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CreativityTranscript
00:00May go down as one of the top technicians in the industry
00:05Brett took the business seriously. I think sometimes to his detriment. He took himself a little too seriously
00:11Brett believed he was the WWF champion a November the 9th
00:161997 professional wrestler Bret Hart had fought and clawed his way to the top as world champion
00:21But in a matter of seconds, he would realize that those who make you and just as easily destroyed
00:29Here's the problem Brett didn't want to lose at the championship
00:32It's your last night in the company. We need to crown a new champion. You know what? We'll just take it from
00:39It's like I remember when I was a kid exactly where I was standing
00:43When John F Kennedy had been assassinated and I remember just as precisely where I was
00:49When I found out about the Montreal screw job screwing a Canadian hero in Canada, how much more evil can one get?
00:57And I still feel this day like I have a neon sign on my fucking head
01:01I fucked you Brett never told you about it, but I fucked you
01:04I was so mad like you just really explode the screw job
01:08Changed so many things in the business
01:11The innocence of wrestling changed. This was one of the worst things in the world that happened to me in this business
01:17Say what you want about wrestling. That was really really screwed that guy
01:21The incident known as a Montreal screwjob marks a turning point in the history of wrestling
01:27never before had the curtain been pulled back to fully reveal the behind-the-scenes drama a
01:33Dark plot of betrayal was exposed
01:36Legacies were redefined and fans would never see wrestling the same again
01:51You
01:54Know it's one thing I always say about the screwjob is that if you go back and you look at all the facts
01:59My story has never changed. It's always been the same story right from day one because I tell the truth
02:04I'm Brett Dave Manhardt the best there is the best there was and the best there will be
02:08I was I was a real world champion because I really traveled all around the world and defended my belt
02:14This is my history in my life here all these guys
02:17Despite everything that's happened with the screwjobs and all that kind of stuff for me. It's mostly happy memories
02:22My name is Jim Cornette for the past 35 years
02:25I've worked for every major professional wrestling promotion in the United States as a manager announcer trainer matchmaker
02:32Pretty much done it all. I
02:34Was actually there. I actually lived it. I'm giving you my perspective
02:38It's just because my perspective happens to be entertaining that some people
02:44Take exception to that. I was the executive vice president of talent relations
02:49I've been a writer producer director brother. Love is a alter ego of mine
02:55You name it worn a lot of hats in the WWF WWE
03:02The patriarch of the Hart family was Stu Hart and Stu was an age-old veteran
03:09Double-tough the dungeon was the basement in the Hart family house. Well, the dungeon is hard to explain
03:15My dad 60 or 70 year old man. We go down there and torture a bunch of football players and bodybuilders
03:23Let me show you a hold here you just take your arm like this
03:28The Hart family is one of the most famous families in the history of our business
03:32The sons were all wrestlers the daughters all married wrestlers
03:35They had a wrestling bear that lived under their porch
03:39It was like the Munsters house for the people in Calgary Stu would invite everybody over and and make breakfast
03:45They had a bunch of cats and he'd take the thing where he's he's flipping the eggs and he'd flip the cat shit over there
03:51And then go back to flipping the eggs, you know
03:53made him tough sweat it did and Stu began the
03:58Stampede wrestling promotion in Alberta and had a very successful company there for a long time
04:05Welcome to this
04:07And Bret Hart was kind of a pale skinny, you know, maybe 21 year old kid or whatever
04:13But you could tell he kind of knew what he was doing
04:16I'm more confident right now that I've ever been
04:18There's no reason right now that he should have those belts right now
04:21The hearts were very integral to professional wrestling around the world in 1984
04:26Stu Hart is trying to keep his struggling territory afloat the rapidly expanding
04:31WWF strikes a deal to acquire the entire promotion
04:34Along with Stu's main star his son Brett
04:39When Vince bought Stu Hart stampede wrestling in 1984
04:43He took Bret Hart and Jim Neidhardt who was son-in-law as a team the heart foundation. They were managed by Jimmy Hart
04:49No relation. They were a
04:51Tremendous tag team and Bret Hart had a perfect foil and in Shawn Michaels
04:57when you have two guys like Bret Hart Shawn Michaels that are as talented as they are at what they do to begin with and
05:02Then sometimes there's just chemistry you find it a duet between two singers that have never worked together before but suddenly it's a hit
05:14Internationally, we're getting reports back that
05:18We've got a megastar on our hands in the form of Bret Hart. He his work
05:24Had made him this megastar. That was all they wanted to see this all they wanted to talk about this and at the same time
05:30Ric Flair was the champion and Rick was having some health issues
05:34We needed to make a change. So Vince is looking at it on
05:39Why not Brett?
