The Wrestling Observer Yearbook '97: The Last Time WWF Was Number Two

by Dave Meltzer

  Many close advisers of Hart’s tried to tell him going to WCW was the best move for his present, and more importantly, his future after wrestling. But largely out of loyalty, and that obviously wasn’t the only factor involved, he declined the offer.

  McMahon, determined not to lose a very public fight, offered him the famous 20-year contract where he’d, after retirement in about three years, become almost a first lieutenant when it came to the booking process. Hart would earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million per year as an active wrestler, and a healthy but far lesser figure working the front office for the 17 years after retirement as an active wrestler. As part of McMahon’s offer, he also was going to allow Hart to explain live on television his decision making process should be sign with WCW.

  Hart flew to Fort Wayne, IN, where the WWF was holding its live Raw taping after having already verbally agreed to the deal, signed the contract, and gave the interview saying basically that he would be in the WWF forever, figuring to be positioned as the top babyface and perennial champion until he finished his active career riding off in the sunset in a blaze of glory, like Hogan, Savage, and the rest of the superstars before him didn’t.

  As is the case in wrestling, not all the promised scenarios that everyone believed were going to happen transpire as originally planned. And just over one year later, the feelings between McMahon and Hart had taken a 180 degree turn, to the degree nobody would have ever believed.

  (March 10, 1997) Top babyface didn’t last long as McMahon asked him to turn heel. At first Hart balked at the idea but after three days, McMahon presented him with two lists. One list was his prospective opponents as a babyface—Vader, Mankind and Steve Austin. The other list was his prospective opponents as a heel, Undertaker, Michaels and Austin. Hart agreed for drawing money, his opponents as a heel made up a better list, and he and McMahon agreed that he would turn back babyface over the last few months of his contract and end his career on a positive note.

  He and Steve Austin did the double-turn at WrestleMania. Hart himself then came up with the Anti-American angle, where he would remain a babyface in Canada and Europe and do interviews that would for the most part speak the truth, so he could when the time came to turn back in the U.S., have a reasonable explanation.

  (September 8, 1997) Vince McMahon and Bret Hart had their first meeting where McMahon seriously approached Hart about his contract. About three months earlier, McMahon had told Hart that the company was in bad financial straits and that they might have to defer some of the money until later in the contract. This time his approach was more point blank. He wanted to cut Hart’s regular salary, around $30,000 per week, more than in half and defer the rest of the money until later in the contract period when hopefully the company would be in better shape financially. Hart declined the suggestion, because he didn’t want to risk not getting the money in the future after he was through taking all the bumps.

  (September 20, 1997) About one hour before the beginning of the PPV show in Birmingham, England, McMahon approached Davey Boy Smith and asked him to put over Shawn Michaels that night for the European title. Smith was apparently shocked, having been told all along in the build-up of the show, that Michaels was going to do a job for him, since Europe was promised to be “his territory.”

  The explanation, which made and still makes logical business sense, is that they wanted to build for a bigger show, a second PPV from Smith’s former home town of Manchester, England, where Smith would regain the title—the same scenario the WWF did to draw 60,000 fans in San Antonio with Michaels in the other role working a program with Sycho Sid. So while it all made sense, it was rather strange he wasn’t approached with this idea until just before the start of the show.

  At around this same time period, McMahon approached Hart about working with Michaels. Hart said that he had a problem with that since Michaels had still never really apologized to him for the Sunny days comment, and said it would be hard to trust somebody like that in the ring and due to their past, and told McMahon that he would figure that Michaels would have the same concerns, since a few weeks earlier after first making it clear he would never work with anyone in the Hart Foundation, Michaels had finally agreed to work only with Smith, saying he couldn’t trust Bret or Owen.

  (September 22, 1997) On the day of the Raw taping at Madison Square Garden, McMahon told Bret Hart flat out that they were going to intentionally breach his contract because they couldn’t afford the deal. He told a shocked Hart that he should go to World Championship Wrestling and make whatever deal he could with that group.

  “I didn’t feel comfortable doing it,” Hart said of the suggestion. “I felt like an old prisoner in a prison where I know all the guards and all the inmates and I have the best cell. Why would I want to move to a new prison where I don’t know the guards and the inmates and I no longer have the best cell? I felt really bad after all the years of working for the WWF.”

  Hart had an escape clause built into his contract since he had so much negotiating leverage when making his WWF deal 11 months earlier, in that he could leave the company giving 30 days notice, and that he would have what the contract called “reasonable creative control” of his character during that lame duck period so that he couldn’t be unreasonably buried on the way out.

  There was a window period for giving that notice and negotiating elsewhere that hadn’t begun, so McMahon, showing he was serious, gave Hart written permission to begin negotiating with WCW and Hart contacted Eric Bischoff. The same day, during a meeting with Hart, Michaels and McMahon, Michaels told both of them point blank that he wouldn’t do any jobs for anyone in the territory, word that when it got out made most of the other top wrestlers feel even more warmly than usual toward Michaels.

