Vinny Lupton
Superstar
Meltzer shed some light on this dead horse this week. Basically the gist of it was that 1) VInce knew Bret would never be able to show up on Nitro with the WWF title so there was other reasons for the screwjob (hint: it was a work) and 2) Surv Series 97 wasnt even gonna be Bret's last night on his WWF contract
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Layfield, and he’s not alone in this, believed the WWF internal story was always that they had to do to Bret Hart what they did in Montreal because he was going to show up on Nitro the next day, with the WWF title belt and as champion. If you believed that story, then Vince McMahon was, in fact, backed into a corner, and had no choice. Except it’s not true.
The confusing thing for all the WWF wrestlers and those who were misled, was that Hart never showed up on Nitro until six weeks later, which was never answered by those in WWF to talent.
Layfield asked why that was the case. And Bischoff didn’t remember why either, or perhaps he did, but couldn’t say because if he did, it would screw up a WWF version of history that doesn’t concern him and protect somebody that he now doesn’t like.
Bischoff did remember enough to say he never could have put Hart on television with the title belt because of litigation. Bischoff, perhaps because Hart has always been critical of him, saying he knew nothing at all about wrestling and wasn’t fit to run a wrestling company, was not going to tell his version of history that would be complimentary of Hart regarding Montreal. That’s funny, because at the time, when it went down, he was completely, behind the scenes, positive toward Hart.
Bischoff has told people over the years he never could have put Hart with the belt on television, but said that perhaps McMahon wasn’t aware of that, giving McMahon wiggle room.
Of course, that’s completely ridiculous. The entire legal status of a championship belt was decided in court in 1991 when McMahon had put Flair on television with the NWA world title belt. Flair was fired in a dispute with Herd, after he was trying to get a contract extension to agree to drop the title to Luger on PPV. Herd, fed up, then ordered Flair to drop the title instead, out of the blue, on television, to Barry Windham, with the idea Flair would do so because Windham was his friend. Flair said he wasn’t going to go and was fired. Flair also claimed that he actually owned the belt itself since he paid the deposit for it and was never paid back. He made the deal with McMahon. Ironically, Herd realized that he screwed up and went back to Flair weeks later, and offered him far more than McMahon did, and significantly more than Flair has asked for in the first place, but by then Flair was mentally out of there.
McMahon put Flair, with the belt, on television. WCW sued, and won, and it was determined in court that a championship belt is the intellectual property of the promotion. McMahon tried to get around the ruling by making a new, virtually identical looking belt, and had Flair go on television with it. WCW went back to court, won again, and McMahon had to blur out the belt on television shows already taped. Flair later made appearances as the “real world champion” but wearing a WWF tag team title belt. Eventually Flair won the WWF title so this was a moot point.
Later, when Bischoff had Madusa throw the WWF women’s title in the garbage can, WWF sued over that and many other things. Because it wasn’t a simple case, it was still going in 1997. But to buy the idea Hart would be allowed on Nitro with the belt required McMahon to not only not know the 1991 court ruling that he lost, but also be unaware of the lawsuit he was in the middle of.
Hart couldn’t even appear on Nitro because his WWF contract didn’t expire for three more weeks, and Bischoff himself had worked out a one week extension that would have allowed Hart to drop the title at the December 7, 1997, PPV show which was the agreed upon plan.
It was only because McMahon breached Hart’s contract on November 9, 1997, in Montreal, that it ended up being Hart’s last night with the promotion. Because of the movie, “Wrestling with Shadows,” dramatizing the idea that Hart got screwed on his last night, “the story” is that it was McMahon’s last chance to have Hart drop the title. From that perspective, in the middle of a wrestling war, he probably had to do what he did. It’s that version of history that in time has been sympathetic to McMahon, plus the fact that title belts mean far less now and the meaning of wins and losses have been devalued. Watching “Wrestling with Shadows” today makes the whole thing look silly, about two men fighting over the fake ending of a fake championship match and both treating it like it’s something big. But in 1997, it was very different.
