1 00:00:06,380 --> 00:00:07,380 Brett was amazing. 2 00:00:07,820 --> 00:00:12,520 By any standard, Brett may go down as one of the top technicians in the 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:13,520 industry. 4 00:00:14,700 --> 00:00:16,320 Brett took the business seriously. 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,240 I think sometimes to his detriment, he took himself a little too seriously. 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,480 Brett believed he was the WWF champion. 7 00:00:24,020 --> 00:00:28,520 On November the 9th, 1997, professional wrestler Brett Hart had fought and 8 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:30,900 clawed his way to the top as world champion. 9 00:00:31,340 --> 00:00:35,560 But in a matter of seconds, he would realize that those who make you... 10 00:00:35,820 --> 00:00:37,760 And just as easily destroy you. 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:39,920 Here's the problem. 12 00:00:39,940 --> 00:00:41,420 Brett didn't want to lose the championship. 13 00:00:42,100 --> 00:00:43,600 It's your last night in the company. 14 00:00:43,820 --> 00:00:45,380 We need to crown a new champion. 15 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,480 You know what? We'll just take it from him. 16 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:54,080 It's like I remember when I was a kid exactly where I was standing when John 17 00:00:54,100 --> 00:00:58,900 Kennedy had been assassinated. And I remember just as precisely where I was 18 00:00:58,900 --> 00:01:00,940 I found out about the Montreal Screwjob. 19 00:01:01,700 --> 00:01:04,280 Screwing a Canadian hero in Canada? 20 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:06,000 How much more evil can one get? 21 00:01:07,140 --> 00:01:11,600 I still feel to this day like I have a neon sign on my head. I f*** you, Brent. 22 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,400 Never told you about it, but I f*** you. 23 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:15,960 I was so mad. I was like, I'm just ready to explode. 24 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,700 The Screwjob changed so many things in the business. 25 00:01:20,500 --> 00:01:22,180 The innocence of wrestling changed. 26 00:01:22,780 --> 00:01:26,520 This was one of the worst things in the world that happened to me in this 27 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,500 business. Say what you want about wrestling. 28 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,700 That was real. He really screwed that guy. 29 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:33,860 The incident known as the Montreal Screwjob. 30 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,580 marks a turning point in the history of wrestling. 31 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,360 Never before had the curtain been pulled back to fully reveal the behind -the 32 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:42,360 -scenes drama. 33 00:01:42,980 --> 00:01:48,800 A dark plot of betrayal was exposed, legacies were redefined, and fans would 34 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,840 never see wrestling the same again. 35 00:02:03,540 --> 00:02:06,900 You know, it's one thing I always say about the Screwjob is that if you go 36 00:02:06,900 --> 00:02:10,039 and you look at all the facts, my story has never changed. 37 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,200 It's always been the same story right from day one because I tell the truth. 38 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,700 I'm Brett the Hitman Hart. The best there is, the best there was, and the 39 00:02:17,700 --> 00:02:18,599 there ever will be. 40 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,020 I always said I was a real world champion because I really traveled all 41 00:02:22,020 --> 00:02:23,260 the world and defended my belt. 42 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,080 This is my history and my life here, all these guys. 43 00:02:26,620 --> 00:02:29,840 Despite everything that's happened with the Screwjobs and all that kind of 44 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,560 stuff, for me, it's mostly happy memories. 45 00:02:32,490 --> 00:02:35,830 My name's Jim Cornette. For the past 35 years, I've worked for every major 46 00:02:35,830 --> 00:02:39,170 professional wrestling promotion in the United States as a manager, announcer, 47 00:02:39,630 --> 00:02:42,670 trainer, matchmaker, pretty much done it all. 48 00:02:43,210 --> 00:02:48,470 I was actually there. I actually lived it. To give you my perspective, just 49 00:02:48,470 --> 00:02:54,310 because my perspective happens to be entertaining, then some people take 50 00:02:54,310 --> 00:02:55,310 exception to that. 51 00:02:55,530 --> 00:02:58,750 I was the executive vice president of talent relations. 52 00:02:59,050 --> 00:03:01,210 I've been a writer, producer, director. 53 00:03:01,930 --> 00:03:06,810 Brother Love is an alter ego of mine. You name it, worn a lot of hats in the 54 00:03:06,810 --> 00:03:08,090 WWF, WWE. 55 00:03:08,530 --> 00:03:14,370 The patriarch of the Hart family was Stu Hart. 56 00:03:14,610 --> 00:03:19,110 And Stu was an age -old veteran, double tough. 57 00:03:19,430 --> 00:03:22,470 The dungeon was the basement in the Hart family house. 58 00:03:22,830 --> 00:03:24,790 Well, the dungeon is hard to explain. 59 00:03:25,450 --> 00:03:29,370 My dad, 60 or 70 -year -old man, would go down there and torture a bunch of 60 00:03:29,370 --> 00:03:32,270 football players and bodybuilders. I don't feel my arms, sir. 61 00:03:32,770 --> 00:03:36,430 Let me show you a hold here. You just take your arm like this. 62 00:03:37,770 --> 00:03:40,890 The Hart family is one of the most famous families in the history of our 63 00:03:40,890 --> 00:03:44,470 business. The sons were all wrestlers. The daughters all married wrestlers. 64 00:03:45,010 --> 00:03:49,590 They had a wrestling bear that lived under their porch. It was like the 65 00:03:49,590 --> 00:03:53,170 Munster's house for the people in Calgary. Stu would invite everybody over 66 00:03:53,170 --> 00:03:57,560 and... And make breakfast. They had a bunch of cats. And he'd take the thing 67 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,080 where he's flipping the eggs. And he'd flip the cat shit over there. And he'd 68 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:02,580 back to flipping the eggs, you know. 69 00:04:03,300 --> 00:04:04,660 Made them tough is what it did. 70 00:04:04,940 --> 00:04:09,260 And Stu began the Stampede Wrestling promotion in Alberta. 71 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,400 And had a very successful company there for a long time. 72 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:14,120 Hello, hello, hello. 73 00:04:14,420 --> 00:04:20,160 And welcome to this another edition. And Bret Hart was kind of a pale, skinny, 74 00:04:20,459 --> 00:04:22,900 you know, maybe 21 -year -old kid or whatever. 75 00:04:23,530 --> 00:04:26,850 But you could tell he kind of knew what he was doing. I'm more confident right 76 00:04:26,850 --> 00:04:27,850 now than I've ever been. 77 00:04:27,970 --> 00:04:30,450 There's no reason right now that him and me shouldn't have those belts right 78 00:04:30,450 --> 00:04:34,090 now. The Harts were very integral to professional wrestling around the world. 79 00:04:34,450 --> 00:04:39,790 In 1984, Stu Hart is trying to keep his struggling territory afloat. The rapidly 80 00:04:39,790 --> 00:04:45,430 expanding WWF strikes a deal to acquire the entire promotion, along with Stu's 81 00:04:45,430 --> 00:04:47,470 main star, his son Brett. 82 00:04:48,870 --> 00:04:50,450 When Vince bought... 83 00:04:50,700 --> 00:04:55,100 Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in 1984, he took Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, who 84 00:04:55,100 --> 00:04:58,500 was son -in -law, as a team. The Hart Foundation, they were managed by Jimmy 85 00:04:58,500 --> 00:04:59,500 Hart, no relation. 86 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:05,600 They were a tremendous tag team. And Bret Hart had a perfect foil in Shawn 87 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,320 Michaels. When you have two guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels that are as 88 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,320 talented as they are at what they do to begin with, and then sometimes there's 89 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,460 just chemistry. You find a duet between two singers that have never worked 90 00:05:17,460 --> 00:05:19,680 together before, but suddenly it's a hit. 91 00:05:20,270 --> 00:05:21,270 Look at this. 92 00:05:21,550 --> 00:05:22,990 360 at midair. 