The Montreal Screwjob was the disputed finish to Bret Hart’s WWE Championship match against Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series on November 9, 1997. Michaels applied Hart’s Sharpshooter, but Hart did not officially submit; the referee called for the bell anyway, and Michaels was declared champion. WWE’s later account says Vince McMahon feared Hart might leave for WCW with the title. Hart and McMahon later offered sharply different public views of who was responsible.
What happened in the match?
The main event took place in Montreal, Quebec, when Bret Hart defended the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels. In WWE’s recap, Michaels locked Hart in Hart’s signature Sharpshooter. Hart did not officially give up, but the referee called for the bell, ending the match and awarding Michaels the championship. The incident is called a “screwjob” because the match ended without Hart’s official submission and against the outcome he expected.
At the time, the promotion was called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF); it is now WWE. WWE’s retrospective coverage uses its current name when describing the event. WWE’s Survivor Series recap describes the finish and the company’s explanation for the decision.
Why was the finish changed?
WWE’s retrospective account says McMahon called for the bell because Hart was leaving for WCW and McMahon feared he could take the WWE Championship with him. WWE’s ten-year retrospective likewise describes a plan to end the match in light of Hart’s signed departure. That is WWE’s account of McMahon’s concern; it should not be confused with an independently established record of his private motive.
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The match sequence is clear in WWE’s account, but the question of responsibility is contested. Hart later described the decision as a mistake and said there was a better way to handle the situation. McMahon, speaking publicly after the event, disputed that he or Michaels had screwed Hart and argued that Hart was responsible.
What did Bret Hart and Vince McMahon say afterward?
Bret Hart’s view
In a 2007 WWE retrospective interview, Hart said: “I look back on that incident as a bad decision by Vince McMahon and WWE. I think we all can look back and know that there was a better way to do things.” His assessment was that the situation could have been handled differently.
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Vince McMahon’s view
In an answer to WWE commentator Jim Ross after Survivor Series, reproduced in WWE’s 2012 retrospective, McMahon said the referee and Michaels had not screwed Hart, denied that he had done so, and concluded: “I truly believe that Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart.” This is McMahon’s public defense, not a settled verdict on the dispute.
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The National Film Board of Canada’s page for Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows describes a feature-length documentary following Hart for a year and examining his struggle with McMahon. It culminates in the Montreal incident. The NFB page offers rental and purchase, and says to contact it to check DVD availability: view the film’s NFB page.
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