Few events in wrestling history are so significant that they change the language, but that’s exactly what happened in Montreal on November 9, 1997. The record books show Shawn Michaels beat Bret Hart by submission to win the WWF title, a result that came as a major surprise to Hart who was under the impression the bout would finish in a disqualification. It would soon and forever be known as the Montreal Screwjob.
Until this incident, “screwjob” was an insider wrestling term for exactly the type of inconclusive match finish that Hart was expecting. Its most specific use was for finishes where the champion would lose by disqualification or countout but, thanks to the quirks of wrestling’s storyline rulebook, would retain his championship.
The idea of a promoter tricking a wrestler into publicly losing a title against their (real-life) will was hardly unknown in wrestling, but seemed like a thing of the past. Save for Wendi Richter losing the WWF womens title on an unexpected fast count in 1985, you had to go back to the 1930s for such doublecrosses to be a regular occurrence. In the days of semi-legitimate athletic commission supervision that usually involved a promoter imploring a challenger to go against the script and cinch in a tight pinfall or yank on a legitimate submission hold.
Ironically the most creative such doublecross may have taken place in Montreal itself when – so the story goes – promoter Paul Bowser decided to steal back a version of the world championship from Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis, who had himself taken the title against a planned finish a few weeks earlier. In the Montreal match, challenger Henri DeGlane is said to have bitten himself on the arm between falls, then blamed the dental assault on Lewis, who was then disqualified, which in those days meant a title change. While modern historians have suggested the incident may have been merely an elaborate storyline, a desire to avoid such doublecrosses is one of the reasons the rule of champions retaining on a disqualification loss was adopted.
The events of 1997’s Montreal screwjob were more than a year in the making, stemming from the combination of tensions over Bret Hart’s contractual status and the long-running personal and professional rivalry of Hart and Shawn Michaels. Hart had dropped the WWF title to Michaels at WrestleMania 12 in 1996 and left the company for the remainder of his contract period to explore the acting world. Free to negotiate with both WWF and WCW, he found himself at the centre of a bidding war.
Given WCW had hired top line WWE stars Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in the space of two years, it was understandably keen to capture the ‘Hitman’ and cement its status as the number one promotion. With an offer of almost $3 million a year on the table, WWF was unable or unwilling to compete on cash terms. Instead, McMahon persuaded Hart to take guarantee of $1.5 million a year for three years, after which Hart would retire from the ring to work behind the scenes and in an ambassador role: although this would be at a much lower salary, the position would be guaranteed for a further 17 years.
The tensions between Shawn and Bret continued to escalate in 1997. The pair had become rivals for the top spot thanks to a combination of the exodus of top talent and a legitimate steroid testing pausing the era of the muscle men on top. Until 1997 the rivalry had largely been professional, with a long term plan of Michaels dropping the title back to Hart in a rematch at WrestleMania 13, setting up a rubber match at an unspecified future date.
Whether Michaels would have dropped the title as planned became a moot point. McMahon, reverting to his instincts as he continued to lose the ratings war, decided Michaels should lose the title to ‘Syco’ Sid a few weeks before WrestleMania, setting up Sid vs Undertaker as the big show’s main event and relegating Bret vs Shawn to the undercard. Michaels promptly vacated the title citing both an injured knee and a lost smile, though even at the time most observers assumed it was the prospect of two straight high-profile losses that was causing him discomfort.
This incident, and the Montreal saga in general, may be difficult to appreciate from a 2017 mindset after years of the business being well-and-truly exposed and championships both described and treated as a mere prop. Ridiculous as it may seem today, both match finishes and titles were treated with importance in 1997. The WWF championship’s status was partly down to its portrayal and partly its history: as the year began, only 20 men were recognised by the WWF as having held the title, and in the previous decade it had changed hands an average of just twice a year. As for match outcomes, Michaels himself would later tell FSM that “it’s one of those silly wrestling voodoo things that ‘Well, it doesn’t matter…’ It certainly matters. To imply that it doesn’t matter is silly.”
