At February 1997's In Your House: Final Four event, Bret Hart defeated The Undertaker, Vader, and his hated rival, Steve Austin, to win the vacant WWE Championship. The next night, though, Austin's interference cost Bret the title in a match with Sycho Sid. A steel cage rematch was set for March 17, 1997, but it was fraught with controversy Austin, set to wrestle Bret at WrestleMania XIII, now interfered on behalf of his future opponent, while The Undertaker, who would be taking on Sid at the show of shows, made his presence felt on the WWE Champion's behalf. In the end, Undertaker cost Bret his chance to win the title. The big story came after the match, though. When Vince McMahon entered the ring to interview Bret, telling him he must be frustrated, Bret shoved McMahon to the mat, telling him, "frustrated isn't the Goddamn word for it!" Bret then launched into a tirade, calling the outcome of the match "bulls**t" and telling the fans that if they didn't like it, "tough s**t." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piez6-_EOQc Unlike most of the other entries on this list, though, this one wasn't a shoot. Everything was executed as planned, and the USA Network who didn't beep out any of the obscenities on Raw's delayed West Coast feed was in on it, as well. It was simply an opportunity for WWE to push their new, edgy attitude, start to get Bret over as a heel, and take advantage of the magic of live TV.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
