15 Days That Changed Wrestling Forever (10)

10. Austin And Rock Emerge As Vince Screws Bret, November 9th 1997

The re-emergence of the WWF came about in completely unplanned and unpredictable drama. The catalyst proved to be the infamous Montreal Screwjob.
On the verge of defeat from WCW, Vince could no longer pay his WWF Champion Bret Hart. As a result, the Canadian signed with WCW. This caused a severe problem for McMahon, as Hart was still the Champion. He needed to get the belt off Hart but the next major WWF event was Survivor Series in Montreal Canada. Hart flat out refused to lose in Canada.
What was McMahon to do? He envisioned a nightmare situation in which Hart took the belt to WCW and dumped the WWF Championship in a bin. WCW had form for this and McMahon’s paranoia was in overdrive. On the suggestion of Triple H, Vince decided to have Shawn Michaels screw Bret Hart out of the title. The ref would call for the bell when Hart was in a submission spot, making him lose the belt.
The real life incident changed the industry forever. It happened at the same time as the internet boom, creating a sensation as fans started following the WWF for the real life stories as much as the on screen stories. A new fascination with the industry was booming. In addition to this, McMahon was now a huge heel, hated by the fans for what he did to Bret. Showing his creative innovation of old, McMahon seized on the potential. He blurred the reality with fiction, creating a new story of a bad guy boss being tackled by a heroic good guy. The story became so successful that it still runs today (Hunter vs Bryan).
All this happened at the same time as two extraordinary new characters were emerging. The Rock and StoneCold Steve Austin were a rare combination of charisma and wrestling skill. A new ‘Attitude’ was emerging in the WWF, a mean streak in the faces and even nastier streak in the heels. The old guys like Michaels and Hart were on the way out as the new sensations of Rock, Austin, Foley and HHH gained prominence. Austin in particular went massive, bigger than Hogan had ever been. His merchandise sales were through the roof. With Stonecold as WWF Champion and feuding with Vince McMahon, the WWF retook the initiative from WCW. A big transition had occurred. WWF was now the edgy company with young talent and WCW became the stuck in its ways land of the older talent. McMahon was back … and bigger than ever.