10 Worst WWE Booking Decisions Of The '90s (Year-By-Year)

None of the decisions in 1997 were outright bad in hindsight. This was the year when all the pieces fell into place for the Attitude Era, so almost every major decision the company made ended up working out for them in the end.

However, if there was anything WWE probably would have liked to do a do-over, it’s Montreal. Despite their narrative that it created the Mr. McMahon character and started the Attitude Era, WWE would have done fine without Montreal, owing to Steve Austin’s fast-growing popularity. All Montreal did was kill Bret Hart’s enthusiasm for wrestling.

There are many ways this could have been avoided, and most likely, could have kept Bret in the company. In mid-1997, Bret was the top heel in the company, and challenging ‘Taker for the championship at SummerSlam. Shawn was the referee, and in a fit of rage, whipped out a chair and was set to clonk Bret with it, but instead hit ‘Taker, allowing Bret to win the title. This was the catalyst for Shawn’s heel turn.

By this point, the company and Bret weren’t sure if he would jump ship to WCW, but it was the decision to turn Shawn heel that convinced him to leave. Now, Shawn was the top heel in the company, and since Austin was the top face, that left Bret with nothing. Thus, we got the situation where Bret was the champion, leaving the company, but didn’t want to put over Shawn, hence Montreal. If Shawn had stayed a face, perhaps this would have all been avoided.