November 9, 1997:
25 Years Ago Tonight:
1997 Survivor Series
"The Montreal Screwjob"
Overview: Here we are the big Shawn/Bret showdown for the Title! What happens tonight will have gigantic ramifications, not just for Bret, not just for Shawn, but for the entire wrestling business from this night forward. Literally, everything in wrestling changes forever on this night. And not just in wrestling, but in the lives of three men (Bret, Vince, and Shawn) forever.
Review:
Before the match, Bret is in the ring during his entrance and Shawn is on the outside waiting for the match to start and the camera zooms in on an over the top sarcastic smile on his part, as if to say, some big shit is going down tonight:
Shawn in the ring, and he jumps Bret to get a head start, before Bret starts to fight back:
Bret then head-butts Shawn, and hits him with a hard clothesline over the top and to the outside to a big pop:
Bret has the upper-hand as they brawl on the outside. An Attitude Era staple hear as Bret throws Shawn over the guardrail, and they brawl more. You can tell they are trying to go further up in the crowd, but there are just too many people in the way, so they go back over the guardrail back ringside. Shawn gets the upper-hand now as he slams Bret's head against the announce table. Shawn takes an American flag and chokes Bret with it.
Shawn throws Bret over the guardrail as he slams Bret's head against the guardrail. He tries to piledrive Bret, but Bret back-body-drops Shawn over the guardrail and then proceeds to kick Shawn in the nuts as they are back ringside. They continue to brawl up the ramp, where Bret once again counters a piledriver and back-body-drops Shawn on the concrete, and follows that up with a vertical suplex on the concrete. Shawn bumping like a madman on the concrete tonight!
They continue to brawl up the ramp as they are surrounded by numerous refs and backstage officials trying to get them back to the ring, as the bell hasn't rung and the match hasn't officially started yet. They brawl in the entrance box thing where the wrestlers enter, where Vince gets in Bret's face and tries to get him to stop:
They now work their way back to the ring, slowly, but surely, as they continue to brawl on the outside. They are now in the ring and the bell rings as Bret chokes Shawn with a Quebec flag. Bret hits Shawn with an atomic drop. Shawn hits his patented flying-forearm on Bret and gets to work on him alittle bit with some offense of his own. He hits his patented stomp on the face, and the chokes Bret with the Quebec flag that Bret just choked him with, and crotch-chops the crowd.
Shawn is playing to the front-row of the crowd which looks like a bunch of frat guys and throws Bret out of the ring right in front of those guys, and punches Bret right in the face, and laughs in their faces. Hilarious. Shawn then breaks the pole of a Canadian flag in half and jams the end of the pole into Bret's throat!
Back in the ring, Shawn hits Bret with an axe-handle off the top. Bret goes back on offense, but Shawn pokes him in the eye. Shawn hits Bret with a crossbody from the top, but Bret reverses it into a pin for a 2 count. Bret puts Shawn in the figure-four around the ring-post to a big pop. Bret continues to loosen up Shawn's legs by focusing entirely on his legs now. He then puts Shawn in a Figure-Four! Shawn eventually reverses it, but Bret gets to the ropes almost immediately to break the hold.
Bret hits Shawn with a Russian-Leg-Sweep for a two count. He head-butts Shawn's abdomen before hitting him with a vertical suplex for a two count. Bret hits Shawn with back-breaker. He then goes to the top rope, but the ref gets in the way, and all three men go down hard:
They get up, Shawn gouges Bret's eye and puts him in Bret's very own Sharpshooter! The ref (Earl Hebner) gets up and calls for the bell to be rang!:
The bell ring, and Shawn apparently wins the match. Bret turns around, and can't believe it:
Bret gets up and spits in Vince's eye:
Analysis: Well, there it is. The most controversial match and finish of all time. After this, Bret would head to WCW and Shawn would be the WWF World Champion, and the wrestling world would never, ever be the same.