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It's a point I made earlier, but I'll re-iterate:
1) Shawn Michaels wasn't being booked as a dominant heel champion. He was being booked as a cowardly chicken shit heel.
2) The WWE's long term plan was to push Austin to the next level.
Therefore, I don't think it would have mattered that much had Bret vs. Shawn at the 1997 Survivor Series ended in a DQ (i.e. simultaneous Hart Foundation/DX interference). Shawn going strong over Bret would have been nullified a month later anyways where Taker beat the living shit out of Shawn only to lose due to Kane interference.
Bret putting over Shamrock would not have been good for business (i.e. Shamrock was too green and needed to be built up more), and so Bret jobbing to Taker on RAW was clearly the best scenario. From the interviews that I read, Bret didn't have a problem jobbing in Canada. He simply had a problem jobbing to Shawn due to the lack of respect. Bret had enough integrity to "give back" to the WWE and would never have jumped to WCW with the belt.
Shawn going over 'strong' while Taker being a transitional champion wouldn't have ultimately mattered, as the long term plan all along was to make Austin look like a million bucks.
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