  Michaels later reiterated that statement to Hart on 10/4 in St. Paul when the two had agreed that for the good of the business that they’d work together. At the meeting, McMahon proposed a scenario where the two would have their first singles match in Montreal, where Undertaker would interfere causing a non-finish. This would lead to Hart wrestling Undertaker on the 12/7 PPV in Springfield, MA, where Michaels would interfere causing Hart to lose the title, as poetic justice since his interference caused Bret to win the title in the first place, and that Royal Rumble on 1/18 in San Jose would be headlined by Undertaker vs. Michaels.

  During the meeting, Hart told Michaels that he’d be happy to put him over at the end of the run, but Michaels told Hart flat out that he wouldn’t return the favor to him. Michaels and Hart spoke again on the subject on 10/12 in San Jose, where once again Michaels told Hart that he wasn’t going to do a job for him.

  (October 21, 1997) McMahon approached Hart with the idea of losing the title to Michaels in Montreal, but promised that he would win it back on 12/7. Hart, remembering his conversations where Michaels was adamant about not doing any more jobs in the territory, was reluctant, saying after the way the angle had been done with him representing Canada and it becoming a big patriotic deal, that he didn’t want to lose the title in Canada.

  He was then asked to lose to Michaels on 12/7 in Springfield, MA. Hart told McMahon that since Michaels had told both of them that he wasn’t doing anymore jobs, that he had a problem doing a job for someone who wouldn’t do a job back. He told McMahon that he didn’t want to drop the title in Montreal.

  Later, McMahon, Pat Patterson, Michaels and Hart had another meeting where Michaels, teary eyed, told Hart that he was looking forward to returning the favor to Bret and once again talked about his mouth saying the stupidest things (in regard to saying he’d never do another job in the territory). Hart still refused to lose the title in Montreal.

  The night before he had been asked to put Hunter Hearst Helmsley over in Oklahoma City via pinfall due to Michaels’ interference, but changed the finish to a count out. On this night he was asked to tap out to Ken Shamrock before the DQ ending involving Michaels, which he had no problem doing because he liked and respected Shamrock and wanted t
o help elevate him.

  The personal problems with himself and Michaels, which had become legendary in the business, resurfaced once again when the two and McMahon made an agreement to work together but to leave their respective families out of their interviews. It took just one week before Michaels did the interview talking about Stu Hart being dead but walking around Calgary because his body and brain hadn’t figured it out yet. By this point, Hart had already stopped watching Raw because he had problems with the content of the show because he had four children that were wrestling fans that he didn’t want seeing the direction it was going, so he was reacting to the remark based on the fact that his father and brother Owen heard the remarks and were upset about them.

  (October 24, 1997) McMahon, before the show at the Nassau Coliseum, told Hart that the money situation in the company had changed and they would have no problems paying him everything promised in his contract. Hart told McMahon that WCW really hadn’t made him a serious offer and that he really didn’t want to leave but that he was still uncomfortable doing the job for Michaels in that situation. He left the country for the tour of Bahrain and Oman with the idea that he was staying with the WWF, but knowing due to his window in his contract, he had to make the decision to give notice by midnight on 11/1.

  (October 31, 1997) Never one to work without a flair for the dramatics, Bischoff finally caught up with Hart who was basically incommunicado in a foreign land most of the week. Just one day before Hart had to either give notice or stay for another year, Bischoff made a huge concrete offer. We don’t know the exact terms of the offer, only that Hart said of the $3 million per year figure that both Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler talked about on the 11/10 Raw, that “they don’t have any idea what I was offered,” but others close to the situation say that figure is “close enough that you couldn’t call it wrong.” Hart neither agreed nor turned down the deal, but gave the impression to WCW that they had a great shot at getting him.

  (November 1, 1997) Hart had until midnight to make up his mind. He called McMahon and told him about the WCW offer and said that he wasn’t asking for any more money to stay, but that he wanted to know what his future in the WWF would be over his next two years as an active wrestler and that at this point he was leaning toward accepting the WCW offer. McMahon said he’d think about it and call him back in one hour with some scenarios.

  Before McMahon called back, Bischoff called again trying to solidify the deal. McMahon ended up calling back four hours later from his barber shop in Manhattan and told Hart that he didn’t know what he was going to do with him but to trust his judgment because of their past relationship, that he had made him into a superstar and that he wanted him to stay and that he should trust him and asked Hart to give him ideas of where he wanted to go.

  During the conversation, McMahon still brought up the scenario of wanting Hart to drop the title in Montreal, but promised that he would get it back in Springfield. “I realized he had given the top heel spot to Shawn, but to turn back babyface, it was too soon,” Hart said.

  Like in the negotiations one year earlier, it was going down to the wire and he had until midnight to make up his mind. When he was talking to McMahon, McMahon told him he could extend his deadline for giving notice. Hart asked for the permission in writing but McMahon told him that he was going out to a movie that night with his wife and said that he was verbally giving permission to extend it and to get written permission from the company’s Chief Financial Officer. When Hart called to get the written notice, he wasn’t given it because he was told he couldn’t get it in writing on such short notice.

  At 7 p.m. Bischoff called again and presented a deal that, according to Hart, “would have been insane not to be taken.” At that point Hart was really having mixed emotions. He somehow felt bad about leaving the WWF and was just hoping McMahon would lay out a good set of scenarios for him and convince him to stay. At 9 p.m., McMahon called and, reversing fields once again, urged him to take the WCW offer.

