The most controversial moment in WWF history came when owner, Vince McMahon, re-arranged the outcome of the World Heavyweight Championship match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Held in Montreal Canada, the outcome of the match was changed without the knowledge of champion Bret Hart who was departing the WWF for WCW the following night. Despite the story un-folding before our eyes, it was the fact it was a real life story which made the screwjob arguably the most infamous moment in WWF history. During 1997, Hart was now in his fourteenth year with the company but had recently signed a new ten-year contract with Vince. The move enabled Hart to stay with the WWF right up until retirement but a major role would also be there afterwards. He also refused a $8million deal with rival company, WCW, based over three-years.
Less than a year into the new deal, Vince had to change his mind regarding the contract as entering the company onto the stock exchange meant he now had to change any long-term agreements. McMahon was keen to honour a potential agreement with Hart and re-negotiate a deal but after discussing the move Hart became frustrated with the company's direction and also where they aimed to go with his character in the future. Hart resigned and negotiated a deal with Eric Bischoff about jumping ship from Raw to Nitro.
A tense situation soon followed as Hart was in-fact the WWF champion however with his contract due to start one month after Survivor Series, McMahon was keen to insure the lack of discredit that would go with the belt. He aimed to avoid a similar situation to that of Alundra Blayze who dumped the WWF Women's Championship into a bin live on Nitro.
With Shawn Michaels the number one contender for the championship, Hart was requested to drop the title to his arch-rival in Montreal but it was refused. Hart claimed that he simply didn't want to drop the belt in Canada and would in-fact do so in live on Raw the night following the Pay-Per-View. It was also widely known that Bret wasn't keen on dropping the belt to a guy whom he had rivaled with for years and cowardly betrayed Hart professionally and as a friend on numerous occasions. The strong disliking stemmed back to February when Michaels dropped the title belt requiring time off for a 'knee injury' which Hart claims to this day was a way of avoiding him losing the belt clean to Hart at Wrestlemania XIII.
Hart to his credit had offered to drop the belt in the United States prior to the event just so he didn't have to lose the title in his home country of Canada. With his departure leaked to fans, McMahon was cautious regarding Bischoff as he would have loved nothing more than to get one over Vince when the rivalry was so high.
One day prior to the event McMahon, Michaels and Pat Patterson seemingly met in a hotel room in Montreal to discuss the following night's events. It's unclear whether the Screwjob was set up during the meeting as there has since been reports that Patterson was not involved due to his affection for Hart. It was arranged between Patterson and Bret however that he would allow Michaels to place him in the sharpshooter before he would then counter it. The match was arranged to end in disqualification following an interference from Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart.
Cautious regarding the night due to his lack of trust in Michaels, Hart approached referee Earl Hebner prior to the match and asked him if anything was planned to screw him. Hebner replied by swearing by his children's lives that he knew of nothing of such. Michaels later confirmed that Hebner was only informed prior to the even commencing so he in-fact had not lied to Hart when asked. Hebner claimed in 2003 he didn't even know and only followed McMahon's orders. Knowing what was about to follow afterwards, Hebner soon fled the ring and returned to his hotel room.
Hart had been warned of a potential screwjob by Vadar as well as Davey Boy Smith and informed him to be alert and not to lie down for too long to avoid fast counts as similar events used to occur in Japan. Following ten minutes of the match, referee Earl Hebner was pushed to the ground and seemingly knocked out. With Michaels set to place Hart in the sharpshooter, Hebner was ordered up by the match director with Hart not second thinking anything at this stage.
Once in the sharpshooter, Michaels was supposed to offer his leg for him to be able to counter the move, but Michaels refused. At this stage Hebner returned to his feet and ordered the bell to be rung. The stunned announcer was then ordered by McMahon who was now ring-side to "ring the fucking bell" which he soon did so. Michaels theme music began to play and was announced as the winner and new champion. Hebner had already returned backstage at this time and Michaels had received the bell and was ordered backstage. McMahon soon followed leaving Hart in the ring before he trashed up ring-side equipment and traced W-C-W into the air before being calmed down by brother and brother-in-law, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog.
A dressing-room fallout was to incur with Rick Rude departing for WCW as he remained a close friend of Bret. Mick Foley refused to go on Raw the following night but later returned the following week. The situation remained unsettled under 2003 when Hart suffered a stroke but McMahon put their differences aside to contract 'The Hitman' to offer his regards and wishes. The pair began to patch up their differences and Hart returned to the ring briefly in 2009.
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