Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels Complete History | Wrestling Timelines

October 12, 1997 - The Job

Bret is disgusted with Shawn, more than anything else. He isn’t thinking about battering him; instead, he’s mourning what is becoming of the business, as well as the death of his close friend Brian Pillman, and feeling uncertainty over his wrestling career.

Bret suspects he’s on the way out, even if he hasn’t formally made the decision. He’s met with Eric Bischoff. This might explain why he tells Shawn, ahead of Survivor Series, that there is no danger. If Vince wants Bret to drop the belt to Shawn, that’s what Bret will do.

Shawn, for reasons known only to himself, says that he wouldn’t return that favour. Bret is, understandably, incensed, vowing to himself then and there that he won’t lose to Shawn in Montreal. Steve Austin is Hart’s preferred choice, and Bret, with a creative control clause that allows him a dignified exit, thinks he has the power to make it.

It can’t be overstated, how pivotal this is. Shawn’s ego and gumption has destroyed everything. All he had to do was receive what he always wanted, and say thank you. While a teary-eyed Shawn will just days later collapse in tears and profess his respect for Bret, talking around his drug addiction and the attendant mood swings - “Sometimes I say the stupidest things” - Bret won’t hear it. He isn’t dropping the title to Shawn, and certainly not in Canada.

November 2, 1997 - The Irony

Vince, alerting Bret to a potential situation, "pitches" a kayfabe screwjob for the Survivor Series finish. The match is a complex puzzle more than an attraction, but he’s already advertised it, It must happen.

In a further irony, Vince suggests that, to sell the screwjob, Bret should punch him for real. Bret again refuses to lose in Montreal, offering instead to be done with it all, give in, and do the job to Shawn at Madison Square Garden later that month.