10 reasons the 'Montreal Screwjob' may have been a work

Over 20 years ago, one of the most famous match finishes of all time took place.The place: Montreal, Quebec. The men: Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. The title: The WWE World Heavyweight Championship.But there was a third man involved in the match, one who was sitting at ringside calling the action; Vince McMahon. His involvement would forever change the professional wrestling landscape.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 a title belt was thrown in the trash on live TV:The problem was Vince wanted to put the belt on Shawn Michaels, who Bret Hart hated in real life. Also, Bret didn't want to do the job (lose the match) in Canada, because of his status as a cult Canadian hero.Vince and Bret reached an agreement whereby the match would end in a no contest, and then Bret would drop the belt on Monday Nitro 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.Or did it? Many critics and fans believe that the Montreal Screwjob may have been a 'work,' or a staged segment no different from any other stunt WWE pulled on television. Here are ten compelling reasons those fans and critics may be right, and the Montreal Screwjob was a work.1. Vince and Bret were fast friends for over a decade before MontrealVince interviews a younger Bret HartPerhaps the most compelling reason of all that the Montreal Screwjob is a work is the long, deep relationship between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon.Bret himself has stated that Vince was like 'a second father' to him during his tenure with WWE. Vince believed in Bret when many others in the WWE did not, elevating the Canadian to main event status and awarding him multiple title reigns.Vince always does what's best for business, but even he would shy away from damaging a lifelong friendship like the one the two men enjoyed.

10 reasons the 'Montreal Screwjob' may have been a work

6. The Montreal incident led to the creation of WWE's greatest villain