Hart was, in fact, agreeable to dropping the title on any date once they left Canada, whether PPV, Raw or house show, over the next month, and had creative control in his contract, meaning all booking decisions had to be mutually agreed upon between he and McMahon. And either way, he could have never appeared on Nitro with the belt, nor gone to Nitro the next night. Even though Hart’s actual WWE contract expired on November 30, because of that December 7 agreement, Hart didn’t appear on Nitro until December 15.
The fact is that even the top people in WWF were misled by McMahon, as well as the wrestlers. Vince Russo at the time even wrote in the WWF Magazine how mad he was that I had turned more than half the company’s employees against Vince on such a hot-button issue, but Vince had to do it to foil Bischoff’s plan the next night.
Many years later, when Hart returned to WWE headquarters to do a taping for the DVD, Marcy Engelstein, Hart’s business manager and publicist, who probably had more big picture knowledge of everything going down at the time than anyone except possibly Hart, bumped into Shane McMahon, who she hadn’t seen since 1997.
The subject of the split came up and Shane (who was there and quickly broke up the fight in the dressing room between Vince and Bret Hart, although not before Bret knocked Vince out and Vince, in falling, also tripped and suffered a broken ankle) was naturally sad things went the way they did. Hart and the company were estranged for years because Hart was such a major star, and well liked overall. Of course, the subject of Montreal then came up. Shane talked about how it was sad the way things happened, but they had no choice, because Bret had refused to drop the title and was going on Nitro the next day with the belt. She was stunned, because it was one of the top people in the company and Vince’s own son who was telling her the fictitious storyline for the boys, like it was actually what happened.
She explained he was still under contract and very willing to drop the title, and couldn’t have taken the belt to Nitro, or legally appeared on Nitro until the next month. The description is that even with the explanation, that Shane was so indoctrinated with the story he knew, that he was unable to accept what he’d grown to believe for all those years was made up.
That also changes the entire narrative of what McMahon had told his talent to turn them toward him and against Hart, and would also change Bischoff saying under the circumstances, he’d have done the same thing. Well, clearly he wouldn’t have, because in WCW, guys left and right, refused to do jobs for certain guys on certain days, and there was never once a double-cross, so history tells a completely different story. Kevin Nash, who would do jobs at house shows but guarded himself on TV and PPV, used to laugh about Flair, comparing him to a cheap hooker at the time because he’d do whatever they asked, and would say that once you establish that, you’ll always be the one asked.
Bischoff only said they were on the wrong end of a federal trademark lawsuit so he couldn’t have done it.
Layfield said that, “In fairness to Bret, he hated Shawn. I loved Bret but I disagree with him on that one particular issue.”
Bischoff said that he didn’t even want Hart on Nitro, but signed him to be the flagship star on Thunder (which aired its first episode on January 8, 1998). While that is kind of true in the sense there was vague talk of split crews and Hart as the star on Thunder, they never did split crews at all. Also, the idea that Hart was signed specifically because they needed more stars for Thunder is hardly the case. Hart and Bischoff had very serious talks in 1996, when Bischoff offered Hart a three-year contract at $2.8 million per year, and McMahon countered with the 20 year contract starting at $1.5 million per year as long as he was active and a significantly lesser amount to stay with the company for the rest of the period after retirement. That was the contract with the creative control clause negotiated in, and the contract McMahon asked to be changed in 1997 and then gave Hart permission to negotiate with Bischoff because the company was losing money and he needed to make some cuts to secure an outside loan to continue. As it turned out, by the time Montreal came around, the company was profitable again due to raising PPV prices (which led to an increase in buys at the same time) and no longer needed Hart’s salary off the books. But by that point Hart had a new three year deal from Bischoff at $2.5 million per year.
Bischoff described Hart in WCW as a shell of the Bret Hart from WWE. “I never worked with him in WWE, I don’t know what he was like backstage in WWE. He was borderline morose, even watching him interact with the talent, he was a broken down shell of himself.”
