Continued from Part 1
The WWF was looking to beat WCW as they were gaining momentum in 1997 but were barely able to stay afloat financially in order to do so. Throughout 1997, Vince McMahon and the WWF were in financial perils in order to compete and beat WCW.
McMahon figured out a way to get the WWF to be more profitable and that would be to take the company public on the New York Stock Exchange. In order to do so, McMahon needed to get rid of one big contract and that big contract was Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
Bret went on hiatus following WrestleMania XII as his contract with the WWF was up as Bret was even doing some acting on the TV show Lonesome Dove. While Bret was contemplating returning to the WWF in the summer, he was approached by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff about joining WCW as they reportedly offered Hart a three-year contract worth approximately $3 million a year.
While Hart was tempted to sign with WCW and join other former WWF superstars in WCW, Vince McMahon counter-offered WCW by offering Bret an unprecedented 20-year contract even though it was nowhere near what WCW offered to pay Bret per year.
Bret decided to re-sign with the WWF and took the 20-year contract and returned to the WWF in October 1996. However in September 1997, McMahon first approached Bret about how the company was struggling financially and needed to pay him less for now but the money would be deferred to him later on in the contract when the company was in better financial shape.
Before the September 22, 1997 edition of Raw from Madison Square Garden, McMahon approached Bret about breaking the contract that Bret signed the year before. McMahon could not afford to pay Bret the contract he signed and needed to get out of it altogether.
McMahon also wanted to build the company around Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker and not around Hart as Vince was having buyer's remorse. Vince was planning on taking the WWF to the "Attitude Era" while Bret was not a fan of that type of content plus Bret was getting up there in age as he was 40 years old then.
Bret was not a fan of the direction the WWF was heading in an attempt to turn the company around. Bret called Michaels and Triple H "homos" on one episode of Raw and in another, The Nation of Domination's locker room was trashed with all kinds of racial slurs written all over it and the Harts were blamed for it. Bret hated those angles so much. Bret also did not let his kids watch Raw due to its raunchy, sexual, and violent storylines.
McMahon then told Bret to go contact WCW to see if they would offer him the same contract as they did the year before. Bret did not want to leave the WWF but realized he had no future in the WWF as they could not afford him along with lousy storylines and the direction they were headed so he called Eric Bischoff and Bischoff willingly offered him the same exact contract they offered him the year before.
Bret was scheduled to defend the WWF Championship against arch-nemesis Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series on November 9, 1997 from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in Hart's home country. To say there was bad blood between Hart and Michaels was an understatement to say the least.
When Bret returned to the WWF in late 1996, he restarted a rivalry with Shawn that stemmed from Michaels beating him for the WWF Title earlier that year at WrestleMania. It appeared that at WrestleMania 13, Bret was going to win back the WWF Title from Shawn.
However on the February 13, 1997 edition of Thursday Raw Thursday, Michaels forfeited the title in the ring due to a knee injury that prevented him from wrestling especially against Hart at the upcoming WrestleMania PPV. It was Michaels' infamous "lost my smile" speech.
Bret thought that Shawn was faking the whole injury since Shawn did not want to lose the title to Bret. This caused severe bad blood between the two for Bret feeling like Shawn was faking it and Shawn for Bret suggesting he was faking the injury as the two soon became bitter enemies outside the ring as well as inside.
In the meantime, Bret turned heel as he was now this "anti-American" villain and pro the rest of the world hero as Bret was involved in a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hart reformed The Hart Foundation with brother Owen, brother-in-laws Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart and friend Brian Pillman before Pillman's sudden death in October.
He would still feud with Shawn while Shawn was still injured. At WrestleMania 13, he verbally attacked Shawn, who was sitting at ringside to call the WWF Championship main event, by saying he was faking the injury.
The next night on Raw, Shawn confronted Bret saying that Shawn will live the way he wants to and that Bret was not a better man because he was "righteous." Bret then kicked Shawn's knee when his back was turned and gave him the Figure Four around the ring post, further cementing his heel status.
The Hart Foundation would attack Michaels just like they did Austin. In the spring of 1997, Bret had knee surgery and could not wrestle (due to a storyline attack from Austin), but still appeared on TV in a wheel chair bashing Michaels and Austin and the rest of the United States.
