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Who Came Up Montreal Screwjob Ending?

10K views 72 replies 43 participants last post by  DropThatSoap 
#1 ·
Thought it was entirely HHH's idea. Read lots of other shit about who actually came up with the idea.

Who was it? Not HHH?
 
#60 ·
 
#7 ·
My guess would be Vince and Russo
 
#12 · (Edited)
Shawn Michaels says it was Triple H who came up with the idea and Bret Hart says it was Gerald Brisco who came up with the spot.

I have a hard time believing Russo had anything to do with the Screwjob when you have two of the guys involved in the Screwjob saying it was others who planned it, nor do they mention Russo had anything to do it. Jim Cornette said Russo wasn't apart of the meetings to plan out the Screwjob and he seemed oblivious to it backstage as everybody else did and had to have the concept of a 'screwjob' explained to him. It seems like Russo is trying to take credit for something he wasn't involved in. Plus if Russo were involved, wouldn't some incident have happened backstage between him and Bret when they were in WCW? Russo is the one who put the WCW belt on Bret afterall.
 
#13 · (Edited)
You mean the actual Sharpshooter spot or the idea that you should legitimately screw Bret Hart?

I have read a lot of stories on who came with the Sharpshooter spot and I genuinely think a lot of people have come up with that idea one way or another. Obviously it's easy to say now but slapping on a big submission hold on Bret and then calling for the bell must have been something on many people's minds. Since Shawn does not have a regular finishing submission hold and we want Bret to be unaware of the finish I am sure many people with decent wrestling minds would have mentioned "call for the bell when Shawn slaps on the Sharpshooter on Bret" to Vince McMahon in separate conversations as "their idea".

According to Shawn, it was Bret's idea as a spot to have Shawn put Bret in the Sharpshooter at which point Shawn went "that's it! That's the way to screw Bret" (according to Shawns book). But then again Shawn was pilled up throughout that whole period his memory was probably fuzzy.

According to Bret, it was Pat Patterson who suggested them to have a Sharpshooter spot? IIRC.

I don't really give much credit to Jim Cornette or Vince Russo, but as mentioned above I won't be surprised if either one (or both of them) have mentioned that Sharpshooter spot to Vince McMahon.

I don't recall anyone saying HHH came up with the Sharpshooter spot. The story goes was that in a teleconference call with HBK and Vince McMahon, Vince said to HBK that Bret is simply not going to do the job. HHH then suggested to Vince that they should screw Bret over the finish. Again, HHH is surely not the only guy to have suggested that to Vince. And yeah even back in 1997 HHH already held political power lol, since Vince was such a mark for the Kliq at the time including its remaining members HBK and HHH who were practically members of the booking committee during that time period.
 
#14 ·
Pat Patterson if memory serves me right was the one that suggested Shawn having Bret in the sharpshooter then after being in the hold for a minute or two Bret would reverse the hold leading to a run in from D-Generation X and The Hart Foundation leading to a double DQ.

Triple H was the one who compounded the loose idea that Vince McMahon had which was "if Bret won't do business, we'll do business for him" so Vince McMahon knew then someone was thinking the same as he was so the idea was out there, Shawn agreed to do whatever Vince wanted to do.

I don't for a second believe Vince Russo had ANYTHING to do with it even though he claims credit for the whole thing. Shawn has said numerous times that he's of the belief that only four or five people knew which most believe was Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, Gerald Briscoe, Shawn himself and Triple H with Earl Hebner finding out a short while before the match started.
 
#16 ·
Bret Hart's autobio was BRUTALLY honest absolutely pulling no punches and IDR if/who Bret ultimately pinned that on beyond him saying that him and Earle made peace as Earl was crying and told Bret Vince threatened to fire Earl if he didn't do it and of course Bret says Taker was the one to get Vince out of his office when this happened ( as well as apparently Vince having a very weak makeshift bodyguard crew ready which would've gotten demolished if blows between everyone went down). Whoever Bret wrote as the culprit I would most believe was given that book's extreme honesty.

