"Survivor Series 1997" is something wrestling fans will always be talking about.  Sure, some people will say it's an old topic and they don't want to hear about it.  But you can ignore it all you want, there will always be someone ignorant (like me j/k :) that will bring it up.  In the next few paragraphs you will read what happened that night, and what lead to what happened with my opinions and much more.  For the people that don't really know the full story, after reading this, you will be educated about it :).

  Before I start, here is sentence that Dave Meltzer wrote regarding this topic. "It will go down in history as the single most famous finish of a pro wrestling match in the modern era. Twenty or thirty years from now this story, more than any famous wrestler jumping promotions, more than and prominent death, and more than any record setting house, will be remembered vividly by all who watched it live, and remembered as legendary from all who hear about it later."

He's right!

So let's start with what lead to what happened...

1996 Bret "Hitman" Hart was the WWF champion and the WWF had planned to have him drop the belt to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12.  Bret Hart knew several months before WM that he was going to drop the belt to HBK, because HBK and his "Kliq" were always in Vince McMahon's ear and quite frankly, Bret was sick of it, but there was nothing he can do.  The WWF made an Iron Man match as the main event for WM12, it was a one-hour long match and who ever gets the most decisions within that hour, will walk out as champion.  Both men refused to job to each other within the one-hour time limit, but HBK had to win and Bret couldn't say no about it.  Bret had to put him over and he did.  Here is what was planned and it happened exactly as planned.  Less than a minute left in the match, HBK goes on the top rope and jumps, but Bret Hart catches him in the sharpshooter, after being in the sharpshooter for almost a minute, time runs out.  WWF president at that time, the late great Gorilla Monsoon, ordered the match to continue under sudden death rules and less than two minutes, HBK did the super kick and got the win over Bret Hart (very clean win) and Bret Hart did his job by putting him over.  This match was voted as the greatest WrestleMania match of all time.  After the loss, Bret Hart took six months off because his contract had expired.

During those six months, WCW contacted Bret Hart and offered him a 3-year, 9 million dollars contract.  It was much more than what Hart was getting paid by the WWF.  Vince McMahon went to Bret Hart's house and basically begged him to stay with the WWF and offered him a 20-year contract with the WWF, but with much less money.  Bret Hart said that loyalty is important and he declined WCW's offer and signed the 20-year deal with the WWF.  Now of course, Bret Hart would not be wrestling for 20 years, he would wrestle for a few years and then retire, but still stay a part of the WWF....  So six months later, Bret Hart was back and defeated Steve Austin at the 1996 Survivor Series.

Let's move on to the following year.

1997  Early 1997, the WWF had planned for Bret Hart to recapture his WWF title at WrestleMania 13, where he would beat Shawn Michaels... Where Michaels would return the favor to Bret Hart from last year's WrestleMania.  But HBK's ego got the best of him.  In February of 1997, Shawn Michaels goes out on a Thursday special edition of WWF RAW is WAR and forfeits the WWF title.  He "claims" a knee injury and he said that he lost his smile.  The real reason was the unwillingness to lose to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13.  Now HBK had a real knee injury, but it was minor and doctors told him he can wrestle with that knee for months and months...  This angered the Hitman Bret Hart.  Bret Hart was furious and Shawn Michaels received a lot of heat from wrestlers backstage and a lot of them lost respect because he refused to job to Bret Hart.  For the record, HBK forfeited more than half of the titles he won, during his career.  Reason?  If you ask me, it's EGO!  But even after all these forfeits, HBK still had Vince McMahon in his back pocket.  Vince would still put the WWF title on him.

Anyway, WWF president, Gorilla Monsoon makes a final four match between Vader, Bret Hart, Undertaker and Steve Austin, where the winner would be crowned WWF champion, and Bret Hart won this at the 1997 February In Your House PPV.  Bret would be asked to drop the WWF title the next night against Sid and he did do exactly what he was told.

Not even a couple of months later, Shawn Michaels was back.  WHAT A MIRACLE!  BULLSHIT!  That's when it was the real proof that he was a coward.  In the summer of 1997, Bret Hart and HBK had a real life confrontation backstage.  HBK was the one who confronted Bret Hart in front of the wrestlers acting like a tough guy.  Bret tried to calm himself down and not do anything he'd regret, but HBK shoved Bret Hart and Bret had to defend himself, so he attacked Shawn backstage and pounded the crap out of him.  Well he took him down and applied this submission hold from what I am hearing.  WWF officials broke them up and both men were sent home that night because of their actions.