93 00:05:23,990 --> 00:05:30,590 Internationally, we're getting reports back that we've got Megastar on our 94 00:05:30,590 --> 00:05:32,130 in the form of Bret Hart. 95 00:05:32,410 --> 00:05:37,850 His work had made him this Megastar. That was all they wanted to see. That's 96 00:05:37,850 --> 00:05:42,170 they wanted to talk about. At the same time, Ric Flair was the champion, and 97 00:05:42,170 --> 00:05:43,370 was having some health issues. 98 00:05:44,310 --> 00:05:45,730 We needed to make a change. 99 00:05:45,970 --> 00:05:49,370 So Vince was looking at it going, why not, Bret? 100 00:05:50,540 --> 00:05:52,080 That's the kind of guy you want to reward. 101 00:05:52,860 --> 00:05:57,500 Vince McMahon's one of the most unique individuals on the planet. If you could 102 00:05:57,500 --> 00:06:02,920 cross a genius with P .T. Barnum and Donald Trump, you would get the love 103 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,080 that would be Vince McMahon. 104 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,700 Vince, honestly, is a third -generation wrestling promoter. Vince controls 105 00:06:08,700 --> 00:06:11,020 creative. Vince controls talent choices. 106 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,320 They run the lunch schedule past Vince McMahon to this day. 107 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,200 Over the years, Vince had a good relationship with Brad. 108 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,880 I don't know. You know, I think that once Brett became champion in Saskatoon, 109 00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:27,780 there was a change that was taking place. 110 00:06:31,220 --> 00:06:37,780 The criteria for a world champion in those days, there wasn't a set 111 00:06:37,780 --> 00:06:42,800 physical list of maneuvers or whatever that you had to perform. It was whoever 112 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,280 Vince thought could be the guy. 113 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,880 Vince McMahon decides who the champion is going to be. 114 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,920 It's not actually won by anybody. 115 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:57,740 So Brett didn't beat Ric Flair. He won the championship in a scripted contest, 116 00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:59,460 okay, in a storyline. 117 00:06:59,860 --> 00:07:05,020 Brett deserved, you know, to have that accolade. But at the same time, remember 118 00:07:05,020 --> 00:07:07,140 that someone made you champion. 119 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:08,980 You didn't really beat anybody. 120 00:07:09,340 --> 00:07:12,480 I think Brett looked at the WWF championship like guys. 121 00:07:13,150 --> 00:07:16,490 years ago used to. Maybe it was because of his father and his lineage, but when 122 00:07:16,490 --> 00:07:21,310 you were chosen to be a champion of a major company, it meant that the 123 00:07:21,310 --> 00:07:25,250 thought that you were the best talent, that you were the best draw, that you 124 00:07:25,250 --> 00:07:27,290 would make him the most money, that you were the guy. 125 00:07:27,970 --> 00:07:33,070 While Bret's star is rising in the WWF, a fledgling promotion suddenly starts 126 00:07:33,070 --> 00:07:36,210 edging out Vince McMahon in the television ratings. 127 00:07:38,420 --> 00:07:43,060 WCW in the early 90s was a secondary competitor to the WWF. 128 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,480 I happened to be Eric Bishop. You know, as the executive producer, at least I 129 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,480 had a voice within WCW. 130 00:07:50,340 --> 00:07:51,360 WWF is up here. 131 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,160 WCW is way down here. 132 00:07:54,420 --> 00:07:58,180 There's no way I can be better than the WWF, but I've got to be different. Their 133 00:07:58,180 --> 00:07:59,180 tape, I'm live. 134 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,620 They target their content towards kids. 135 00:08:03,340 --> 00:08:07,120 I decided I wanted my characters to be more reality -based. I would use their 136 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:08,120 real names. 137 00:08:08,220 --> 00:08:11,840 WCW came after our talent. The perception was they offered them a lot 138 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:17,120 money. You know, when Hulk Hogan left the WWF, I think it hurt Vince 139 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:19,340 It stung a little bit. 140 00:08:19,580 --> 00:08:24,020 And the first big names to go were Scott Hall, Kevin Nash in the very beginning. 141 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:25,700 Ted DiBiase left. 142 00:08:26,330 --> 00:08:27,970 Roddy Piper shortly thereafter. 143 00:08:28,570 --> 00:08:32,490 The curtain call, as it came to be known, happened because Nash and Hall 144 00:08:32,490 --> 00:08:35,030 leaving to go to WCW for their big contracts. 145 00:08:35,470 --> 00:08:39,830 It is my last appearance for the WWE, and it's also Kevin Nash's last 146 00:08:39,830 --> 00:08:44,290 appearance. It was at Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the 147 00:08:44,430 --> 00:08:50,190 After the last match, Hall and Nash and Michaels and Hemsley, two of them good 148 00:08:50,190 --> 00:08:52,030 guys, two of them bad guys. 149 00:08:52,650 --> 00:08:56,830 All went out to the ring and had a big hug and a big kiss and waved bye to the 150 00:08:56,830 --> 00:09:02,130 fans who had no idea what was going on with Sean and those guys. They broke 151 00:09:02,130 --> 00:09:08,170 kayfabe in front of the fans in Madison Square Garden. The word kayfabe is like 152 00:09:08,170 --> 00:09:11,350 a lot of wrestling terminology. It comes from the days of the carnivals. When 153 00:09:11,350 --> 00:09:16,950 you break kayfabe in wrestling, you let the fans and the general public in the 154 00:09:16,950 --> 00:09:18,970 inside world and ruin the illusion. 155 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:20,720 It wasn't like that. 156 00:09:20,860 --> 00:09:25,620 It all just happened organically because the fans were going crazy. I mean, it 157 00:09:25,620 --> 00:09:31,480 was like a magical moment. Here we are 25 years later talking about it. You had 158 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,640 been chosen and selected to be in a secret brotherhood. 159 00:09:34,980 --> 00:09:39,320 And you kept those illusions private and to yourself because it was a code. 160 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:41,160 It was the code of kayfabe. 161 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,480 Now as competition between the two biggest promotions heats up. 162 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:49,440 wrestling's fourth wall starts to crumble, exposing its secrets. 163 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:54,260 And while Bret enters the biggest rivalry of his career, he never could 164 00:09:54,260 --> 00:09:57,760 imagined that it would end up leading to his ultimate destruction. 165 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:06,820 Before their off -screen feud would boil over into one of wrestling's most 166 00:10:06,820 --> 00:10:11,800 controversial moments, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels' contrasting in -ring 167 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,820 led to some of the greatest matches of all time. 168 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:20,760 As far as wrestling styles between Brett and Shawn, Brett was more basic, more 169 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:22,580 grounded, more hard -hitting, more technical. 170 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:30,120 Michaels, he's an incredible performer, but also a lot of his stuff 171 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,940 is more pretty and a little bit more gymnastic. 172 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:39,660 I think Shawn Michaels is probably the greatest performer all around. 173 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:42,900 Plus, he was different. He wasn't a big giant. 174 00:10:43,630 --> 00:10:45,390 My contract was going to expire. 175 00:10:45,850 --> 00:10:49,010 Aaron Bischoff has sent fuelers out to me. 176 00:10:49,210 --> 00:10:53,470 There were two separate occasions when I began to talk to Brett about coming 177 00:10:53,470 --> 00:10:57,190 over. And I heard the initial offer was $2 million, and then it was $2 million 178 00:10:57,190 --> 00:11:00,230 something, and it got up to like $3 million. And I'm sure they were rounding 179 00:11:00,230 --> 00:11:02,630 off, but at that point, what's the difference, right? 180 00:11:02,970 --> 00:11:05,310 Vince heard about them giving me an offer. 181 00:11:05,530 --> 00:11:07,430 And I remember Vince said, he goes, I'll make you an offer. 182 00:11:07,770 --> 00:11:12,370 And we worked out a contract. It was $1 .5 million for... 183 00:11:12,890 --> 00:11:13,890 20 years, I think. 