by Hatter X
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

"Tradition Broken: What if Bret had left the WWF 
with the World Title!"

…Or

"Bret Screws Vince!"

“I said ring the fucking bell!”

Famous words uttered by Vince McMahon, in route to pulling off the biggest screw-job in pro-wrestling history. After months of back and forth negotiations between WWF owner, Vince McMahon and 14-year WWF veteran and current 5-time champion, Bret Hart couldn’t come to terms on the ending of one of the most anticipated matches in WWF history. With a WCW contract in his future, Bret Hart wanted to leave the company that made him a star while on top. Vince McMahon had another plan in mind. McMahon wanted Hart to drop his title and fulfill the “time honored tradition”, of putting over the chosen territory star on the way out. With neither man willing to budge on their stance, the two parties agreed to a compromise. The match was to end with Bret Hart and his challenger, hated real-life enemy Shawn Michaels, fighting to a double disqualification, leading to Hart turning over the WWF Title to Vince McMahon the next night on Raw, when he would then say goodbye to his fans. As we all know, the moment was never to occur, because Vince McMahon instead ordered senior referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell, at a compromising moment, against the wishes of Bret Hart and force a title change. In the end, the move seemed brilliant. Hart left for WCW a martyr, receiving a healthy contract and a much lighter work schedule. Meanwhile, Vince McMahon was transformed into an on-screen megalomaniac owner and evil rival to future top baby faces. Hart contends that McMahon had intended to screw him over from the beginning. McMahon claims fear that Hart would’ve been coerced with untold riches to desecrate the WWF Title on WCW TV the next night. As 1998 dawned, the industry questioned the chances of the WWF to survive amidst the negative backlash from industry insiders and the loss of one of the last remnants of the “Hogan Era”. Today, Bret Hart is a retired and financially comfortable, in light of his utterly disappointing WCW run. Today, Vince McMahon and the WWF are healthy, and remains the major player in the North American wrestling industry.

But the question before us today is this: What if the infamous Montreal screw job never happened? What if Bret Hart had been allowed to keep the WWF title which he promised to hand over to Vince McMahon? What if Vince McMahon hadn’t given in to paranoia and trusted Bret Hart, only to see his worst fears realized? Yes, for in this reality Vince McMahon’s worst fears were indeed realized. In this reality, Bret Hart would get his way, only to betray his fans, his family and his long-time promoter and self-professed “father figure”, Vince McMahon. In this edition of Timeline, we explore a world in which Bret Hart left the WWF with the World Title and ask the question, “What if Bret Screwed Vince?”

Timeline: November 9, 1997

Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The Montreal crowd erupted as DX members; Triple H and Chyna hit the ring to attack Bret Hart, saving Shawn Michaels from a “Sharpshooter” submission. Moments later, The Hart Foundation hit the ring and a free-for-all breaks out that clears the locker room as the Pay-Per-View goes off the air. Vince McMahon watched the monitor from backstage with a smile on his face and yet with a hint of trepidation, as he had just put on his last show with Bret Hart competing actively; and was now looking forward to tomorrow night’s Raw, in which Bret would be handing over the WWF Title to McMahon. McMahon thought that he had done the right thing… the right thing for Bret, the right thing for the WWF and the right thing for wrestling. Yes, he was sure about that. However, just a few weeks earlier, he had some slight reservations, as he wanted to have Shawn Michaels take the belt from Hart and go on to hold the belt through Wrestle Mania, where he would drop it to Steve Austin. But, after a long talk with Bret, in which Hart expressed his need to go out on top, to walk away from a less than fruitful last year in the WWF with his head held high, and no tarnish on his character. Vince understood Hart’s line of thinking and expressed that he was extremely grateful for Bret’s 14-year plus dedication to the WWF. Vince decided to let Bret have his way and was indeed looking forward to the moment when Hart would hand over the belt, say goodbye to his fans and leave the WWF a real legend. However, that was not to be.

REWIND

Earlier that day, Shawn Michaels and Triple H warned McMahon, that a plan was afoot to discredit the WWF and make Vince McMahon look like an idiot. Michaels & triple H claimed that they had it on good, reliable sources that Hart had accepted a very lucrative amount of money to no-show Raw and walk out on Nitro with the WWF title, where he would join The NWO and along with it’s members, would then desecrate the belt and soil the McMahon name. Vince expressed his reluctance to believe such a tale, until Shawn informed him that their sources where former WWF employees and loyal Clique members, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall. McMahon in a panic, confronted Hart with the allegations and Hart vehemently denied the story and pleaded the case to Vince that Michaels and his friends were trying to concoct a way to change the match outcome and put themselves over. McMahon points to the instances with Lex Luger walking out on the first edition of Nitro; Medusa, the former Alundra Blayze, dropping her WWF women’s Title in the trash can on Nitro. Vince pleads his case to Bret as to why he would be suspicious of Bischoff and WCW where Hart is concerned. Bret understands but he again denies the story whole heartedly and as proof of his loyalty, shows McMahon his plane ticket to be on Raw tomorrow night. McMahon relents and the match will go one as planned.

