History Wrestling / MontrealScrewjob

In 1997, [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} the World Wrestling Federation]] was facing its most heated competition ever in the form of [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling.]] The Wrestling/MondayNightWars were brutally engaged in television-ratings combat, and the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder angle helped give WCW that bit higher ratings than their most direct rival. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon saw some seriously hard times ahead for his promotion, which forced him to make some tough decisions. One of these decisions involved a wrestler named [[Wrestling/BretHart Bret "The Hitman" Hart.]]

In late 2011, WWE released ''Greatest Rivalries: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart'' on DVD and UsefulNotes/BluRay. As the title suggests, WWE dedicated the set -- a first-of-its-kind release for the company -- to the long rivalry between Hart and Michaels, which stretched back all the way to the feud between The Rockers and The Hart Foundation. The real meat of the DVD came from Wrestling/JimRoss' sitdown interview with both Hart and Michaels, who discussed their careers and their rivalry -- including the Screwjob -- at length. The DVD appeared to back Bret Hart's side of the story, as Ross conceded that no WWE employee had any fear of Bret pulling a Ric Flair or Madusa with the belt (and that Bret had acted reasonably regarding the Survivor Series finish). Fans, critics, and wrestling historians generally regard the set as one of WWE's best home video releases.

* AccidentalMisnaming: In the [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalWrestlingJargon lexicon of pro wrestling]] the Montreal Screwjob wasn't technically a screwjob, it was a double cross. At the time, a screwjob was an inconclusive ending to a match, where neither wrestler is conclusively defeated. But "Montreal Screwjob" did sound better, and the naming stuck, redefining the term 'screwjob' to mean 'an authority figure conspiring with a heel to deny the babyface the win', most likely thanks to this incident.
* TheBadGuyWins: Going by kayfabe, that is. Assuming that the screwjob was the first of the evil deeds of the "Mr. [=McMahon=]" CorruptCorporateExecutive character (going by his later "Bret screwed Bret" interview), Mr. [=McMahon=] got ''exactly'' what he wanted out of this and more. This was pretty much the turning point in the Wrestling/MondayNightWars, the birth of the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, and all he had to do was get rid of an expensive wrestler who was already on his way out. Mr. [=McMahon=] became the main heel of his own show, and the following year, his company had some of the best matches, angles, and [=PPVs=] it ever had, to say nothing of the publicity that came with what he just did. Bret, for his part, was literally screwed, as WCW squandered his talent, a clear symptom of their own inevitable decline.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Wrestling/JimCornette has stated on ''Series/DarkSideOfTheRing'' that he was the first one to suggest a double cross on Bret during a booking meeting. (Cornette first suggested booking Bret with Wrestling/KenShamrock, who with his background in MMA could have legitimately beaten Bret in a fight if he refused to do the job- although given that the entire problem was that Bret was refusing to put over ''Shawn'' specifically, had they booked him to lose to Shamrock a double-cross wouldn't have been necessary). In June 2019, Cornette detailed on his podcast that he actually came up with the finish. He says he suggested it hypothetically because Vince [=McMahon=] rarely took his suggestions. Cornette didn't know Vince was actually going to use the finish until he saw it live that night. Since he figured his "idea" wasn't going to be used, Cornette never bothered to ask about confirmation about the finish.

The Montreal Screwjob is, without a shadow nor shroud of a doubt, one of ''the'' most important events in the history of the entire {{professional wrestling}} industry.

Well, that's the story [=McMahon=] will tell you, anyway. Wrestling critics/historians say the real reason for the Screwjob on [=McMahon=]'s end was money. At the time of ''Survivor Series'' 1997, Hart had been earning just shy of two million dollars per year, making him the highest-paid worker in the WWF (for comparison, Shawn Michaels was earning $750,000 per year). Also at the time, Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and Wrestling/TheUndertaker had new contracts under negotiation with the WWF. When Austin and Taker compared themselves to Hart (meaning they thought they should be paid close to the same amount that Hart was mark), that's when [=McMahon=] got ''really'' scared. But whatever the reason might have been -- respect, money, prestige, or something else -- [=McMahon=] knew he had to get the belt off of Bret by any means necessary.

This singular moment became one of the most controversial, shocking, and altogether important events in the history of pro wrestling. The Screwjob sent Hart packing to WCW on very bad terms with the WWF. The event destroyed {{kayfabe}} for many fans around the world after what was going on began to be understood by the general audience. Vince -- who had hoped the whole thing would blow over with time -- suddenly found himself as the most hated man in all of pro wrestling once people found out what had really happened. The next night on ''Raw'', [=McMahon=] famously said, "Bret screwed Bret." This served as the launching pad for the "Mr. [=McMahon=]" character, an evil CorruptCorporateExecutive boss {{heel}} who would handpick his own champions while screwing babyface wrestlers out of matches. [=McMahon=] ended up having a much bigger on-screen role than he could have ever imagined, playing the role of "evil boss" to the hilt as he feuded with Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin during the Attitude Era. That feud would come to define both the Era itself and the CorruptCorporateExecutive role in pro wrestling for years to come.

However, [=McMahon=] was nervous about sending Hart out of the company as the champion. [=McMahon=] still had some leftover anger concerning then-WWF Women's Champion [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} Alundra Blayze]] tossing the WWF Women's Championship belt in the trash live on ''WCW Monday Nitro''. [=McMahon=] reportedly feared Hart would show up on WCW programming with the WWF Championship and proceed to do the very same[[note]]This would have been impossible, at least in a legal sense, and Vince (and Eric Bischoff) knew that. Not only was Bret still under contract for a short time after the Screwjob, it had been established by then that a wrestling belt is the intellectual property of the promotion that owns it, not to mention that the belt itself would be stolen property at that point. ''However'', there was nothing preventing Bischoff from opening up ''Nitro'' the next night with a simple statement of fact: that they had signed '''the reigning WWF champion''' to a contract and he would be appearing on WCW programming in a couple weeks. This would have accomplished pretty much the same thing, only without the lawsuits and possible criminal charges[[/note]], even though the WWF had filed multiple lawsuits regarding the Blayze incident against WCW. Since Hart had refused to drop the belt to Michaels in Canada, [=McMahon=] had to worry about the possibility of Bret jumping ship with the championship belt.

Well, that's the story [=McMahon=] will tell you, anyway. Wrestling critics/historians say the reason for the Screwjob on [=McMahon=]'s end was money. At the time of ''Survivor Series'' 1997, Hart had been earning just shy of two million dollars per year, making him the highest-paid worker in the WWF (for comparison, Shawn Michaels was earning $750,000 per year). Also at the time, Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and Wrestling/TheUndertaker had new contracts under negotiation with the WWF. When Austin and Taker compared themselves to Hart, that's when [=McMahon=] got ''really'' wary. However, whatever the reason might have been -- respect, money, prestige, or something else -- [=McMahon=] knew he had to get the belt off of Bret by any means necessary.