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

by Dave Meltzer

  As far as the Hart situation itself from a news value goes, it largely has run its course. During the week, Hart canceled scheduled interviews on the TSN show “Off the Record” due to Vince McMahon booking himself on the show the next day. McMahon then canceled as well. Hart canceled a Prodigy chat on advice from his lawyer since he is still under contract to WWF through the end of the month and it was believed WWF has an exclusive deal with AOL, agreeing to do it the first week of December. However, the AOL exclusive must not be as exclusive as thought since Jim Ross is going to do a chat on Prodigy after Hart to give the WWF side of things. Virtually every significant aspect of the story was covered the past two weeks in these pages and there is little from an informational standpoint that can be added.

  Titan Sports has been strongly hinting that McMahon will pursue legal recourse, either criminal and/or civil against Hart for decking him. The WWF is now saying McMahon suffered a broken ankle in the fracas along with the blurred vision and the black eye. Hart suffered a cracked bone in the hand a few inches up from the wrist and a few fractured knuckles which are giving him a lot of pain although at this point his hand hasn’t been put in a cast. He was told by his doctors that he shouldn’t train or wrestle for six weeks although there are no plans for him to wrestle in WCW until January at the earliest and his first major match could be on the WCW SuperBrawl PPV show. If one goes with the idea that Scott Hall, by winning the Battle Royal, will face Sting (and don’t bet the mortgage on that yet because Hogan will play that one for all its worth) in the title match, that leaves a Hogan vs. Hart match as a possibility for that show.

  As far as who is right and who is wrong. Everyone has an opinion. Most of the facts in great detail are out there and readily available for those who want to know them. The general consensus has been decidedly pro-Hart. Based on a WWF hotline report, McMahon is very upset about the fan reaction and has already taped another interview which will likely air on the 12/1 Raw addressing his feelings about the reaction, in which he’ll likely attack, among others, the Canadian media which has been sympathetic to Hart from the start.

  The reality is that the real world doesn’t consist of black-and-white babyfaces and heels. Both have their sides. Because one is wrong doesn’t make the other one right or visa versa. If this was a simple issue, either double-crossing a guy in the ring for no logical reason; or a guy refusing to do a job or drop the belt in the ring while leaving for a new territory, maybe you could make a black-and-white distinction. Many, attempting to use either point as the key to this story and use that point to say the other was the one in the right are using an argument that is emotional rather than logical.

  Simplifying what is a very complicated story into someone who refused to do a job or someone who changed a finish is missing most of the story. The portrayal of Hart as someone who refused to drop the belt in the ring, which is how McMahon has attempted to portray him both in his cryptic interview and to the rest of the WWF wrestlers and his front office as his reason for justifying to them what he did is simply incorrect and totally misleading. The argument that the WWF needed to get the belt off Hart that weekend because of the WCW announcement on Nitro coming misses several points.

  My big question to that is simply, looking at the big picture. Why? Of the two scenarios, can you logically say that the one McMahon picked, a Michaels vs. Shamrock main event (made worse since the company decided to built itself around Bret Hart during the hype period) or a Final Four match as proposed and everyone had agreed to, using the fact Hart was leaving as part of the hype for the match with the “smart” fans knowing the title would switch but not knowing which of the other three was going to get it, was the one that would have drawn the most money.

  It could have been played out at the arenas all November with Hart in the lame duck role having matches against Michaels, Shamrock, Undertaker, Vader, Austin and whomever else at different arenas, as fans would attend the house show “knowing” a title change was imminent, just not knowing when and to whom. The idea of seeing an arena title match where there was an actual possibility of a title change, particularly in a city like New York or Boston where the belt means more, would have done what for the gate in those cities?

  Fact is, if the lame duck deal was a killer to the company, the buy rate in Canada for Survivor Series, where it was mainstream news that Hart was leaving, by that logic should have been horrible and the exact opposite was true. Fact is, any fan with the slightest access to inside knowledge knew before Survivor Series that Hart was going to WCW. Those who complain about the lame duck aspect of Hart as champion are forgetting the point that he already was before the match with Michaels. It wasn’t an announcement by Bischoff that made him such. Among that group that knew, a decent percentage of fans in Canada and the insiders in the U.S., was the interest in Survivor Series heightened or lessened by that knowledge? The answer to that is obvious. A lame duck champion angle done correctly in this day and time would have been huge at the arenas at a time when business traditionally flourishes, and done well for the traditionally weak December PPV show.

  A legitimate argument, one that has been expressed to me from those in Titan, is the fear that Hart would have shown up the next night on the Nitro in Memphis with the belt. McMahon could have taken the physical belt from him in the dressing room and told him he’d get it back when he showed up for TV the next night in Ottawa. I don’t believe it was going to happen but due to things that have occurred in the past and probably will in the future as well, he has a strong argument that there is justification for that fear. One could argue that he would still be under contract through 11/30, but by this point who is to say there wasn’t a minor breach that could be used as a loophole?

