Vince Russo's 10 Insights Into The Montreal Screwjob

8. It Was My Idea

So, Jim, I and Vince went back to the €œwar room€ with the new information. From there we started hammering out every possible scenario in an effort to make Bret happy---while having it work for the company as well. I remember at one point we were even taking suggestions from Jim €œThe Anvil€ Neidhart. At that point, I believe that Vince had a second conversation with Bret, but still nothing€”the two of them could not agree. At that point Vince made it clear to Bret that since he was going to WCW; he had to assure that Bret wasn€™t going there with the World Title. NOT because Vince didn€™t trust Bret---but, because Vince didn€™t trust his new boss Eric Bischoff. Remember at the time, Eric had recently gotten over Vince by having Madusa drop her WWE Women€™s Title in a bin on a live episode of Nitro. So€”back to the table we went. Now, it€™s getting late, and we€™re all getting frustrated. We had exhausted every option for the good part of 10 hours that day. Finally, with nothing left to pitch, and my tank being on empty I threw this out to Vince, €œScrew it, Vince; we have been throwing every possible scenario by Bret for 10 hours now. Why not just have Shawn put Bret in the sharpshooter and have the ref call for the bell as if Bret submitted?" Honestly, I just said it. It was frustration, really nothing else. I was cranky, tired, exhausted---and I just wanted to go home. It just came out of my mouth. A few minutes later, Vince said that he just needed some time to think on it, and he dismissed Jim and me from the meeting. I went home that night without ever looking back.