On the May 12 episode of Raw, Hart was supposed to be in the ring in his wheelchair to badmouth the United States and their fans and Shawn Michaels. Michaels was supposed to come to the ring after Bret continued to trash him and then Michaels was supposed to give him Sweet Chin Music and cause Bret to fall out of his wheelchair at the end of the show.
The segment went on as is with Bret trashing the fans and Shawn came down to confront Bret. Bret then rips on Shawn saying he screwed him out of the title at WrestleMania XII and that he faked the knee injury to get out of facing him at WrestleMania 13. Bret then mocked Shawn for posing once for Playgirl and while he was running down Shawn, the show went off the air.
Bret then challenged Shawn to hit him when Shawn gave him Sweet Chin Music causing Bret to fall out of his wheelchair. The Hart Foundation ran into the ring to attack Shawn until Steve Austin ran to make the save on Michaels.
Shawn felt that Bret buried him on TV and ran him down and going a lot longer on purpose so that Shawn's superkick on Bret would not be shown on TV. Shawn was super pissed at Bret for this and decided to fire back the next week on Raw.
Bret and The Hart Foundation came out with Bret challenging Shawn to a match at the King of the Ring. Shawn appeared on the titantron and said Bret had been having some "Sunny days lately" implying that Bret had an affair with WWF Diva Sunny.
Bret took serious exception to this and decided to ignore Shawn backstage for several weeks. The Bret-Shawn King of the Ring match was called off due to Bret's storyline knee injury but it was because Bret and Shawn could not work together. An impromptu match between Michaels and Steve Austin was created instead.
The night after King of the Ring on June 9 from Hartford, Conn., Bret and Shawn were involved in an infamous backstage fight. Bret finally confronted Shawn before the show about the Sunny days comment. Shawn was not happy with Bret finally wanting to talk to him after not saying a single word to Shawn for several weeks.
Shawn was not happy Bret finally was speaking to him and words were said and a heated exchange ensued and the two would fight in the locker room. The two locked up with Bret grabbing a hold of Shawn's hair and ripped some of Shawn's hair out of his head as the two were eventually separated.
An angry Shawn stormed into Vince McMahon's office where he slammed the hair Bret pulled out of his head and slammed it on McMahon's desk. Shawn then said he was quitting and demanded his release from the WWF saying this is an "unsafe working environment." Shawn wanted to leave the WWF and go to WCW to be with his Kliq buddies Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
McMahon, however, did not want to lose his top performer in the midst of getting his butt kicked by WCW so he wisely refused to let him out of his contract. Shawn did not show up to work as he wanted out of his contract and did not want to work with Bret, but he still had four more years left on his contract so McMahon would not let him go.
Shawn would be suspended without pay until he returned to work. When Shawn came back, he and Bret agreed to work together and be professional regardless of whether they could stand each other or not. They worked together for the most part for the remainder of the year before Bret left the WWF.
Bret and Shawn's paths again crossed in the summer and fall of 1997 when Shawn unintentionally helped Bret beat The Undertaker at SummerSlam to win the WWF Championship. Shawn became the biggest heel and joined forces with his Kliq buddy Triple H and his girlfriend Chyna and the returning Ravishing Rick Rude to form D-Generation X.
Bret had enough of Shawn and Triple H's shit and called them degenerates and Shawn decided to call themselves "D-Generation X" a play on the words degenerate and Generation X. If Bret and the WWF weren't aggravated with Shawn and Triple H before, DX and their antics would further drive them up a wall.
DX did everything to embarrass and get under Bret's skin which they were successful. Michaels won the right to take on Bret for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series. This was not going to be any match between Bret and Shawn, this was going to be their last match and it was very personal.
So Bret was told by Vince McMahon to call WCW to see if they would give him the same offer as they did the year before and WCW did indeed offer him the exact same contract. Bret did not want to leave as McMahon could not afford him but McMahon told Bret that their financial situation was doing a lot better and that he could honor Bret's contract as originally planned.
Bret was caught in between and a rock and a hard place as he did not to leave, but Vince told him to go and now after Bret is about to leave, Vince tells him to stay. For the heck of is, Bret asked Vince what was the plan for Bret's character going forward in the WWF.