With hindsight, Michaels’ withdrawal from WrestleMania worked out for the best given Hart’s replacement bout established Steve Austin as a genuine superstar. It helped set up a summer-long storyline in which the united Hart Foundation – promoted as villains or heroes depending on which side of the US-Canadian border the show was taking place – took on a disparate group of Americans including Austin, Michaels and Undertaker.
Michaels and Hart were scheduled to meet again at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in June, with the bout promoted as having a 10 minute time limit, in reality a way to cover for the fact that Hart would be recovering from knee surgery. One episode of Raw in the build-up ended in controversy when the pair were booked to exchange reality-based barbs to conclude the show but the broadcast went off air before Hart could respond to Michaels, with the former suspecting the latter had intentionally missed his time cue. The following week the relationship was further strained by Michaels mentioning on TV that Bret had been recently experiencing “sunny days”, taken by most as a (bogus and somewhat hypocritical in hindsight) allegation that Hart had been having an affair with WWF personality Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch, something that had nothing to do with on-screen storylines.
The pay-per-view match was axed as Hart had not recovered in time. However, the pair had a very legitimate clash backstage the afternoon following King of the Ring, with Michaels temporarily walking out of the promotion after coming off worse in the brief brawl, again vacating a title (this time the tag belts held with Steve Austin) without losing in the ring.
They would continue to clash both on-screen and off. Michaels’ storyline dislike of Hart played a key role when he was guest referee in the SummerSlam main event where Hart took the WWF title from Undertaker. The real resentment continued to build when Michaels talked his way out of a planned loss to Hart’s brother-in-law and European champion Davey Boy Smith at the first UK only pay-per-view One Night Only. It was a particularly controversial change given Smith, under the impression he would win, had publicly dedicated the bout to his sister who was battling cancer.
Between the storyline and the legitimate heat (which was becoming more of a factor as more fans became familiar with backstage gossip through internet discussion), a pay-per-view clash between Hart and Michaels seemed inevitable. However, time became an issue at the beginning of September when McMahon informed Hart that the company was experiencing serious financial difficulties and that he would need to reduce his weekly salary of $30,000. Though the precise mechanism of the proposal varies with the telling, the general idea was that Hart would be paid less now but receive additional payments later on to make up the full amount. By 22 September, this was no longer a mere request. McMahon flat out told Hart he would be breaching the contract and encouraged him to seek a better deal with WCW.
The company was certainly feeling the pinch. 1994-5 had been the first financial year on record in which McMahon’s WWF had taken a loss, and 1996-7 would turn out to be the greatest loss it ever took on purely wrestling operations. McMahon also implied at the time that there was a specific but unstated reason that the company needed to be showing a profit on paper; with hindsight this may have been laying the groundwork for putting the company on the stock exchange in 1999.
There’s an argument that McMahon either never intended honouring the deal with Hart in the long-term, or that he instantly regretted making the financial commitment. Either way, finding a way out of paying the guarantee in full – or indeed in forcing Bret out completely – would go a long way towards eliminating the company’s losses.
With Hart uneasy about making the move, fearing legal complications, McMahon gave him written permission to begin negotiations with WCW. This he did, eventually reaching a deal late in the evening of 31 October. This was significant as it was the deadline for giving a 30 day notice period without which his contract would automatically roll over into the following year as scheduled.
McMahon had made a late offer to Hart, claiming that the company’s finances had now improved. While this sounded convenient, it was likely true as McMahon would now have seen the pay-per-view buyrate for September’s In Your House: Ground Zero event. Previously the In Your House shows had been “budget” offerings that cost half the usual $30 price tag but ran for two hours and featured only some of the roster. Ground Zero had been the first experiment of running the traditional $30/three hour show ever month and while on paper it appeared worse value for fans, it actually drew considerably better than the budget shows, likely because viewers saw it as more significant. More buys and a higher price meant a major boost in revenue and ironically would have been enough to return the company to profitability with or without Hart’s guaranteed salary.
