10 Film Documentaries That Accidentally Uncovered Major Scoops

7. Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows - The Montreal Screwjob

Wrestling With Shadows Vince Bret
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Released in 1998, Paul Jay's Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows stumbled across absolute pro wrestling gold.

Intended to follow the legendary Bret Hart as he entered the final year of his contract with Vince McMahon's then-WWF, this documentary ended up spotlighting one of the most controversial moments in wrestling history.

After McMahon backtracked on a life-long contract offer to Hart, he encouraged the Canadian to sign with rival promotion WCW. Reluctantly doing just that, the Hitman's last match was him defending the WWF Championship against Shawn Michaels at the 1997 Survivor Series PPV in Montreal, Canada.

With Bret contractually able to decide the fate of his on-screen persona, he decided that he didn't want to lose his title in his home country to real-life bitter enemy Shawn Michaels. And so, the decision was made to have the match end in a double DQ, with Hart then handing over the belt the following night.

Unbeknownst to Hart, McMahon and a few select higher-ups put a plan in motion that would see the Canadian screwed out of his championship in an event that would become known as the Montreal Screwjob.

For Wrestling with Shadows, it caught this moment in real time, caught the angry reaction to it, and gave wrestling fans a fascinating look behind the curtain.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.