Um...i think he had creative control. So it had to be agreed and Michaels didn't want to do a job back. There is just no way Hart can be in the wrong in the situation...thats why they sunk to deception to maneuver him out of the company.
Yup, you're right, he did have creative control.
But here's the thing ... he claimed he was willing to drop the belt before he left, but not in Canada. Presumably because he thought the entire nation would be devastated when he lost a scripted wrestling match. With all due respect to the dude, that was pretty delusional.
His actual preference was to not lose in the ring, and just show up on Raw and hand over the belt in his final WWF appearance. Being a traditionalist, and understanding how these things traditionally work, he had to know that was unacceptable.
He also had to know how important this all was to Vince. And that Vince was very capable of getting that belt on Shawn, in the ring, by any means necessary.
Bret should have agreed to lose the belt in the ring, regardless of whatever control he had. His life would have been a lot less stressful.
I actually like Bret. But even though he had that creative control, I'll always believe he was wrong to handle it the way he did. The "creative control" excuse is really just Bret hiding behind technicalities.