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All The King’s Men 10.10.12: Week 13 – Was Vince McMahon Right When He Screwed Bret Hart in Montreal?

October 10, 2012 | Posted by Larry Csonka

ALL THE KING’s MEN!

The Concept
The concept of the column is simple. As the “King” of the 411 Roundtable, I will pick a topic for discussion. The staff, or “Knights” of the old roundtable will then have the opportunity to state of they are FOR or AGAINST the week’s topic, and then will have the chance to defend their position. Lets get to it…

VINCE, BRET, MONTREAL…

Survivor Series 1997 produced one of the most controversial matches in the history of wrestling when Vince McMahon rang the bell and screwed Bret Hart out of the WWE Title. Vince McMahon was WRONG when he “screwed” Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1997.

Bobby Knight Craig Wilson – DISAGREE : It’s quite crazy to think that it has been nearly 15 years now since Montreal but it’s still such a hot topic and there can be few better documented incidents in wrestling history.

Even as a huge Bret Hart fan, looking back, and with a heavy dose of hindsight, I can see why Vince did what he did and looking at what happened in the WWF during the following year it is difficult to argue that he got things wrong. Sure, he maybe didn’t go about things in the right way but from a business point of view it was a means to an end.

It could and should have been handled better but he did what he had to do and what he felt was right for the business at the time. After Alundra Blayze turned up on Nitro with the Women’s Championship, Vince couldn’t afford to have yet another WWF Champion turn up on WCW television with a belt and had to get it off Bret.

After the years of loyalty that Bret had shown the WWF and Vince through to that point, I don’t think it was unfair for Bret to have asked for a bit of leeway at Montreal. I get that under normal a circumstance that’s not how it goes and to some it did look like Bret was refusing to do the job but there were many other factors to take into account.

In reality, Bret was a victim of the Clique and backstage politics in general. Had the boot been on the other foot and HBK was Champion and on the verge of a move to WCW soon after an event held in San Antonia, I think we all know that HBK would have maneuvered things to not have to drop the belt in Texas. Heck, you never know he might have even have found himself losing his smile again.

In the end, as a Bret Hart fan, I’m glad that peace was made, that he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and that we’ve had the chance to view a very complimentary box set featuring him as well as the DVD feature he did with Shawn Michaels. It was definitely a sad way for Bret’s WWF career to finish but would he have worked out in the Attitude era? I’m not sure he would have. He’s stated he was very uncomfortable with the way that the business was going in 97 but things went even further in the following years.

A more measured Vince may have found an alternative route out of things but leading up to Survivor Series it was a deeply paranoid Vince McMahon that run the show. This was a promoter that had watched a stream of his superstars leave the WWF for the WCW and it could have been game over had the WWF Champion jumped ship with the belt. He needed Bret to drop the title and after Bret refused that, he had to take matters into his own hands to get what he wanted.

The White Knight Jack Stevenson – AGREE: Put yourself in Bret Hart’s shoes. You’ve given 12 years of your life to the WWF. Along the way, you’ve battled through personal problems, punishing schedules and backstage drama. You’ve been promised title reigns that never materialized. You’ve watched in befuddlement as the business moved further and further away from what it was when you fell in love with it. You’ve been pitted against your worst enemy in some sort of bizarre puppet show, devised in the most twisted recesses of Vince McMahon’s maniacal mind. Still, you remain loyal to the WWF, still, you remain loyal to Vince. And so when Vince desperately comes to you, tells you he can’t afford to pay your lucrative, twenty-year contract, and begs you to start negotiations with World Championship Wrestling, you do the right thing. You’ve not got any particular desire to go, but you recognize that your boss is in a tough spot and needs you off the payroll.

In exchange for this, McMahon promises you a lavish send off, with your final matches taking place in your home country and complete creative control over the final days in the organization. Great. There’s just one flaw… McMahon expects you to drop the WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels, a man who you’ve despised for some time now. But you’ve got creative control, and even if you didn’t you’ve got 13 years of hard work to cash in. You’re willing to drop the WWF Championship to anyone, anyone at all, just not Shawn Michaels. You’re even willing to wrestle him in the final match, have it end in controversial fashion, and then surrender the championship the next night on Raw. You’re hardly being unreasonable, and Vince McMahon tells you that he understands your objections and won’t make you lose to HBK. You put together a solid match with Shawn to go out on. All seems well.

And then Vince McMahon metaphorically spits on your legacy, on the blood and sweat shed all over the world for him, on the promises of a dignified exit, by enacting a callous and wholly unnecessary Screwjob. It’s cheap, it makes Shawn Michaels look no stronger than if he’d lost in a fuck finish and won the belt in a tournament over the coming months, it doesn’t satisfy the fans in the arena… it makes no sense. I have a lot of time for Vince McMahon and feel the criticism he gets from some corners is so overwrought you’d think he was Hitler Thrice, but there’s no way to ethically justify the Montreal Screwjob, nor his actions in the ensuing years.