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TLDR: it was a work, brother
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Layfield, and he’s not alone in this, believed the WWF internal story was always that they had to do to Bret Hart what they did in Montreal because he was going to show up on Nitro the next day, with the WWF title belt and as champion. If you believed that story, then Vince McMahon was, in fact, backed into a corner, and had no choice. Except it’s not true.
The confusing thing for all the WWF wrestlers and those who were misled, was that Hart never showed up on Nitro until six weeks later, which was never answered by those in WWF to talent.
Layfield asked why that was the case. And Bischoff didn’t remember why either, or perhaps he did, but couldn’t say because if he did, it would screw up a WWF version of history that doesn’t concern him and protect somebody that he now doesn’t like.
Bischoff did remember enough to say he never could have put Hart on television with the title belt because of litigation. Bischoff, perhaps because Hart has always been critical of him, saying he knew nothing at all about wrestling and wasn’t fit to run a wrestling company, was not going to tell his version of history that would be complimentary of Hart regarding Montreal. That’s funny, because at the time, when it went down, he was completely, behind the scenes, positive toward Hart.
Bischoff has told people over the years he never could have put Hart with the belt on television, but said that perhaps McMahon wasn’t aware of that, giving McMahon wiggle room.
Of course, that’s completely ridiculous. The entire legal status of a championship belt was decided in court in 1991 when McMahon had put Flair on television with the NWA world title belt. Flair was fired in a dispute with Herd, after he was trying to get a contract extension to agree to drop the title to Luger on PPV. Herd, fed up, then ordered Flair to drop the title instead, out of the blue, on television, to Barry Windham, with the idea Flair would do so because Windham was his friend. Flair said he wasn’t going to go and was fired. Flair also claimed that he actually owned the belt itself since he paid the deposit for it and was never paid back. He made the deal with McMahon. Ironically, Herd realized that he screwed up and went back to Flair weeks later, and offered him far more than McMahon did, and significantly more than Flair has asked for in the first place, but by then Flair was mentally out of there.
McMahon put Flair, with the belt, on television. WCW sued, and won, and it was determined in court that a championship belt is the intellectual property of the promotion. McMahon tried to get around the ruling by making a new, virtually identical looking belt, and had Flair go on television with it. WCW went back to court, won again, and McMahon had to blur out the belt on television shows already taped. Flair later made appearances as the “real world champion” but wearing a WWF tag team title belt. Eventually Flair won the WWF title so this was a moot point.
Later, when Bischoff had Madusa throw the WWF women’s title in the garbage can, WWF sued over that and many other things. Because it wasn’t a simple case, it was still going in 1997. But to buy the idea Hart would be allowed on Nitro with the belt required McMahon to not only not know the 1991 court ruling that he lost, but also be unaware of the lawsuit he was in the middle of.
Hart couldn’t even appear on Nitro because his WWF contract didn’t expire for three more weeks, and Bischoff himself had worked out a one week extension that would have allowed Hart to drop the title at the December 7, 1997, PPV show which was the agreed upon plan.
It was only because McMahon breached Hart’s contract on November 9, 1997, in Montreal, that it ended up being Hart’s last night with the promotion. Because of the movie, “Wrestling with Shadows,” dramatizing the idea that Hart got screwed on his last night, “the story” is that it was McMahon’s last chance to have Hart drop the title. From that perspective, in the middle of a wrestling war, he probably had to do what he did. It’s that version of history that in time has been sympathetic to McMahon, plus the fact that title belts mean far less now and the meaning of wins and losses have been devalued. Watching “Wrestling with Shadows” today makes the whole thing look silly, about two men fighting over the fake ending of a fake championship match and both treating it like it’s something big. But in 1997, it was very different.