05:41That's kind of guy you want a reward
05:43Vince McMahon's one of the most unique individuals on the planet if you could cross a
05:49Genius with PT Barnum and Donald Trump you would get the love child. That would be Vince McMahon
05:55Vince honestly is the third-generation wrestling promoter Vince controls creative
06:00Vince controls and talent choices. They run the lunch schedule past Vince McMahon to this day over the years
06:06Vince had a good relationship with Brett. I don't know. I you know, I think that once
06:11Brett became champion in Saskatoon
06:15That there started there was a change that was taking place
06:23The criteria for a world champion in those days there wasn't a set
06:28Physical list of
06:30Maneuvers or whatever that you had to perform?
06:32It was whoever Vince thought could be the guy Vince McMahon decides who the champion is going to be
06:38It's not actually won by anybody
06:42So Brett didn't beat Ric Flair. He won the championship in a in a scripted contest
06:48Okay in a storyline Brett served, you know
06:52Have that accolade but at the same time remember that someone made you champion
06:58You didn't really beat anybody. I think Brett looked at the WWF championship like guys
07:03Years ago used to maybe it was because of his father and his lineage
07:06But when you were chosen to be a champion of a major company
07:10It meant that the promoter thought that you were the best talent
07:14That you were the best draw that you would make him the most money that you were the guy
07:18while Brett stars rising in the WWF a
07:21Fledgling promotion suddenly starts edging out Vince McMahon and the television ratings
07:29WCW in the early 90s was it was a secondary competitor to the WWF. I
07:34Happen to be Eric Bischoff, you know as the executive producer at least I had a voice within WCW
07:40WWF is up here
07:42WCW is way down here. There's no way I can be better than the WWF, but I gotta be different from them their tape
07:49I'm live
07:50They target their content towards kids. I decided I wanted my characters to be more reality based
07:57I would use their real names WCW came after our talent. The perception was they offered them a lot more money
08:03You know when Hulk Hogan left the WWF, I think it hurt Vince
08:07Personally, it stung a little bit and the first the first big names to go with Scott Hall Kevin Nash in the very beginning
08:14Ted DiBiase left Roddy Piper shortly thereafter
08:18The curtain call as it came to be known happened because Nash and Hall were leaving to go to WCW for their big contracts
08:25It is my last appearance for the WWE and it's also Kevin Nash's last appearance. It was at Madison Square Garden
08:33the most famous arena in the world after the last match Hall and
08:37Nash and Michaels and Hemsley two of them good guys two of them bad guys
08:42All went out to the ring and had a big hug and a big kiss and waved bye to the fans
08:48Who had no idea what was going on with Sean and those guys they broke?
08:53Kay Fabe in front of the fans in Madison Square Garden
08:57The word kay Fabe is like a lot of wrestling terminology
09:00It comes from the days of the carnivals when you break Kay Fabe in wrestling
09:04You let the fans and the general public in the inside world and ruin the illusion. It wasn't like that
09:11It all just happened organically because the fans were going crazy. It's like a magical moment here. We are
09:1825 years later
09:20talking about you had been chosen and selected to be in a secret brotherhood and
09:25You kept those illusions private and to yourself because that it was a code. It was the code of Kay Fabe
09:32Now as competition between the two biggest promotions heats up
09:36Wrestling's fourth wall starts to crumble exposing its secrets and while Brett enters the biggest rivalry of his career
09:43He never could have imagined that it would end up leading to his ultimate destruction
09:51The off-screen feud would boil over into one of wrestling's most controversial moments
09:56Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels contrasting in-ring styles led to some of the greatest matches of all time
10:03As far as wrestling styles between Brett and Shawn Brett was more basic more grounded more hard-hitting more technical
10:11From the other side
10:14Michaels he's an incredible performer, but also a lot of his stuff is more pretty and a little bit more gymnastic
10:23And Shawn Michaels is probably the greatest performer all around
10:28Plus he was different. He wasn't a big giant. My contract was gonna expire Eric Bischoff has
10:35Sent fuelers out to me
10:37There were two separate occasions when I began to talk to Brad about coming over and I heard the initial offer was 2 million
10:44And then it was 2 million something and it got up to like 3 million and I'm sure they were rounding off
10:48But at that point what's the difference right Vince heard about them giving me an offer and ever Vince said he goes
10:54I'll make you an offer and we worked on a contract. It was 1.5 million for 20 years
11:02Brett favors loyalty over money and accepts the counter offer from Vince McMahon
11:07But then a mutual animosity between Brett and Shawn begins to take home
11:12Shawn was starting to get
11:15overwhelmed with
11:16Negatives doing a chip and Dale kind of gimmick
11:19It's not a heroic thing to do Shawn Michaels saw an opportunity to be more and more of a top guy and also to be
11:25More and more of a prick nobody breaks into this wrestling business to work their way to the middle
11:30I mean if you don't want to be on top you're in the wrong business
11:33I don't really care if you want to have dinner with me. Do you want to wrestle me? Oh
11:37You do?