Michael Knight Francisco Ramirez – DISAGREE: Let’s face it, I honestly doubt anybody wanted the Montreal Screwjob to go down the way it did. Most parties involved have gone on record and the story is out, a bit of variation depending on whose version you are reading. It all boils down to this; Bret refused to lose to Shawn Michaels, in Canada. He refused to lose at a house show, and he wanted to forfeit the belt at Raw, and be on his way to WCW.

Karma is a bitch and Vince felt her nipping at his heels. Before the screwjob Vince allegedly paid Hulk Hogan and convinced him to jump ship from the AWA and no show certain shows he was booked for. When Ric Flair arrived to the WWE he did so with the NWA World Heavyweight title, it was shown on WWE TV, a devastating blow to the NWA, one that perhaps they never recovered from.

Vince and the WWE were humiliated before when Alundra Blayze arrived at WCW as Madusa and dropped the WWF Women’s Title in a trashcan. That was the women’s title, what if Bret arrived with the WWE title? Vince has done enough to know that Bret Hart leaving as the champion could eventually blow up in McMahons face.

What options did Vince have? Sure, he’d done some wrong, yet as stated before, Karma would come back and hit Vince hard. Bret refused to lose to Shawn in Canada. In Canada being the key word, then would he refuse to lose to someone else in his home country? That throws the option of replacing Shawn out the window. If he lets Bret forfeit the title the next night, it potentially devalues the WWE title, just like the NWA title years before. Hell, what if Bret debuts in WCW with the WWE title? There were too many variables involved, Hart was trustworthy, but who’s to say if he held any ill will? Vince had his back against the wall and he reacted the only way he felt appropriate.

Ethically, Vince was wrong, but fuck ethics, this is business and traditionally when a champion is leaving, he does the honors. Verne Gagne retired with the AWA World title, but that was his company, Trish Stratus retired the WWE Womens Champion, but she wasn’t leaving for a rival promotion. Bret Hart was, and regardless of personal issues, and personal interest, tradition states that Bret should have lost to Shawn, he refused and Vince did what he had to do.

GREEN KNIGHT Robert S. Leighty Jr – AGREE: I agree that Vince was wrong for the way he handled the situation, but at the same time I also believe Bret Hart was wrong for the way he handled the situation. In this case 2 wrongs definitely didn’t make a right, though Vince made sure he capitalized on the fall-out to turn the tide in the Monday Night Wars.

I do think Hart handled himself in an unprofessional manner as he refused to drop the title on the night he was asked. Hulk Fucking Hogan went out on his last PPV with the company and dropped the title to Yokozuna while getting pinned with a legdrop, so a traditionalist like Bret, shouldn’t have balked. With that said though both men should have been able to get to some sort of agreement without having to resort to what we saw 15 years ago.

Personally while I think what Vince did was wrong, I believe I would have made the same decision as he made what he felt was best decision for his company, and he made sure he took the brunt of the heat for that decision. The fact he went to Hart after the PPV ended and basically took a punch showed that deep down he knew he was wrong, but again, it was like Bret left him no choice. Vince knew that he was jeopardizing his relationship with his other employees who were sure to be furious at what happened to Bret, but even knowing all that he did what he felt was best even if it wasn’t the right decision. I truly believe Vince wanted to do things the right way, but wasn’t left for that option so he played the one card he had left.

Again, I think the way it all went down shows that Vince handled things in the wrong way, but he got the title off Bret and that’s the main goal he had, so right or wrong, in his mind it the ends justified the means.

SUGE KNIGHT Gavin Napier – DISAGREE: I’ll disagree on two counts. First, it was okay to “screw” Bret because there’s never been a bigger mark for himself in professional wrestling outside of Paul Roma. If he really thought he wasn’t going to have to do a high profile job on the way out of the WWF, then he deserved what he got. That’s what I would say if The Montreal Screwjob wasn’t a complete work. But it was. Here’s why:

1. The film crew. Vince McMahon wouldn’t allow outside photographers in his events. A film crew gets access and just happens to catch what would be the biggest story in wrestling until Chris Benoit started texting Chavo Guerrero about his dogs? I don’t believe in coincidences that big. Sorry.