Now it was during that time that Shawn was running his mouth and bashing Bret Hart and inventing rumors about him and Sunny, etc..  It was also at the time when Bret Hart was heel and had the role of bashing American people.  WWF was losing ratings and the WWF came up with D-Generation X.  There was a small feud between DX/Hart Foundation/Nation of Domination.  At one night on RAW, in the Nation's locker room, there were a lot of racist comments written on the wall, of course it was all scripted.  Bret Hart did not like the idea of having to be racist and hate black people, he expressed himself and felt it was crossing the line, even if it's sports entertainment and he was right, so the angle faded away.  Bret Hart did not like the direction of the WWF and said "it's not fit for kids".

In September of 1997, Vince approached Bret Hart and told him that he wants to break his 20-year contract and asked him if he can call up WCW and try to get his old deal back from last year.  This came as a shock to Bret and everyone around him.  Bret  didn't want to do that, he really wanted to stay with the WWF.  This lead to November 1st, 1997 where Bret Hart had to make up his mind on what to do.  On one hand, WCW really wanted Bret Hart, Vince McMahon wanted him to leave, and on the other hand, Bret really wanted to stay.  Bret called up Vince and told him "talk to me into staying".  Vince came up with ideas for Bret Hart, where Bret would lose to Shawn like 3 or 4 times and then in early 1998, Bret Hart would come out on RAW and saw if he can't beat HBK that night he would retire and that's where Bret would beat him.  Now Bret looked at this like 4 major losses, besides, he didn't like the direction of the WWF and Vince was basically pushing him out of the WWF, so Bret Hart signed the WCW deal on November 1st, 1997.

Now, just 8 days later, it's Survivor Series, and it was promoted everywhere, Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels for the WWF title.  By the way, starting November 1st, Bret Hart had a month left in his contract with the WWF and had "reasonable creative control".  Vince McMahon called up Bret and told him that he has to lose to Shawn Michaels in Montreal at the Survivor Series.  Bret Hart objected to it and told Vince McMahon, losing to Shawn Michaels in perhaps his last match in the WWF would be like blowing his brains out.  There was no one Bret Hart was going to stand for this anymore.  Just a few months earlier, Shawn refused to put him over and forfeited the belt.  After days of exchanging ideas and everything, just hours before the big match at Survivor Series, they FINALLY agreed to a disqualification finish.  The plan was, they would knock the referee out, Shawn puts Bret in the sharpshooter, then Bret Hart would reverse it and out it on HBK, and the other guys come out and cause it to be a disqualification.  Bret Hart said that he would like to hand the belt the following night on RAW and do his farewell speech to the fans and leave.  OR he can drop the belt later that week in the U.S. and the WWF can tape it/film it and play it over and over again, Bret could care less, but he just asked Vince to get through the weekend with his head up.


Before the big match, Bret Hart talked to referee Earl Hebner about the match and Earl swore on his kids that he wouldn't let anything happen.

Survivor Series Match  They knock the referee out (as planned), Shawn goes for the sharpshooter and out of nowhere, Vince McMahon orders the time keeper to ring the bell and Earl Hebner calls for the bell too..while Bret was still in the sharpshooter, and as soon as the bell rang, Bret had his hand on Michaels' ankle and was ready to follow the plans and reverse the sharpshooter, but then he realized he was screwed out of the WWF title.  Now, most of the fans were confused, some thought Bret Hart gave up..  Bret Hart stood in the ring in disbelief.  He looked at Vince McMahon and spat in his face.  Shawn Michaels acted like he was pissed off and unhappy and he just grabbed the belt and was cursing.  He did that to make Bret Hart think that he had nothing to do with it.  Now, as soon as the bell rang, Earl Hebner rang out of the ring and a cab was waiting for him to bring him to his hotel.

After the PPV went off the air, Bret Hart destroyed some WWF equipment at ring side.. Owen Hart, Anvil, and Bulldog came out to calm him down.

BACKSTAGE

Vince McMahon locked himself in his office.  Shawn Michaels told Bret Hart he wasn't in on it, which was pure bullshit.  Bret Hart was in the shower.  The Undertaker went and got Vince McMahon out of his office and told him to go apologize to Bret Hart.  Rick Rude told Bret Hart that Vince is in the dressing room.  Bret Hart told Rick Rude to tell Vince McMahon that once Bret is done dressing up, if Vince is still in his locker room he will knock him out.  Bret got out and Vince was still there, Bret Hart knocked him out with no hesitation.  Shane McMahon jumped on Bret's back, then the British Bulldog pulled him off.  As a result of the punch, Vince had a black eye for a couple of weeks, and according to Vince, he also had a mild concussion and poor eye vision.  Bret Hart on the other hand broke his wrist because of the punch.