11:38Okay, I don't think that they were really that different
11:42Which is probably where the real-life rivalry came into play first day
11:47When I walked out and I end up trashing Shawn Michaels on the interview about his Playgirl
11:52Magazine Center fall before I went out. I said Shawn
11:54I'm gonna it's okay if I bring up that Playgirl magazine and take a jab at that and say something about it
11:59He's not go ahead and say whatever you want
12:10And I came back and Shawn was just crushed it was like a burst into tears
12:15Now that now we're doing live TV and these guys are saying things on live TV
12:19About each other Shawn made reference to sunny days sunny is Tammy sit. She was one of the valet
12:26She was the first real, you know big pinup girl of the WWF and Shawn was making the inference that
12:33Brett was having some kind of an affair or some kind of
12:38relationship with sunny
12:50Now from a fan's point of view it's getting exciting
12:53But if you're the other guy you're hating the dude who's talking about you
12:56Cuz now you got to call home and explain that to your wife
12:59You don't mess with a guy's wife or his family or else wise you find yourself
13:04laying in a ditch somewhere
13:05So we're in Hartford Connecticut one night at the Hartford Civic Center and all of a sudden the door busts open and in comes to
13:11Brooklyn Brawler and he says hey Vince Shawn and Brett have just gotten a fight in the bathroom
13:17Shawn finally comes into my dressing room. We haven't talked for about a couple months
13:21I just remember I was just trying to be nice. I was like forgot that we ever had issues
13:24I said, hey Shawn, I was brushing my hair and he goes you think I'm gonna fucking talk to you and whatever
13:29It was Brett just leg-dived him took him down right there
13:31So I grabbed him by the hair swung him around the dressing room
13:34I think his feet were actually off the ground a couple of times
13:36It was like two prostitutes fighting in downtown or something
13:39Here comes Shawn and he's hot and he has got in his hand a handful of his hair
13:45It looked like a small possum and I'll never forget this
13:49He said this is an unsafe working environment as far as I know. I think if anybody was
13:57Sleeping with Sonny. It probably was Shawn
14:02As the backstage friction between Brett and Shawn intensifies
14:07Vince begins to lose the TV ratings war and is forced to cut costs
14:14Vince comes back and looks at the commitment that he had made to Bret Hart and
14:19It was it was a drain. It was a drain on the company for what we were bringing in at the time
14:24Vince told me that basically
14:26He couldn't afford to pay me the contract that he'd given me kind of broke my heart like where it's like
14:31Okay, I get it. I remember I got off the phone from I said, I guess I'm I'm done
14:35I hung up on Vince and I signed my WCW contract
14:39I can't remember exactly what day or when I heard that that Brett had made the deal was going to WCW
14:44But Vince told us Brett is gonna finish up at Survivor Series
14:48He dropped the belt and and and he you know, he'd be free
14:53It didn't turn out that way
14:55With Brett leaving the company Brett wasn't just leaving the company
14:58He was leaving the company and going to our competitor that was beating us in the ratings
15:02To have our champion leave the company is bad enough to have them leave the company with the championship
15:09Is kicking the nuts the time-honored tradition is when you're leaving a territory or a promotion you lose on the way out
15:16I gotta tell you in the beginning
15:19There wasn't a whole lot of worry about it because it was Brett and we thought that that there would not be any issue with
15:25Brett
15:27Dropping the championship to whoever we asked him to drop the championship to when I first heard that I was wrestling Sean
15:33was
15:34Maybe about three or four weeks before Survivor Series
15:38Anyway, so Vince pulled me he goes he's all excited. He goes we're gonna drop the belt to Sean
15:44So I saw Sean I right I thought this is your chance to open the door for sort of dialogue
15:50So I remember when we shook hands, I said I Sean I just heard that we're wrestling at Survivor Series
15:55I said I want you to know that you always be safe with me in the ring that I always be professional
16:00I would never do anything to hurt you or injure you or anything like that
16:04And he looked at me and he said he goes I appreciate that
16:08But I just want you to know that I am not willing to do the same thing for you
16:12And he turned around and walked out of the dresser to slam the door Vince
16:16Even though he knew that Sean and Brett hated each other
16:19Somehow he thought this match was magically gonna go in the ring and everything's gonna work out like he wanted and the closer
16:25That we got to the match the more obvious
16:27It was that it was not one of the things he had given Brett in that brand new
16:30Contract with all the bells and whistles was reasonable creative control of his character in the way. He was presented
16:36I'm the boss of my last 60 days. I'm gonna lose the shot. He's disrespected me
16:42I'm not wrestling Sean or I don't want enough putting Sean over under any circumstances until he proves me
16:47He's got enough respect for me to put me over first
16:49And I was on Brett's side cuz Sean was the prick not Brett, but we had to get the belt back
16:55The news of Vince's current champion signing with his main competitor would spell his defeat in the ratings war
17:02With his back to the wall
17:04Vance must get his belt off Brett and what he's about to do will echo far beyond the wrestling world
17:12With
17:14His last match in the WWF less than 24 hours away
17:19Redheart is refusing any scenario which has him losing the belt to his real-life nemesis Shawn Michaels
17:25Brett is growing suspicious of what his boss Vince McMahon might do showed up that day and I was ready for my match
17:33But I did have suspicions about the referee
17:36I mean, oh, I remember thinking the only way they can screw me if Sean will never pin me or that make me tap out
17:41So I wasn't worried about that. I said, but the way it'll work
17:44Is they'll get the referee?
