by Dave Meltzer
Michaels’ music played immediately and was immediately announced as the winner and new champion. Hebner sprinted out of the ring on the other side, into the dressing room, through the dressing room, and into an awaiting car in the parking lot that already had the motor running and was going to take him to the hotel, where he’d be rushed out of town with his ticket home, instead of staying to work the two Raw tapings. Michaels and Hart both leaped to their feet looking equally mad, cursing in McMahon’s direction and glaring at him. Hart spit right in McMahon’s face. The cameras immediately pulled away from Hart and to Michaels. Vince screamed at Michaels to “pick the f***in belt up and get the f*** out of there.” Michaels, still looking mad, was ordered to the back by Jerry Brisco who told him to hold the belt up high and get to the back. The show abruptly went off the air about four minutes early.
The officials left the ring immediately. McMahon went into his private office in the building with Patterson and a few others, and locked the door behind him. Hart, in the ring, flipped out on the realization of what happened, and began smashing the television monitors left behind until Owen, Smith and Neidhart hit the ring to calm him down. The four had an animated discussion in the ring, all looking perturbed. Finally, Hart thanked the fans, who for the most part left with the air let out of their sails, gave the “I love you” sign to the fans, and finger painted “WCW” to all four corners of the ring, which got a surprisingly big pop, and went back to the dressing room.
He first confronted Michaels, who swore that he had nothing to do with it. Michaels, obviously afraid Hart would punch him out right there, told Hart that he gets heat for everything that happens but this time it wasn’t his fault and he was as mad as Hart about the finish. He said he didn’t want to win the belt that way, was disgusted by what happened, and to prove it, would refuse to bring the belt out or say anything bad about Hart on Raw the next night. Hart said that Michaels could prove whether he was in on it or not by his actions on television the next night.
The entire dressing room was furious at McMahon by this point. The feeling was that if Hart, having worked for the company for 14 years and not missing shots due to injuries the entire time, and having made McMahon millions of dollars throughout the years, could get double-crossed this bad, then how could any of them trust anything he would say or do? People were saying that how could anyone trust anyone ever again, and that it was an unsafe working environment.
For three years, after the steroid trial and all the bad publicity, McMahon had worked feverishly to change his legacy in the industry as not the man who ran all the other promoters out of business, not the man who marketed pro wrestling to young children while pushing steroid freaks, not the man who tried to destroy wrestling history and create his own, not his worked Harvard MBA, worked billion dollar company, a man who was so vain as to give himself a huge award in Madison Square Garden as “the genius who created WrestleMania,” not the man who at one time tried to monopolize every aspect of the business for himself, but instead as a working man’s hero, coming from humble beginnings, fighting those ruthless rich regional promoters and through nothing but guts, guile and vision, became the dominant force in the industry and taking it to a new level. And now, against all odds, the generous friend trying to help all the small regional promoters, acknowledging the past history of the business, fighting against Billionaire Ted, the man who was stealing all his self-made creations while wasting his stockholders money because of some alleged petty vendetta because the WWF would never be for sale, stealing his patented idea of Monday night wrestling, was hanging in there and would outlast his enemy again and somehow in the end come out on top.
Three years of a facade, that was largely working to a new generation of wrestling fans who saw him as their underdog hero. The man who to a generation that didn’t know better, created pro wrestling, Hulk Hogan and localized interviews and rose this grimy little industry from carnival tents to major non-smoking arenas and who was the friendly face in the Father Flanagan collar who every Monday night epitomized the world of pro wrestling, was flushed down the commode. Even though he was so good at hiding who the old Vince McMahon was to the point only those who had dealt with him for many years remembered about not letting your guard down, when the pressure was on, the old Vince returned. Only this time, it was in a situation where those who didn’t “know” him were truly “introduced” to him for the first time.
Undertaker was furious, pounding on his locked door, and when he came out to talk with him, Undertaker told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to apologize to Hart. He went to Hart’s dressing room, where Hart had just come out of the shower. Smith answered the door and Hart said he didn’t want to see him. Vince and son Shane McMahon came in with Sgt. Slaughter and Brisco anyway. Vince started to apologize, saying that he had to do it because he couldn’t take the chance of Hart going to WCW without giving back the belt and he couldn’t let Bischoff go on television the next night and announce Hart was coming while he was still his champion and said how it would kill his business.
Hart shot back that he had no problem losing the belt and told McMahon that he was going to dry off and get his clothes on and told McMahon, “If you’re still here, I’m going to punch you out.” Hart called McMahon a liar and a piece of shit, and talked about having worked for him for 14 years, only missing two shots the entire time, and being a role model for the company and the industry and this was his payback. McMahon tried to say that in 14 years, this was the first time he’d ever lied to him and Hart rattled off 15 lies over the last year alone without even thinking about it. Those in the dressing room watching were stunned listening to Hart rattle them off, and McMahon not offering a comeback.
