With all the talk about the WWE and me watching as much wrestling as I did back in the day I started reading some Wikipedia pages about some forgotten names and matches. The Montreal Screwjob was probably the most memorable moment for me other than WrestleMania X because I was watching it on pay per view.

Two of my all time favorite wrestlers went head to head for the title in Canada.

6/14/2007 1:39:45 PM

Bret Hart got to clock Vince McMahon and got 3 mil a year out of it...

who got screwed again?

6/14/2007 1:49:40 PM

Wrestling with Shadows was pretty good

i wanna see it again

6/14/2007 2:08:38 PM

I remember watching that live. Unreal stuff. It was hilarious when Hart destroyed the announce table after the match. It'll probably be the greatest "Dusty finish" in the history of professional wrestling.

6/14/2007 2:18:46 PM

pretty sure, just like everything else in wrestling, this was faked

now youre gonna tell me vince is really dead

6/14/2007 2:21:10 PM

no i think this really was double crossing, Hart had said he would lose the belt to anyone and anytime other than HBK and in Montreal

Michaels and Hart still hate each other and some feelings were truely hurt that night

the ref was a close friend of Harts and he even screwed him over

6/14/2007 2:25:09 PM

i read mick foley's book and he was so pissed about it, he considered quitting and alot of the other longtime guys felt the same way, I think he mentioned Undertaker too

6/14/2007 2:43:23 PM

^ i have that book and I remember reading that part in it, Undertaker actually demanded Vince go apologize and thats when Vince got knocked out by Bret. The Wikipedia on this is great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Screwjob

Quote :

"The Montreal Screwjob refers to the real-life double-crossing of the defending WWF Champion Bret Hart by Vince McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) during the main event match of the professional wrestling pay-per-view event Survivor Series held on November 9, 1997 at the Molson Centre (now Bell Centre) in Montreal, Canada. A secretive change of the match's pre-determined finish (known as a "screwjob" in professional wrestling parlance) was devised by McMahon and Hart's match opponent, Shawn Michaels. The plan was executed when the match referee, Earl Hebner, under orders from McMahon, called for the bell to ring and ended the match as Michaels held Hart in the sharpshooter submission hold (Bret's signature finishing move), even though Hart had not submitted. Michaels was declared the victor by submission and the new WWF Champion, even as Hart and the audience were outraged. The screwjob was rooted in Hart's decision to leave the company for its chief competitor, World Championship Wrestling. Hart had offered to lose (referred to as "dropping the strap" in wrestling parlance) the WWF Championship at any event and to any wrestler save his slated opponent, Shawn Michaels, with whom he had an acrimonious relationship. Exercising "reasonable creative control" as granted in his WWF contract, Hart was particularly steadfast in his refusal to lose to Michaels in a match hosted in his home country, Canada. McMahon remained insistent that Hart lose to Michaels in Montreal, fearing that his company's business would suffer if WCW announced Hart as its latest entrant while he still held the WWF Championship. Although Hart and McMahon agreed to a compromise on the match ending that allowed Hart to retain the title, McMahon was determined to take the title off Hart without his consent. The event's widespread impact led to its adoption in future matches and storylines of the WWF's Attitude Era and the creation of the widely popular character of the evil boss, "Mr. McMahon." Hart remained ostracized from WWF, while McMahon and Michaels continued to receive angry responses from audiences for many years. However, the relationship between Hart and McMahon healed to a great degree in recent years and culminated with Hart's induction on April 1, 2006 into the company's Hall of Fame."

6/14/2007 3:42:54 PM

about the last wrestling thing I remember watching live was when Hogan bodyslammed Andre the Giant

6/14/2007 4:03:23 PM

The whole of Wrestling with Shadows is on Youtube if you want to see it. I highly recommend it, and not because Bret is my favorite wrestler of all time. I prefer it to Beyond the Mat.

There are two issues of Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer that cover this very well, including an unabridged version of the pre-match booking discussion between Vince and Bret. I don't remember the dates, but they're listed under "classic issues" at wrestlingobserver.com.

Anyway, I think it was real. If it's not, it's the greatest piece of wrestling story work in the history of the business, because everyone involved has been keeping it up for ten years, and I don't see what Meltzer or Foley or the director of Wrestling with Shadows have to gain from it.

6/14/2007 7:20:14 PM