In the notorious Montreal Screwjob, which occurred 25 years ago, Shawn Michaels had Bret Hart in the sharpshooter with Vince McMahon at ringside and Earl Hebner rang the bell.
Because Bret refused to put Shawn over at Survivor Series, there was concern that he would take the WWE Championship with him to WCW, which led to the “screwjob.”
Before the screwjob, the match lasted 12 minutes, and Hart thinks they would have had a classic if everything had gone according to plan.
“We had another 25 minutes,” Hart told Justin Barrasso of Sports Ilustrated. “The match was already good, and we hadn’t even hit our stride. Even when we didn’t get along, Shawn and I always had great chemistry together in the ring. When we worked together, we wanted to be flawless, and we didn’t get along, and that added to the intensity. When I clothesline Shawn over the top rope and we brawl and fight outside the ring, I could tell it was going to be a really special match. It was very competitive. That match was just starting. All the brawling was done just to set up the actual match. It was going to really get going after I reversed his sharpshooter. We pictured the crowd standing up and going crazy. That was going to be the moment when it took off.”