DISCUSSION - Could "Montreal" have been averted by Bret Hart jobbing to Undertaker on RAW the next night?

[hb2k]

Just to clear up a few things throughout the thread:

As mentioned by others. Bret handed in his notice on midnight November 1st. He was obligated to the company for all of November, and had an agreement in place with Vince and Bischoff that he was allowed to stay until December 7th, after his actual deal was over, so that he could lose the WWF title in a four way against Taker, Shamrock and HBK at the DX IYH show. So him losing it at Badd Blood on October 5th wouldn't have crossed anybody's mind at the time. Bret wasn't showing up on Nitro after Survivor Series no matter what.

Bret didn't want to lose in Canada. He can say years later it was a more personal thing with Shawn, and no doubt that's part of it, but the blow by blow account of what happened from Bret and the company was him saying he didn't want to lose in Canada. And to me, that's fine, and here's why.

The anti-Bret attitude is "lose your fake title, what if so-and-so didn't want to lose in America", etc. But I actually think it's a perspective that really misses the obvious. Bret Hart had signed a $2.8 million deal with WCW. He wasn't worth that based on his value to PPVs, ratings or house shows in America relative to other salaries in the business. But to WCW, Bret was the key to breaking into Canada, where they'd never done any business historically. At the time Canada was the second biggest market the WWF had, and it was a huge investment based on Bret's value in Canada. Bret was in a situation where he felt losing to Shawn in Montreal (especially when the match was built mocking Canada) could hurt that value, and he may have been right. Given how much money was on the line on this deal (if WCW had broken through to Canada based on him, long term Bret could get another big contract after this one), I can easily see why he wanted to get out of Canada before he lost the title. And Bret suggested several options for guys to beat him the following week as soon as they were out of Canada if they decided he had to lose before the December PPV, the originally agreed plan.

Vince McMahon is the one who was stupid enough to breach Bret's contract (by not paying his agreed amount, which meant Bret was allowed to negotiate with WCW), and pretty much force him out the company while he was WWF Champion. He was also the one that agreed to the reasonable creative control clause into Bret's deal that let Hart have veto power if he thought what they were asking could damage his value. The people saying "what if I don't lose in America!" are usually guys like JBL who have never been in a position where they have value to an international market and huge potential revenue source as Bret was, so their opinion is worth less than salt grit on a sunny day.

What it really came down to was Vince forced Bret out on November 1st as WWF Champion. The next day, Bischoff went on Nitro and promised a big surprise next week. And Vince shit himself, realising he hadn't thought it through. All of a sudden, the plan that everybody had agreed to (the December PPV) didn't seem so appetising, especially when the internet, hotlines and Canadian newspapers picked up the story two days later. Vince got nervous because he thought WCW announcing they'd signed the WWF champion was damaging, after Vince encouraged the WWF champion to sign with WCW. Right. Clearly, there is some stupidity somewhere.

Legally Vince couldn't force Bret to lose at Survivor Series, and it became a situation where both sides had their own interest in mind and the legal footing where neither of them was in the wrong for wanting what they wanted and standing their ground. But it was Vince's fuck up in the first place. Bret didn't even suggest to beat Shawn, just to get out the match (and let's not pretend this company is above main event DQ finishes on PPV, the very next one had one).

Ultimately both sides are at fault. Bret was being more difficult than he needed to be, probably based on paranoia, realising how much money was at stake, and no doubt there is ego involved (as I imagine there would be when you're champion and being forced out). Vince was just a moron who put himself in an awful position in the first place and did something that was, for his actual intention (get the belt off Bret and not draw attention to the champion leaving) was even dumber. The only saving grace was that this move and his attempt to babyface himself afterwards came off so poorly and was rejected so much he accidentally stumbled upon something great.