Hart got dressed and twice told McMahon to get out. Hart got up, and a scuffle started, with them locking up like in a wrestling match, Hart breaking free, and throwing a punch to the jaw that would have knocked down a rhino. One punch KO in 40 seconds. McMahon growled like he was going to get up, but he had no legs. Shane McMahon jumped on Hart’s back, and Smith jumped on Shane’s back pulling him off. Not realizing there would be trouble, Smith had already taken off his knee brace, and hyperextended his knee in the process of pulling Shane off. Hart nearly broke his hand from the punch. McMahon’s jaw was thought to be fractured or broken.
Hart asked Vince if he was now going to screw him on all the money he owes him and a groggy Vince said “No.” He told Shane and Brisco to get that “piece of shit” out of here and glaring at both of them, told them if they tried anything, they’d suffer the same result. In dragging McMahon out, someone accidentally stepped on his ankle injuring it as well.
Hebner, at the hotel and on his way out of town, was confronted by one of the wrestlers who asked how he could do that to one of his best friends. Hebner claimed ignorance and swore that he knew nothing about it and was so mad about it he was going to quit. Jack Lanza, likely as part of another facade, was begging him not to. Patterson, Michaels and Prichard all denied any knowledge to the boys. Everyone denied it, but it was clear everyone had to know, from the production truck to go off the air several minutes early, to the director to get the shot perfect of the sharpshooter where you couldn’t see Bret’s face not quit, to Hebner in particular, to the ring announcer to get the announcement so quickly, to the man handling the music to have Michaels music all cued up, to all the agents, who were surrounding the ring knowing the possibility of something unpredictable happening.
When Hart got back to his hotel room in a total daze, he was furious at McMahon because he knew he was screaming at the timekeeper to ring the bell but almost recognizing it as a reality of a business that he should have known better than anyone. But when he had a tape of the finish played to him, he clearly heard that it was Hebner’s voice screaming “ring the bell” and at that point was personally crushed.
Phone lines were ringing off the hook around wrestling-land that night. People closest to the inside of the business were thinking double-cross, alth
ough the big question was whether Michaels, since he looked so pissed at the finish, was in on it. Some more skeptical types, remembering Brian Pillman and Kevin Sullivan, thought it because of the prominence of the match and the interest, that it had to be a very well acted work. Virtually all the wrestlers backstage thought it was a double-cross, but a few, not wanting to be marks, were wary of fully committing to the idea.
Some people who were close to inside thought it was the greatest worked finish in the history of wrestling, because it got everyone talking. Others, particularly people who had casual fans watching with them, or those attending the show live, saw how the finish to a casual fan came off looking so badly, thought it was either a poorly conceived angle that was well acted by a company trying too hard to fool smart fans; or maybe a double-cross. But by the morning the true story had become obvious.
(November 10, 1997) When the wrestlers fully realized what had happened, Hart turned into almost a cult hero, and McMahon’s image took an incredible tumble. Hart himself remarked that while he had his problems with McMahon in the late 80s, that when Phil Mushnick wrote all those scathing articles about him during the 90s, he defended McMahon, even though he deep down knew most of what was written about him to be true.
According to two WWF wrestlers, roughly 95 percent of the wrestlers in the company were planning on boycotting the Raw taping later that night over what happened. But as the day went on, the talk simmered down, Hart told those who asked him that since they had children and mortgages, that they shouldn’t risk breaching their contract and should go. However, Owen Hart, Smith, Neidhart and Mick Foley were so upset they all flew home, missing the tapings both this night and also in Cornwall, ONT the next night. Many were saying they could no longer work for someone who would do something like that.
While rumors abounded about Hart, Smith and Foley all quitting, at press time it appeared none of the three truly knew their future but that they all had a bitter taste in their mouth for the company. They weren’t the only ones. Most of the wrestlers were there and with none of the Hart family around, McMahon gave his side of the story. He portrayed it as if Hart had agreed to drop the title in Montreal, but when he got to the building, he said he was a Canadian hero and an icon and refused to drop the title and said Hart said he would give the belt to McMahon on Raw the next night and refused to ever drop it.
Reports were that by this time few if anyone in the dressing room believed a word of it. Most of the wrestlers by this time knew Hart was more forced out than voluntarily leaving over money, although knowing he had signed a great money deal. Most of the heat was on Michaels, with the belief that Michaels was younger and more in Vince’s ear and there was a lot of bitterness because it wasn’t a secret by this point that Michaels had told people on several occasions that he would never do a job in the territory.
The show went on in Ottawa, but not before Bischoff had already announced on Nitro one hour earlier, in what was the same angle he’s done so many times to tease and deliver the opposite, that Bret Hart had signed with the NWO. Bischoff opened the show with the entire NWO holding Canadian flags, and badly mockingly singing “Oh Canada.” WCW announcers Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko talked for most of the first hour about the announcement, with Schiavone and Tenay, likely on orders from Bischoff, acting stunned, describing Hart as a second generation wrestler who stands for tradition, in other words positioning him as another Curt Hennig or Jeff Jarrett, rather than the level of a Hulk Hogan to justify a nearly $3 million per year salary. Zbyszko was the one who acted as if he didn’t believe it.
