Did Bret Hart bring the Screwjob situation on himself? | Page 4

Plus, there is absolutely ZERO evidence to support claims that Michaels dropped titles to get out of losing them in a match. He had to give up the IC Title during his second reign because he flunked the steroids test... nothing he could do about that. The beating & concussion received in Syracuse DID happen

I think I would be more inclined to believe Kevin Nash's version of what caused him to leave the company that I saw him speak from his own mouth before I would take any third-hand information seriously. You also have Scott Hall way, way wrong; so wrong that it's not even funny. Hall was not obsessed with being a main eventer or a guy who had to have belts all the time. Hall was all about "I work, you pay me" and doing the minimum to get the most money he could. Hall has said that, and this is his words, "I didn't need to be a mark like Bret Hart and have to have a belt all the time to feel like I was doing something for the company."

Plus, there is absolutely ZERO evidence to support claims that Michaels dropped titles to get out of losing them in a match. He had to give up the IC Title during his second reign because he flunked the steroids test... nothing he could do about that. The beating & concussion received in Syracuse DID happen and it wasn't just some sappy story made up for TV. Shawn couldn't wrestle that night, period. And as for not wanting to put Hart over at WM13 and making up an injury, well that, along with the other two incidents, were greatly blown out of proportion and exaggerated with fiction by the anti-Michaels fanbase who base all their stuff on speculation and non-sense instead of facts.

And as for Bret Hart always gloating & putting himself over Shawn by saying Shawn never cut the kind of schedule he did or how he never hurt anybody in the ring... well when you wrestle the furthest thing from a high-impact style that there is, you are not going to get hurt and you're not going to hurt your opponents. Shawn's style left him more susceptible to injuries.

Hart's "great" promos from 1997 are a lot like his wrestling style was: one dimensional. Making fun of the USA for the same stuff week in and week out while you're performing in the country a majority of the time. That doesn't take a rocket scientist to take that angle and get heat with it. Then on the other end, you have Michaels, who was able to hit and potshot Bret from all angles with his promos. Michaels' antics were what kept that feud fresh and from going stale heading into Survivor Series; he carried that feud heading into the PPV much like he carried their match at WM12.

Well most of the people that have been speaking up for him have been mostly Canadian too, don't forget. Bret is loved up there, I saw somewhere that he was voted like the #37 greatest Canadian of ALL-TIME; not just Canadian athlete but CANADIAN period. We wouldn't even have hardly any athletes in our top 100 here in America if we had such a countdown. Just imagine if they were able to grow up with Shawn Michaels as one of their own, there'd probably be a statue on every streetcorner paying homage to the icon!

Exactly, Canada has nowhere near the number of athletes or celebrities for people to get wrapped up in the way the United States has. We have the NFL, NBA, MLB, and Hollywood that get placed on a pedestal way higher in our society here than professional wrestling. That is why there is a huge obsession up there with Bret Hart and what happened in Montreal and that is why the incident here was basically out of people's minds within a few months.

And, of course DX became more popular with the fans after Shawn left. During his last few months there, he was feuding with Austin so the idea was for them to be the bad guys and to get Austin over as the mega huge face going into WM14. After WM14, the approach changed and they tried to push DX as funny pranksters once they got new members.

Again, besides the myths that you have in your own mind, show me that Michaels lied about anything. Give me evidence, something besides the "everybody knows" line. And as for Hall and Nash not being credible, I would take anything those guys say over anything somebody like Bret Hart says. Hall and Nash know the perception the fans have of them, they know about their lifestyle and mentality. They have no reason to make stuff up or sugarcoat it to make themselves look good.

I think the information you've obtained is somewhat inaccurate because #1, Shawn never said he was attacked by 30 guys, he said between 5-10 guys were involved in the attack. There were guys beating on him and several guys holding back Davey Boy and Sean Waltman from interfering, so how is that a lie to say that between 5-10 guys were involved? Shawn also didn't cite a back injury for not being able to wrestle at WM13, his knee was giving him problems and he didn't wrestle for almost 5 months because of it.

And since we are going to bash the Clique for their backstage and personal issues, what about some of Bret Hart's old running buddies? Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy, and Piper were some of the biggest backstage assholes professional wrestling has ever seen, and the guys Bret rolled with were some of the biggest junkies professional wrestling has ever seen... that is why most of them have been dead and gone for a long time now already. Say what you want about Nash and Hall and their ways, but at least they're still alive and kicking. You can't say the same thing about most of Bret's old buddies.

Michaels for sure had more than just a few cuts and bruises after that attack. It would've been foolish for him to have wrestled, given his high impact style, with the kind of concussion that he had. You can die from hitting or snapping your head funny with a concussion.

As for Hart's buddies on the road, he was closely associated with the likes of Don Murraco, Roddy Piper, and Dynamite Kid early on in his career. Those guys rank up there as some of the most notorious scum the business has ever seen. To a lesser extent, Curt Hennig and Hawk were also two guys who were pretty closely associated with Bret when they were in the WWE and both of those guys are dead too.

And, I'm not trying to say that Scott Hall or Sean Waltman are better than those guys because they've had problems and are alive and those guys are dead. I'm just pointing out that most of the crowd Bret surrounded himself with during various points of his career had problems too and maybe even to a greater degree because they did at very young ages. Bret didn't have this clean cut circle of friends and this clean cut fairytale lifestyle on the road that I think a lot of his fans perceive that he had. He has even more skeletons in his closet from life on the road than even Shawn does.