For what it is worth: Triple H and Jim Cornette have claimed they came up with the idea and Vince Russo sticks to the story of Bret refusing to drop the belt and Vince needing a third party on the line who was not allowed to say a word and after over eight hours of discussion of ways to do things, Russo threw the idea out to Mcmahon not thinking Mcmahon would do it and he ultimately did.

Vince Russo though has a frequent habit of conveniently leaving things out in his arguments though. Not sure I'd totally buy that particularly when 97 was when Russo was just coming into the writing fold and not the full-blown Russo/Ferrara/Vince writing the shows phase of 98 and much of 99.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Bruce Pichard "doesn't remember" who came with the Sharpshooter part which adds to Russo doing it since a lot of people don't like to give him credit.

Plus if Russo were involved, wouldn't some incident have happened backstage between him and Bret when they were in WCW? Russo is the one who put the WCW belt on Bret afterall.
Hart was the first person Russo talked to when he got to WCW because he wanted to give him a big push. They had a long talk in catering (Russo apologized to him for everything) and everything was smoothed over.

- Vic
 
#18 ·
Why didn't Vince just tell Bret, "You're losing" and that would be the end of it. "Creative" control should only be on the character itself, whether to go face or heel, etc. If it wasn't a work, totally Bret's falt, but it worked out in the end.
 
#19 ·
Why didn't Vince just tell Bret, "You're losing" and that would be the end of it. "Creative" control should only be on the character itself, whether to go face or heel, etc. If it wasn't a work, totally Bret's falt, but it worked out in the end.
Which is what Vince said, too.

The problem is, in spite of that being the case, Vince continued to try & come up with a way to appease Bret and get the title off him in a way he was fine with, while also trying to appease Shawn (who he clearly valued more than Bret). That sounds like it's Vince's fault for trying to give both guys what they want, despite both wanting the exact opposite for the other.

As for why Vince didn't just tell Bret "You're losing" and end it there, probably for the same reason he didn't tell Shawn the same thing. Goes both ways, which makes it hard to pin it all on Bret. You got one guy who is a complete mark about the situation, one guy who is a complete asshole about the situation, one guy who is playing both sides and some mid carder who had a louder voice than he was entitled to at that point.


Having said all of that, I think it was a work that turned into a shoot because of said mark, said asshole and real life occurrences that made it beyond impossible to retain the work dynamic.
 
#22 ·
One thing I never understood was why would bret be fine with letting a sharpshooter be applied on him.

In the wrestling with shadows documentary he states before the match that he thinks something may go down. If he had any sense he should have seen that sharpshooter spot coming and refused to have that spot in the match.
 
#23 ·
Another hint that points to it being a WORK
 
#24 ·
I vote for HHH who never lacked intelligence for that kind of things as who came with the idea.
But with Shawn Michaels saying OK! in classic Terry Bogard's voice.:lol
 
#25 ·
Wouldn't surprise me if it was Bret Harts creation....

I'm not calling it a "work"... but as some shoot interview said in the last few years... "it would be the greatest work in pro wrestling history"...

Just entertaining the idea of a work, look at the up side for each of the three...

... Bret gets white hot attention, and never stops talking about it, and people never stop asking him about it... he gets more sympathy from his fans and Canada...

Vince gets the WWE exposure and buzz that would still carry on into 2016, with people on message boards still talking about this one night at a PPV...

HBK gets the title, which locks him into the one match he only works... the "main event".
 
#29 · (Edited)
It was all Vince in my opinion. I maybe in lala land but I still think this was a legit screw job and not a work.

I just think the truth would have come out by now if it were all a work since we live in a bygones be bygones era. Seriously if this was a work would the truth not have come out after Owen's death? Would Brett not have parlayed this at that time?

I mean even the single most protected work of all time the Lawler vs Kaufman angle was exposed after time.

And I also believe Shawn would have come clean by now too. After all believe his legitimacy or not one of the tenements of his new faith is honesty.

That being said I still believe in the moon landing too.
 
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