Bret Hart On Backstage Changes After Being Champ

[We Are Legion]

I really doubt Triple H had anything to do with the screwjob. Trips had absolutely no pull whatsoever in 1997 and I'm pretty sure his involvement in that mess is hugely exaggerated today for the sake of Shawn Michaels' post-2002 image that WWE has worked so hard to uphold, compared to his notorious reputation from his 90's run.

It wasn't just about the notion Bret might dump the title in the trash on WCW television either. It was to prevent WCW from signing the WWE Champion before he had ever been beaten. That's really what it boiled down to. Bret dropping the title on Raw the next night wasn't good enough for Vince or anyone else. They wanted him to lose. And Bret refused to lose to who the WWE wanted him to, so that's what caused the whole mess.

Ric Flair actually had a similar disagreement with WCW before he came to WWE in the early 90's. They wanted him to lose to Lex Luger and Flair refused. Only difference is Flair got his way, there was no screwjob, and he ended up dropping it to Sting instead. If WWE played ball with Bret and let him drop the belt to Undertaker, the whole thing would have been swept under the rug and there would have been no screwjob. But Bret was trying to stick it to Michaels on his way out the door, and for some reason Vince took exception to that. That's really the only part of the whole fiasco that has never been clear to me.

 

[Kahuna]

If you watch Greatest Rivalries - Shawn vs Bret, Shawn admits that it was Triple H who said to Shawn and Vince before the match something along the lines "f*** this guy, if he doesnt want to play" and that swayed the decision.

It doesn't matter if Trips had pull or not, he was close to HBK and that was his in. You don't need to have pull to have an influencing input, especially in regards to something as touchy and subjective as the whole screw job incident. It was sensitive issue, something that big going on all it took was one guys vote of confidence to say "I got your back, lets do this." and since then I don't think Triple H hasn't looked back, you'd have to hear it from his own perspective which would be terribly distorted and biased if you ask me.

All in all, it was the result of three greedy guys who never knew when to accept the futility of it all. If Bret hadn't been so prideful, moderately selfish and ignorant to the fact that it really didn't matter if he lost in Canada in the first place to Shawn, Bret would have left without a tarnished reputation. If Shawn hadn't been that "me me me me me" guy who took the ball whenever he wanted it and swayed others to help him, and if Vince hadn't been so paranoid and negligent of fact over fiction and been so influenced by the selfish needs of himself and his two top guys at the time, than none of this would have happened.

The wildcard, from what I've heard and from what I've assessed, was the fact that Shawn mentioned it Triple H who had been the guy who told both Vince and Shawn in that situation that they should put him in his place. Whether he actually did or not, is beyond me.

Shawn said it on the DVD, if you don't believe me take a watch, its interesting.

Also found it interesting that Bret mentioned he would have dropped the title to Steve Austin anywhere over losing to Shawn Michaels in Canada. This was all induced by Bret informing Shawn way back when a few weeks before the event that he had a talk with him and Bret was quoted as saying something like "I have no problem dropping the title to you" and Shawn replied with a shit eating grin along the lines of "I wouldn't do it for you." Thats apparently what started the events leading up to Montreal, and according to Bret he informed Vince of this disrespect and Vince still figured it was best for HBK to get the strap even after Vince seemed annoyed and pissed off at the statement.

 

[We Are Legion]

If you watch Greatest Rivalries - Shawn vs Bret, Shawn admits that it was Triple H who said to Shawn and Vince before the match something along the lines "f*** this guy, if he doesnt want to play" and that swayed the decision.

And that means.... what?

 

[Deezy]

And that means.... what?

That you are just defending a moot point tbh.