17:46Hello, I'm Earl Hebner. I'm a referee. My relationship with Brett was great
17:51Most of the time he always wanted me to ref his matches people think oh I can count to three and it's over
17:57It's that's not the ballgame. We're sort of a coach
18:00You're thinking for three people. It's very very hard
18:07Do we have to
18:09Just kidding
18:11The day before that show I got on the plane got in my seat. The stewardess came back and said, mr
18:18Hebner, I said, yes, ma'am. She said you have a first-class seat. I said my ticket don't say first-class
18:23She said mr. Hart bought you a first-class seat
18:26So I went on a piss up a tie Brett and we looked we talked and Brett said, uh, will you promise me one thing?
18:32I said, what's that? He said you won't count me out. I said, nope. I will not count you out
18:36I said, you know, they're gonna ask you to screw me tomorrow
18:39But he got the tears in his eyes and he could just lip quiver and he was like the hell with that
18:43I swear he said I swear to God of my kids. I would never you know, and he was so adamant and I
18:48Shook his hand. I said just tell me if something like that's gonna happen
18:53Complicating matters a film crew producing a documentary called wrestling with shadows is following Brett to capture his last
19:01WWF match from the second. I land I've got the entire
19:05High Roads production film crew they're filming and they got the boom mics and the whole thing and they follow me where I went
19:12It was like a lot of people that I didn't even know all around the bill
19:17The idea was that Vince would get with Brett
19:19I think that Vince felt that once he got in front of Brett face to face that they would work something out
19:24But I remember the whole camera crew come in like they wanted to bike me out there
19:29Yeah, I kind of thought it's not how I operate. It was just in case
19:33My name is Harry Zafrani, I was the sound recordist on wrestling with shadows
19:39The director told us look we got to be very low profile about this
19:43You know, nobody should know that Brett Hart is is wired
19:47It was a private meeting and Brett went in wire didn't let Vince know that he was recording it
19:52I never ever wanted to leave here with any kind of bad feeling but this week has been a bad week for me
19:57I feel kind of betrayed a little bit the way this whole thing has been depicted
20:01It's really hard for me as a hero here to come up short
20:04I was determined to just stick to my guns that I was not backing down and right away Vince goes
20:11Well, what are we gonna do? I think what I'd like to do is get through today
20:14I think tomorrow I should just go in and do my speech and forfeit the title
20:18I think it allows me a chance to leave with my head up and leave in a nice way
20:21I would think it'd be a run-in type thing. Yeah, but I'm open
20:25I
20:32Knew that there was a point in the match where Bulldog and Owen would run out referee would lose control of the match
20:39Ring the bell there would be no winner and we would go off with a lot of chaos going on in the ring
20:44So the match would end in like a disqualification. Yeah, like basically a no contest
20:49like I remember
20:51Walking out to the ring and I knew like, okay be leery of
20:56Submissionals in a match like this, but I already talked to her. Oh and I thought about it
21:00It's like I said, okay, I trusted her as I put my guard down. That was that was my
21:06Fatal mistake. I'm walking down to go to the ring. I'm getting pulled aside
21:10Jerry Briscoe says Vince McMahon wants you to ring the bill when he puts Brett in the shop shoe
21:15I said what he said, well, are you gonna do it? I said, I don't know
21:19Jerry Briscoe is a producer agent one of the toughest some bitches on the face of the earth. He crazy buddy arm
21:25He says is Bret Hart gonna pay you this would Vince once do you want a job or not?