184 00:11:13,930 --> 00:11:18,410 Brett favors loyalty over money and accepts the counteroffer from Vince 185 00:11:18,930 --> 00:11:23,550 But then a mutual animosity between Brett and Shawn begins to take hold. 186 00:11:24,530 --> 00:11:28,510 Shawn was starting to get overwhelmed with the negative. 187 00:11:28,750 --> 00:11:32,610 Doing a Chip and Dale kind of gimmick is not a heroic thing to do. 188 00:11:32,890 --> 00:11:37,050 Shawn Michaels saw an opportunity to be more and more of a top guy and also to 189 00:11:37,050 --> 00:11:38,050 be more and more of a prick. 190 00:11:38,370 --> 00:11:41,870 Nobody breaks into this wrestling business to work their way to the 191 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:45,180 I mean, if you don't want to be on top, you're in the wrong business. 192 00:11:45,860 --> 00:11:48,440 I don't really care if you want to have dinner with me. Do you want to wrestle 193 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:49,940 me? Oh, you do? 194 00:11:50,540 --> 00:11:55,020 Okay. I don't think that they were really that different, which is probably 195 00:11:55,020 --> 00:11:57,500 where the real -life rivalry came into play. 196 00:11:57,900 --> 00:12:02,040 First day, when I walked out and I ended up trashing Shawn Michaels on the 197 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,040 interview about his Playgirl magazine center full. Before I went out, I said, 198 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:06,999 Shawn, I'm going to... 199 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,420 It's okay if I bring up that Playgirl magazine and take a jab at that and say 200 00:12:10,420 --> 00:12:13,300 something about it. He goes, no, go ahead, say whatever you want. 201 00:12:13,700 --> 00:12:17,360 Royal Wrestling Federation needs a hero. They need a role model. They need 202 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,520 somebody they can look up to. Not somebody that poses for girly magazines. 203 00:12:21,980 --> 00:12:24,440 And I came back, and Sean was just crushed. 204 00:12:24,660 --> 00:12:26,500 He almost looked like he was about to burst into tears. 205 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,940 Now we're doing live TV, and these guys are saying things on live TV about each 206 00:12:31,940 --> 00:12:34,400 other. Sean made reference to sunny days. 207 00:12:35,070 --> 00:12:39,670 Sonny, Tammy Fitz, she was one of the valets. She was the first real, you 208 00:12:39,670 --> 00:12:46,390 big pinup girl of the WWF. And Shawn was making the inference that Bret was 209 00:12:46,390 --> 00:12:51,750 having some kind of an affair or some kind of relationship with Sonny. 210 00:12:51,990 --> 00:12:58,590 Even though lately you've had some Sonny days, my friend, you still can't get 211 00:12:58,590 --> 00:13:00,530 the job done in any situation. 212 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:04,760 Oh, boy. Now, from a fan's point of view, it's getting exciting. 213 00:13:05,220 --> 00:13:08,560 But if you're the other guy, you're hating the dude who's talking about you. 214 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:11,520 Because now you've got to call home and explain that to your wife. 215 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,320 You don't mess with a guy's wife or his family, or else you'd find yourself 216 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,200 laying in a ditch somewhere. 217 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:21,060 So we're in Hartford, Connecticut one night at the Hartford Civic Center. And 218 00:13:21,060 --> 00:13:24,260 all of a sudden, the door busts open, and in comes the Brooklyn Brawler. And 219 00:13:24,260 --> 00:13:28,260 says, hey, Vince, Sean and Brett have just gotten a fight in the bathroom. 220 00:13:28,830 --> 00:13:32,550 Sean finally comes into my dressing room. We haven't talked for about a 221 00:13:32,550 --> 00:13:35,270 months. I just remember I was just trying to be nice. I almost, like, 222 00:13:35,270 --> 00:13:38,230 that we ever had issues. I said, hey, Sean, I was brushing my hair, and he 223 00:13:38,390 --> 00:13:42,090 you think I'm going to talk to you? And whatever it was, Brett just leg -dived 224 00:13:42,090 --> 00:13:45,210 him and took him down right there. So I grabbed him by the hair and swung him 225 00:13:45,210 --> 00:13:48,070 around the dressing room. I think his feet rotted off the ground a couple of 226 00:13:48,070 --> 00:13:51,250 times. If anything, it was like two prostitutes fighting in downtown or 227 00:13:51,250 --> 00:13:56,510 something. Here comes Sean, and he's hot. And he has got in his hand a 228 00:13:56,510 --> 00:13:58,290 of his hair. It looked like... 229 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:04,200 A small possum. And I'll never forget this. He said, this is an unsafe working 230 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:10,140 environment. As far as I know, I think if anybody was sleeping with Sonny, it 231 00:14:10,140 --> 00:14:11,380 probably was Sean. 232 00:14:14,620 --> 00:14:20,120 As the backstage friction between Brett and Sean intensifies, Vince begins to 233 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,420 lose the TV ratings war and is forced to cut costs. 234 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:31,260 Vince comes back and looks at the commitment that he had made to Bret 235 00:14:31,260 --> 00:14:35,380 it was a drain. It was a drain on the company for what we were bringing in at 236 00:14:35,380 --> 00:14:39,820 the time. Vince told me that basically he couldn't afford to pay me the 237 00:14:39,820 --> 00:14:44,180 that he'd given me. It kind of broke my heart. I was like, okay, I get it. I 238 00:14:44,180 --> 00:14:48,040 remember I got off the phone with him and I said, I guess I'm done. I hung up 239 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,600 Vince and I signed my WCW contract. 240 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,200 I can't remember exactly what day or when I heard that Brett had made the 241 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,820 and was going to WCW, but Vince told us Brett was going to finish up at Survivor 242 00:14:59,820 --> 00:15:03,880 Series. He dropped the belt, and then he'd be free. 243 00:15:05,260 --> 00:15:06,600 It didn't turn out that way. 244 00:15:07,300 --> 00:15:10,820 With Brett leaving the company, Brett wasn't just leaving the company. He was 245 00:15:10,820 --> 00:15:13,960 leaving the company and going to our competitor that was beating us in the 246 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,980 ratings. To have our champion leave the company is bad enough. To have them 247 00:15:17,980 --> 00:15:20,240 leave the company with the championship? 248 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:25,160 It's a kick in the nuts. The time -honored tradition is when you're 249 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:29,440 territory or a promotion, you lose on the way out. I got to tell you, in the 250 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,700 beginning, there wasn't a whole lot of worry about it because it was Brett. And 251 00:15:34,700 --> 00:15:39,400 we thought that there would not be any issue with Brett dropping the 252 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,220 championship to whoever we asked him to drop the championship to. When I first 253 00:15:43,220 --> 00:15:48,720 heard that I was wrestling Sean was maybe about three or four weeks before 254 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:50,040 Survivor Series. 255 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,720 Anyway, so Vince pulled me. He goes, he's all excited. He goes, we're going 256 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:55,720 drop the belt to Sean. 257 00:15:56,380 --> 00:16:01,900 So when I saw Sean, I thought this is your chance to open the door for sort of 258 00:16:01,900 --> 00:16:05,540 dialogue. So I remember when we shook hands, I said, Sean, I just heard that 259 00:16:05,540 --> 00:16:06,900 we're wrestling at Survivor Series. 260 00:16:07,340 --> 00:16:11,560 I said, I want you to know that you'll always be safe with me in the ring, that 261 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:12,560 I'll wait through professional. 262 00:16:12,700 --> 00:16:16,180 I would never do anything to hurt you or injure you or anything like that. 263 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,900 And he looked at me and he said, he goes, I appreciate that. 264 00:16:20,300 --> 00:16:23,820 But I just want you to know that I am not willing to do the same thing for 265 00:16:23,940 --> 00:16:26,420 And he turned around and walked out of the dressing room and slammed the door. 266 00:16:26,940 --> 00:16:30,720 Vince, even though he knew that Sean and Brett hated each other. 