Vince laid out storylines for Bret leading up to WrestleMania XIV and turn Bret turn back into a babyface. However Bret was suppposed to lose four of the next five big matches he was scheduled to perform at, including dropping the belt to Michaels at Survivor Series,
Frustrated with his upcoming character, Bret gave his notice to the WWF and signed with WCW just before the midnight deadline on November 1, 1997. Bret also made sure that word did not get out about him signing with WCW until November 10, the night after Survivor Series, by making some sign confidentiality letters that word did not get out about his signing with WCW.
Bret felt his WWF character was hanging in "purgatory" as he was no longer the top heel as that was Shawn Michaels and he could no longer be the top babyface as that was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bret could no longer be the top babyface in the United States due to him spending most of the year badmouthing the USA and just could not simply go back to being beloved in the States like nothing happened.
There was one last thing though before Bret was to leave to go to WCW and that was get the WWF Championship before he was to officially join WCW on December 5. Vince McMahon wanted Bret to drop the title to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series. However, Bret did not want to drop the title to Shawn especially in his home country of Canada at either Survivor Series or the next night on Raw in Ottawa.
Despite the fact that Bret and Shawn had not gotten along, they worked together professionally that was until about a month before Survivor Series when Vince first approached Bret about the idea of dropping the title to Shawn. Things got real personal between Bret and Shawn when Bret made Shawn promised to leave their respective families out of this and Shawn said on TV that Stu Hart was a "walking corpse", which infuriated Bret.
Bret said he would be glad to put Shawn over but Shawn refused to do the job back to Bret and Shawn would say it again a week later which infuriated Bret. Bret refused then to do the job to Michaels since he would refuse to do the favor to Bret. Bret said he would not lose to Michaels in Canada but would lose to him in the states and presented a list of who he would also drop the title to.
McMahon was adamant that Bret lose the title to Shawn at Survivor Series and said that Bret was in jeopardy of "breaching his contract." Bret said he had "reasonable creative control" over his character in the final 30 days of his contract and can basically do whatever he wants even though Vince said not dropping the title was not "reasonable."
Bret had this in his contract so McMahon and the WWF could not bury him on his way out the door and make him look terrible like he did to wrestlers in the past that left. Bret even asked Vince if he would bad mouth him on WWF TV after he left and Vince promised him he wouldn't.
Bret said he would drop the title after Survivor Series at a house show at Madison Square Garden on November 15. Bret and Vince agreed at a DQ finish at Survivor Series. Bret would then drop the title to Shawn in a Four-Way match at the December 7 PPV in Springfield, Mass.
He would then appear the next night on the December 8 Raw to say his farewell to the WWF and put the company and Vince over and even apologize to the American fans about his actions the past year in something that was not seen at that time. Despite being a WCW employee on Dec. 5, Eric Bischoff allowed Bret to work through 12/8.
Thanks to the internet and various newspapers throughout Canada, word got out that Bret signed with WCW and was going to leave the WWF. Vince now wanted Bret to drop the title to Shawn at Survivor Series or before 11/10 because he feared Bischoff would announce the next night on the November 10 episode of Nitro that he signed the WWF Champion Bret Hart.
Bret called Bischoff to delay the announcement of signing him but could not get a hold of him since Bischoff was out of town. Vince wanted Bret to drop the title the night before Survivor Series at a house show in Detroit, but Bret did not to do that saying it was better for the PPV that Bret come in as champion. Bret also suggested dropping the title at any house shows the week after Survivor Series and Raw.
Bret appeared on TSN's hit show Off the Record with Michael Landsberg before the house show in Toronto on November 7 to talk about his impending leaving the WWF for WCW, but Bret did not admit on the show that he was indeed going to WCW.
Bret appeared in a six man tag team match in the main event teaming with Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart losing to Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Mankind later that night at the house show at the Sky Dome. Fans there chanted "You Sold Out!" at Bret for leaving to go to WCW.
Bret wrestled the next night at the house show in Detroit, one night before Survivor Series as he teamed with Smith and Neidhart and again lost to Austin, Undertaker and Mankind. While Bret was wrestling in Detroit, Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and Pat Patterson and possibly Jim Ross and Jim Cornette went to Montreal, where Survivor Series was held, and met in a hotel room to discuss the finish.
However the brain trust called for a screw job finish to take the title off Bret that night so he won't take the title with him to WCW, which Vince was afraid of. According to Michaels, the idea was that of Triple H to get the belt off of Hart. Triple H later said that if Bret was not going to do the job for them, they will do the job for Bret.
