8 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About The Montreal Screwjob

8. Bret Wanted To Leave WWE Over Creative Direction

Even as WWE was veering off into smuttier storylines and presentation, something that Hart admits he was lamenting from his longtime employer, he was by all means happy to stay on with his wrestling home of thirteen-plus years.

When Hart re-signed with WWE for a twenty-year contract in the fall of 1996 that would pay out $10.5M in total, he was actually due to make $4.5M over the next three years as a wrestler. Had he signed with WCW at the time, he would have made between $7M-$9M in that same time frame.

Hart was goaded out the door by McMahon, who was claiming an inability to pay out Hart's contract, starting in the summer of 1997. McMahon flat out told Hart he was intending to breach the deal, and urged Hart to try and see if Eric Bischoff would make him the same offer from the previous year.

In reality, McMahon was trying to get Hart's large obligation off the books to make the company attractive for when he eventually went public with the stock market.