5 Reasons Kayfabe is dead in pro wrestling, and 5 reasons it isn't

Kayfabe is dead: The Montreal Screwjob killed it.

For those of you not familiar with the Montreal Screwjob, it was a moment in pro wrestling that literally changed everything.

The situation boiled down to this; The previous year, McMahon had offered the aging Bret Hart the deal of a lifetime; He would give Hart a twenty million dollar, twenty-year contract, wherein Hart would wrestle for 3-5 years and then make the transition to a trainer or backstage booking agent.

However, Ted Turner's WCW began gobbling up WWE's audience every Monday Night. Vince soon found himself running low on money and in danger of losing his company. He convinced Bret to willingly walk away from his lucrative contract and try to sign with rival WCW, who had previously offered Bret a million dollar contract of their own.

The only problem was Bret Hart still held the WWE Heavyweight title. On November the 10th of that year (1997) WCW would legally be able to mention Bret Hart had been signed to their promotion. McMahon didn't want the bad publicity of his World Champion being under contract to his biggest rival, and also feared a repeat of the Madusa/Alundra Blayze incident, wherein the WWE women's championship title belt was thrown in the trash on live TV.

Vince and Bret reached an agreement whereby the match would end in a no contest, and then Bret would drop the belt on Raw to either Steve Austin or Ken Shamrock. However, Vince tricked Bret and took matters into his own hands. As Bret moved to reverse a Sharpshooter applied by Michaels during their title match, McMahon stood up from the announce desk and rang the bell prematurely.

The referee quickly awarded the match to Michaels, who seemed as confused as Bret about his new title. HBK was given his belt and practically shoved out of the ring while Bret angrily complained on the house microphone. When his feed was cut, Bret would form the letters WCW with his fingers.

Hart would then confront McMahon in the backstage area, and end up punching him in the face. Thus ended one of the greatest wrestling relationships of all time, and brought the kayfabe era of wrestling to an end.