FAST FORWARD

November 10, 1997, Raw is War, the scene of the biggest double cross in history. Vince McMahon stands alone in the ring, in front of a sellout crowd, as the “Hitman” music roars to begin the show, with the interview that should see Bret Hart, the WWF Champion, hand over his gold and leave a hero. But instead, we see a frantic Pat Patterson run to the ring and wave Vince McMahon from the ring. Jim Ross doesn’t understand what is happening and then he informs us that we are going to commercial. Meanwhile, backstage, Vince McMahon joins a group of talent huddled around a couple of monitors where they are watching WCW Monday Nitro, as The NWO and Eric Bischoff stand in the ring to welcome their newest member. The familiar music hits and out walks Bret Hart, in an NWO T-shirt, carrying the WWF Title. The talent around the monitor begins to back away as McMahon stays transfixed on the screen. Hart lays the belt on the ground and each member of the radical group takes a turn spitting on the gold and shaking Hart’s hand. McMahon can’t believe what he is seeing, as the man he trusted is now stabbing him in the back. Shawn Michaels is throwing a fit backstage as well, saying to anyone who will listen that HE told Vince this would happen. Someone screams to Vince that they are back from commercial and they need something or someone to send out there. Panic ensues as Patterson scrambles and sends out Steve Austin and Ken Shamrock to wrestle. But amidst the chaos, McMahon stays transfixed on what he is watching as Hart is given a microphone and explains his actions.

“Many of you are confused as to why I’m here. I’m sure most of you watched last night as I beat the hell out of that piece of s**t Shawn Michaels. But tonight I don’t care about Michaels, or DX, or any of that WWF garbage… the only thing I want to talk about tonight is my former employer, and that’s you Vince McMahon. Yeah Vince, you. I know your watching this right now, I know you can’t believe that I lied to you and told you I would be here. But I want to clue you in on a little bit of history. You lied to me first. Do you remember that day in your office, in your big, spacious, office up in Titan Towers? Do you remember what you told me that day back in October of 1996? You told me that you’d do anything you could for me if I’d come back and save your sinking ship from the iceberg that was destroying it. Do you remember that? You told me how grateful you were for my sticking around and not coming to WCW then. You said I was a legend and you wanted me to leave a legacy that I could be proud of, that my kids could be proud of. You said that Shawn Michaels and his friends had acted as an iceberg and had blasted a whole in the WWF ship and it was sinking… the TITAN-ic, you called it. So I came back and you did what you said you’d do you put me in a top position with Steve Austin and you set me up to regain my title from Michaels. But then what happened Vinny? I’ll tell you what happened, you let Michaels manipulate you into allowing him to drop the title with that phony “I lost my smile” speech and I got stuck facing Austin again, while those no selling-slugs Undertaker and Sid bored the hell out of the crowd and lead Wrestle Mania 13 to the worst buy rate for a Wrestle Mania in history. That was your fault Vince. Then I figured you’d finally allow me to regain my place at the top, but you know what you did? You put your faith in a guy with a blasphemous catch phrase, a gutter-mouth punk whose only trick is using his middle finger, while I, Bret Hart was forced to cut profanity laced promos and turn my back on my fans. Do you call that gratitude, Vince? My family, and myself… forced to play heels while we disgrace our reputations and insult our audience’s intelligence. Do you call that leaving a legacy? Are my kids supposed to be proud of what their father was doing during the summer of 1997? Comparing Pittsburgh to an as**ole and being implicated in a racist angle with a militant black group? Is that something to be proud of? I’m sure you might say to yourself “I don’t think what you’re doing right now is something to be proud of” but you know what Vince, it is and I’ll tell you why. Because I’m standing up for the boys. I’m standing up for everyone that you’ve ever screwed, everyone you’ve ever lied too. I’m standing up for Sammartino, Graham, Backlund, Snuka, Hogan, Piper, Savage, Andre, DiBiase, and anyone else you’ve taken to the cleaners. But most of all I’m standing up for me. I’m standing up for 14 years of service that I supplied to you and the WWF, all the while getting no recognition and zero thanks. So I hope that your decline into the filth and raunch that you’ve chosen to showcase above the good, wholesome, family viewing that you built your name on works out for you, because I won’t be watching and the legions of my fans won’t be watching either. Oh and before I forget, -as he picks up the title- I wanted to make sure you got to see this.” Hart then holds the belt as Hogan sprays it with the NWO letters. Nitro goes to commercial, and Vince McMahon is left standing alone backstage with a blank look on his face.

