Bret Hart was never supposed to leave WWE. In 1996, Vince McMahon signed his most prized employee to a 20 year contract which would see Bret hang up his boots in 1999, then fill out the rest of the deal in a backstage capacity. In 1997, though, WWE's failing fortunes meant that McMahon couldn't afford to pay Hart, so he urged "The Hitman" to see if WCW would take him. A deal was reached, and it was official -- Bret was going to be leaving WWE. The only problem was that Bret was the WWE Champion. McMahon wanted Hart to lose the title to Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series in Montreal, but bad blood between Hart and Michaels -- combined with Bret's image as a Canadian hero -- led him to refuse. He would drop the belt to anyone, anywhere -- just not HBK in Montreal. As Bret had creative control in his contract, McMahon agreed. Hart would lose the title the following month. When Survivor Series came around, though, McMahon had other plans. He made an unplanned appearance at ringside, and when Michaels had Hart in his own Sharpshooter (a planned spot), McMahon demanded that referee Earl Hebner call the submission and ring the bell. Hebner complied, and the match ended, with Michaels the new WWE Champion. It was all very real and very messy. Bret immediately figured out what had happened and went on the warpath. He spit in McMahon's face, began smashing expensive equipment at ringside, and wrote the letters "W-C-W" in the air with his finger. As a stunned Pay-Per-View audience watched, unsure what was happening, WWE's greatest stalwart left in the most acrimonious manner possible. It was an image that nobody would forget.
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
