Shawn Michaels Reveals What The Undertaker Said To Him After The Montreal Screwjob
Matthew Perez The infamous and controversial Montreal Screwjob incident took place 23 years ago, but it continues to be talked about as if it happened yesterday.
Bret Hart was set to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against real-life rival Shawn Michaels in the main event of Survivor Series 1997, which took place in Montreal, Quebec.
A year earlier, Hart had signed a 20-year contract with WWE. But Vince McMahon quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to honor it, and he convinced a reluctant Hart to join the rival WCW promotion.
Hart had one last request on the way out: To defeat his archenemy at Survivor Series in his come country. McMahon gave the plan a thumbs up, with Hart agreeing to drop the World Heavyweight Championship before he departed for WCW.
Of course, that didn't end up being the case. Behind the scenes, McMahon, Michaels, Triple H and referee Earl Hebner conducted a plan to double-cross Hart during the match.
Michaels locked in the sharpshooter submission hold on Hart. Even though he didn't tap out, McMahon instructed Hebner to call for the bell - abruptly ending the match in front of a stunned Hart and Montreal crowd.
Now, McMahon and Michaels had to deal with the fallout and consequences backstage.
Appearing on Inside The Ropes (h/t Abhilash Mendhe of Sportskeeda), Michaels revealed his conversation with Undertaker the night after the Montreal Screwjob. The Heartbreak Kid knew he had to speak with the locker room leader, but the Phenom didn't actually have a whole lot to say to him:
"I just need to know where he's at on this, because if there's somebody you gotta sit there and have a chat with, it's gonna be him (Undertaker)", Michaels said. "For all of this to move forward, he and I are gonna have to get simpatico on this. Clearly, Vince knew the same thing and that's why he was the first guy he talked to the next day. I remember waiting on him and he walked up to me and he goes, 'We're cool.' Off he went. I went, 'All right.'"
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Undertaker was admittedly enraged with what happened; he and Hart had a very close friendship in the WWE. The former went to his boss afterwards and said he should have been involved in order to prevent the disaster, and that it didn't "have to go down like this," to which the Vince agreed.
After the match, McMahon went to speak to Hart backstage. The WWE chairman willingly let Hart throw one punch at him before he left the company for good.
Thankfully, Everyone Finally Called A Truce
Hart returned to WWE programming 13 years later, officially "burying the hatchet" with Michaels. He and McMahon later engaged in a brief feud, which led to a match at WrestleMania XXVI. Hart soundly defeated Vince to get the long-awaited revenge once and for all. It's now all in the past, and all of the men involved have been able to move forward peacefully.
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