10 Wrestling Hoaxes That Fooled The Internet

3. The Montreal Workjob

Stephanie McMahon
WWE.com

Enter the words 'Montreal Screwjob' into Google. The first suggested word(s) are not "Bret", "Shawn", "Vince", "Cornette", "Triple H", "Prichard", or "LOL Eric Bischoff how did you f*ck that up".

The first suggested word is "work".

"Everybody benefitted from the story," is the smoking gun cited here. So, in order to give Bret Hart a massive payday, under the hope that Eric Bischoff - pre Starrcade '97 - wouldn't have a clue how to promote him, the WWF sacrificed the WrestleMania 13 buy rate, and antagonised the rest of the locker room during "wartime" with this unpopular, self-involved theatre. Shawn Michaels, allergic to worked jobs, willingly took a shoot pasting from Bret Hart to sell it.

This isn't some conspiracy circulated by an obsessive fandom; Kevin Nash, who's either trolling, drunk, or warped beyond coherence by the paranoia underpinning pro wrestling, reckons that Vince McMahon would never have sold Bret's punch in front of Wrestling With Shadows cameras unless he was putting something over.

The YouTube comments section supports Nash's theory. It's refreshing but no less infuriating respite from the usual 'Bring back teh Attitude Era' fare: "I'm 100% convinced it was a work." "The fact that no lawsuit was ever filed suggest it was all an elaborate work."

Vince McMahon didn't think he'd be received as a heel in the aftermath, which puts paid to the idea - although, maybe he was double bluffing.

Maybe everybody was double bluffing!

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!