Hart’s contract also contained another clause that would prove significant: during the 30 day notice period, both sides would maintain “reasonable creative control.” While that wording would never be tested in court (and debating “reasonable” is arguably a lawyer’s favourite activity), the most common interpretation is that nothing could happen in WWF storylines unless both parties were agreeable.
That was particularly relevant now that the company was promoting a Hart title defence against Michaels at Survivor Series in Montreal. Combine this with the fact that Hart would be leaving the company, something had to be worked out.
Exactly who said what and when is a mixture of Hart’s accounts (both at the time and in his autobiography), claims made on television by McMahon, and even a recorded conversation. What’s often forgotten is that – according to Hart at least – Michaels was the first to refuse to lose. In a conversation a couple of weeks before Hart signed with WCW, he reportedly told Michaels he would be willing to lose to him if requested, only for Michaels to reply that he was unwilling to do the same, a mindset allegedly instilled into him by (on and off-screen) friend Triple H.
In the subsequent weeks, Hart turned down specific proposals, but did not outright refuse to drop the title; the closest he came to a blanket refusal was that he was unwilling to lose to Michaels in Canada, arguing that this would be an unsatisfying finish for the Canadian audience. Heading into the show all involved had agreed that Hart would come out of Survivor Series weekend with the title and then drop it in a four-way match with Michaels, Undertaker and Ken Shamrock at the December pay-per-view in which Michaels would leave as champion. Whether this would be an elimination or one-fall bout, and whether Hart would directly lose to Michaels was a decision left for nearer the time, complicated somewhat by the fact that Hart had to seek (and received) permission from WCW to continue in the WWF for a week past his scheduled departure date. Indeed, one element of the story that’s often not recalled is that Hart would still be under WWF contract for three weeks after Survivor Series and had even made travel arrangements for shows during this time.
Exactly when McMahon decided he was taking the title regardless of the agreed finish is something he has never revealed, though it certainly seems the tensions grew in the final week before Survivor Series when news leaked that Hart would be leaving the company. McMahon went back and forth in proposals to Hart about both the Survivor Series finish and also the way he would eventually drop the title. Things may have came to a head two days before the match when Hart formally exercised the creative control clause for the first time, refusing to take a pinfall from Steve Austin in a six-man tag at a Toronto house show.
On the evening before Survivor Series, WWE’s senior creative team met to plan out the events and timings for the pay-per-view, though the Hart-Michaels outcome was simply noted as to be confirmed with the participants on the day. Jim Ross later told Fox Sports Australia that McMahon asked Jerry Brisco to stay behind after the meeting; this is the most likely point at which the final decision was taken and the logistics of how to take the title against the planned finish were ironed out. By this point Hart was beginning to hear warnings from colleagues to protect himself, though his fears of a doublecross were eased when scheduled referee Earl Hebner swore on his childrens’ lives that he would quit rather than take part in such an event.
Hart and McMahon met the afternoon of Survivor Series and had a private conversation that Hart secretly recorded using equipment provided by film maker Paul Jay, who was working on a documentary about Hart’s WWF run. Contrary to later claims by McMahon, he did not make any specific proposals for Hart to reject. Instead he asked what Hart would like to do, with Hart replying that he would like to get through the show, would be happy to do an inconclusive finish without beating Michaels, and could then forfeit the title in a farewell address on the following evening’s match. He also offered to ask WCW to hold off announcing on air that he had signed with them. The pair then discussed the specifics of how a disqualification finish could play out, with McMahon suggesting Hart work out the details with match agent Pat Patterson.
Hart and Michaels then met with Patterson and detailed a sequence in which Hebner would be knocked down, Michaels would put on the sharpshooter, Hart would reverse it, and Michaels would then tap out but to no avail with Hebner down. Hart would release the hold and be hit with a superkick, with replacement referee Mike Chioda running to the ring and counting two on a Michaels pin before being pulled out of the ring by either Owen Hart or Davey Boy Smith. That would set up several minutes of near falls before Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude became involved in a wild brawl for the DQ finish.