267 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,360 Somehow he thought this match was magically going to go into ring and 268 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,200 was going to work out like he wanted. And the closer that we got to the match, 269 00:16:38,260 --> 00:16:41,760 the more obvious it was that it was not. One of the things he'd given Bret in 270 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,520 that brand new contract with all the bells and whistles was reasonable 271 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,520 control of his character and the way he was presented. 272 00:16:48,820 --> 00:16:50,560 I'm the boss of my last 60 days. 273 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:51,760 Why would I lose the shot? 274 00:16:52,140 --> 00:16:53,460 He's disrespected me. 275 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,560 I'm not wrestling Sean, or I'm not putting Sean over under any 276 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,760 until he proves to me that he's got enough respect for me to put me over 277 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:05,800 And I was on Brett's side, because Sean was the prick, not Brett, but we had to 278 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:07,140 get the belt back. 279 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,960 The news of Vince's current champion signing with his main competitor would 280 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:13,839 spell his defeat in the ratings war. 281 00:17:14,420 --> 00:17:19,319 With his back to the wall, Vince must get his belt off Brett, and what he's 282 00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:22,599 about to do will echo far beyond the wrestling world. 283 00:17:27,310 --> 00:17:32,930 With his last match in the WWF less than 24 hours away, Bret Hart is refusing 284 00:17:32,930 --> 00:17:37,670 any scenario which has him losing the belt to his real -life nemesis, Shawn 285 00:17:37,670 --> 00:17:43,090 Michaels. Bret is growing suspicious of what his boss, Vince McMahon, might do. 286 00:17:43,410 --> 00:17:45,770 Showed up that day, and I was ready for my match. 287 00:17:45,970 --> 00:17:48,750 But I did have suspicions about the referee. 288 00:17:48,990 --> 00:17:52,210 I remember thinking, the only way they can screw me, if Shawn will ever pin me 289 00:17:52,210 --> 00:17:56,010 or make me tap out. So I wasn't worried about that. I said, but the way it'll 290 00:17:56,010 --> 00:17:58,180 work. is they'll get the referee. 291 00:17:59,220 --> 00:18:00,460 Hello, I'm Earl Hebner. 292 00:18:00,660 --> 00:18:01,660 I'm a referee. 293 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,340 My relationship with Brett was great. 294 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,940 Most of the time, he always wanted me to ref his matches. 295 00:18:07,220 --> 00:18:09,760 People think, oh, I can count to three and it's over. 296 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:11,140 That's not the ballgame. 297 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:12,860 We're sort of a coach. 298 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:17,380 You're thinking for three people. It's very, very hard. 299 00:18:18,050 --> 00:18:20,510 Okay, so let's get into the Montreal story. 300 00:18:20,790 --> 00:18:21,790 Do we have to? 301 00:18:22,770 --> 00:18:23,770 Just kidding. 302 00:18:24,750 --> 00:18:29,170 The day before that show, I got on a plane, got in my seat. The stewardess 303 00:18:29,170 --> 00:18:33,410 back and said, Mr. Hebner. I said, yes, ma 'am. She said, you have a first 304 00:18:33,410 --> 00:18:34,349 -class seat. 305 00:18:34,350 --> 00:18:36,050 I said, my ticket don't say first -class. 306 00:18:36,390 --> 00:18:38,730 She said, Mr. Hart bought you a first -class seat. 307 00:18:39,170 --> 00:18:40,590 So I went on up there and sat beside Brett. 308 00:18:40,990 --> 00:18:45,670 And we talked, and Brett said, Will you promise me one thing? I said, what's 309 00:18:45,670 --> 00:18:49,650 that? He said, you won't count me out? I said, nope, I will not count you out. I 310 00:18:49,650 --> 00:18:51,390 said, you know they're going to ask you to screw me tomorrow. 311 00:18:51,930 --> 00:18:55,950 But he got the tears in his eyes, and he got his lip quivering, and he was like, 312 00:18:55,970 --> 00:18:59,590 the hell with that ice boy. I swear to God on my kids, I would never, you know, 313 00:18:59,590 --> 00:19:04,270 and he was so adamant. And I shook his hand, and I said, just tell me if 314 00:19:04,270 --> 00:19:05,430 something like that's going to happen. 315 00:19:05,980 --> 00:19:10,380 complicating matters a film crew producing a documentary called wrestling 316 00:19:10,380 --> 00:19:16,180 shadows is following brett to capture his last wwf match from the second i 317 00:19:16,180 --> 00:19:21,300 i've got the entire uh high roads production film crew they're filming and 318 00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:25,280 got the boom mics and the whole thing and they follow me where i went it was 319 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:30,560 like a lot of people that i didn't even know all around the building the idea 320 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:35,120 was that vince would get with brett i think that vince felt that once he got 321 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,680 front of brett face to face that they would work something out but i remember 322 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,960 the whole camera crew come in like they wanted to mic me up and everyone yeah i 323 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:48,420 kind of don't it's not how i operate he goes just in case my name is harry 324 00:19:48,420 --> 00:19:52,300 zafrani i was the sound recordist on wrestling with shadows 325 00:19:53,050 --> 00:19:58,110 The director told us, look, we got to be very low profile about this. You know, 326 00:19:58,110 --> 00:20:01,510 nobody should know that Bret Hart is wired. 327 00:20:01,910 --> 00:20:04,310 It was a private meeting and Bret went in wired. 328 00:20:04,710 --> 00:20:06,630 Didn't let Vince know that he was recording it. 329 00:20:06,990 --> 00:20:09,330 I never ever wanted to leave here with any kind of bad feeling. 330 00:20:09,570 --> 00:20:12,730 But this week has been a bad week for me. I feel kind of betrayed a little 331 00:20:12,770 --> 00:20:16,410 The way this whole thing has been depicted, it's really hard for me as a 332 00:20:16,410 --> 00:20:17,550 here to come up short. 333 00:20:17,830 --> 00:20:22,330 I was determined to stick to my guns and that I was not backing down. 334 00:20:22,650 --> 00:20:24,830 And right away Vince goes, well, what are we going to do? 335 00:20:25,070 --> 00:20:27,010 I think what I'd like to do is get through today. 336 00:20:27,230 --> 00:20:30,910 I think tomorrow I should just go in and do my speech and forfeit the title. I 337 00:20:30,910 --> 00:20:34,210 think it allows me a chance to leave with my head up and leave in a nice way. 338 00:20:34,590 --> 00:20:37,930 I would think it'd be a run -in type thing. Yeah. But I'm open anyway. 339 00:20:38,170 --> 00:20:39,570 I'm open anyway. 340 00:20:40,270 --> 00:20:44,290 Going into this match, you knew what was going to happen? 341 00:20:44,690 --> 00:20:49,890 I knew that there was a point in the match where Bulldog and Owen would run 342 00:20:50,230 --> 00:20:51,850 Referee would lose control of the match. 343 00:20:52,570 --> 00:20:56,090 Ring the bell, there would be no winner, and we would go off with a lot of chaos 344 00:20:56,090 --> 00:20:57,090 going on in the ring. 345 00:20:57,270 --> 00:20:59,330 So the match would end in, like, a disqualification? 346 00:20:59,610 --> 00:21:01,250 Yeah, like, basically a no contest. 347 00:21:02,790 --> 00:21:08,170 Like, I remember walking out to the ring, and I knew, like, okay, be leery 348 00:21:08,170 --> 00:21:12,550 submission on a match like this. But I already talked to Earl, and I thought 349 00:21:12,550 --> 00:21:16,290 about it, and it's like, I said, okay. I trusted Earl, and so I put my guard 350 00:21:16,290 --> 00:21:19,530 down. That was my fatal mistake. 351 00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:22,460 I'm walking down to go to the ring, and I'm getting pulled aside. 352 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,300 And Jerry Briscoe says, Vince McMahon wants you to ring the bell when he puts 353 00:21:27,300 --> 00:21:29,420 Bret in the sharpshooter. I said, what? 354 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:31,780 He said, well, are you going to do it? I said, I don't know. 355 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,320 Jerry Briscoe is a producer agent, one of the toughest sumbitches on the face 356 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:36,899 the earth. 