Shawn being doped up & making an ass of himself hurts who exactly? Himself. Who did Bret's poor choices affect while on the road? Himself, his wife, his family, his children. I would say that is worse than ruining yourself. Most of Bret's family (especially his sisters Diana, Ellie and Alison, and even his bro Bruce. Even Owen, Anvil and Bulldog rolled their eyes when they knew Bret took it way too serious and way too personal) don't really have much good to say about him and the arrogance that he displays by almost putting himself on a level above them everytime he speaks or writes something pertaining to them is sickening. I happen to know quite well that young Harry Smith chooses to approach the likes of Shawn and Triple H when he needs advice or has questions about the business. He could give a rat's ass what uncle Bret has to say.

Bottom line: people can bring up the name Shawn Michaels and talk about his career and great matches without bringing up the name Bret Hart. As of today, people can't bring up the name Bret Hart without something coming up about Shawn Michaels or Montreal. You know who's to blame for that? Bret himself, by being a baby and not putting the past behind him. In a way, he is almost ruining his own legacy because more and more, fans forget about his great career and all they have to cling to is their feelings about Montreal.

Hart only behind Hogan? Lets get serious. He had great scientific matches but for the most part, people turned away from wrestling at that time and he wasn't bringing in money or ratings. I would say that both Hart and Michaels look up to the likes of Hogan, Austin, and The Rock at their respective peaks of popularity and perhaps even Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Graham as well. I really would've liked to have seen Hart and Michaels have a decent roster of talent around them to work with, they really had nobody close to their level during most of their singles careers in the WWE. It would've been nice if guys from the older era like Savage and Perfect could've stayed around a bit longer and it's too bad that guys like The Rock, Austin, Angle, and Triple H came around too late.

I also want to point out that I'm a fan of Bret's work in the ring but I just prefer Michaels' over his. The only thing that gets me riled up in this debate all the time, no matter who I have it with, is when people try to take the high and mighty approach with Bret at Shawn's expense. True, Shawn had an attitude, drug problems, and hung out with a few sketchy characters but Bret's ego never allowed for him to put too many guys over besides his brother and he hung out with some sleazebags during his career too. Neither guy is an angel and neither guy is evil, kind of like I said before, you have to be a little bit of an insecure egomaniac to attain that kind of success in professional wrestling. I think both of these guys are awesome and I'd rather watch a generation of wrestling centered around them than Hogan/Warrior, Austin/Rock, or Cena/Triple H by far. They just never had an abundance of talent around them to work with.

I wonder what would've happened with Bret had he touched Shawn or Triple H. Do you guys think Nash & Hall would've pushed to have him buried when he arrived in WCW, or possibly retaliated in kind? It's something interesting to think about.

I could see Vince doing what he did as a last resort kind of thing if they'd brought up numerous other suggestions and nothing worked, but I really don't think he made that kind of effort to do so; but I do see where he was coming from with what he did to Bret. I don't agree with it though. He made two of the best workers in the history of his company and the two guys that carried his company through a very rough stretch where they were bordering on going out of business look very bad depending on your point of view on the situation.

Here is what I would've done in that situation. The agreed finish (what Bret thought was going to happen heading into the match) was for it to be a double DQ after the Hart Foundation and DX ran in. So, basically Bret was cool with the match not having a definite winner; but as for Vince worrying about him keeping the belt and taking it to WCW/leaving WWE with it, here is what they could've done...

They could've had a similar finish to what happened with Michaels/Bulldog in 1996 with a double pin. The match ends, the ref says one guy (lets say Hart) won but McMahon or Commissioner Slaughter or whoever comes out and says that Michaels won. You have a heated debate in the ring that results in Michaels and Hart getting into it before anything can get settled, then you have the Hart Foundation and DX come out as was planned before. Amidst the chaos, the match can't be re-started and the show goes off the air with no clear winner.

Since there is no clear winner, they are left with no other choice but to vacate it the next night on RAW. From a storyline purpose (to explain Bret leaving for WCW), you could have Bret be so enraged with this decision that he felt "screwed over" and had finally had it with the WWE and "quits" and shows up in WCW weeks later. The WWE could've then had a tournament or whatever to crown a new champion and they could've put the belt on Michaels that way.

I think that way, you get the belt on Michaels without him beating Bret/Bret dropping it to him, nobody gets screwed over, you are able to "explain" why one of the biggest stars left for another company in a storyline sense, and by doing it that way, you leave the door open for a possible return from Hart "out of vengeance" if he ever decided that he wanted to come back.

I also forgot to mention that on that Kevin Nash shoot interview, he sang Bret's praises more than anything. He said if he would've been booking at the time when Bret came to WCW, he would've put the belt on him right away. He said WCW was a heel factory and Bret was coming in with a ton of momentum and would've been a legit company champ to run through the NWO. He said they could've had him feud with him, Hall, Hogan, anybody.

Nash doesn't use it as a time to brag himself up, he actually pokes fun at himself quite a bit. He talks about how whether he felt people were mad about the "1 finger finish" between he and Hogan and he goes "Yeah right, we really cheated them out of the epic Nash/Hogan battle... like that would've been a real barn burner."

Another interesting thing he talks about, which I find is interesting because he is a good friend of Shawn's, is that he feels Montreal (or at least parts of it) were a work. He said there's no way Vince would've allowed himself to look the way he did in certain scenes of the documentary (staggering, beat up, etc...) unless he was behind it.

ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNsKmeq6Shsru7zZ5lnKedZMGpvsSam6xnlJ6xbq7RnqtmoJGnwW6u0aKloGWknbJuv8KrnLCin5d6tLXTrpitoZ%2BjerC6jKGgpquVobNvf5Fsb2trX6WuqLGMbQ%3D%3D

 Share!