Whether Patterson knew what was up or not, the sharpshooter spot was one of the keys to the doublecross. McMahon had also arranged that rather than announce the show, he would be at ringside, something he explained to Hart as being a way to make it look as if the promotion feared the match would break down: his specific words were “the marks out there are thinking this is going to be a shoot. I want to capitalize on that.”
The rest is history. While Michaels did feed his leg to Hart to reverse the sharpshooter, it was already too late with Hebner having leapt to his feet (to Hart’s genuine surprise) and shouted at the timekeeper to “ring the bell”, a sentiment McMahon repeated with an additional expletive. After Michaels made a sharp exit with the belt and the show went off air several minutes earlier than scheduled, Hart spat on McMahon at ringside, signed the letters “WCW” with his fingers and damaged TV equipment at the announcers’ tables.
The chaos continued backstage where McMahon locked himself in his office despite demands from the Undertaker that he come out and explain himself, and Michaels denied all knowledge of the incident. While he finally admitted his involvement in 2002 a segment on the “behind the scenes” WWE Confidential show, the evening’s events had been designed to give him a plausible deniability and avoid the risk of Hart physically attacking him before the crowd. That was also the reason McMahon opted for the bogus submission finish rather than have Michaels attempt to hold Hart down for an unplanned three count, which would risk failure and making his involvement obvious either way.
McMahon eventually entered the dressing room where Hart was in the shower. Hart said that if McMahon was still in the room when he was finished showering he would punch him, a warning that – after an extremely brief scuffle – proved correct, with McMahon knocked down with a single blow and later being filmed walking unsteadily down a hallway. It was this incident, along with the destruction of the TV equipment, that led Hart to conclude he could not afford to start a legal battle against what would otherwise seem a clear-cut violation of the reasonable creative control clause with the intention to harm his marketability in WCW.
The initial reaction among wrestlers continued to be hostile, with Hart talking many out of no-showing the following night’s television; in the event, only Owen, Smith and Mick Foley failed to appear. However, McMahon persuaded many of the wrestlers he had acted in the right by falsely claiming that Hart had agreed to lose the title to Michaels in Montreal then showed up on the night and outright refused to ever drop the title.
Among McMahon’s claimed reasons, both on this night and later, for being “forced” to take the championship from Hart was a fear that he would show up on Nitro, belt in hand. Both the timeline and legal issues mean this claim was without merit. Regardless of what happened in Montreal, Hart was contractually unable to appear on WCW television until December; as things transpired, he stuck to this deadline even after it could be argued his WWF contract was nullified by the doublecross.
As for the belt itself, there was no serious prospect of that happening. The WWF and WCW were in the midst of a legal battle stemming from the early appearances of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash on Nitro the previous year and the misleading implications that they were still working for WWF at the time. One element of the various court filings was the appearance of Alundra Blayze on a 1995 Nitro in which she dumped the WWF Women’s title belt in a garbage can, something WWF argued was a breach of their intellectual property rights; it’s highly unlikely WCW would have risked inflaming the legal dispute by repeating such an incident. Indeed, the principle that the imagery of a title belt belonged to a promoter dated back to a 1991 case in which the NWA successfully argued that the WWF should not be allowed to show Ric Flair’s NWA title belt on screen, despite Flair legally possessing the belt until the NWA returned a security deposit to him.
As with everything in wrestling, the Montreal Screwjob led to its fair share of conspiracy theorists, specifically ideas that the entire thing was an elaborate ruse in which Bret Hart was involved. Most of these seem to be based more on a fear of being fooled or an assumption that “everything’s a work.” When an explanation is presented, it’s usually that the scenario was created for mutual benefit with Hart able to play the wronged hero in WCW while McMahon could become the evil owner in WWF storylines and feud with Steve Austin.