  Hart told him that his heart was with the company and it would break is heart to leave, and that he appreciated everything McMahon and the company had done for him. McMahon told Hart that he wanted him back as a babyface, and had been wanting him to turn babyface for two or three months but just hadn’t brought it up until this point.

  He then presented a scenario to Hart, presenting it as a way to get Hart to stay, but obviously designed to get Hart to take the WCW offer. He wanted Michaels to win the title in Montreal. For Springfield, they would do a Final Four match with he, Michaels, Undertaker and Ken Shamrock, that Michaels would again win. At the Royal Rumble, the two would have a ladder match, which Michaels would win. On Raw on 1/19 in Fresno, CA, Hart would open the show and say that if he couldn’t beat Michaels and win the title that night, that he would retire from wrestling, and in that match he would regain the title. And then in Boston at WrestleMania, he’d drop the title to Austin.

  Hart looked at that scenario of four major losses with only one win and before his midnight deadline, gave official notice to the WWF and signed the contract WCW had sent over, with the agreement from all three parties that the word wouldn’t leak out until 11/10 to protect the Survivor Series PPV. Hart went so far as to have his few confidants sign written confidentiality letters to make sure the word of his negotiations and signing with WCW didn’t get out until 11/10.

  (November 2, 1997) Hart and McMahon started a very amicable conversation with the pressure finally off and the decision for Hart to leave having been made. He again suggested that Michaels win the title in Montreal, and in what will go down as perhaps the ultimate irony, said they could do a screw-job ending to steal the title from him, and that the next night on Raw, McMahon suggested the two get into a mock argument where Hart would punch him, blaming him for the screw job. McMahon even suggested to hardway him (give him a hard punch that would either open him up or at least give him a noticeable black eye) to make it look legit.

  Hart again refused to do the job in Montreal, saying that he had never refused to do a job but he wasn’t going to lose on Sunday or Monday (at the Raw tapings in Ottawa). He agreed to put Michaels over in Madison Square Garden on 11/15, Springfield, or anywhere else, and said he’d put over Vader, Shamrock, Mankind, Undertaker or even Steve Lombardi (who earned a title shot at MSG by winning a Battle Royal at the last show, but they dropped that idea almost immediately but there had been talk of giving Lombardi the match after all).

  McMahon then made legal threats to Hart if he wouldn’t lose in Montreal. Hart talked about the clause in his contract giving him “reasonable” creative control, but McMahon claimed that refusing to drop the title in Montreal wasn’t reasonable. The two argued about the finish in Montreal and the legalities of their respective positions all day Sunday and well into the night before finally agreeing to do a DQ finish in Montreal.

  Then in Springfield, in the final four match, Michaels would win the title. Bret would then go out on Raw on 12/8 in Portland, ME and give a farewell interview as a babyface to WWF fans and put the company and McMahon over as big as possible. He would apologize to the American fans and try to reasonably explain his actions as a way to end his 14-year association with the WWF on the highest note possible, something largely unheard of in pro wrestling, so that all parties and the fans could come out of it and his legacy with the company with a good feeling. Technically there was a problem, in that his WCW contract began on 12/1, so Hart called Bischoff, who when presented the scenario, agreed to allow him to work through 12/8 with Titan.

  Hart asked an associate who monitors news for him if he thought it was possible to keep the secret from the public until 11/10. Hart specifically asked about being able to keep it secret from one person until after the show, and the associate laughed and said they would bet a million dollars that person already knew.

  (November 4, 1997) McMahon called Hart and said that he had changed his mind. He suggested now that Michaels should lose clean in Montreal, then he’d “steal” the t
itle with a controversial finish in Springfield and Hart would get to do his farewell speech in Portland. He said he was going to call Michaels and present the scenario to him.

  By this point, word that Hart had signed with WCW had actually been reported the previous night on the Observer and Torch hotlines, and it was only about one hour later before the folks who call those hotlines for much of their news started breaking the latest “biggest story in the history of wrestling” as their “exclusives.” In response, WWF Canada released a press statement originally totally denying the story, claiming it was simply propaganda being spread by WCW. However, as the word got out, Titan Sports in Connecticut a few hours later contradicted that story saying simply that Bret Hart was exploring all his options, but not going any farther, with the feeling that they wanted to protect the PPV show. Hart wouldn’t publicly talk to anyone.

  (November 5, 1997) The Internet had paved the way for stories in the Calgary Sun, the Toronto Sun and one line in the Montreal Gazette in a PPV preview story about Steve Austin, a line which resulted in the paper getting an incredible switchboard-blowing response of phone calls.

  McMahon called Hart and said that Michaels had agreed to the previous days’ scenario, but that now he had changed his mind. He said the news was out everywhere and that Bret had to drop the belt before Monday because he couldn’t have Bischoff go on television on 11/10 and announce the signing of his world champion while he still had the belt. Hart said that he would get Bischoff to postpone the announcement, but with Bischoff on a hunting trip all week in Wyoming, Hart couldn’t get a hold of him.