Controversy

Many wrestling moments are never forgotten. One of those moments went down ten years ago at Survivor Series. It all occurred in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The World Wrestling Federation had hyped the match for months. It was a true battle of the titans. With WCW starting to gain power in 1997, WWF World Champion Bret Hart became weary of staying with the WWF after contractual disputes. This would make the match more anticipated for it would be Bret's send-off match for WCW. The fans loved both men at one point, and with Bret in his home country, there was hardly breathing room in the arena. Not all suspected Hart to storm to WCW though because it hadn't been announced yet. Vince McMahon, WWF Owner, hadn't yet put in place an ending for the match; however, he still wanted Bret to drop the title. Hart didn't want to lose the title in Canada though. Moreover, he wanted to lose the title by surrendering at RAW the next night. The both finally came to agreement to a DQ finish. Pat Patterson was put n charge to arrange the finish. When the actual match was winding down, Hebner was supposed to be knocked out, and then Michaels executes a "Sharpshooter" on Bret, but the Hart Foundation would come down and cause the DQ ending. What actually happened made the match controversial. After Earl Hebner was "knocked out", Shawn put Bret in a "Sharpshooter", but Earl immediately got up and said Bret submitted, giving Shawn the title. Earl then stormed out of the ring, out of the building, into a runaway car, and then he was on the next flight out of Montreal. It turned out they were all in it, but the ring leader was Vince McMahon. As soon as the match was over in front of the now chaotic fans, Bret was no longer oblivious so he spat in the face of McMahon. Gerald Brisco ran to the mess in the ring and escorted WWF Champ Shawn out of the arena. The PPV soon ended after that. Bret Hart then continued his tirade by destroying numerous TV monitors. After the Hart Foundation came out to make him settle, Bret fingered WCW out to the crowd. Backstage, Vince was locked in his office. Shawn was then confronted by Bret and told Hart he knew nothing of the mess , and he would gladly forfeit the WWF Title. The locker room wasn't left out of the scrap because they were also mad. The "locker room leader", Undertaker, then demanded Vince to apologize to Bret. When entering Bret's locker room, Vince saw Bret was taking a shower. Bret stated that if McMahon was still there when he was done with his shower, he would be sorry. Vince didn't leave, and after a couple more demand by Bret, who had finished his shower, to leave, he drove Vince to the ground with a stern punch. Shane McMahon, who with others had accompanied Vince to the locker room, lunged at Bret, but he was intercepted by Hart Foundation member Davey Boy Smith. After Vince was drug from the locker room by his posse, the night ended. On RAW the next night, the Hart Foundation and Mick Foley protested the show. Meanwhile on WCW Nitro that night, the NWO came to the ring with a Canadian flag singing "O,Canada!". Also on RAW, against what he had told Bret the night before, Shawn Michaels came out with the WWF Title and made fun of Bret Hart. Not long after the whole thing, Bret would indeed wind up in WCW, but they would never make a huge storyline of what happened in the WWF. The night and its aftermath would go down to be one of the most infamous events in pro wrestling history. It defines controversy in pro wrestling.