In reality this doesn’t hold up. Hart was certainly well-set in WCW, though in the event his potential was somewhat squandered, not least by the promotion waiting 15 months after his arrival to run a show in Canada. But the continued badmouthing of Hart on WWF television after his departure suggested McMahon was hardly wishing him well. As for McMahon himself, his appearances in the weeks after Montreal were clearly designed to promote him as the babyface of the situation, attempting to spin things in his favour through barely veiled references to Hart having failed to follow “time honoured traditions.” It wasn’t until he realised he had lost the battle to be seen as the good guy – and that Austin was in need of a foil – that he fully developed the Mr McMahon character.
To be fair, the conspiracy theories were somewhat aided by the genuine coincidence that some of the key backstage events had been captured on camera and via audio recording. Paul Jay’s Wrestling With Shadows documentary was initially designed to follow Hart’s return to WWF with his title win at SummerSlam planned as the finish. In return for the expected promotional benefits of the movie and a combination of a small rights fee and a share of future royalties, McMahon had agreed to give Jay the rights to film backstage and use WWF footage, limited only by a spoken agreement not to film Undertaker or Austin out of character.
Jay was initially booked to film at Montreal when Bret – at that point expecting a more favourable ending to his WWF run complete with farewell speech – invited him to cover his final weeks as a new ending to the movie. Given that the footage he captured there did not present WWF in a favourable light, the company stopped cooperating and asked (in vain) for Jay to hand over the film. Eventually WWF agreed to hand over the on-screen footage from Survivor Series and even give up the royalties on condition that the finished documentary be neither shown nor advertised on any channel owned by Ted Turner. It instead aired on the A&E Network in late 1998, by which point WWF management could at least console themselves the documentary was consistent with McMahon’s on-screen character,
With the heel authority figure becoming first a mainstay and then a tired cliché in the business, the Montreal finish has arguably become one of the most recreated match conclusions in the creative playbook. The first time it appeared on a major stage was certainly effective: a Survivor Series 1998 WWF title tournament full of twists and turns ended with the Rock going full-blown heel and joining the McMahon family when they called for the bell and “falsely” claimed Mankind had submitted to a sharpshooter. In future years the finish became less about serving storylines however. A 2001 Raw in Calgary recreated the finish with Steve Austin and Chris Benoit for no obvious reason other than to spite members of the Hart family who’d been invited to attend the show.
“Time heals all wounds” may be a misleading cliché, but even as bitter a split as McMahon had with Hart could eventually be overcome. The pair spoke for the first time after the funeral of Owen Hart, who died in 1999 when a pay-per-view entrance on a zipwire ended in a tragic fall. Bret’s first business dealing with the company came in 2005 when he agreed to take part in the production of a DVD set commemorating his career, albeit influenced by fears that without his cooperation the company was going to produce a “hit piece” documentary along the lines of the Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior released a couple of months earlier.
That agreement led to Hart accepting an induction in the 2006 Hall of Fame ceremony. Eventually he returned to WWE programming itself, burying the hatchet with Shawn Michaels on RAW before setting up the inevitable match with McMahon at WrestleMania XXVI. Sadly the seemingly simple payoff was hampered by an overly creative storyline and a hugely disappointing match. Hart had retired in 2000 after a series of concussions and received a payoff from a Lloyds of London insurance policy. Said payoff was on the basis that Hart would never be able to wrestle again and to avoid legal concerns it was determined Hart could only perform offensive moves, taking no significant blows or bumps. That led to a totally one-sided and overly long beatdown by Hart of McMahon in the WrestleMania match, creating an awkward psychology and muted crowd reaction.
Despite the disappointment, it appeared the issue of Montreal had been laid to rest and Hart’s career legacy restored, overcoming his fear of a 22-year career being remembered for only one thing. That was until Payback 2016 when he appeared in the corner of daughter-in-law Natalya who was facing Charlotte (with Ric Flair). The match ended with Charlotte applying the sharpshooter and referee Charles Robinson calling for the bell despite Natalya “not submitting.”
19 years on, and just a matter of months before the deal Hart signed in 1996 was originally scheduled to conclude, it seemed at least one party in the Montreal Screwjob just couldn’t let it go.