357 00:21:36,900 --> 00:21:41,700 He grabs me by the arm. He says, is Bret Hart going to pay you? This is what 358 00:21:41,700 --> 00:21:43,440 Vince wants. Do you want a job or not? 359 00:21:43,740 --> 00:21:48,040 I said, I don't have an idea of what I'm going to do right now. Y 'all messed my 360 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:48,889 mind up. 361 00:21:48,890 --> 00:21:52,710 And this is the truth. I'm thinking he had opportunity to drop the bill. 362 00:21:53,370 --> 00:21:57,770 I know this is not right, but I got to have a job. 363 00:21:58,110 --> 00:22:01,470 I told my brother to put all my shit in the car, just ain't going to look good, 364 00:22:01,510 --> 00:22:04,450 get all my shit out the dressing room, put it in the car. So I'm walking to the 365 00:22:04,450 --> 00:22:06,630 ring. God, I promised Brett I wouldn't count him out. 366 00:22:06,970 --> 00:22:09,050 That was the longest walk of my life. 367 00:22:10,290 --> 00:22:13,010 We had a great match planned out, and Sean was a great wrestler. 368 00:22:13,270 --> 00:22:15,170 We're going to start fighting before the bell starts. 369 00:22:15,530 --> 00:22:17,710 I don't think... this match has officially even started. 370 00:22:17,970 --> 00:22:21,350 Finally, after about 10 minutes of brawling out and fighting out in the 371 00:22:21,350 --> 00:22:24,810 and stuff, I eventually fight Shawn back to the ring, throw him in the ring, and 372 00:22:24,810 --> 00:22:25,910 now the match starts. 373 00:22:26,290 --> 00:22:32,190 I get in the ring, I ring the bell to start, and I'm going, God, don't put the 374 00:22:32,190 --> 00:22:33,190 sharpshooter on. 375 00:22:34,130 --> 00:22:36,090 The match lasts 10, 15 minutes. 376 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,860 Oh, putting Brett in the sharpshooter. Oh, my gosh. How humiliating. He's going 377 00:22:41,860 --> 00:22:44,340 to beat him with his own finish. Sean actually didn't know how to put the 378 00:22:44,340 --> 00:22:47,780 sharpshooter on. He steps through the wrong way, folds my legs the wrong way. 379 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,500 And I moved my legs and switched them the right way. 380 00:22:50,740 --> 00:22:52,680 I remember when he put it on, I flipped over. 381 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:54,200 I could see Vince McMahon. 382 00:22:54,460 --> 00:22:57,500 And I could see he's got this cold look on his chest. And he's yelling at it to 383 00:22:57,500 --> 00:23:01,140 ring the bell. Ring the bell. And I kept saying it to the guy. Ring the bell. 384 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,940 As the match was going on, I'm going, I don't know what I'm going to do. 385 00:23:06,570 --> 00:23:07,570 I hated it. 386 00:23:08,570 --> 00:23:14,170 And I remember in that moment of looking at the timekeeper, and Vince Staffs had 387 00:23:14,170 --> 00:23:18,950 to ring the bell. Oh, they're screwing me right now. And I remember reaching 388 00:23:18,950 --> 00:23:22,350 back and showing that I wasn't submitting, and I grabbed Sean's thing 389 00:23:22,350 --> 00:23:25,270 started to reverse, and you could hear the bell ping. 390 00:23:26,110 --> 00:23:27,490 If I hadn't rung the bell, 391 00:23:28,250 --> 00:23:30,530 Vince McMahon was going to ring that bell. 392 00:23:31,050 --> 00:23:34,310 And at first I was like, I want to just... kill Vince. I would just jump 393 00:23:34,310 --> 00:23:37,310 the ropes and just punch him out. I couldn't believe he did it to me. After 394 00:23:37,310 --> 00:23:40,630 the years that I gave him, all the matches and all the hard work, and he 395 00:23:40,630 --> 00:23:43,070 disrespect me like that. He was a son of a bitch. 396 00:23:43,810 --> 00:23:47,830 I jumped out of the ring, ran across the floor, jumped the hockey fence, and 397 00:23:47,830 --> 00:23:51,330 could still hear the bell ringing, jumped in the car, and we drove off. I 398 00:23:51,330 --> 00:23:55,470 enough sense to paint WCW backwards so that you could read it on TV. 399 00:23:55,690 --> 00:24:00,370 Brett did the WCW for the fans there in Montreal. 400 00:24:01,390 --> 00:24:03,450 But it was, you know, it was what it was. 401 00:24:03,850 --> 00:24:08,150 I remember I had a nice good gobber spit, and I remember I just leaned over 402 00:24:08,150 --> 00:24:09,150 top rope. 403 00:24:12,230 --> 00:24:14,710 Hollywood couldn't recreate something better than that. 404 00:24:15,030 --> 00:24:20,970 I wrecked a bunch of monitors and threw $100 ,000 headphones out into the crowd 405 00:24:20,970 --> 00:24:21,729 and stuff. 406 00:24:21,730 --> 00:24:25,010 Because of a couple of guys who couldn't get along, they hit on the most talked 407 00:24:25,010 --> 00:24:29,310 -about match ending in the history of professional wrestling since the dawn of 408 00:24:29,310 --> 00:24:34,100 time. Widely viewed by fans as wrestling's most treacherous act, the 409 00:24:34,100 --> 00:24:37,380 Screwjob would tear the lid off of wrestling's sacred brotherhood. 410 00:24:37,860 --> 00:24:41,300 But its true architect has yet to be revealed. 411 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,840 This is where I've told a couple of these things. I've never gone this far, 412 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:54,520 I figure, like I said, I'm not going to talk about this on TV any time in the 413 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,860 rest of my life, so I guess at this point I don't care who gets mad at me. 414 00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,860 So it was me and Vince Russo at Vince McMahon's house. 415 00:25:00,060 --> 00:25:05,620 My name is Vince Russo. I was the head writer at the WWE during the infamous 416 00:25:05,620 --> 00:25:12,560 Montreal Screwjob. And quite honestly, I wasn't even originally slated for 417 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:13,560 this documentary. 418 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,920 And then I wanted to be a part of it because I was there. Like, I knew what 419 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:18,919 would happen. 420 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,260 So I'm sitting there that day. 421 00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:24,160 First, Vince gets up and he takes a phone call from Brett. 422 00:25:24,490 --> 00:25:28,830 What I could tell you about that phone call is, you know, Vince pitched many 423 00:25:28,830 --> 00:25:34,530 different scenarios for Shawn Michaels to take the belt off of Bret Hart. And 424 00:25:34,530 --> 00:25:40,410 Bret soured on every single one of them. Vince told Bret we'd go back to the 425 00:25:40,410 --> 00:25:42,730 drawing board, and that's exactly what we did. 426 00:25:43,150 --> 00:25:46,470 Well, this finish won't work and that finish won't work. And Brett just wants 427 00:25:46,470 --> 00:25:49,750 come out and hand the belt over on TV the following night without getting 428 00:25:49,830 --> 00:25:50,830 I'm sure he does. 429 00:25:51,050 --> 00:25:53,170 So then he goes and he calls Sean. 430 00:25:53,410 --> 00:25:57,170 Every time Vince goes in there, then I have to sit in a room twiddling my 431 00:25:57,170 --> 00:26:02,230 with the guy that I hate worse than anybody in the world, Vince Russo. We'd 432 00:26:02,230 --> 00:26:06,690 in these creative meetings and the three of us would argue. And it wasn't the 433 00:26:06,690 --> 00:26:11,110 three of us. It was Jim and me. We could not be farther apart. 434 00:26:12,699 --> 00:26:16,380 physically, philosophically, mentally, morally, if one of us was an African 435 00:26:16,380 --> 00:26:20,620 -American lesbian nun and the other was a Nazi skinhead Martian from outer 436 00:26:20,620 --> 00:26:27,060 space, we could not be more different. The problem is he's still living in 437 00:26:27,060 --> 00:26:32,320 1970s. I'll never forget he made the comment, oh, when a guy comes out of a 438 00:26:32,420 --> 00:26:35,820 he's instantly over. Like, bro, this is like 1996. 439 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,280 Like, who's coming out of boxes, bro? 440 00:26:38,810 --> 00:26:42,890 Vince Russo's never had any respect for professional wrestling. He booked the 441 00:26:42,890 --> 00:26:49,030 wrestling program to pattern after Jerry Springer. Our style completely crashed. 442 00:26:49,570 --> 00:26:53,370 Finally, Vince comes out, and I'm about lost my religion with the whole creative 443 00:26:53,370 --> 00:26:56,250 team thing anyway because it's not my style of wrestling. I'm living in 444 00:26:56,250 --> 00:26:59,690 Connecticut. I'm miserable. I weigh 280 pounds because I'm aggravation eating. 445 00:27:00,310 --> 00:27:04,530 I'm just, I'm not in my element here. I said, Vince, I said, there's got to be 446 00:27:04,530 --> 00:27:07,310 something we can do. I said, it's your company and it's your belt. 447 00:27:07,710 --> 00:27:10,850 And Vince looks at me and says, well, then how would you do it, pal? 448 00:27:11,450 --> 00:27:12,830 Well, now it's a challenge. 449 00:27:13,070 --> 00:27:16,190 Once again, I'm going through every finish I can think of or every situation 450 00:27:16,190 --> 00:27:19,470 ever think of where nobody wanted to do a job. I said, goddamn, double 451 00:27:19,470 --> 00:27:20,470 -crossing. 