In the first commercial break, Gene Okerlund did a 900 line tease saying how Bret Hart punched out a prominent official and he’d have the story on his hotline, which did huge business. During the hotline, because of fear of legal repercussions, the story wasn’t told until late in the report, only a sketchy version told, and McMahon’s name was never mentioned.
With more curiosity than anything in recent memory, the WWF drew its strongest Raw rating since the early days of the Monday Night War—a 3.39 rating and 5.16 share—largely due to curiosity stemming from the publicity, the match, and from the announcement about Hart earlier in the event on WCW—and amidst all the chaos and confusion, presented one of its all-time worst shows. Nitro did a phenomenal 4.33 rating and 6.39 share.
Michaels opened the show. Yes, he was carrying the belt. And what did he say about Hart? He said he beat the man in his own country with his own hold and that he ran him out of the WWF to be with all the other dinosaurs down South. And said that the few down there who weren’t dinosaurs are his good friends and some day they’d kick his ass too. Those who were on the fence on the Michaels issue waiting for his interview to prove himself were given their final answer.
McMahon never showed his face on camera. The fight with Hart was never acknowledged in the commentary, although Michaels couldn’t resist in his interview saying how Hart beat up a 52-year-old man after the show. In the commentary, nobody tried to bury Hart, but Ross, who had never used this figure before, on both Sunday and Monday used the phrase 21-year-veteran, perhaps as subtle acknowledgment of Hart’s age, and Lawler did bring up the $3 million per year figure, as a way to encourage the mindless “You sold out” chants. It was acknowledged that it was Hart’s final match in the WWF although the reasons for it being the case were never even hinted at. The replay was pushed harder than ever, and why not, since it was the most bizarre finish in modern wrestling history, complete with a commercial clearly showing Hart spitting in McMahon’s face, and destroying the monitors which took place after the show itself had gone off the air.
The show dragged on, and the efforts to push the new stars, Mero as a heel, Goldust back as a heel, Interrogator, Blackjack Bradshaw and Road Dog & Billy Gunn, all came off lame. You could almost hear the crowd groan when it was Rocky Maivia positioned as the next challenger for Steve Austin’s IC title. With all the special effects, the Kane gimmick still came across as a sure winner. And Ken Shamrock was thrust into the spotlight as Michaels’ first challenger on 12/7 after all. However, there was another screw up. Shamrock’s main event with Helmsley was supposed to end with Michaels interfering and then Shamrock pinning him and the ref counting to three, perhaps to take heat off Michaels rep for not doing jobs, and perhaps as a way to convince Shamrock to return the favor for such an unpopular wrestler on PPV. However, the show went off the air with Shamrock down apparently being pinned after Michaels nailed him with the briefcase, however he kicked out just as the show went off the air.
The crowd in Ottawa, largely pro-Hart, finally figured out about 15 minutes before the show was going off the air, that none of the Hart Foundation was there, and that the Bret Hart situation was no angle. The Shamrock-Helmsley main event heat was non-existent, drowned out by vehement chants of “We Want Bret.” Ross went on his hotline and did nothing but praise Hart for all his work, even to the point of saying that he himself, being right there, never heard a submission but that the referee claimed that he heard it.
(November 11, 1997) The Calgary Sun ran an article about the double-cross, reporting that Hart’s leaving for WCW was actually requested by the WWF due to the WWF claiming financial hardships. And where does it go from here: It’s hard to make sense out of all that happened.
While Hart’s contract with the WWF was much higher than anyone else’s, to dismiss him as being paid above market value is missing a potential valuable point. What is the Canadian wresting market worth? Far more than $1.5 million per year. At the Calgary Stampede PPV show alone, the market was worth about $400,000 on PPV and another $200,000 in live gate, granted those are Canadian money and he was being paid in American money, but you get the drift. While WWF had lost its foothold in the United States to WCW, it owned Canada.
WCW, with TBS getting moved from premium cable to basic cable nationwide, and with TSN picking up Nitro every week, was for the first time getting strong television exposure in the country. No matter what he d
id or didn’t mean elsewhere, and there is no denying he was a major draw in the United States, and probably more so in Europe, Germany in particular, he was the wrestling star in Canada. Handing him to the opposition will mean from a Canadian standpoint, every bit as much as Hulk Hogan joining with WCW, and we’ve all seen what the long-term effects of that turned out to be.
It’s hard to ascertain fan reaction. Fans are more loyal these days to brand names than ever before, more than to wrestlers themselves. When, in a similar situation only he didn’t get into the ring and was fired before “not” doing the job, Ric Flair came out of a situation with Jim Herd in 1991 recognized by most fans as the real world champion, the WCW belt became largely meaningless, Flair went to WWF and did big business in what were never called unification matches but many thought of them as such against Hulk Hogan. For nearly two years, before Flair returned as the cult hero, the small crowds attending WCW matches never stopped the “We Want Flair” chants. There are similarities here, and if anything, times being different mean more people than ever will be aware of it, making similar chants perhaps more likely. But a lot of the newer fans also for the most part have less respect for the wrestlers as people and more as animals to perform stunts to entertain them, like in other sports, have more loyalties to the “home team” than its players who come and go for the biggest buck.