2. The contract. Bret signed a 20-year deal, which to that point was unheard of. Hell, it’s still unheard of. Mark Henry got a ten-year deal, and that was thought to be an absurdly long contract. Not only did Bret supposedly sign this 20-year deal, but also Vince McMahon supposedly then followed up by telling him that he couldn’t honor the contract, to go ahead and take WCW’s money. That’s a cute story, but it’s completely bogus. Do you think a single lawyer employed by Titan Sports would have allowed a contract to be drawn up and offered that Vince McMahon wasn’t in a position to honor? No. It would be like the Denver Broncos deciding this week that they couldn’t pay Peyton Manning and releasing him to sign with the Jaguars. Come on, people. Think.

3. Territories. In the old days, it wasn’t uncommon for wrestlers to face everyone in a territory, and then leave for a while. Bret going to WCW essentially would have mirrored that. Vince allegedly believed that Bret had “done all he could do.” Going to WCW for three years and coming back would allow both Bret and the WWF to “freshen up” so to speak.

4. Deja vu all over again. The Montreal scenario played itself out a few years earlier with the Intercontinental title. The result was a bogus story about Bret having the flu and losing to The Mountie in order to get the belt to Roddy Piper. The idea that Vince would file that away and save it to use as an angle later isn’t far fetched at all.

5. Wrestling With Shadows was all in character. Bret makes the statement that if he lost to Shawn Michaels, he “may as well take a gun and blow my brains out.” This means one of two things. Wrestling Wish Shadows is an 80-minute promo by Bret, or he’s the single biggest mark for himself ever. Including Paul Roma.

6. Vince gets to work. Vince Jr. wanted to be a wrestler, Vince Sr. said no. Repeatedly. Well, Vince Sr. died but Vince Jr. was established as a commentator. By turning heel with the Montreal angle, Vince established himself as the top heel in the company and got to be the worker he always wanted to be.

There’s more reasons than these, but these are a handful of the better reasons for believing this whole thing was a work. As a work, there is no right or wrong. On the 0.01% chance that this was legitimate, though, Vince was still in the right.

The Red Knight Greg DeMarco – Disagree: Why would I disagree with the statement that Vince McMahon was in the wrong with the Montreal Screwjob? Because it was a WORK. What?! W-O-R-K. WHAT?!?! Double-you, oh, are, kay. Work.

“But Greg, that’s ludicrous! I’m an IWC smarky smark and I know for sure it was a shoot. Bret was screwed! You’re such a mark Greg DeMarco!”

Keep telling yourself that. It was a work. The politics behind it? Real. Heat between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at the time? Legit. Bret’s contract? Bad business decision. Vince McMahon wanted out of Bret’s contract, Bret wanted out of the edgier WWF, Bret didn’t want to lose to Michaels in Montreal. He offered to lose to Ken Shamrock. Vince balked. Bret offered to lose it on Raw. Vince balked as Bret wouldn’t be under contract come Raw.

They needed a solution. They spent most of the day hidden in secret meetings that were heavily reported on the Internet. In 1997. The result was The Montreal Screwjob—the incident that (I’d say) 98% of the fans try to convince themselves really happened.

Work.

“But Greg, I know it’s legit! If it were a work, someone would have admitted it by now.”

Listen, this is wrestling. Tracy Smothers told Jessie Belle “Smothers” to make everyone believe that she was really his daughter with another woman. He made his own family believe it was true! He made his EX-WIFE believe that he cheated on her when they were married and the result was a daughter of his that she never knew about. All for an angle. ON THE INDIES!

This is wrestling, and this is an old school incident. People take that shit to their grave. Earl Hebner is making money off of it, so he won’t admit it. The WWE can sell DVDs, so they won’t admit it. Bret and Shawn? They get royalties—they ain’t admitting it.

“Whatever, bro. You’re smoking crack. It’s legit.”

Okay, fine. You want me to pretend it’s real, just like you do? Fine.

Greg DeMarco – DISAGREE: Bret Hart was released from his contract on the night of Survivor Series. He was free to show up on WCW Nitro the very next night. I guarantee you Eric Bischoff had already bought the plane ticket.

Even if he contractually couldn’t appear, that would have been settled in lawsuits long after the fact. Long after Bret showed up on WCW Nitro with the WWF Championship belt, long after Vince was publicly embarrassed—again—by Eric Bischoff.

Bret had the power, and he was using it. He didn’t want to lose to Shawn, and he wasn’t going to. He offered to drop the belt to Shamrock the next night on Raw, but there was no way for Vince to have a 100% guarantee that Bret would show up.

Trust him? That wasn’t happening. Why would Vince trust the man who he was releasing from a 20-year contract? A man who flat hated Vince, hated his opponent, and hated the WWF’s direction.

So Vince enacted a plan to guarantee he’d have his title back. He screwed Bret. He screwed Bret because he had to. He needed to. He literally had no other choice. Vince McMahon was 100% justified in screwing Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1997.

Except for that one little thing…

IT WAS A WORK.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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