452 00:27:21,550 --> 00:27:26,730 You can learn more about modern wrestling from these classic books and 453 00:27:26,730 --> 00:27:31,710 magazines than you can by talking to people today because history always 454 00:27:31,710 --> 00:27:36,810 itself. In 1931, there was another double -cross in Montreal, the Battle of 455 00:27:36,810 --> 00:27:37,810 Bite. 456 00:27:37,870 --> 00:27:41,490 Strangler Lewis controlled the championship and nobody could get it 457 00:27:41,490 --> 00:27:43,110 him because it was worth so much money. 458 00:27:43,470 --> 00:27:49,870 Lewis has a title match in Montreal against Henri de Glan, Henry de Glan. 459 00:27:49,870 --> 00:27:55,730 lock up and immediately de Glan grabs Lewis's own hold on Lewis, the headlock, 460 00:27:55,810 --> 00:27:59,770 and takes him down and they go down on the mat because Lewis is working with 461 00:27:59,770 --> 00:28:01,970 and probably they're going to do some kind of reversal. 462 00:28:02,190 --> 00:28:06,690 De Glan starts screaming, bloody murder, top of his lungs. The referee checks de 463 00:28:06,690 --> 00:28:10,280 Glan. Huge bite mark on the guy's chest. 464 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,600 Apparently, when DeGlaine got the headlock on Lewis, Lewis had bitten him. 465 00:28:15,860 --> 00:28:16,860 Here's the thing. 466 00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:22,140 It was actually Dan Koloff, DeGlaine's corner man, had bitten him in the locker 467 00:28:22,140 --> 00:28:25,660 room and then did this. And then when they locked up, boom, headlock. Nobody 468 00:28:25,660 --> 00:28:26,660 see what happened. 469 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:32,940 Referee disqualifies Strangler Lewis and awards the title to Henri DeGlaine. 470 00:28:33,420 --> 00:28:34,480 That's a double cross. 471 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,980 And it's as old as the hills in wrestling. 472 00:28:37,340 --> 00:28:40,120 So when Vince says, well, how would you do it then? 473 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,100 Brett's hold is the sharpshooter. 474 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,840 But let Sean get Brett's hold on him. 475 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,860 If the referee just calls for the bell as a submission, nobody can tell 476 00:28:54,860 --> 00:28:57,140 was wrong because that's what it's supposed to look like anyway. 477 00:28:57,820 --> 00:29:03,300 And to tell anybody anything was wrong, I said, Bret Hart, of all people, would 478 00:29:03,300 --> 00:29:06,340 have to expose the business. I said, what's he going to do? Call the 479 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:12,680 But then Vince, and he gave that hump like he does whenever you would be 480 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,580 discussing tomfoolery. And he would say, all right, let's get back to reality. 481 00:29:15,860 --> 00:29:19,000 And we went on. Do you recall during that meeting with Vince and Cornette, 482 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,500 Cornette ever told a history lesson about double crosses that had happened 483 00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:24,299 the past? 484 00:29:24,300 --> 00:29:30,420 Unless I was in the bathroom during that scenario, that scenario did not take 485 00:29:30,420 --> 00:29:33,160 place in front of me when I was sitting at the table. 486 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:35,720 I'm not going to call Jim Cornette a liar. 487 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,280 And when I was sitting at the table and Cornette was sitting at the same table, 488 00:29:39,340 --> 00:29:42,640 I pitched that exact scenario to Vince. 489 00:29:43,140 --> 00:29:49,520 So basically, out of pure frustration, I said, Vince, I said, screw it, Vince. 490 00:29:49,540 --> 00:29:53,800 Have Sean put the sharpshooter on Brett and have the referee call for the bell. 491 00:29:54,060 --> 00:29:55,060 Do that. 492 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:59,060 Vince Russo didn't know what a double cross was. He was sitting there with his 493 00:29:59,060 --> 00:30:00,060 eyes open. 494 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:05,700 People tell me all the time, oh, Vince, you take credit for the Montreal 495 00:30:05,700 --> 00:30:08,020 Screwjob. I wish I didn't pitch the idea. 496 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:14,320 That was a miserable night. It was one of the worst experiences in my life in 497 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:15,320 the wrestling business. 498 00:30:15,580 --> 00:30:20,700 I swear on my mother's grave, my father's grave, my wife's life, and my 499 00:30:20,700 --> 00:30:25,720 life, the story I just told you is true. Vince Russo is the biggest liar in 500 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,300 professional wrestling, and imagine the territory that takes in. 501 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,400 When I was sitting there at the monitor, I saw him going to the spot. 502 00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:35,980 That's when I shit myself. 503 00:30:37,660 --> 00:30:42,060 Holy, he's actually going to do this. And look right now. 504 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:43,880 Close up on the goosebumps. 505 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,340 Now I'm thinking, I don't know who else knows about this. 506 00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:55,520 I just know that there is a high probability that somebody in this 507 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,060 going to want to beat the shit out of me in the next 10 minutes. And I'm going 508 00:30:58,060 --> 00:30:59,060 to get out of here. 509 00:30:59,150 --> 00:31:02,830 When I'm starting my car up and starting to pull out, I heard a car rev the 510 00:31:02,830 --> 00:31:04,910 motor and saw the headlights pop up behind me. 511 00:31:05,210 --> 00:31:06,550 That had to be Hebner. 512 00:31:07,130 --> 00:31:08,750 I beat him out of the building. 513 00:31:15,510 --> 00:31:20,130 Just as Bret Hart was double -crossed on live television by his boss, Vince 514 00:31:20,130 --> 00:31:26,650 McMahon, WWF executive Bruce Prichard is blindsided himself by the sudden change 515 00:31:26,650 --> 00:31:27,650 in plans. 516 00:31:28,010 --> 00:31:33,290 So it's chaos. I'm not even realizing what's happening in front of me. How did 517 00:31:33,290 --> 00:31:37,250 you feel about not being involved in? Oh, God, I was pissed off that I wasn't 518 00:31:37,250 --> 00:31:41,210 smart enough as to what they were doing. And I was pissed off because I was left 519 00:31:41,210 --> 00:31:47,770 in the back alone in a position where everyone thought they knew that I was 520 00:31:47,770 --> 00:31:51,250 involved. And I wasn't. I felt very alone. I felt betrayed. 521 00:31:51,770 --> 00:31:54,090 The people shift locked himself in his office. 522 00:31:56,250 --> 00:31:57,250 Cameras are off. 523 00:31:57,690 --> 00:31:58,690 The show's over. 524 00:31:58,770 --> 00:31:59,770 I got screwed. 525 00:31:59,830 --> 00:32:00,990 And I was so mad. 526 00:32:01,190 --> 00:32:04,890 And there's Sean suddenly in my dressing room. He's swearing to God that he had 527 00:32:04,890 --> 00:32:05,890 nothing to do with it. 528 00:32:06,670 --> 00:32:07,670 Sean, you weren't in on it? 529 00:32:08,050 --> 00:32:09,870 My hands are clean. That's why I swear to God. 530 00:32:10,290 --> 00:32:11,510 He was a bad actor. 531 00:32:12,050 --> 00:32:15,670 But one of the two was in on it that I think. 532 00:32:15,910 --> 00:32:19,110 Sean had to be in on it. You know, at that time, I had no idea. 533 00:32:20,150 --> 00:32:22,670 Well, now we know Sean was just putting on an act. 534 00:32:25,420 --> 00:32:28,220 I was like this hush in the dressing room. Everyone was kind of stunned. 535 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,640 I remember Undertaker got so mad that he kicked over one of those big steel 536 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:36,280 barrels. He just slammed the door and said something about he was going down 537 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,640 Vince's office to get a straight answer on why they did that to me. You know, 538 00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:44,480 Vince, you've got to go over and talk to him. Explain why you did what you did. 539 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:45,780 You've got to give him one. 540 00:32:46,300 --> 00:32:49,740 And by giving him one, if he's going to hit you, you've got to take one. 541 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,360 Brett came out of the shower and told Vince to get out of his... 542 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,960 dressing room and then he said he goes he says you're still here when i get out 543 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,180 i'm gonna get dressed i'm gonna punch you out brett finished the shower i mean 544 00:33:00,180 --> 00:33:04,600 he went back and took his sweet ass time to finish his shower and then stood 545 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:09,760 right in the middle of the room waiting for him to finish so i finished shower 546 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:14,740 and i come out and it's funny because i walk out of the shower sopping wet naked 547 00:33:14,740 --> 00:33:18,560 vince did something to me along the lines of this is the first time i ever 548 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,760 to lie to one of my talent which is such a lie 549 00:33:21,550 --> 00:33:22,930 I remember tying my shoes. 