[Ravishing Rick Rude]

The main event was a six-man tag with Undertaker & Mankind & Austin vs. Bret & Smith & Neidhart, subbing for brother Owen who was supposed to start back but wasn't ready to return after a severe concussion from a few weeks earlier. Bret was asked to do the job for the Stone Cold stunner, debated the question for a while then refused figuring he was the only Canadian in the main event in the U.S. vs Canada type match with the big nationalistic angle and Austin ended up using the stunner on Neidhart instead.

November 8, 1997: The WWF ran a house show in Detroit at Cobo Arena for what would turn out to be Bret Hart's final match in the United States as a wrestler for the World Wrestling Federation. Tensions were really high and the prospect of a double-cross were looming by this time in many of the more paranoid types. By really this was 1997 and this was the World Wrestling Federation. That's stuff from the 20's where the real bad guy low-lifes were running the business. The days of making Lou Thesz world champion because you needed someone who could handle himself in the case of a double-cross had been over for more than three decades. That day Hart went to the one member of the front office he knew he could trust, Earl Hebner.
While there are what you call a lot of good acquaintances in this business Hart and Hebner were genuine close friends for years. Hart said he'd use his influence to get Hebner to referee the match because he wanted someone in the ring that he could trust. Hebner said he understood the situation and told Hart "I swear on my kids lives that I'd quit my job before double-crossing you" On a personal basis a little more than 24 hours later, remembrance of that conversation crushed him more than anything. At about the same time the WWF braintrust was in Montreal one day early. Vince McMahon held a meeting at the hotel with Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, Pat Patterson and Michaels. Reports are that at least two of the aforementioned names looked extremely uncomfortable leaving the meeting. Ross on the WWF 900 line filed a report saying due to the tension between Hart and Michaels that there would be armed security backstage and the two would dress as far apart from each other as possible. That was a total work since Michaels and Hart actually dressed together and were on professional terms the next afternoon. He also said that McMahon was not going to announce the show and instead would be handling any last minute problems backstage. Ross also hinted that it could be Harts final match in the world Wrestling Federation, something Hart, at that point, wasn't aware of.

November 9, 1997: The Prelude-Imagine going into the most anticipated match on the inside of pro wrestling in years and on the day of the show not having any semblance of a finish? McMahon and Hart met that afternoon and McMahon said something to the effect of "What do you want me to do,You've got me by the balls" Hart said that he just wants to leave the building with his head up. Hart said to McMahon "let me hand you the belt on Raw (the next night in Ottawa). Everyone knows I'm leaving I'd like to tell the truth on Raw Monday. At this point the "truth" wouldn't include talking about finances, contract breaches, arguments about finishes, or anything that would make McMahon or the company look bad publicly. McMahon said he agreed., that it was the right thing to do and the two shook hands on it. Hart and Michaels were dressing together putting together a match. Both were professional with one another and talking about putting on the best match possible in Harts last hurrah. agreeing to a DQ finish in about 17:00 after a lengthy brawl before the bell would even sound to start the match. As they were putting their spots together Patterson came in. He had a suggestion for a high spot in the match as a false finish. There would be a referee bump. Michaels would put Hart in his own sharpshooter. Hart would reverse the hold .

Hebner would still be down at this point and not see Michaels tap out, Hart would release the hold to revive Hebner. Michaels would hit him when he turned around with the sweet chin music. A second ref. Mike Ciota would haul ass to the ring and begin the count. A few paces behind Owen Hart and Smith and possibly Neidhart as well would run down to the ring. Ciota would count 1-2, and whomever got to the ring first likely Owen would drag Ciota out of the ring. While they think they've saved the day on the pin on Bret suddenly Hebner would recover 1,2 and Bret would kick out. That would set the pace for about five more minutes of near falls before it would end up in a disqualification ending. Before the show started both Vader with his Japanese experiences and Smith told Hart to watch himself. He was warned not to lay down and not to allow himself to be put in a compromising position. He was told to kick out at one, not two and not to allow himself into any submission holds. Hart recognized the possibility of the situation but his thoughts regarding a double-cross were more along the lines of always protecting himself in case Michaels tried to hit him with a sucker punch when he left himself open.

The idea that being put in a submission or one of the near falls while working spots would be dangerous for him would be something to worry about normally, but he put it out of his mind because he had Hebner in the ring as the referee.

