“On Nov. 9, 1997, the professional wrestling industry changed forever.”

November 10, 2017 1:36 PM

Twenty years later, Shawn Michaels reflects on the Montreal Screwjob. [ESPN] “In the midst of the most heated days of the "Monday Night Wars" between World Wrestling Entertainment (then the WWF) and World Championship Wrestling, money and contract issues led Bret Hart and Vince McMahon to an impasse. McMahon needed to get the title off of Hart before he left for WCW, and Hart refused to lose the title to Shawn Michaels, his most bitter rival, in front of a pay-per-view crowd in Montreal, feeling that a loss in such a Canadian stronghold would be devastating for his on-screen persona. In the lead-up to Survivor Series, there were several different ideas thrown around as solutions. Hart suggested he could instead lose to Steve Austin, or perhaps drop the title to Michaels at a live event in Detroit the night before. But once it became clear that they couldn't come to terms on a solution, the wheels were set in motion for a moment that would forever alter two companies, countless wrestlers' careers and, ultimately, set the WWE on a path toward becoming a multibillion-dollar brand.” [WWE][Autoplay Video]

• Montreal Screwjob and Most Controversial Moments Ever [Bleacher Report]

“Hart, who had recently signed a contract to join the rival World Championship Wrestling, had refused to drop the WWE title to Michaels. As fans would later find out in the documentary Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows and Hart's autobiography Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, he had made numerous offers to drop the title to other Superstars or under different circumstances. He would not, though, lose to Michaels in Canada. Feeling as though there were no other options available, McMahon conspired with Michaels and Hebner to perpetrate a screwjob of massive proportions that is still mimicked and talked about some 20 years later. Hart would become a hero in the wake of the infamous incident, while McMahon would turn the hatred fans had for him following the event into one of the vilest and most ruthless villains in WWE history. From a long-term creative standpoint, it was beneficial.”

• It's The 20th Anniversary Of The Montreal Screwjob [Sports Illustrated]

“It wasn't so much about what took place that Sunday night. It was what happened the next week on Monday Night Raw, when McMahon gave the famous, "Bret Screwed Brett" interview to Jim Ross. Not only did that segment pull the entire curtain ALL the way back on how pro wrestling works with pre-determined outcomes and storylines (since McMahon called out Hart for refusing to lose his Survivor Series match to Michaels), but it created the "Mr. McMahon" character, which went on to feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin -- a feud that basically let the WWE print money. With all due respect to Hulk Hogan joining the NWO, the Montreal Screwjob turned out to be the biggest moment in pro wrestling history.”

• He didn’t tap! Dude, he didn’t tap! Bret didn’t tap! [SB Nation]

“We sat gobsmacked in front of the TV. Michaels was the new WWF Champion. We didn’t know that Hart was going to WCW, or that he’d been screwed over — we sure as heck didn’t understand why Hart spat at McMahon. The business of wrestling was a foggy construct to us, partially known and understood, but buried under childhood glee and belief. We refused to believe things were staged. What we saw on TV looked so real, especially moments like this one. Talking through the conclusion there was only one way for a heartbroken sports fan to process it: The ref screwed up. It’s a rite of passage for any young fan of any sport — it’s always the ref’s fault. The screwjob hadn’t just taken the title away from Hart. It took away our wrestling innocence. After the broadcast ended Hart stood fuming in the ring. He traced out the letters W-C-W, and said “I love you” to the adoring crowd, on their feet for their countryman.”

posted by Fizz (15 comments total)

I already know WAY too much about this. Not because I am a wrestling fan (I am not), but I find the whole kayfabe thing fascinating and fascinating = have to obsessive research in the Samizdataverse.
posted by Samizdata at 1:45 PM on November 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

So McMahon and the WWF pretty much admitted the whole enterprise was a FRAUD and then it took off into greater success and American ubiquity. So much of what's wrong with America can be traced back to the Fake Wrestling Business, and that is why I absolutely refuse to support anything a WWE Fraudster, current or past, is involved with. Dwayne Johnson? FRAUD. John Cena? FRAUD. There are no good guys there.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:17 PM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

WHO KNEW WRESTLING WAS FAKE?!?!!?!?!?!
posted by grumpybear69 at 5:27 PM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Er, Vince McMahon admitted the stuff was predetermined back in 1989 so that wrestling shows would stop being regulated by Athletic Commissions. Johnson started his career in 1995 and Cena in 1999, after kayfabe had been revealed.

Also, I'm not sure wrestling has that much to do with what is wrong or right in the world; it used to be huge in Quebec and the UK, but isn't anymore, yet there's plenty wrong with these two places. Wrestling has remained popular in Japan and Mexico, and both have issues, but both are pretty different from the US.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:30 PM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Wait, the wrestling on my TV isn’t a genuine competition? Next think you’ll tell me is those guys on AMC aren’t really running from zombies.

In his book, Mick Foley said he and presumably some of his coworkers thought about quitting in solidarity. Then they realized that Bret was going to be making millions of dollars in WCW, so he’d be OK.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:47 PM on November 10, 2017

A business model now playing the White House.
posted by Freedomboy at 5:49 PM on November 10, 2017

Mod note: oneswellfoop, you need to step out of this conversation. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 8:26 PM on November 10, 2017

Vince McMahon is a piece of shit, don't get me wrong, and plenty of ugliness was aired under the WWE banner - I wouldn't say I'm exactly a superfan myself. Given that, though, the particular angle comes off oddly especially since the scripted nature of wrestling was an open secret (if not just open) a good while before any of the performers you implicated were on TV. And it's not like the athletic feats are totally fake, exactly - they're just, you know, collaborating more than competing.
posted by atoxyl at 8:28 PM on November 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know it's not the most popular opinion, but we were a WCW house. I miss them.
posted by bongo_x at 9:14 PM on November 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

And it's not like the athletic feats are totally fake, exactly - they're just, you know, collaborating more than competing.

Seriously, even if you feel compelled to scream FAKE IT'S FAKE WHY CAN'T YOU SEE IT'S FAKE you should at least be able to appreciate the athleticism and technical skill that goes into it.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:12 AM on November 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Herzog warned us
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:02 AM on November 11, 2017

I know it's not the most popular opinion, but we were a WCW house. I miss them.

It's a little-known fact that if you watched Monday Nitro, Thursday Thunder, and WCW Saturday Night for 3 weeks in a row you automatically got inducted into the NWO. That's just how WCW rolled.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:30 AM on November 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Pierre Falardeau's Continuons le combat (31 minutes), a look at Montreal wrestling (inc. short appearances by André the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher and Mad Dog Vachon) back in 1971 is a commentary on the Quebec society of the time as well as a pretty good takedown of kayfabe, without actually calling it explicitly.

By 1997 the golden age of Montreal wrestling was just a memory, with only a few prominent wrestlers in WWF over the years (the Rougeau brothers, the Quebecers, Luna Vachon).
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 9:58 AM on November 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Another interesting look at kayfabe in the 1970s is this article on the October 1975 plane crash involving the up and coming Ric Flair along with three other wrestlers and a promoter. At the end there is some discussion of how they tried to maintain kayfabe even though there were supposed rivals together on the plane. I especially liked the story of Flair’s rival Wahoo McDaniel visiting him in the hospital and the staff considered calling the police for fear a real life fight would break out.
posted by TedW at 4:21 AM on November 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

A weird thing is that in all the time I was a casual wrestling fan I never heard the term "kayfabe" until MF the last couple of years. I know it's an old term, but I always heard the term "work".
posted by bongo_x at 10:12 PM on November 12, 2017 [1 favorite]