21:30I said, I don't have an idea of what I'm going to do right now
21:34Y'all mess my mind up and this is the truth. I'm thinking he had opportunity to drop the bill. I
21:40Know this is not right
21:42but I
21:44Gotta have a job. I told my brother for all my shit in the car
21:47This ain't gonna look good get all my shit out the dresser and put in a car. So I'm walking to the ring
21:52God, I promised Fred. I wouldn't count him out. That was the longest walk of my life
21:57We had a great match plan. Sean was a great wrestler. We're gonna start fighting before the bell starts
22:05Finally after about 10 minutes of brawling up and fighting out in the crowd and stuff
22:09I eventually fight Sean back to the ring throw him in the ring and now the match starts
22:13They get the ring right a ring the bells start and I'm going God
22:18Don't put the sharpshooter on
22:21The match lasts 10-15 minutes
22:25Putting Brett in the sharpshooter. Oh my gosh, how humiliating he's gonna beat him with his own finish
22:30Sean actually didn't know how to put the sharpshooter on he steps through the wrong way
22:33Folds my legs the wrong way and I move my legs and switch them the right way
22:37I remember when he put it on I flipped over I could see Vince McMahon
22:41I could see he's got this cold look on his chest and he's yelling it to ring the fucking Bell
22:47Ring the bell as a match was going on
22:50I'm going I don't know what I'm gonna do. I hated it
22:55And I remember in that moment of looking at the timekeeper and Vince snaps out of it. Bring the fucking bell
23:03They screw me right now and I remember reaching back and showing that I wasn't submitting and I grabbed Sean's leg and started to reverse
23:11But you could hear the bell
23:13If I hadn't run the bill
23:15Vince McMahon was gonna ring that bill and at first I was like I wanted to just kill fence
23:20I want to jump through the ropes and just punch him out
23:22I can't believe he did it to me after all the years that I gave him all the matches and all the hard work
23:27And he would disrespect me like that. He's a son of a bitch. I
23:31Jumped out of the ring ran across the floor jumped a hockey fence and could still hear the bell ringing
23:36Jumped in the car and we drove off. I had enough sense to paint
23:40WCW backwards so that you can read it on TV Brett did the WCW
23:46For the fans there in Montreal
23:48But it was it was what it was. I had a nice good copper spit. I just leaned over the top
23:55Oh
23:59Hollywood couldn't recreate something better than that. I
24:03wrecked a bunch of monitors and threw
24:06$100,000 headphones out into the crowd and stuff because of a couple of guys couldn't get along
24:10They hit on the most talked about match ending in the history of professional wrestling since the dawn of time
24:17Widely viewed by fans as wrestling's most treacherous act the Montreal screwjob would tear the lid off of wrestling sacred brotherhood
24:25But as to architect has yet to be revealed
24:33This is where I've told a couple of these things I've never gone this far, but I figured like I said
24:38I'm not gonna talk about this on TV
24:40Anytime in the rest of my life, so I guess at this point
24:42I don't care who gets mad at me. So it was me and Vince Russo at Vince McMahon's house. My name is Vince Russo
24:48I was the head writer at the WWE
24:50During the infamous Montreal screwjob and quite honestly, um, I wasn't even
24:57originally slated for this
24:59Documentary and then I wanted to be a part of it because I was there like I knew what went what happened
25:05So I'm sitting there that day first Vince gets up and he takes a phone call from Brent
25:10What I could tell you about that phone call is, you know, Vince pitched many different scenarios
25:17For Shawn Michaels to take the belt off of Bret Hart and Bret
25:21Soured on every single one of them Vince told Bret we'd go back to the drawing board and that's exactly what we did
25:29Well this finish won't work and that finish won't work and Bret just wants to come out and hand the belt over on TV the
25:34Following night without getting beat. I'm sure he does
25:37So then he goes and he calls Shawn every time Vince goes in there
25:41Then I sit in a room twiddling my thumbs with the fucking guy that I hate worse than anybody in the world Vince Russo
25:48We'd get in these creative meetings and the three of us would argue and it wasn't the three of us
25:53It was Jim and me. We could not be farther apart
25:58physically
25:59philosophically mentally morally if one of us was an
26:02African-american lesbian nun and the other was a Nazi skinhead Martian from outer space we could not be more different the
26:10Problem is
26:11He's still living in
26:141970 I'll never forget he made the comment. Oh when a guy comes out of a box
26:18He's instantly over like bro. This is like
26:221996 like who's coming out of boxes, bro
26:24Vince Russo's never had any respect for professional wrestling
26:28He booked the wrestling program to pattern after Jerry Springer our styles
26:34Completely crash finally Vince comes out and I'm about lost my religion with whole creative team thing anyway
26:40Cuz it's not my style of wrestling. I'm living in Connecticut. I'm miserable. I weigh 280 pounds cuz I'm aggravation eating
26:46I'm just I'm not in my element here. I said Vince. I said there's got to be something we can do
26:51I said it's your company and it's your belt and Vince looks at me and says well, then how would you do it pal?
