10 Wrestling Fates Worse Than Death

1. Bret Loses The Title In Montreal

Like his one-time adversary Ric Flair, there was little difference in Bret Hart the technically gifted wrestler and Bret Hart the man. This ended up being equally a tragic fate in storyline and real-life for Bret.

‘The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be’ was leaving for WCW as 1997 was coming to a close. The central issue was that Bret was the WWF World Heavyweight Champion going into his last pay per view appearance at Survivor Series in Montreal, and didn’t want under any circumstances to lose the title to his most fiercely hated rival Shawn Michaels in his home country Canada, believing he was too much of a national hero in Canada at that point to do the honours to Shawn that night.

But as well all know, Bret would lose the world title in the country he loved the most to the person he hated the most in the business. Shawn hooked in Bret’s finishing manoeuvre, the Sharpshooter, and without Bret ever tapping Shawn was declared the winner/champion. This crushed Bret in every way. The promotion he had given his blood, sweat and tears to for 13 years screwed him.

Bret would later go on to have a less than stellar run in WWF’s central competition WCW, and Goldberg would retire him after accidentally injuring him in match. Bret has let his feelings be well known on the Montreal Screwjob many times since: “I’ll never forget what happened. Never. It never was the same after that day.”