5 reasons the Montreal Screwjob was the right thing to do
The Montreal Screwjob will go down as one of the worst moments in wrestling history. The worst legit public betrayal of any professional athlete by their boss to have ever been caught on film.
It will also go down as one of the most influential. The Montreal Screwjob was vital in creating and advancing various characters in WWE while also giving a large section of their audience someone to truly hate. Legit heat, it's hard to find nowadays but it still exists. Wear some Shawn Michaels merch in Montreal and tell me I'm wrong.
Bret Hart was wronged by a company that he built his life around, betrayed by those who should've known that he'd never stab them in the back. It's a tale as old as time, when you think about it. The "I'll get them before they get me" mentality is as strong in life as it is in fiction, which is why it tied the two so well together twenty four years ago.
In case you, somehow, have never heard of the Montreal Screwjob, here's the rundown. Bret Hart was WWF Champion heading into Survivor Series which took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He'd signed a deal with WCW which would have him begin working for the company in December. That left Vince McMahon and company with a month to get the gold off of Bret.
At Survivor Series, Hart would face Shawn Michaels. However, a bitter personal feud on and off stage forced Hart to put his foot down. He refused to drop the belt to Michaels on that night, though was open to doing the job down the line. Unfortunately, that was when Bret Hart's fate was sealed, leading to the Montreal Screwjob.
During the title bout, McMahon came down to ringside. Shawn Michaels caught Bret Hart in his own move, the Sharpshooter, and the second he locked it in place, McMahon demanded Earl Hebner to ring the bell. McMahon handed the title off to HBK while Hart spat in his face, leading to years of justified anger.
Still, the aftereffects of the event quite possibly pushed WWF, now WWE, onto beat WCW. On Bret Hart Day, we'll be counting down the reasons WWE was right to pull off the Montreal Screwjob. I can't wait for the death threats!
#5 The Montreal Screwjob is still being used, to this day, for storylines in multiple companies
"Who's your daddy, Montreal?" Remember that line? One of Shawn Michaels' greatest lines of his entire career, that was. And that was eight years after the Montreal Screwjob. Wrestling companies have been using this real event to push storylines ever since it happened back on November 9th, 1997.
Various wrestlers have attempted to rile up Canadian audiences, simply by mentioning Bret Hart by name. Multiple companies have implemented the use of an "evil" owner in order to further storylines. We even saw AJ Styles "ousted" from TNA in 2014 after he was screwed over in a world title match by owner Dixie Carter and world champion Nick Aldis (then known as Magnus).
WWE has pulled off something similar with Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston in recent years. Elements of the Montreal Screwjob are consistently in rotation in professional wrestling.