10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Eric Bischoff

3. He Couldn't Have Used Bret Hart On Nitro With The Title

Eric Bischoff Stephanie Kiss
WWE Network

Of the ten billion accounts of the Montreal Screwjob, one of the most frequently perpetuated mis-truths is that Vince McMahon had no choice but to deceive Bret Hart, lest his departing 'Hitman' show up on Nitro the next night with the company's top asset on display. After all, Eric Bischoff gave away results of taped Raw shows, so you wouldn't put it past him to pull an underhand trick like that. Etiquette? Why, that's just pidgin' English for feasting on a feline.

The one small detail so often forgotten is that Bischoff couldn't put Bret on his flagship show, ironically because he'd tried precisely the same trick three years earlier. When Madusa dropped her WWF Women's Championship in an oddly-placed trash can on Nitro in 1995, an alarm bell rang in the hammock room of WWE's legal team. By the time of Hart's defection in 1997, the litigation was still ongoing, and there wasn't a chance Bischoff was going to land the company in any more hot water by putting WWF trademarks on-screen again.

Besides which, Bischoff handed Bret an extra week in WWF to drop the strap, biding his time for his grand plan involving, er, a match between himself and Larry Zbyszko. Obviously, WWE would rather peddle the line which exonerates Vince of all blame for wrestling's greatest controversy.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.