  Lame duck scenarios have occurred in the past. In early 1992, Lex Luger, who had a valid long-term pro wrestling contract with WCW, along with Vince McMahon, found a loophole in that McMahon signed him to join the World Bodybuilding Federation, a McMahon company that wasn’t a pro wrestling company and thus wouldn’t be violating the terms of his pro wrestling contract. Luger sat out the remainder of his WCW wrestling contract while being employed by the WBF, and then when the time limit of his WCW wrestling contract ended, he had his contract switched from the WBF to the WWF. He was a lame duck champion but had no problem doing the job for his best friend Sting on the way out, but wouldn’t work any house shows or put anyone else over in the interim.

  If you accept the premise that it would have killed the WWF or the WWF belt had Bischoff made the announcement about Hart while he still had the belt, then yes, it was McMahon’s last chance to get the belt back and Hart had refused to put Michaels over on that night, or for that matter, before that night either. In this case, given the potential of the respective paths for business following the match, the path with Hart as champion until the last night in or the path where they are today, my feeling is that premise in this specific case holds absolutely no water. This path, doing a double-cross and executing the double-cross so pathetically that everyone knew and making the guy you’re trying to bury larger than life and using his name as the focal point of television even though he’s about to work for the opposition, did probably turn out to be the best one for television ratings, which if nothing else, shows just how strange a world pro wrestling has become.

  The Toronto Sun did a readers poll in which 55% of the readers responding said they would be watching more WCW wrestling than WWF wrestling due to Bret Hart being with the group. 12% said they would watch more WWF wrestling than WCW. 8% said they would watch less pro wrestling overall. And 23% said they wouldn’t change the amount of wrestling or the group they were watching due to Bret Hart leaving WWF. Keep in mind the wording of the questions, the time frame in which they were asked (basically right after the double-cross hit the news) and the nature of the people most likely to respond will skew things in the direction the poll turned out to be. I don’t believe 55% of the wrestling fans in Toronto will now become more WCW fans than WWF fans du
e to Hart switching sides, but the poll does indicate Hart’s name value in Toronto is exceedingly strong.

  In McMahon’s defense, waiting until 12/7 to take the title back was risky. You have a main eventer on a PPV who would be already under contract and working for your main competitor. The timing was awfully precarious. Losing the title at MSG, or in Boston, or on the 11/24 Raw, would have made sense because it would have eliminated the risk of relying on Eric Bischoff not to change his mind to screw with someone that he obviously gets great joy in screwing with. There are a lot of things that should have been handled differently, probably dating back many months in letting the Michaels/Hart rivalry turned into dislike grow into unprofessional levels. If McMahon, for whatever reason, wanted out of the contract and was willing to breach it, he should have at least waited until he had created a scenario where Hart would drop the title to someone other than the one person, for reasons good or bad is another issue, that dropping the title to would become a personal issue with.

  Whether Hart or Michaels were the one in the “right” in their personal problems over the past year plus, how could anyone have been so blind after what had already happened and what was continuing to happen between the two to believe Hart wouldn’t have a problem putting over a guy who had steadfastly refused to ever put him over? Even if you believe Hart was “wrong” in refusing to lose to Michaels on that night, the fact is McMahon should have known ahead of time it would be a problem because everyone halfway close to the situation knew, and with that knowledge, why did he go in that direction?

  The argument that Hart is an actor and should follow the script of the director misses the point about him being given reasonable creative control over his scenarios over his last 30 days of the contract. The point was, there was a script. Supposedly all knew ahead of time and agreed to the script. It wasn’t Hart who didn’t follow the script. It was the director in the middle of a scene, right in front of the audience, changing a script out of fear, spite, desperation, wanting to show he could, or whatever series of reasons he had.

  An argument can be made Hart was unprofessional in refusing to lose to Michaels in Canada. But no argument can be made that McMahon wasn’t unprofessional in the way he handled the situation in the ring that night. The ambiguous interpretation of the word “reasonable” is a key point in the argument. Was it reasonable for Hart to agree to drop the belt one week later rather than on a certain night? I’d agree it was unreasonable for him to refuse to drop it, period. I’d agree it was unreasonable for McMahon to ask him to drop it to Steve Lombardi, which McMahon never suggested, although Hart was apparently willing. Interpreting that Hart was within bounds of reasonable creative control by wanting to drop the title a week later instead of that night can’t be used to justify anyone’s behavior after the double-cross. At that point, all reasonableness on both sides was long gone and what happened was very unfortunate.

  To this day, neither Hart nor McMahon are apologetic and you can see both would feel that they had wronged. Hart was clearly double-crossed and the company he’d worked being a top star for tried, in what will be a failed effort, to destroy his legacy, reputation and dignity for a situation that the company clearly started. McMahon was clearly punched in the temple very hard. Even if you think his behavior was so dishonest that he just got what he had coming, it still shouldn’t have happened. If the WWF title is nothing more than a prop that shouldn’t be taken seriously and Hart is such a mark for taking it seriously (missing the point that his exit to him was supposed to be the symbolic last scene of a 13-plus year long story and will always be the thing his wrestling career is most remembered for, and that, not the belt, is what McMahon really did steal from him), then so is McMahon going to the lengths he did to get it back.

