The king of turning hate into cash. At Survivor Series 1997, the Montreal Screwjob happened. For the 4 people reading this article that don't know what that was, Vince McMahon wanted to take the belt off of Bret Hart before he left for WCW. Hart refused to drop the strap to HBK in Canada so McMahon orchestrated a scenario whereby that when Michaels locked Hart in a sharpshooter, the bell would ring and HBK would be declared the champion. After it happened, the world was shocked, Hart spat in McMahon's face live on camera, and then punched him out backstage. After the incident, McMahon was reviled, booed mercilessly throughout the WWF universe and wherever he went "You Screwed Bret" chants followed. McMahon had previously held the position of a babyface commentator and used the overwhelming negative reactions to out himself as the villainous owner and puppet master of the company. He went on TV to publicly announce that 'Bret screwed Bret'. He became Mr McMahon. What could have been a disastrous exposure of the business and the inner-workings of WWE's management, became a turning point of the Monday Night Wars. Mr McMahon used his position as grand overlord of the business to feud with all the top stars, but his rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin was what finally pushed WWF over WCW in terms of ratings. The raw hatred at the very heart of the Mr McMahon character became a reliable cornerstone for the WWF/E for a decade, and is the finest example of the company capitalising on real-life hatred for its own gain.