550 00:33:24,050 --> 00:33:27,870 And I remember when I got time, my last shoelace, I started to tie it. And I go, 551 00:33:27,890 --> 00:33:29,990 this is it. I'm going to punch out Vince McMahon. 552 00:33:30,230 --> 00:33:31,350 I can't believe I'm doing this. 553 00:33:31,650 --> 00:33:36,550 And we walked towards each other, end up tying up just like a pro wrestling 554 00:33:36,550 --> 00:33:40,550 match. And I remember just sinking down and kind of just turning my whole body 555 00:33:40,550 --> 00:33:46,530 and thinking 14 years and coming up right between our arms. And I hit Vince 556 00:33:46,530 --> 00:33:50,230 McMahon with the most beautiful Mike Tyson uppercut. 557 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,360 I popped him literally right off the ground. 558 00:33:53,700 --> 00:33:56,120 He went straight down, out cold. 559 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:57,880 Everybody was stunned. 560 00:33:58,140 --> 00:34:01,860 No one could believe it. He was dead silent for a while, and nobody said 561 00:34:01,860 --> 00:34:05,240 anything. And then Brett said, get out of my dressing room. I mean, I have to 562 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:06,920 say that I remember Shawn Michaels. 563 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,000 He was bawling his eyes out like a baby. And I remember thinking, I know you 564 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,820 were in on it. And he knew it. He was, like, waiting for me to make my way over 565 00:34:14,820 --> 00:34:16,060 to him and finish him off. 566 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,960 I just tapped him on the shoulder, and I said, Shawn, thanks for the match. 567 00:34:20,350 --> 00:34:22,710 He couldn't believe that I thanked him for the match. 568 00:34:23,070 --> 00:34:26,370 And then he looked up at me and he just burst into tears, like really 569 00:34:26,370 --> 00:34:30,889 blubbering. I had never to that point heard of that much drama and backstage 570 00:34:30,889 --> 00:34:32,370 just bullshit. 571 00:34:32,730 --> 00:34:35,230 Sometimes I lost sleep over what I should have done that day. 572 00:34:35,449 --> 00:34:39,409 Brett, you're not going to understand this now, but Vince was trying to 573 00:34:39,409 --> 00:34:43,630 his business. It was never about not trusting you. He didn't trust Eric. 574 00:34:44,710 --> 00:34:48,530 I went to Vince's office and said, I need to talk to you. He said, okay. I 575 00:34:48,570 --> 00:34:52,690 I'm... He said, I got a meeting with everybody today. We'll take care of it. 576 00:34:52,690 --> 00:34:55,870 everybody down and said, what I did last night was my call. 577 00:34:56,070 --> 00:35:00,050 It's not Earl's fault and anybody don't like it can come to my office and I'll 578 00:35:00,050 --> 00:35:01,210 release your ass right now. 579 00:35:01,570 --> 00:35:05,430 Screw you, I was already in the makings. They had to find somebody that would do 580 00:35:05,430 --> 00:35:06,430 it. 581 00:35:06,690 --> 00:35:10,510 The conversation I had with Vince where we really had the big heart -to -heart 582 00:35:10,510 --> 00:35:12,610 was the following Wednesday in Stanford. 583 00:35:12,850 --> 00:35:14,150 And I told him what I thought. 584 00:35:14,510 --> 00:35:17,930 Vince's reaction was, if you had known, then you would have known. 585 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,580 You would never be able to say that you didn't know. Shawn Michaels risked 586 00:35:21,580 --> 00:35:24,460 everything for you and for this company. 587 00:35:24,700 --> 00:35:29,380 So before you condemn Shawn Michaels, understand what he did for you and your 588 00:35:29,380 --> 00:35:33,120 family. There were a lot of what -if scenarios discussed the night before. 589 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:38,300 And I think that everybody believed that at the end of the day, Vince was going 590 00:35:38,300 --> 00:35:42,800 to be able to convince Brett to drop the championship. 591 00:35:43,140 --> 00:35:44,300 That didn't happen. 592 00:35:45,190 --> 00:35:50,310 So Vince asked Jerry Briscoe to let Sean know there was a spot in the match that 593 00:35:50,310 --> 00:35:53,630 Sean, when you get him in the sharpshooter, ring the bell. 594 00:35:54,470 --> 00:35:58,170 Of all people, Bret Hart, who was raised in the wrestling business, whose father 595 00:35:58,170 --> 00:36:02,410 was a wrestler, who went through the code, he's the one that exposed the 596 00:36:02,410 --> 00:36:05,310 business. We're talking with Bret Hart, the hitman today. How are you? It was 597 00:36:05,310 --> 00:36:09,470 very important to me after 14 years of probably the most dedicated, loyal, 598 00:36:09,730 --> 00:36:12,930 hardworking service that you could ever get out of a professional wrestler. 599 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,440 I'd given this man everything you could ever ask for, and I made it very, very 600 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:21,560 clear that my character was not in any way, shape, or form going to be 601 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:26,460 humiliated. Bret was telling any and everybody that he could. He didn't lose. 602 00:36:26,460 --> 00:36:32,080 was screwed. And it was something that Vince felt it was important to address 603 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:37,780 Monday Night Raw. Did you or did you not screw Bret Hart? There's a time 604 00:36:37,780 --> 00:36:42,460 -honored tradition in the wrestling business that when someone is leaving, 605 00:36:43,190 --> 00:36:45,330 Did they show the right amount of respect? 606 00:36:45,670 --> 00:36:48,310 The people are like, no, we don't want to like the rich billionaire boss. 607 00:36:48,610 --> 00:36:50,470 We liked Bret Hart. He was our hero. 608 00:36:50,670 --> 00:36:53,730 Bret Hart didn't want to honor that tradition. 609 00:36:53,950 --> 00:36:58,550 Vince was really giving Bret Hart all kinds of shit for not honoring the time 610 00:36:58,550 --> 00:37:02,890 -honored tradition of doing the right thing on the way out. On TV, this didn't 611 00:37:02,890 --> 00:37:03,890 happen ever before. 612 00:37:04,590 --> 00:37:10,010 Vince, in this interview, just came across very cold, calculated. 613 00:37:10,830 --> 00:37:17,710 and very, very heelish. I truly believe that Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart, 614 00:37:17,850 --> 00:37:20,430 and he can look in the mirror and know that. 615 00:37:20,690 --> 00:37:25,130 Rather than sweep this incident under the rug, Vince capitalizes on it by 616 00:37:25,130 --> 00:37:29,910 transforming this real -life incident into a storyline where he reinvents 617 00:37:29,910 --> 00:37:33,370 himself as an evil, conniving mastermind. 618 00:37:33,750 --> 00:37:38,290 When I debuted, the fans didn't know that Vince was the owner. He was an 619 00:37:38,290 --> 00:37:39,290 announcer. 620 00:37:39,370 --> 00:37:43,890 And then once the word got out that he actually owns the company, he's the 621 00:37:43,890 --> 00:37:48,110 behind the throne, this and that, Vince ran with it. Mr. McMahon is one of the 622 00:37:48,110 --> 00:37:49,990 greatest heel characters of all time, yes. 623 00:37:50,270 --> 00:37:54,310 I mean, you've heard arenas full of people chant, asshole, asshole. 624 00:37:56,750 --> 00:38:02,830 If they had done it right, everybody prospered. Shawn Michaels became the WWF 625 00:38:02,830 --> 00:38:06,030 champion off a big win. Vince McMahon became... 626 00:38:06,460 --> 00:38:11,200 the catalyst to the evil empire of Mr. McMahon, and they handed the hottest 627 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:16,660 wrestler in the world, Bret Hart, to WCW, and they dropped that ball. 628 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,980 In the aftermath of the Montreal Screwjob, wrestling changed forever. 629 00:38:25,300 --> 00:38:29,720 The fourth wall had fallen, and Vince McMahon's villainous character would 630 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:34,340 propel his company into the stratosphere while Bret Hart would make his 631 00:38:34,340 --> 00:38:35,340 lackluster debut. 