10 Unique Ways Wrestlers Were Convinced To Lose Matches
5. If It Wasn’t In Canada
Yes, it's here. Yes, it's been exhaustively covered. Yes, it fits the "unique" criteria.
Bret Hart obviously didn't know that he'd be f*cked over at Survivor Series 1997. In fact, the 'Hitman' was going into his match with Shawn Michaels and preparing for a car crash finish that'd lead to a rematch down the road. Then, hopefully, Bret would be willing to drop the title...just not in Canada. This is overstated as the one key part in a toxic spiderweb of a story. Hart didn't fancy doing the job anywhere, since Michaels outright refused to do the same thing, in a hypothetical scenario, to his face. That Survivor Series was held in Montreal merely compounded the issue.
Nonetheless, Vince McMahon had to deal with the fact that Hart point blank refused to lose the WWF Title in his native homeland. That kind of demand had never really been made before, at least not to Vince, and nobody was quite sure how they were going to get the belt off Bret before he left for WCW.
Long story short, McMahon convinced Bret to lose the title in a vaguely defined way when they returned to the United States. All looked rosy until the infamous 'Screwjob' happened, Hart socked Vince in the mouth and the wrestling world wouldn't shut up about Montreal.
This article is adding to the problem. Sorry.