That's the story, but wait there is more!!  Read on... you'll love it.

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Two years later, in 1999, prior to Owen Hart's funeral, Vince McMahon begged Bret Hart to meet him.  Bret Hart said no.  Martha Hart had already filed a lawsuit against the WWF and Vince kept begging Hart over and over to meet him and Bret Hart finally agreed to meet him in a park in Calgary.  Lawyers told Bret Hart, no matter what, NOT to talk about the lawsuit, because Vince can be wired, or whatever.

Bret Hart and Vince met at a park.  Vince kept apologizing over and over for everything and told Bret that he wants him to finish his career in the WWF, etc...  Bret Hart asked Vince for one thing.  He asked him if Bret Hart can have access for his footage from the WWF (pictures, videos, etc..) and Vince told Bret that he didn't even have to ask, he can have it.  Strangely, Vince was acting really nice towards Bret.  A few days later, when Bret asked for his WWF images.. Vince's lawyer said that Vince does not recall any part of that conversation and Bret cannot have access to anything.  Vince's plan was to try to get Bret Hart on his side for the trial (The lawsuit filed by Martha).  But that didn't work at all.  This show's how much of a creep Vince really is.

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Alright, I am sure there are tons of questions that were answered in all of this, but I am sure there are still questions...

Let me give my opinions...

Now people would say, "Well, Vince asked Bret to drop the belt at Survivor Series and Bret said no!  You can't say no to your boss!  You must do what you're told to do."

I can answer that easily.  First of all, there is no way that Bret would have agreed to job to Shawn.  I mean how can he?  Shawn made up rumors.. He forfeited his title.. showed no professionalism at all, therefore Bret Hart had every right to refuse to job.  He also had "reasonable creative control".  I mean this was Bret's last match.  He's been there longer than anyone, 14 years!  He should be allowed to at least give his opinion on how his last match in the WWF should end.  Hell, who said it was suppose to be his last match?  he had a 3 more weeks left on his contract, he could have wrestled later those weeks and dropped the title.  Put yourself in Bret's shoes, I am pretty sure you would also refuse to job to Shawn Michaels after the shit he's pulled off! and don't tell me no! it's bullshit! :)

Vince's excuse was, that he didn't want Bret Hart showing up on Nitro wearing his belt.

My answer to that, **** ***!  Bret Hart is a man of integrity, he would have never showed up on Nitro and he even proved it by NOT showing up the following night.  He could have gotten a replica belt and showed up on Nitro by saying that he never lost the title, he didn't submit or get pinned, therefore he's still WWF champion, BUT he did not do it!  Why?  because he has integrity!

Now to answer random questions.

YES, Triple H and Shawn Michaels BOTH knew about what was going to happen that night.  Don't try to argue me on this, trust me, they knew!

Can we blame Earl Hebner too?  Some might say yes and some might say no.
The thing is, Earl could have refused to screw Bret Hart over and could have said, "I don't want any part of this."  Some of you might say, well then Earl would have been fired.  WRONG!  Because then, Earl could have sued Vince McMahon's ass for wrongful termination.

Could have Vince sued Bret for assault?

Sure he could have.  But then, Bret Hart could have sued him for breaking his contract.  It's a no win situation.  Instead of suing him, Bret decided to knock him out.  Maybe not a good decision, but put yourself in his shoes that night, the atmosphere, the anger.. He couldn't resist.  Vince said that he allowed Bret to punch him.  LOL!  Bret Hart could have pounded the crap out him, but he only punched him once.


People still blame Bret Hart at 100% over this whole thing?!?!!?  Go figure!?!

People are now calling Bret Hart a whiner, a complainer..  Call him what ever you want.  He stood with what he believed in!
After all the things that happened after 1997, I don't blame him for saying all the stuff he said, for one bit.  it's easy for people to judge him like that, but I said this before and I'll say it again, Put yourself in his shoes.

This was my opinion about this whole thing.  I am sure some of you might agree with everything I said, some of you might disagree, some of you might have learned new things that you didn't know.

After reading all this, some of you think I hate HBK.  Hate is a pretty strong word.  Shawn Michaels is a remarkable athlete, I won't take anything away from his in-ring ability, he's truly ONE of the best.  But outside that ring, he's nothing but an asshole!

As for Bret Hart, I personally think he's the greatest of all time.  Truly, the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be!

THE END!

On a side note:
It took me well over 2 hours to write this.  Feedback is always welcome.  But please, don't e-mail me if you only read a small paragraph of this and try to argue with me.  Make sure you have read all of this and then e-mail me :)

Take care and thanks again for reading,
Hope you enjoyed it.