything leading up to it with how Blaze treated the title on WCW. No way was Vince McMahon going to even risk his company while barely staying afloat as it already was.

I don't blame him at all.

It's one of the greatest moments in wrestling lore because it was real. Guys like Mick Foley talked about walking out, I don't think Vince would have risked that without letting some in on what was up if it was a work. He did what he did and he won.

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Vince McMahon using the situation to become a bad guy figurehead for the company and set up the McMahon vs. Steve Austin feud that catapulted WWF into victory over WCW.

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the WCW fall was an inside job. Even Eric bischoff said he they let him buy WCW it would have been for a lot more than what Vince bought it for.