1. "I Didn't Screw Bret, Bret Screwed Bret." - November 17, 1997
In order to facilitate Bret Hart not showing up on WCW Monday Nitro on November 10, 1997 with the WWF Heavyweight Championship, he orchestrated a "screwjob" finish at the 1997 Survivor Series Pay-Per-View on November 9, 1997 that involved (the rumored participation of) Shawn Michaels, referee Earl Hebner, and agents/bookers Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, Pat Patterson, Sgt. Slaughter and Gerald Brisco. Of course, in eight people "screwing" one Bret Hart, it would be obvious that Bret Hart certainly didn't "screw" himself in Montreal. Thus, when Vince McMahon got on camera with Jim Ross in a "shoot"-style interview and explained that "Bret screwed Bret," he immediately cast himself as the largest real-life and on-camera heel in the company's history. In a pro wrestling company where the company itself portrayed the largest heel, it added a dimension to the traditional pro wrestling storytelling mechanisms that had never existed before. Foremost, the owner was an active character, but unlike say, "Cowboy" Bill Watts, he wouldn't beat you with his body (which ex-WWF Champion McMahon has indeed, done) he could also beat you by literally "ringing the damn bell" as you were *gasp* locked in your own finishing hold. As dastardly a thing that has ever been done either in front of or behind the scenes, it shifted the storytelling paradigm in WWE in such a way that the company was able to use the advantage (along with terrific in-ring wrestling and a heaping dose of sex appeal) to win the Monday Night Wars
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