26:57Well now it's a fucking challenge. Once again, I'm going through every finish I can think of or every situation
27:02I ever think I've or nobody want to do a job. I said goddamn
27:05double-crossing
27:07You can learn more about modern wrestling from these
27:11Classic books and classic magazines than you can by talking to people today because history always repeats itself
27:18In 1931 there was another double-cross in Montreal the Battle of the Bight
27:24Strangler Lewis controlled the championship and nobody could get it away from because it was worth so much money
27:30Lewis has a title match in Montreal
27:33Against Henri de Glane Henry de Glane. They lock up and immediately
27:38de Glane grabs
27:39Lewis's own hold on Lewis the headlock and takes him down and they go down on the mat because Lewis is working with him and
27:46They've been probably they're gonna do some kind of reversal
27:48De Glane starts screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs the referee checks de Glane huge bite mark on the guy's chest
27:57Apparently when de Glane got the headlock on Lewis Lewis had bitten him. Here's the thing
28:03It was actually Dan Koloff
28:06De Glane's corner man had bitten him in the locker room and then did this and then when they locked up boom headlock
28:11Nobody can see what happened referee disqualifies
28:15Strangler Lewis and awards the title to Henri de Glane
28:19That's a double-cross and it's as old as the hills in wrestling
28:23So when Vince says well, how would you do it then Bret's hold is the sharpshooter
28:32But let's Sean get Bret's hold on him if the referee just calls for the bell as a submission
28:40nobody can tell anything was wrong because that's what it's supposed to look like anyway and to
28:45Tell anybody anything was wrong. I said Bret Hart of all people would have to expose the business
28:50I said, what's he gonna do call the newspapers?
28:53But then Vince and he gave that hoomph like he does when whenever you would be discussing tomfoolery and he would say
29:00All right
29:01Let's get back to reality and we went on do you recall during that meeting with Vince and Cornette Cornette ever told a history?
29:07Lesson about double crosses that had happened in the past
29:10Unless I was in the bathroom during that scenario
29:14That scenario did not take place in front of me when I was sitting at the table
29:19I'm not gonna call Jim Cornette a liar. And when I was sitting at table and Cornette was sitting at the same table. I
29:26Pitched that exact scenario to Vince. So basically out of pure
29:32Frustration I said Vince I said screw it Vince have Sean put the sharpshooter on Bret and have the referee call for the bell
29:40Do that Vince Russo didn't know what a double cross was. He was sitting there with his eyes open
29:47People tell me all the time. Oh Vince you you you take credit for the Montreal Scrooge
29:52I wish I didn't pitch the idea. That was a miserable night
29:56It was one of the worst experiences in my life in the wrestling business
30:01I swear on my mother's grave my father's grave my wife's life and my dog's life
30:07The story I just told you is true
30:09Vince Russo is the biggest liar in professional wrestling and imagine the territory that takes in
30:17The when I was sitting there at the monitor I saw him going to the spot that's when I shit myself
30:23Holy fuck. He's actually gonna do this and look to this look right now close up on the goosebumps
30:32Now I'm thinking I
30:35Don't know who else knows about this. I
30:37Just know that there is a high probability
30:39That somebody in this building is gonna want to beat shit out of me in the next 10 minutes
30:43And I'm gonna get out of here when I'm starting my car up and starting to pull out that I heard her car rev the motor
30:49And saw the headlights pop up behind me. That had to be Hefner. I beat him out of the building
31:01Justice Bret Hart was double-crossed on live television by his boss Vince McMahon
31:06WWF executive Bruce Prichard is blindsided himself by the sudden change in plans
31:13So it's chaos, I'm not even realizing what's happening in front of me. How did you feel about not being involved in Oh God?
31:21I was pissed off that I wasn't smart enough as to what they were doing
31:24And I was pissed off because I was left in the back alone
31:28In a position where everyone thought they knew that I was involved and I wasn't I felt very alone
31:35I felt betrayed the piece of shit's locked himself in his office
31:40I
31:41Cameras are off shows over. I got screwed and I was so mad. There's Sean suddenly in my dressing room
31:48He's swearing to God that he had nothing to do with it
31:51Sean you weren't in on that
31:55He was a bad actor
31:57But one of the two was in on it that I think Sean had to be in on it
32:02You know at that time I had no idea
32:05Well now we know Sean was just putting on an act
32:10I
32:10Was like this hush in the dressing room. Everyone's kind of stunned
32:13I were Undertaker got so mad that he kicked over one of those big steel barrels. He's just slammed the door
32:19Said something about he was going down to Vince's office to get a straight answer on why they did that to me, you know Vince
32:26You got to go over and talk to him explain why you did what you did. You got to give him one
32:31Am I giving him one?