FAST FORWARD

Summer, 1998. The WWF came off of Wrestle Mania 14 with Steve Austin defeating Shawn Michaels for the WWF belt, which Michaels won in the Royal Rumble. Austin now the champion was embroiled in a hot feud with DeGeneration X, which consisted of Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac (formerly known as The1-2-3 Kid and Syxx), who had just returned from a stint in WCW. The WWF’s Monday night ratings were improving at this point, running neck and neck with WCW’s. Many credit Hart’s debut speech as turning many viewers onto the WWF, if only to see what they would do in retaliation. Meanwhile, in WCW, Hart was languishing within the ranks of the ever increasing NOW. Hart’s anti-McMahon speech now seemed a bit ironic as Hart had been paid handsomely to screw McMahon, but he himself was now faced with the reality that WCW had nothing for him to do. Hart brought his concerns to Bischoff, who assured Hart that the initial promise of a Starrcade 1998 match against Hogan was forthcoming. Hart asked Bischoff how much build up the match would receive being that Hogan had just lost the belt to Goldberg, and Bischoff explained that he didn’t have a timeline set up. Hart seemed skeptical, but took Bischoff at his word. As October rolled around, Hart was given the US Title, but was nowhere near getting a program with Hogan, who was in the middle of a program with The Warrior. Hart was growing more and more unhappy by the day, and then when Starrcade finally rolled around, Bischoff explained that Goldberg would be fighting Kevin Nash, and he wanted Hart to face Curt Hennig. Hart refused and exercised his creative control clause in his contract and decided to go home. Bret Hart was done with WCW.

Bret Hart sat on the sidelines for the first few months of 1999, waiting for his 2-year contract to end with WCW, while the WWF was on top of the world. They had finally overtaken the ratings war in November of 1998 and were firmly ahead of WCW. 1999 was poised to be a juggernaut year for the WWF, which would see ratings, attendance and revenue reach an all time highs. The WWF was set to go public as a company and the McMahon’s were about to become more powerful than ever before. It was at this point that Bret began secret negotiations to come back to the WWF. Through his brother Owen, who had stayed with the WWF, Bret got word to McMahon that he wanted back in. Many would think this a bold move for someone who pulled the kind of stunt Hart did. But Vince saw it as an opportunity to twist the knife deeper in WCW’s back. Hart had a face to face meeting with McMahon on March 27,1999, the day before Wrestle Mania 15; that saw the two men bury the hatchet and decided that McMahon would help Hart put up the money to buy himself out of his WCW deal. Vince wanted Hart to make a huge return at King of The Ring 1999 and aid Austin, who was set to defeat the Rock for the title and feud with the Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness. From there McMahon envisioned a reunion between Bret and Owen that would see them hold tag titles, leading eventually to a full reign as WWF Champion in 2000. Hart liked what he heard and chose to take the offer. April of 1999 saw Bret buy himself out of his WCW deal and begin to prepare for his triumphant return to WWF TV. Then tragedy struck.

May 16, 1999 -Over The Edge

Jim Ross conveys to the wrestling world that sadly, after a tragic fall from the catwalk of the arena earlier in the show, Owen Hart was pronounced dead. In the wake of the incident, and the subsequent tribute the next night on Raw, Bret Hart cut all ties to the WWF. Hart, stricken with pain, guilt and resentment, turned his back to the wrestling world and the WWF. A return was not going to happen anytime soon. Hart became somewhat of a recluse over the next few years, only coming to the forefront when he chose to ridicule the wrestling industry or Vince McMahon, entities he perceives to be responsible for taking his brother from him. Bret would end up finally returning to play Commissioner to a new upstart group called the WWA in the latter months of 2001. McMahon had since purchased WCW and was now the only major player in the wrestling world. Hart hoped to help change that.

As for what might have happened with his return to the WWF had Owen Hart not befallen tragedy…

That is another story.

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Amarillo, TX, is home to Hatter X, a wrestling fan for 25 of his 30 years.  He enjoys pure wrestling, but its the edgy drama and quality storytelling that really frosts his donut.  E-mail Hatter X at [email protected]. 

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