  And so is this industry in reality, because the double-cross, a fixed ending of a match in a sport where every single ending of a match is fixed, became arguably the biggest news story of the year. And the fixed ending of a fixed match was a bigger part of the story than some very real major aspects in the same story. A real, not fixed, attempted breach of a contract. A real, not fixed, jump of one of the biggest names in the business. A real, not fixed, locker room assault. A real, not fixed, morale problem. A real, not fixed, problem with fan reaction that the company may be overreacting to. And a real, not fake situation where two of the biggest stars in the company went home in disgust over the incident.

  On television, the WWF portrayed Owen Hart as having severe mental strain due to the pressure of what happened and he’s on hiatus. In reality, he was on vacation in Disneyland. His contract is such that it is pretty much accepted across the board that against his wishes, he’s going to return. His deal is believed to be so one-sided that if the WWF terminates him for failing to return to work, he still wouldn’t be able to work anywhere else in wrestling for the next nearly four years.

  Davey Boy Smith is expected to have knee surgery later this week. On television, Michaels referred to it as the old fake knee injury deal which he knows full well. This, among other things, will buy him time until he returns although he also has been adamant in some circles about not wanting to return, although he doesn’t appear to have much in the way of options either as Titan has apparently made it clear it won’t release either of them from their deals. Bret, Owen and Smith are all still receiving their weekly paychecks from the WWF although there are other monies that supposedly the WWF is behind in paying Bret.

  Jim Neidhart was not under a WWF contract and could leave at anytime. Unlike the other two, he’s not someone who would be guaranteed a job with WCW should McMahon get rid of him. The belief is that the angle where he agreed to join DX, only to have them turn on him at the end, was a way to bury him in case he were to show up on WCW television the next week (although it also buried him when it comes to real future value in WWF as well), and at the same time, continue to send a message back to Calgary about who is really in (or not in) control. Neidhart could have refused the angle and lost his job, but there are no guarantees WCW would take him. Had he lost his job under those circumstances, WCW probably would have taken him, but for a 42-year-old wrestler who is lucky to be in the mainstream, a job in the hand is far more valuable than one that might not be there.

  Whatever people were clinging to the argument that this whole scenario from start to finish was the most well orchestrated scam in wrestling history ended on 11/24. If it had been a scam, everything was teased for Hart’s returning big pop to show up and confront Michaels. But he was in Calgary, not Fayetteville. And was still in Calgary on 11/25, which was the last television taping by the WWF before his contract expires on 11/30. Eventually, this reality will turn into a pro wrestling angle if or when Owen Hart returns, perhaps with Smith, and goes for revenge against Michaels, and perhaps Helmsley. It wouldn’t even surprise me for McMahon to try and use the negative reaction to himself and do a heel turn himself. And the fact this caused so much commotion, I’d say it’s a lock that companies for years will try copycat scenarios, which will be complete works.

  DECEMBER 8

  It was not true that Earl Hebner found out about the finish just as he was going through the curtain. Earl and Dave Hebner were both told by McMahon well ahead of time and told not to let anyone in on it. Hebner theoretically had plenty of time to warn Hart although he obviously chose not to. Nobody in the WWF hierarchy knew that Hebner and Hart were good friends (actually, I guess this proved they were right, although friends of Hart do corroborate that Hart believed Hebner to be one of his best friends in the company before this happened). Earl had all his gear packed in the car well before the match started and Dave was in the car with the motor running in the parking lot for most of the match readying for the getaway.

  The basic argument points within the WWF (and for that matter in a lot of the wrestling industry and among fans) in debating who was right (you know, there has to be one side right and the other wrong because it’s a simple black-and-white world we live in) depends on who y
ou believe in the most simplified form. Those who believe Hart had refused to drop the title believe McMahon was right, as I guess you have to accept Hart refusing to drop the title to justify McMahon’s actions and a lot of people for a lot of reason need to find some justification. Those close to McMahon insist Hart isn’t telling the truth when he said he was willing to do a job later in the week. Hart, of course, insists he was.

  In that simplified question of the whole big deal, it all depends upon who one believes and who has more credibility, McMahon or Hart. There is documentation that indicates Hart is the one telling the truth, however those defending McMahon say Hart changed his mind at the last minute and wouldn’t do business, hence things turned out as they did. With Hart not around to defend himself in the WWF locker room, there are many of the boys who now believe he did refuse to put anyone over at any time to the point when Michaels did the deal on 11/24 with the mini, he asked several of the wrestlers around in a group whether he should do the right thing for business and ignore Bret and build up the PPV, or stick it to Bret, and the guys there told him he should stick it to Bret.