7. Vince McMahon Signed Bret Harts Contract At The Last Minute
Having being coerced into agreeing a big-money deal with Bret Hart far in excess of anything he had guaranteed an employee prior, Vince McMahon suffered an immediate bout of buyers remorse. In fact, he began regretting the deal before he had even signed it. Bret was set to return on the October 21st edition of Monday Night Raw, which McMahon intended to announce on the previous weeks show, but there was a snag. Bret would not sign the contract he had been faxed because it was completely different to what he and Vince had discussed. Hart refused to agree to the October 21st appearance until the correct deal was sent, signed, and sealed, causing McMahon to miss out on promoting what should have been a ratings-moving appearance. McMahon sent another contract to Hart on October 18th that was so different to what they had agreed on that Harts lawyer told him, Only an idiot would sign that contract. Hart told McMahon he was not appearing on Raw three days later until it was resolved. Eventually Harts former business manager and then Head of Operations in Canada Carl Demarco was drafted in to finalise the deal. He advised McMahon to lock Hart down quickly otherwise he would leave for WCW, leaving the WWF in tatters. McMahon finally relented, offering Hart an apology and agreeing to even better terms than they had originally discussed, thanks to the machination of Demarco. The deal was only signed an hour before Raw went live, with McMahon looking pensive as he put pen to paper, clearly anxious about committing so much money to one wrestler. As history tells us, he was so anxious that he eventually broke the deal a year later, leading to the Montreal Screwjob which eventually, inadvertently, turned the WWFs fortunes around.
James Dixon
Contributor
The author of the highly acclaimed 'Titan' book series, James Dixon has been involved in the wrestling business for 25 years as a fan, wrestler, promoter, agent, and writer. James spent several years wrestling on the British independent circuit, but now prefers to write about the bumps and bruises rather than take any of them. His past in-ring experience does however give a uniquely more "insider" perspective on things, though he readily admits to still being a "mark" at heart.
James is the Chief Editor and writer at historyofwrestling.co.uk and is responsible for the best-selling titles Titan Sinking, Titan Shattered, and Titan Screwed, as well as the Complete WWF Video Guide series, and the Raw Files series.
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