10 Real Life Events That Forced WWE Title Changes

2. Vince Screws Bret Because Hitman Is Headed To WCW

Bret Hart was the WWE Champion heading into Survivor Series in Montreal but he was on his way out of the company, having signed a lucrative deal with rival World Championship Wrestling. The reason Vince McMahon gave for not signing him is that he couldn't afford to keep him anymore. What he wanted from Bret on his way out was to put over Shawn Michaels for the WWE Title.

The problem with that was Bret had a very personal rivalry with Shawn that led to him refusing to put Shawn over in Canada. They legitimately hated each other by that point, with each having made personal comments about the other while also engaging in a backstage fight several months earlier.

Due to the competitive nature of the business, their egos were too strong to allow them to do business the right way. Bret would have dropped the title to anyone, even Shawn, but it couldn't be done in Canada because he felt he was a Canadian hero and also had a 'creative control' clause in his contract to block it. Bret was told that the match end in a DQ. Vince had other plans, however, involving Shawn, referee Earl Hebner and a few others.

In Vince's mind, he had to get the WWE Title off Bret because he was worried that he might leave Survivor Series and take the championship with him on WCW Nitro (which was absurd, since Bret was contracted to WWE for another week or two and if Bret had done it he would have been sued for everything he was worth by Vince).

Looking back on it, obviously they all would have liked things to be different. However, on that night November night in Montreal, Vince had to do what he thought was best for his company, however misguided it may have been. Hebner rang the bell even though Bret had not given up and Shawn left with the WWE Title. Bret had been screwed.