Montreal Screwjob 20 years later: What role did Triple H play?

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

While Bret Hart, Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are usually the center of the conversation when referencing the Montreal Screwjob, widely considered the most controversial event in WWE history, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Triple H was right there when everything went down.

It’s crazy seeing Triple H in a suit these days, seemingly being groomed to take over the WWE empire if Vince McMahon ever decides to actually retire. But back in the 1990s, the man formerly known as Terra Ryzing — yes, that was actually one of his names in WCW — was once one of the hellraisers in The Kliq, a group comprised of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman and Shawn Michaels. The group took to Triple H immediately and they all began traveling together in Triple H’s early days in WWE.

However, once Hall, Nash and Waltman defected to WCW, it was just HBK and Triple H left and the two became the best of friends on and off camera. The two were notorious for being somewhat difficult backstage as the Attitude Era began to take shape and that all played out on television as the duo formed DX, which would become one of the hottest things in professional wrestling. They put on edgy segments that really pushed the limits and they even got the attention of the USA Network for being too controversial. However, they flipped it into a great segment that the network loved and they were essentially given all the freedom in the world to do whatever they wanted.

This didn’t sit well with Bret Hart. “The Hitman” was having his share of problems with Michaels, which essentially meant he was having problems with Triple H by proxy. Triple H was naturally going to side with Michaels back in those days but that didn’t mean everyone couldn’t go out and still do business. While Bret had Shawn, Triple H had his own thing going with Owen Hart and putting all of these people together made for great television. If they all looked too real for professional wrestling, it’s because they were. Certain people just didn’t like one another and that always makes for good TV.

As Survivor Series 1997 rolled around, it was known that Bret Hart had been let out of his 20-year contract with WWE and was headed to the company’s main rival, World Championship Wrestling, a promotion that had been beating WWE in the ratings for quite some time. Hart held the WWE Championship at the time and Vince McMahon wanted Bret to drop the title to Michaels at Survivor Series. With creative control in the final month of his contract, Hart refused to do so, especially in Canada. He was still angry about Michaels having never returned the favor that he had done for him at WrestleMania 12, which essentially made HBK “the guy” in WWE.

In the week leading up to the match, and even on the day of, McMahon tried so hard to make Bret understand that this was the right thing to do and this was the direction that he, the boss of the company, wanted to go. McMahon finally agreed to let the match end in a disqualification and let Bret make a speech and relinquish the title the following night. At least that’s what Bret Hart thought was going to happen.

Vince had met with Michaels about the problem he was having with Bret and wasn’t sure if he should go through with screwing Bret Hart out of the title as he was leaving the company. Michaels seemed to be on board with whatever Vince wanted to do but it was actually Triple H who may have sealed Bret Hart’s fate that night. “F**k him! If he won’t do business, then you do business for him.” That’s been the line seen a thousand times in an interview with Triple H as he firmly believed that Hart was bucking tradition and not going out the right way.

McMahon obviously agreed with Triple H and went ahead with his plan of stripping the title from Hart without his knowledge. Shawn put Bret into the Sharpshooter, the bell rang and history was made. If you go back and watch, you’ll notice that one of the first people to hit the ringside area was Triple H. He knew exactly what was going to go down and came out to help usher his best friend to the back and they got out of there in a hurry.

As it is with Michaels, it’s not that Triple H was in the wrong, as I’m still on the side that Bret was actually in the wrong in this volatile situation. But it was the fact that he lied about it for so long, even lying to Bret Hart’s wife backstage about it following the incident, an incident captured in the fantastic A&E documentary the following year. However, as it is again with Michaels, Vince didn’t want anyone else to take the blame for this. He’s the boss and he took all of it.

So when you look back two decades later at the Montreal Screwjob, you have to remember that there were more players to this thing than you might remember. I suppose it’s all part of… The Game. Wrestling puns are amazing, aren’t they?

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What are your thoughts on Triple H’s role in the Montreal Screwjob?