32:32but if he's gonna he's gonna hit you you got to take one Brett came out of the shower and
32:37Told Vince get out of his fucking dressing room and then he said he goes he says you're still here when I get out
32:42I'm gonna get dressed. I'm gonna punch you out Brett finished a shower
32:45I mean he went back and took his sweet-ass time and finished his shower
32:48And Vince stood right in the middle of the room waiting for him to finish
32:53So I finished shower and I come out and it's funny as I walk out of the shower sopping wet
32:59Naked then said something me along lines up is the first time I ever had to lie to one of my talent
33:05Which is such a lie. I
33:07remember tying my shoes
33:09And I remember when I got time my last shoelace. I started to tie it. I go. This is it
33:13I'm gonna punch out Vince McMahon. I can't believe I'm doing this
33:17We walk towards each other end up tying up
33:20Just like a pro wrestling match and I remember just sinking down and kind of just turning my whole body and thinking
33:2714 years
33:28Coming up right between our arms and I hit Vince McMahon
33:33Beautiful Mike Tyson uppercut I
33:36Popped him literally off the right off the ground. He went straight down out cold
33:42Everybody was stunned. No one could believe it
33:44It's dead silent for a while and nobody said anything and then Brett said get the fuck out of my dressing rooms
33:50I mean I have to say that I remember Shawn Michaels
33:52He was bawling his eyes out like a baby and I remember thinking I know you were in on it and he knew it
33:57He's like waiting for me to make my way over to him and finish him off
34:01But I just tapped him on the shoulder. I said Shawn
34:04Thanks for the match or he couldn't believe that. I thanked him for the match
34:12I had never to that point heard of that much drama and backstage just bullshit
34:17Sometimes I lost sleep over what I should have done that day Brett
34:21You're not gonna understand this now, but Vince was trying to protect his business. It was never about not trusting you
34:27He didn't trust Eric. I
34:30Went to Vince office and said I need to talk to you. He said, okay. I said, I'm fucked
34:34He said I got a meeting with everybody today
34:36We'll take care of it set everybody down and said what I did last night was my call
34:41It's not Earl's fault and anybody don't like it can come to my office and I'll release your ass right now
34:47Screws job was already in the makings. They had to find somebody that would do it
34:52The conversation I had with Vince were where we really had the big heart-to-heart
34:55It was the following Wednesday in Stanford and I told him what I thought
34:59Vince's reaction was if you had known then you would have known you would never be able to say that you didn't know Shawn Michaels
35:06Risked everything for you for this company. So before you condemn Shawn Michaels
35:13Understand what he did for you and your family
35:15There were a lot of what-if scenarios discussed the night before and I think that everybody believed that at the end of the day
35:22Vince was going to be able to convince Brett
35:27To drop the championship that didn't happen
35:30So Vince asked Jerry Briscoe's let Shawn know there's a spot in the match
35:35That Shawn you get him in the in the sharpshooter ring the bell
35:39Of all people Bret Hart who was raised in the wrestling business whose father was a wrestler who went through the code
35:46He's the one that exposed the business. We're talking with Bret Hart the hitman today. How are you?
35:50It was very important to me after 14 years of probably the most dedicated loyal
35:55Hard-working service that you could ever get out of a professional wrestler
35:58I've given this man everything you could ever ask for and I made it very very clear that my character
36:04Was not in any way shape or form gonna be humiliated
36:08Brett was telling any and everybody that he could he didn't lose he was screwed and
36:13It was something that Vince felt it was important to address on Monday night wrong
36:18Did you or did you not screw Bret Hart? There's a time-honored tradition in the wrestling business
36:25That when someone is leaving
36:28That they show the right amount of respect and the people I know we don't want to like the rich billionaire boss
36:33We liked Bret Hart. He was our hero Bret Hart didn't want to honor that tradition
36:39Vince was really given Bret Hart all kinds of shit for not honoring the time-honored
36:44Tradition of doing the right thing on the way out on TV. This didn't happen ever before
36:49Vince in this interview just came across very
36:53cold
36:55Calculated and very very heel ish. I truly believe that Bret Hart
37:01Screwed Bret Hart and he can look in the mirror and know that
37:06Rather than sweep this incident under the rug Vince capitalizes on it by transforming this real-life incident
37:12Into a storyline where he reinvents himself as an evil conniving
37:18Mastermind when I debuted the fans didn't know that Vince was the owner
37:22He was an announcer and then once the word got out that he actually owns the company
37:28He's the power behind the throne this and that Vince ran with mr. McMahon is one of the greatest heel characters of all time
37:35Yes, I mean you've heard arenas full of people chant
37:42If they had done it right
37:44Everybody prospered Shawn Michaels became the WWF champion off a big win Vince McMahon became
37:51The catalyst to the evil Empire. Mr. McMahon and they handed the hottest wrestler in the world
37:58Bret Hart took WCW and they dropped that ball
38:04After the Montreal screwjob wrestling changed forever
38:08The fourth wall had fallen Vince McMahon's villainous character would propel his company into the stratosphere
38:15While Bret Hart would make his lackluster debut in WCW
38:19You know, if you look at how Bret Hart even came to WCW and how I got a launch me the very first day
38:29I'm really like referee. It's so lame. It's such a lame way to bring me in. Don't you want?
