The Montreal Screwjob. Review on Wrestling

''Montreal Screwjob'' in WWF (now WWE) refers to one of the most infamous, unstaged event, in which Bret 'Hitman' Hart defended the WWF Championship Title against Shawn 'HBK' Michaels at Montreal, Canada in 1997.

During 1997, WWE was involved in an intense competition with WCW (now defunct) for being the numero uno wrestling organisation. WCW was managed by Eric Bischoff (currently the GM of WWE) and WWF by Vince K. Mcmahon. The bitter rivalry between two wrestling promoters resulted in wrestlers jumping ship from WWF to WCW and vice versa. Bret Hart was the most popular wrestler in WWF and he had signed a 20-year contract with WWF. But owing to WCW's popularity, WWF began losing major advertising revenues and was in serious financial problems. Vince Mcmahon informed Hart that he could cancel the contract with WWF and jump over to WCW. Then, Hart agreed to sign a three-year contract with WCW and work until the specified period in WWF. He had to drop the title before leaving WWF.

But Hart put forth two conditions to WWF. One, he wasn't going to lose the title to his pet peeve, Shawn Michaels and two, he wasn;t going to lose it in his home town Montreal. Now, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart never got along in WWF. Their rivalry was intense, neither of them could stand each other. Mcmahon favoured Michaels for the title win, but Hart was insistent on not losing the title to Michaels. Finally it was decided that both Hart and Michaels would be disqualified and the title would be vacant.

In spite of several veteran wrestlers warning Hart about the screwjob, Hart decided to go as per the plan. Accordingly, Michaels would lock Hart in the sharpshooter and Hart would reverse it and members of D-Generation X (Michaels' supporters) and the Hart Foundation (Hart's supporters) would storm the ring, ending the match in double disqualification. Earl Hebner was appointed as the referee for the match. The match started as per the plan and Michaels locked Hart in the sharpshooter. Midway, Michaels allowed Hart to reverse the sharpshooter, but clamped on the pressure at the same time. Mcmahon, standing at the ringside motioned the referee to ring the bell, indicating that Michaels had won. Ebner then handed over the title to Michaels, while a stunned Hart looked on.

Hart was livid at Mcmahon for breaking the promise and manhandled Mcmahon. Many wrestlers were outraged at Mcmahon's behaviour and demanded that Mcmahon apologise to Hart. When Mcmahon apologised to Hart, he punched Mcmahon in the face. Disgusted Hart quit WWF and joined WCW. This is considered as an extreme example of unstaged event in WWF. Whenever, Shawn Michaels appears in Montreal, he is roundly booed by the fans for his participation in the srewjob with the 'YOU SCREWED BRET' chants. Strangely this incident marked a turn in fortune for the WWF and played a significant role in upstaging WCW from the ratings game.