10 Times WWE Bounced Back From Adversity

6. The Montreal Screwjob

Vince Mcmahon Dawn Marie
WWE.com

Sure, the infamous Montreal Screwjob has been looked at and analysed from every possibly angle by now, but that doesn’t mean that the 1997 shocker should be excluded when looking at the adversity faced by WWE over the years.

You may think that the adversity of the Montreal Screwjob was most felt by Bret Hart – after all, he was the one double-crossed – but another way to look at all of this is to explore the initial problems and concern this all caused for WWE.

By screwing Hart on his way to World Championship Wrestling, McMahon and Co. had created the hottest star in the wrestling business for WWE’s Monday Night Wars rival. This couldn’t possibly end well for WWE, right? WCW was now handed the best possible weapon to use against WWE, right?

Ted Turner’s rasslin’ company was indeed given the best gift possible and the most buzz-worthy star in the industry… yet, in classic WCW fashion, they’d completely drop the ball and bungle their acquisition of The Hitman.

Due to a 60-day no-compete clause, Hart was unable to make his in-ring WCW debut until January 1998. But even when the Canadian icon was able to wrestle, he soon become just another guy lost in the shuffle of WCW's awful booking and backstage politics of the day. The bloom was soon off the rose, and the highlights of Bret's WCW tenure were ultimately few and far between before he was forced to retire in 2000 after receiving a Bill Goldberg kick to the head.

Meanwhile, that infamous Montreal night hit WWE's locker room morale in a big way - names such as Mick Foley and The Undertaker being just two top stars who were disgruntled at WWE's treatment of Bret. Likewise, the public image of Vince McMahon and WWE was damaged as the company was made to look like a shady organisation that gave zero sh*ts about loyalty and sticking to an agreement - i.e. the creative control Bret legally had over his character during his WWE exit.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.