38:35Referee Eric Bischoff was an imbecile
38:41I have to take some responsibility and the fact that there may have been better ways to bring Brett in. I would be honored
38:50To be the referee
38:52But at the same time
38:53We'll never know that because the plans that we did have for Brett were executed so pissed poorly because of his just
39:00Detachment for it all he didn't get over in WCW zero impact
39:05at the WCW I
39:08quit
39:11Think the legacy of the Montreal screwjob is that nobody knows if it was really a screwjob or not
39:16I happen to believe it was the real deal
39:20To me I feel the same way now seeing him back as I did the first time I thought saw it as a total work
39:25Everybody was in on it and they all did it together
39:29Now look at Brett's face
39:31He doesn't look too shocked to me
39:33You're gonna spit on Vince and then the truck is gonna get go tight on Vince go tight on Vince get Vince wiping the loogie
39:39Out of his eye Vince has been in the TV business his whole life
39:43Nothing's gonna happen without his consent
39:46Everybody knows you're leaving you're gonna stand in what's now your opposition's ring on a global
39:54broadcast and you're gonna motion the
39:56Call signs of your competitor if that's not okayed by a big boss in my mind. They're gonna cut away from it
40:03I mean, I've never discussed it with Sean and I wasn't there and I didn't ask guys who were there watching it as an
40:10Educated fan. I would say it was a complete
40:13Collaboration by all parties. So that's all I got to say about that
40:17People do say it was a work and Brett was in on it. No, man
40:21This is the way this piece of history went down
40:25Conspiracy theorists will always be conspiracy theorists
40:29But unfortunately sometimes when people want more of a story to be there that just isn't there
40:34They try to create it when we did an interview with with with Scott Hall
40:38He believes that the Montreal screwjob is this very scripted sort of thing. He's not one of them too, is he?
40:47I'm sorry, just it's just it's ludicrous that Scott at Hall would say that he didn't talk to Shawn Michaels about this
40:52I know they all talk to each other about everything but especially about this why the fuck wouldn't they I will tell anybody to their
40:59Face that thinks that this was a work. You were a dumb stupid fucker. These are death threats
41:05I've gotten a bunch of them, but these were some of the most creative and some of the most picturesque
41:09So I framed these get by the ring one more time. You make a target under those lights
41:14You won't know where it comes from. Bye-bye
41:16They pulled it all off because I trusted the referee poor Earl
41:21And he's just a little
41:23Guy, I feel so bad for him like to put that on him was such a rotten thing to do for the last 15 years
41:30It's been the shits. That's always a champ in any arena as you screw Brett. Well, we never talked for a long long time many years
41:40Even though Brett and I are friends now, this is still upsetting
41:43I guess you could tell I'm kind of break it down a little bit, but it's something that will be with me forever
41:50A lot of people say hey it was their idea all the way from Vince Russo to Jim Cornette to Triple H to Sean to me
41:57You know, we all said it
41:59The Montreal screwjob is remembered all kinds of different ways by all kinds of different people for the fans
42:05It was like one of the first big behind-the-scenes things that exploded and they heard about and they realized that there was more
42:12Intrigue in the locker room and in the boardroom than there sometimes was in the ring
42:17As soon as you start doing that as soon as you don't believe it's real anymore
42:20It's not really worth watching. That's the way the people feel when they lose faith in their hero
42:26That's when you lose people in wrestling because they believed in the people involved
42:32Even if they didn't always believe all the action they believed in the people. I
42:36Take a lot of pride
42:38almost
42:39Ridiculous pride in being the rest of that. I was I
42:43Believe that I was the guy that reinforced
42:47wrestling aspect of the wrestling show and
42:50That's what I'd like to be remembered for
42:53the
42:55Reality of the situation is is that if two guys just could have you know
43:01Could have got over themselves
43:04Well, we wouldn't be sitting here today
43:06Any final thoughts on like Jim I've ignored him for years and it's on
43:14It's my my personal enjoyment at this advanced age to remind everybody at every opportunity that he's a liar
43:21It's freaking wrestling. It means
43:23Nothing, I will live
43:26To piss on his grave, even if I'm gonna walk her my wife already has instruction
43:31She's out of the will if she doesn't get me there if I'm not ambulatory
43:34I'll find Vince Russo's grave and I will piss on it and there will be a picture of that hanging on my wall when I
43:39Pass away and hate is a hell of a motivator