Few moments in wrestling history sent shockwaves through an entire locker room quite like the Montreal Screwjob. While Bret Hart was at the center of the controversy, the fallout from Vince McMahon choosing to move forward without him reverberated far beyond the ring. Nearly three decades later, Bruce Prichard has offered fresh perspective on just how intense the atmosphere was backstage that night, particularly involving The Undertaker.
Speaking on Six Feet Under with The Undertaker, Prichard recalled that although Mark Calaway did not compete at Survivor Series 1997, his presence backstage was anything but passive. Prichard insisted he was unaware the controversial finish was coming, which made the immediate aftermath even more volatile for him personally.
“He was mad at me,” Prichard said, describing the moment he crossed paths with Calaway after the match. “Everything happens, and I’m pissed because I don’t know. Everybody comes back, and I’m walking back toward where Vince’s office is, and there’s a giant redheaded basketball player with his arms crossed staring daggers at me.”
According to Prichard, Calaway believed he had been deliberately kept out of the loop. “You knew, and you sent me away,” Prichard recalled Calaway saying, a charge that caught him completely off guard. Prichard fired back with his own confusion, noting that from his vantage point, it looked like Calaway himself was stationed outside McMahon’s office. The misunderstanding simmered before the two eventually cleared the air and apologized to one another.
The tension did not end there. Prichard went on to describe the scene inside the locker room once emotions spilled over behind closed doors. “This is one of the coolest things I’ve probably ever seen,” he said, noting that only a handful of people were present, including himself, Calaway, and Shane McMahon. When Ken Shamrock exited the room and asked McMahon if he needed to stay, the message was clear that order was being restored quickly.
Prichard added that Calaway effectively ran off several talents who attempted to linger, reinforcing the seriousness of the moment. Even the next day, the atmosphere remained strained. Jokingly referring again to Calaway as a “basketball player,” Prichard recalled a tense encounter where handshakes were offered and deliberately ignored. “You just stared at me,” Prichard said, adding that McMahon received similar treatment.
When the two finally sat down, the accusations resurfaced. “You knew, and you set me up, and you sent me away,” Prichard remembered Calaway saying, before Prichard reiterated his own version of events. Calaway later clarified that his presence near McMahon’s office had nothing to do with guarding it, as he was simply inside eating.
The story highlights how deeply the Montreal Screwjob fractured trust within the locker room, even among long established professionals who were not directly involved in the finish. It also underscores the unwritten code many top stars felt obligated to uphold when they believed the integrity of the business had been compromised.
Decades removed, the incident still serves as a reference point for discussions about locker room leadership, communication, and the long lasting consequences of creative decisions made under pressure. While time has softened some of the personal wounds, the emotions Prichard described remain a vivid reminder of just how close that night came to permanently altering relationships behind the scenes.
