Montreal Screwjob 20 years later: What role did Bret Hart play?

20 years later, exactly what role did Bret Hart play in the Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 WWE Survivor Series event?

It’s unfortunate for Bret Hart that the first thing many people think of is that fateful night in Montreal at the 1997 edition of Survivor Series, later named the Montreal Screwjob. But after 20 years, it’s important to understand that everything could have been avoided.

After many years as a successful tag team wrestler with Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart in The Hart Foundation, Bret Hart transitioned to being a singles competitor in the early 1990s and found great success almost immediately. He won his first singles title by defeating Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam in 1991 and won the King of the Ring tournament shortly thereafter. He would have some great title defenses, including WWE’s first-ever Ladder Match against another youngster looking to make a name for himself a singles wrestler in Shawn Michaels. Little did either one of them know at that time they would be linked forever.

Bret Hart would go on to win his first WWE Championship by defeating the great Ric Flair in the fall of 1992 and would defend his title quite a bit in the weeks following, including headlining the 1992 Survivor Series against… you guessed it, Shawn Michaels. The two had become friends and would go on to have some of the greatest matches in WWE history, perhaps none better than their 60-minute Iron Man Match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XII, a match in which Shawn Michaels finally beat Bret and solidified his place at the top of the WWE roster.

After taking a few months off, Hart would return to WWE and found that the company wasn’t quite the same. Owner Vince McMahon had shifted to an edgier product in order to compete with rival WCW and Hart, long a traditionalist, found himself in a strange position. Nevertheless, Hart had agreed to a new 20-year contract with WWE and was still looked at as one of the top stars in the company. All signs pointed to a rematch between Michaels and Hart at WrestleMania 13 with HBK returning the favor and dropping the title back to Hart. However, Michaels said that a knee injury would force him out of action in the infamous “I lost my smile” speech and simply vacated the belt, which Hart did not take lightly.

After being friends for years, tension had grown between Hart and Michaels backstage, even leading to a crazy fight in which the two crashed into a wall. The feud also showed up on television as Michaels would accuse Bret of having an affair with WWE Diva Sunny. Even if the two had no match coming up, they would be put on the screen together because everything looked and felt real — probably because it was.

With WWE getting beaten by WCW on so many levels, Vince McMahon told Bret that he could no longer afford to honor the contract “The Hitman” had signed and that he was free to go to WCW. Hart accepted the offer from Turner and was set to leave in November of 1997. The issue was that Hart had regained the WWE Championship, albeit not from Michaels, and there was no way that Vince was going to let him leave as the champion. Numerous ideas were given to Hart but everything pretty much led to him having to drop the belt to none other than Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in Montreal.

Bret had used his Canadian roots for a while with his character leading into this night and had zero desire to lose the title to HBK, especially in his home country. He shot down every idea — Bret had creative control his final month — and said that he would drop the belt to anybody else not named Shawn Michaels. However, this was the direction that Vince wanted to go but Bret still wasn’t happy. He absolutely refused to do the job and it was finally decided that the match would end in a disqualification and Bret would relinquish the title and give a farewell speech the following night.

We all know what happened next. Hart and Michaels battle for a while and HBK puts Bret in the Sharpshooter. Then, referee Earl Hebner calls for the bell and that was that. The look on Bret’s face is priceless but I’ve always noticed him hanging onto Shawn’s leg as he’s trying to get out of the ring as fast as he possibly can. He then spat in McMahon’s face and continued to rant by destroying the set at ringside and would later punch Vince in the face backstage.

People have argued about whether or not Bret got screwed for two decades now, and while I respect the opinion of the opposite side, I’ve always been on Vince’s side here. Bret screwed Bret. There’s a way to do business and he didn’t do it the right way. There are always going to be personal issues in the wrestling business with that many egos running around in one area. However, people have to put that aside for what’s best for the company as a whole and Bret Hart didn’t want to do that. He was on his way out and wanted only what was best for him, not the company that had given him a good living for more than 13 years.

Bret Hart has always been looked at as the victim of the Montreal Screwjob. 20 years later, I still look at him as the cause of it.