The finish was planned to be a DQ finish were members of The Hart Foundation and DX ran in and started brawling calling for a DQ and Bret retaining the title. Earl Hebner, the referee, was supposed to get knocked down during the match. Shawn would lock Bret in his own Sharpshooter only for Bret to reverse it. Shawn would soon hit Sweet Chin Music on Bret calling for the Harts to run in and soon after DX.
Bret and Vince then agreed for Bret to hand over the title to Vince the next night on Raw from Ottawa and then tell everyone he was leaving. Vince only agreed to do this so that Bret would not no-show the event and take the title with him. Bret already more than worked his scheduled amount of dates that year so he did not need to even appear at Survivor Series.
There would be some paranoia heading to this match as Davey Boy Smith and Vader warned Bret about an impending screw job as they saw in their times in other promotions over seas. They told Bret not lie on his back for too long when being pinned and not to get in a submission hold too long. Bret asked referee Earl Hebner, his good friend, about a possible screw job and Hebner replied "I swear on my kids lives that I'd quit my job before double-crossing you."
It was time for the big match at Survivor Series between Bret and Shawn which was to be their last-ever match. Shawn came out to a massive chorus of boos and did not endear himself to the Canadian crowd by wiping a Canadian flag in between his legs and put it on the ground and started to hump it in the middle of the ring. Bret came out to a mixed reaction as the fans were upset he was leaving to go to WCW by chanting "You sold out."
The match started as is with the two brawling on the floor. Vince McMahon, who was no longer announcing matches, came out to ringside along with his associates Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, and Sgt. Slaughter to try and "restore some order" in the match.
The match would go on as scheduled as referee Earl Hebner was knocked down and Shawn put Bret in the Sharpshooter. Hebner was supposed to be down for a few minutes, but before Bret tried to reverse the move, Hebner quickly got right back up and signaled for the bell even though Bret did not give up. McMahon then yelled "ring the fucking bell" to the time keeper and he did as Michaels' music played.
Michaels was the new WWF Champion and Bret was screwed over and he knew it. Bret got up and saw McMahon standing at ringside and Bret immediately spat at McMahon. Hebner was long gone and McMahon ordered Michaels to leave with the belt. This would be forever known as "The Montreal Screwjob."
Michaels looked angry at McMahon for pulling this off as he told Shawn to deny any involvement in this. Michaels then left with the belt along with Brisco and Triple H as the PPV went off air with the last shot showing Michaels holding the belt up high and the Survivor Series logo.
McMahon and most of the WWF officials made their way to the back as an angry Bret began smashing cameras, TV monitors, and other equipment. Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart all came out to calm Bret down. Bret then traced with his fingers "W-C-W" and "I love you" to the fans before he headed backstage.
As shown on Bret's 1998 documentary "Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows", Bret asked Shawn if he had any involvement in this and Shawn "Swore to God" that he had nothing to do with it. Bret then asked Shawn to not carry the belt out the next night on Raw and say anything derogatory about Hart which Shawn agreed to do.
Also on the documentary, Bret's then-wife Julie angrily confronted Triple H and others who she believed was in on it. Michaels and Triple H were angrily confronted by many wrestling fans on their way to the hotel later that night as they did with Earl Hebner.
Vince locked himself in his office with Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and Sgt. Slaugher as Mark Calaway (The Undertaker) angrily knocked on the door and demanded that Vince apologize to Bret. McMahon went to Hart's dressing room to apologize and explain his actions. Bret wanted nothing to do with Vince and threatened to punch him if he didn't get out of his dressing room.
McMahon would not leave and Bret punched him in the face, knocking McMahon to the floor. Vince's son Shane McMahon and Brisco tangled with Bret and Davey Boy Smith but Bret threatened them with punches if they didn't leave.
Bret then asked Vince if he was going to screw him out of the money he is owed which Vince groggily replied no. Brisco accidentally stepped on Vince's ankle when Vince was trying to get and sprained Vince's ankle. Vince also suffered a concussion when he fell and also got a black eye from Bret's punch.
Bret, Owen, Davey Boy, and Jim Neidhart left Montreal on a plane and many of the WWF Superstars threatened to boycott and no-show the following night's episode of Raw in Ottawa or leaving the WWF altogether. McMahon held an emergency meeting with his wrestlers and explained why he did what he did was to protect the integrity of the WWF since Bret was jeopardizing the company's future by not dropping the belt.