Hart was, in fact, agreeable to dropping the title on any date once they left Canada, whether PPV, Raw or house show, over the next month, and had creative control in his contract, meaning all booking decisions had to be mutually agreed upon between he and McMahon. And either way, he could have never appeared on Nitro with the belt, nor gone to Nitro the next night. Even though Hart’s actual WWE contract expired on November 30, because of that December 7 agreement, Hart didn’t appear on Nitro until December 15.
The fact is that even the top people in WWF were misled by McMahon, as well as the wrestlers. Vince Russo at the time even wrote in the WWF Magazine how mad he was that I had turned more than half the company’s employees against Vince on such a hot-button issue, but Vince had to do it to foil Bischoff’s plan the next night.
Many years later, when Hart returned to WWE headquarters to do a taping for the DVD, Marcy Engelstein, Hart’s business manager and publicist, who probably had more big picture knowledge of everything going down at the time than anyone except possibly Hart, bumped into Shane McMahon, who she hadn’t seen since 1997.
The subject of the split came up and Shane (who was there and quickly broke up the fight in the dressing room between Vince and Bret Hart, although not before Bret knocked Vince out and Vince, in falling, also tripped and suffered a broken ankle) was naturally sad things went the way they did. Hart and the company were estranged for years because Hart was such a major star, and well liked overall. Of course, the subject of Montreal then came up. Shane talked about how it was sad the way things happened, but they had no choice, because Bret had refused to drop the title and was going on Nitro the next day with the belt. She was stunned, because it was one of the top people in the company and Vince’s own son who was telling her the fictitious storyline for the boys, like it was actually what happened.
She explained he was still under contract and very willing to drop the title, and couldn’t have taken the belt to Nitro, or legally appeared on Nitro until the next month. The description is that even with the explanation, that Shane was so indoctrinated with the story he knew, that he was unable to accept what he’d grown to believe for all those years was made up.
That also changes the entire narrative of what McMahon had told his talent to turn them toward him and against Hart, and would also change Bischoff saying under the circumstances, he’d have done the same thing. Well, clearly he wouldn’t have, because in WCW, guys left and right, refused to do jobs for certain guys on certain days, and there was never once a double-cross, so history tells a completely different story. Kevin Nash, who would do jobs at house shows but guarded himself on TV and PPV, used to laugh about Flair, comparing him to a cheap hooker at the time because he’d do whatever they asked, and would say that once you establish that, you’ll always be the one asked.
Bischoff only said they were on the wrong end of a federal trademark lawsuit so he couldn’t have done it.
Layfield said that, “In fairness to Bret, he hated Shawn. I loved Bret but I disagree with him on that one particular issue.”
Bischoff said that he didn’t even want Hart on Nitro, but signed him to be the flagship star on Thunder (which aired its first episode on January 8, 1998). While that is kind of true in the sense there was vague talk of split crews and Hart as the star on Thunder, they never did split crews at all. Also, the idea that Hart was signed specifically because they needed more stars for Thunder is hardly the case. Hart and Bischoff had very serious talks in 1996, when Bischoff offered Hart a three-year contract at $2.8 million per year, and McMahon countered with the 20 year contract starting at $1.5 million per year as long as he was active and a significantly lesser amount to stay with the company for the rest of the period after retirement. That was the contract with the creative control clause negotiated in, and the contract McMahon asked to be changed in 1997 and then gave Hart permission to negotiate with Bischoff because the company was losing money and he needed to make some cuts to secure an outside loan to continue. As it turned out, by the time Montreal came around, the company was profitable again due to raising PPV prices (which led to an increase in buys at the same time) and no longer needed Hart’s salary off the books. But by that point Hart had a new three year deal from Bischoff at $2.5 million per year.
Bischoff described Hart in WCW as a shell of the Bret Hart from WWE. “I never worked with him in WWE, I don’t know what he was like backstage in WWE. He was borderline morose, even watching him interact with the talent, he was a broken down shell of himself.”
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TLDR: it was a work, brother
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WORK YOUR MARKS INTO SHOOT BELIEVING THE SHOOT WAS A WORK, BROTHER!