632 00:38:35,910 --> 00:38:36,910 In WCW. 633 00:38:37,210 --> 00:38:41,970 You know, if you look at how Bret Hart even came to WCW and how they launched 634 00:38:41,970 --> 00:38:46,030 the very first day. Why don't we bring the man out that's going to referee this 635 00:38:46,030 --> 00:38:47,950 match? I remember like, referee? 636 00:38:48,310 --> 00:38:49,310 It's so lame. 637 00:38:49,350 --> 00:38:50,890 Like, such a lame way to bring me in. 638 00:38:51,310 --> 00:38:52,310 Is that what you want? 639 00:38:52,970 --> 00:38:57,810 Referee. Eric Bischoff was an imbecile trying to run wrestling. He didn't have 640 00:38:57,810 --> 00:38:59,210 any idea about how to run wrestling. 641 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:03,280 I have to take some responsibility in the fact that there may have been better 642 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,300 ways to bring Brett in. 643 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:08,980 I would be honored to be the referee. 644 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,820 But at the same time, we'll never know that because the plans that we did have 645 00:39:13,820 --> 00:39:18,360 for Brett were executed so piss poorly because of his just detachment from it 646 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,520 all. He didn't get over in WCW with zero impact. 647 00:39:21,860 --> 00:39:22,860 Hey, Bishop! 648 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,640 At the WCW, I quit. 649 00:39:28,940 --> 00:39:32,320 I think the legacy of the Montreal Screwjob is that nobody knows if it was 650 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:36,300 really a screwjob or not. I happen to believe it was the real deal. 651 00:39:37,900 --> 00:39:41,820 To me, I feel the same way now seeing him back as I did the first time I saw 652 00:39:41,820 --> 00:39:42,820 It's a total work. 653 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,460 Everybody was in on it, and they all did it together. 654 00:39:46,660 --> 00:39:48,040 Now look at Brett's face. 655 00:39:48,780 --> 00:39:50,360 He doesn't look too shocked to me. 656 00:39:51,020 --> 00:39:54,960 You're going to spit on Vince and then the truck is going to go tight on Vince, 657 00:39:55,020 --> 00:39:57,780 go tight on Vince, get Vince wiping the loogie out of his eye. 658 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,700 Vince has been in the TV business his whole life. 659 00:40:01,140 --> 00:40:03,180 Nothing's going to happen without his consent. 660 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:05,260 Everybody knows you're leaving. 661 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:11,560 You're going to stand in what's now your opposition's ring on a global broadcast 662 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:16,080 and you're going to motion the call signs of your competitor. 663 00:40:16,570 --> 00:40:20,610 If that's not okayed by a big boss, in my mind, they're going to cut away from 664 00:40:20,610 --> 00:40:24,490 that. I mean, I've never discussed it with Sean. You know, I wasn't there, and 665 00:40:24,490 --> 00:40:25,850 didn't ask guys who were there. 666 00:40:26,250 --> 00:40:31,510 Watching it as an educated fan, I would say it was a complete collaboration by 667 00:40:31,510 --> 00:40:32,510 all parties. 668 00:40:32,550 --> 00:40:34,090 That's all I got to say about that. 669 00:40:34,850 --> 00:40:40,150 People do say it was a work, and Brett was in on it. No, man, this is the way 670 00:40:40,150 --> 00:40:41,790 this piece of history went down. 671 00:40:42,550 --> 00:40:46,050 Conspiracy theorists will always be conspiracy theorists. 672 00:40:46,510 --> 00:40:50,370 But unfortunately, sometimes when people want more of a story to be there that 673 00:40:50,370 --> 00:40:54,970 just isn't there, they try to create it. When we did an interview with Scott 674 00:40:54,970 --> 00:40:59,470 Hall, he believes that the Montreal Screwjob is this very scripted sort of 675 00:40:59,470 --> 00:41:01,590 thing. He's not one of them too, is he? 676 00:41:04,570 --> 00:41:09,130 I'm sorry, it's ludicrous that Scott Hall would say that he didn't talk to 677 00:41:09,130 --> 00:41:13,030 Michaels about this. I know they all talk to each other about everything, but 678 00:41:13,030 --> 00:41:15,010 especially about this. Why wouldn't they? 679 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,600 I will tell anybody to their face that thinks that this was a work. 680 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:20,260 You are a dumb, stupid. 681 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,540 These are death threats. I've gotten a bunch of them. 682 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:27,400 But these were some of the most creative and some of the most picturesque. So I 683 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:28,379 framed these. 684 00:41:28,380 --> 00:41:31,800 Get by the ring one more time. You make a target under those lights. You won't 685 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:33,180 know where it comes from. Bye bye. 686 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,720 They pulled it all off because I trusted the referee. 687 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:38,000 Poor Earl. 688 00:41:39,500 --> 00:41:40,500 He's just a little. 689 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:46,160 I feel so bad for him. To put that on him was such a rotten thing to do. 690 00:41:46,420 --> 00:41:49,020 For the last 15 years, it's been the shit. 691 00:41:49,420 --> 00:41:52,280 There's always a chance in any arena that you screw Brett. 692 00:41:52,700 --> 00:41:55,780 We never talked for a long, long time, many years. 693 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:00,940 Even though Brett and I are friends now, this is still upsetting. 694 00:42:01,620 --> 00:42:05,680 I guess you can tell I'm kind of breaking down a little bit, but it's 695 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,440 that will be with me forever. 696 00:42:07,980 --> 00:42:11,140 A lot of people will say, hey, it was their idea, all the way from Vince Russo 697 00:42:11,140 --> 00:42:14,360 to Jim Cornette to Triple H to Shawn to me. 698 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,600 You know, we all said it. 699 00:42:16,980 --> 00:42:21,220 The Montreal Screwjob is remembered all kinds of different ways by all kinds of 700 00:42:21,220 --> 00:42:25,220 different people. For the fans, it was like one of the first big behind -the 701 00:42:25,220 --> 00:42:29,440 -scenes things that exploded, and they heard about and they realized that there 702 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:33,080 was more intrigue in the locker room and in the boardroom than there sometimes 703 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:34,080 was in the ring. 704 00:42:34,490 --> 00:42:37,870 As soon as you start doing that, as soon as you don't believe it's real anymore, 705 00:42:37,970 --> 00:42:39,270 it's not really worth watching. 706 00:42:39,730 --> 00:42:43,390 That's the way that people feel when they lose faith in their hero. 707 00:42:44,350 --> 00:42:48,750 That's when you lose people in wrestling because they believed in the people 708 00:42:48,750 --> 00:42:52,210 involved. Even if they didn't always believe all the action, they believed in 709 00:42:52,210 --> 00:42:53,210 the people. 710 00:42:53,330 --> 00:42:59,850 I take a lot of pride, almost ridiculous pride in being the wrestler that I was. 711 00:43:00,430 --> 00:43:03,150 I believe that I was the guy that reinforced. 712 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:09,040 wrestling aspect of of the wrestling show and that's what i'd like to be 713 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:15,380 remembered for the reality of the situation is is that if two guys 714 00:43:15,380 --> 00:43:21,900 just could have you know could have got over themselves well 715 00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:27,380 we wouldn't be sitting here today any final thoughts on like jim i've ignored 716 00:43:27,380 --> 00:43:34,260 him for years and it's on and on It's my personal enjoyment at this 717 00:43:34,260 --> 00:43:38,860 advanced age to remind everybody at every opportunity that he's a liar. It's 718 00:43:38,860 --> 00:43:39,839 freaking wrestling. 719 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:41,340 It means nothing. 720 00:43:41,780 --> 00:43:47,620 I will live to piss on his grave. Even if I'm in a walker, my wife already has 721 00:43:47,620 --> 00:43:50,660 instructions, she's out of the will. If she doesn't get me there, if I'm not 722 00:43:50,660 --> 00:43:54,520 ambulatory, I'll find Vince Russo's grave and I will piss on it and there 723 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:58,500 be a picture of that hanging on my wall when I pass away. And hate is a hell of 724 00:43:58,500 --> 00:43:59,500 a motivator.