Bret advised his fellow wrestlers to fulfill their contractual obligations to avoid risking their own futures over this incident. Bret's really good friend Mick Foley did not show the next night on Raw, but Bret told him to return to the WWF so he didn't ruin his professional future.
Bret, Owen, Davey Boy, and Neidhart all did not show up the following night on Raw. Bret left the company immediately after Survivor Series. Davey Boy got his release from the WWF and joined Bret in WCW. Neidhart still was in the WWF until December when he too got to leave the WWF for WCW. Owen was not as lucky as he could not get his release and was held in the WWF seemingly against his will.
One of Bret's best friends Rick Rude left the WWF shortly after Survivor Series since he was not under contract full-time and was only on a pay-per-appearance basis. Rude called Eric Bischoff to tell him what happened backstage and that Bret has left the company for good.
The next night on the November 10, 1997 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Bischoff and the nWo were standing in the middle of the ring holding Canadian flags and Bischoff announced that he signed Bret not only to join WCW but to join the nWo. Bischoff even made a joke about how Bret punched Vince McMahon. The Nitro announcers mentioned that Bret was screwed over the night before at Survivor Series.
Rude joined WCW and appeared on both Nitro and Raw on November 17, 1997. He appeared on Nitro, which was live and Rude was simply sporting just a mustache. Then an hour later, he appeared on Raw with a full beard as Raw was taped six days before and aired that night in a truly memorable moment in pro wrestling history.
The night after Survivor Series on the November 10 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels came out with the WWF Championship and mocked Bret by saying he beat Bret Hart in Bret's home country with Bret's own finishing move. Shawn clearly lied when he told Bret he wouldn't carry the belt or trash him on TV, which he did both and Bret would be furious with Shawn to the point where he wouldn't speak to Shawn for over 12 years.
Despite Bret no longer being in the WWF, the WWF would still mention him and bury him even though Bret had Vince McMahon promise Bret that he would do no such thing. Vince did a two-part series of interviews on Raw after Survivor Series where he famously said "Bret Screwed Bret" referring to the Montreal Screwjob. This was the birth of the villainous "Mr. McMahon" character.
On the November 24 episode of Raw, Harvey Wippleman, known as "Handsome Harvey" portraying Rick Rude, introduced DX. Shawn Michaels shoved Harvey out of the ring and said "that was a tough spot to fill." Michaels then said since Bret was still under contract, they had some unfinished business to fulfill and decided that they would settle things in a match later that night on Raw.
Michaels brought out "Bret Hart" as Bret's music played yet it was a dwarf dressed like Bret that came out. DX embarrassed the dwarf Bret by locking him in the Sharpshooter and sent him out of the ring with a WCW sticker attached to his butt. Jim Neidhart came out to attack DX but DX talked him into joining them saying he was the best member of The Hart Foundation and needed to work for his family.
Neidhart had no other choice but to join DX and helped Shawn defeat Vader later that night. As Neidhart celebrated with DX, Chyna gave him a low blow and Shawn and Triple H attacked him. They spray-painted "WCW" on The Anvil's back to further embarrass Hart as Neidhart left the WWF to join his brother-in-law in WCW.
Bret finally made his WCW debut on the December 15, 1997 episode of Nitro to announce that he was the special guest referee for the Eric Bischoff-Larry Zbyszko match at Starrcade. While Bischoff insinuated Bret was nWo, Bret was in fact WCW as he helped Zbyszko win the match. He later helped Sting beat Hollywood Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The careers and lives of Bret and Shawn would both take dramatic turns. Bret did not speak to Vince McMahon for several years after the screw job. Bret and Shawn would not speak to each other for over 12 years until finally making up and burying the hatchet in January 2010.
Bret would deal with the death of his brother Owen in 1999 after an accident at a WWF PPV and also suffered a stroke in 2002, two years after being forced to retire after suffering multiple concussions. Shawn would suffer a serious back injury that ended his career in 1998. After dealing with the injury and other personal demons, Shawn found Jesus, cleaned up his life, and made his return to the ring in 2002.
For the whole detailed scoop of the Montreal Screwjob, read this piece by Dave Meltzer.
1997 was a very trying year for the WWF but it would be the stepping stone to its best year ever. 1997 paved the way for the foundation of the very successful Attitude Era and most successful year at the time 1998.
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