Bret Hart makes his peace with referee Earl Hebner
Seventeen years after the Montreal screwjob incident at the 1997 Survivor Series, Bret Hart and Earl Hebner met each other once again in the ring, and sorted the matter out.
The footage of the incident was posted by Matt Hardy. Hebner was called down to the ring by Bret Hart, who explained to the audience that the person to have sufferred the most from the screwjob was Earl Hebner, as he had to obey Vince Mcmahon’s instructions. Hart and Hebner hugged following which Hebner got emotional and thanked Hart for making peace at the show in his home state.
Matt Hardy said, "It was a touching moment to see two of the most famous characters in pro wrestling bury the hatchet & find peace & closure."
In Hart's 1998 documentary, Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows, he said that his fears of being double-crossed were largely dissipated because he was close friends with referee Hebner and trusted him implicitly. Asked by Hart, Hebner swore by his children that he would never double-cross Hart and that he would rather quit his job than participate in a screwjob.
Hebner himself had claimed that he came to know of the plan only 10 minutes before the match finished, and following the bell ringing, ran out of the ring, through the crowd to his hotel room, where he stayed for the rest of the night, refusing to speak to anyone.