What If? - The Screwjob Never Happened

[WrestleRacer91]

As I have posted on my profile in the past.

Just imagine if the Montreal Screwjob never happened back in 1997. What would the company or wrestling in general be like?

Sound off below on what you think would have happened.

 

[WrestleRacer91]

I certainly think and feel guys like The Rock, HHH, and Mick Foley wouldn't be mega stars like they turned out to be.

 

[WrestleRacer91]

Anybody got an opinion on what may have happened?

 

[Tyler2]

Steve Austin would be big, but not as big because of the Mr. McMahon character

 

[Doxo]

Will is spot on. No screwjob means no McMahon character, so everything good and bad that on screen Vince has done would be different

 

[Jacob Fox]

I disagree about the Mr. McMahon character. The seeds of the Austin vs McMahon feud were actually being planted before the screwjob happened. Austin stunned McMahon on 9/22/1997. No one could tell me that they weren't already planning on this feud eventually happening.

Vince now claims, and has for years, that no one saw him as a heelish character until after the Screwjob but it was a bit more complicated than that. I think the Screwjob added towards the hatred of McMahon, but he was already getting heat and the Mr. McMahon character was already developing. If you go back and listen to the commentary he did between the time he was stunned and the screwjob, you can see they were leading toward this eventually. So I think Austin vs McMahon would have happened no matter what. But I do believe the screwjob excelerated it.

WWE would still have surpassed WCW. WCW began a steady downhill slide ever since Starrcade 97. It was in 1998 when they began putting on stupid, stupid shows and their demise was largely their own fault. But it may have taken a little bit longer for WWE to get their foothold back.

 

[The Villain]

As somebody previously stated, I don't think it would've fully affected the McMahon character. The idea behind it was already put into place and would've happened anyway.

One thing that could be looked at is that it might have not caused Bret Hart's career to end so prematurely. If he doesn't go to WCW, he doesn't take that kick from a raw Goldberg and have his career ended. However, that's all hypothetical as he might have just got injured in WWF.

 

[Jacob Fox]

One thing that could be looked at is that it might have not caused Bret Hart's career to end so prematurely. If he doesn't go to WCW, he doesn't take that kick from a raw Goldberg and have his career ended. However, that's all hypothetical as he might have just got injured in WWF.

Well Bret Hart still would have left. His contract with WCW was already in place before the screwjob happened. If the Screwjob didn't happen, they said Bret would have appeared on Raw the next day and surrendered the belt to Vince McMahon.

You know, I am one of the few people who didn't immediately have much animosity against Vince McMahon at the time. I did think it was unreasonable of Bret to not drop the belt when he was asked to. It wasn't until I got a lot more background information as to what McMahon had been doing to Bret at the time, and realized there was no way Bret Hart would have taken the belt to WCW that I realized what a scumbag McMahon was. Apparently Bischoff's bosses forbade him from ever showing another WWF belt on their show after the legal issues following Madusa dropping the women's title in the garbage. And Bret Hart has always been a pretty stand up guy in matters like that. So McMahon was never in any danger and should have known that.

 

[The Villain]

Well Bret Hart still would have left. His contract with WCW was already in place before the screwjob happened. If the Screwjob didn't happen, they said Bret would have appeared on Raw the next day and surrendered the belt to Vince McMahon.

You know, I am one of the few people who didn't immediately have much animosity against Vince McMahon at the time. I did think it was unreasonable of Bret to not drop the belt when he was asked to. It wasn't until I got a lot more background information as to what McMahon had been doing to Bret at the time, and realized there was no way Bret Hart would have taken the belt to WCW that I realized what a scumbag McMahon was. Apparently Bischoff's bosses forbade him from ever showing another WWF belt on their show after the legal issues following Madusa dropping the women's title in the garbage. And Bret Hart has always been a pretty stand up guy in matters like that. So McMahon was never in any danger and should have known that.

My mistake, completely forgot he'd already signed a deal with them.

 

[WrestleRacer91]

My thing was didn't Bret have creative control in '97? He legally didn't have to drop the title in his home country of he didn't want to right?

 

[Jacob Fox]

My thing was didn't Bret have creative control in '97? He legally didn't have to drop the title in his home country of he didn't want to right?

It's actually not completely clear. His contract gave him "reasonable creative control." He claimed that meant he didn't have to drop the title in Canada but Vince has said that he didn't interpret it the same way since he saw that as "unreasonable." They really should have been clearer about it in the contract.

 

[Solid Snake]

I mean if you really want to jump down the "what if" rabbit hole, maybe Bret could have been talked into staying or coming back. This would have changed storylines and the outcome for some wrestlers would have been changed here as well. This can be both short term and long term careers. Also, had Bret stayed in the company, it could have impacted what happened with Owen and there is a chance he may have never fallen to his death. There is a lot that can really be said about this not happening but I think the whole Vince "power hungry boss" angle would have still been the same.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I mean if you really want to jump down the "what if" rabbit hole, maybe Bret could have been talked into staying or coming back. This would have changed storylines and the outcome for some wrestlers would have been changed here as well. This can be both short term and long term careers. Also, had Bret stayed in the company, it could have impacted what happened with Owen and there is a chance he may have never fallen to his death. There is a lot that can really be said about this not happening but I think the whole Vince "power hungry boss" angle would have still been the same.

I think the biggest problem with that is that Bret actually tried his best to work something out with Vince in which he would have stayed. I think Bret's opinion, and the opinion of others involved, was that Vince was trying to make him leave so he could get out of the 20 year contract. I know Bret is a hardcore self mark, but he's always come across to me as honest and at least in his autobiography, he made it seem like he was trying to compromise with Vince over the course of several months to find a way to stay. He was convinced, though, that Vince wanted him to leave.

 

[Solid Snake]

I think the biggest problem with that is that Bret actually tried his best to work something out with Vince in which he would have stayed. I think Bret's opinion, and the opinion of others involved, was that Vince was trying to make him leave so he could get out of the 20 year contract. I know Bret is a hardcore self mark, but he's always come across to me as honest and at least in his autobiography, he made it seem like he was trying to compromise with Vince over the course of several months to find a way to stay. He was convinced, though, that Vince wanted him to leave.

I was a kid when this all happened so I don't remember knowing the backdoor details on what was going on with Bret and Vince but if this is the case, then he likely would have just left regardless. It never sat right with me how this happened but knowing Vince, it was his way of making sure Bret hated him and the company and made sure he left for good.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I was a kid when this all happened so I don't remember knowing the backdoor details on what was going on with Bret and Vince but if this is the case, then he likely would have just left regardless. It never sat right with me how this happened but knowing Vince, it was his way of making sure Bret hated him and the company and made sure he left for good.

Don't feel bad. I was 22 when all this happened and I didn't know most of this stuff until recent years. I had always sided with Vince with regards to the screwjob because I can understand how terrified Vince must have been after Madusa left with the women's belt. I mean, if Bret left with the belt, that could have been the end of the WWF.

It was only actually through reading a lot of information from guys like Bret, Vader, Meltzer and several others that I began seeing it from a different picture. And of course Bischoff explaining that he was told that he could never show a WWF belt on Nitro again because apparently Turner Sports was not happy with the Madusa thing at all. So it seemed like for at least once in his life, Bischoff wasn't going to take the low road and Vince took the lower one.