The Match: People on the inside were watching this as close as on the outside. Would Bret do the job? Would Shawn do the job? Would Bret give Shawn a real beating before putting him over? The Molson Center was packed with more than 20,000 rabid fans, who up to that point had seen a largely lackluster undercard. While the fear going in about the word getting out of Hart leaving hurting the PPV most likely turned out to be just the opposite, the sellout was not indicative of that either or it was well known by the advance that the show was going to sellout one or two days early. It appeared that about 10 to 20 percent of the crowd knew Hart was leaving and there were negative signs regarding his decision and negative signs toward the promotion for picking Michaels above him or the direction that seemingly forced him to leave. Some things were also strange and not just the absence of McMahon from the broadcast. Hart, the champion in the main event, wasn't scheduled for an interview building up the match. When his name was announced early in the show there were many boos from fans who knew he signed with the opposition. Once he got in the ring for the introduction, Michaels wiped his but, blew his nose and then picked his nose with the Canadian flag. He then put the flag on the ground and began humping it. Hart was immediately established as a babyface. The two began the match as a brawl all around ringside and into the stands. The crowd was so rabid that it appeared there was genuine danger they'd attack Michaels. As one point they were brawling near the entrance knocking down refs as planned, knocking down Patterson as planned and as planned Hart and McMahon had an argument almost teasing the idea of a spot later in the match where Hart would deck McMahon. Yet it was also clear that everything going on was 100% professional and the only curiosity left at that point was how good the match was going to be (it appeared to be very good) and how would they get "out" of the match (with something nobody will ever forget). But one thing was strange. Why were so many agents circling the ring and why was McMahon right there and acting so intense? About eight minutes before the show was "supposed" to end, Bruce Prichard in the "Gorilla" position (kind of the on-deck circle for the wrestlers) was screaming into his headset that we need more security at the ring, Why? They had already done the brawl in the crowd. The finish was going to be a DQ and it was still several minutes away.

The Double-Cross: Hart climbed the top rope for a double sledge on Michaels. Michaels pulled Hebner in the way and Hart crashed on him, just as planned. Michaels for a split second looked at McMahon and put Hart in the sharpshooter, just as planned. The next split seconds were the story. Ciota listening to his headpiece for his cue to run in heard the backstage director scream to Hebner it was time to get up. Hebner, listening himself, immediately got up. Ciota started screaming that he wasn't supposed to get up. Owen Hart and Smith readying their run in were equally perplexed seeing him get up. Prichard was freaking out backstage saying that wasn't supposed to happen. Bret still not realizing anything was wrong laid in the hold for only a few seconds to build up some heat before the reversal. Michaels cinched down hard on the hold and glanced at Hebner and then looked away which more than one wrestler in the promotion upon viewing the tape saw as proof he was in on it, but then fed Bret his leg for the reversal. Hebner quickly looked at the timekeeper and screamed "ring the bell." At the same moment McMahon sitting next to the timekeeper elbowed him hard and screamed "ring the ****ing bell".

The bell rang at about the same moment Bret grabbed the leg for the reversal and Michaels fell down on his face on the mat. Michaels music played immediately and was immediately announced as the winner and new champion. Hebner sprinted out of the ring on the other side, into the dressing room through the dressing room and into an awaiting car in the parking lot that already had the motor running and was going to take him to the hotel where he'd be rushed out of town with his ticket home instead of staying to work the two Raw tapings. Michaels and Hart both leaped to their feet looking equally mad, cursing in McMahon's direction and glaring at him. Hart spit right in McMahon's face. The cameras immediately pulled away from Hart and to Michaels. Vince screamed at Michaels to “pick the ****ing belt up and get the **** out of there.” Michaels still looking mad was ordered to the back by Jerry Brisco who told him to hold the belt up high and get to the back. The show abruptly went off the air about four minutes early.

The Aftermath: The officials left the ring immediatley, McMahon went into his private office in the building with Patterson and a few others and locked the door behind him. Hart in the ring flipped out on the realization of what happened and began smashing the television monitors left behind until Owen, Smith and Neidhart hit the ring to calm him down. The four had an animated discussion in the ring all looking perturbed. Finally Hart thanked his fans who for the most part left with the air let out of their sails, gave the I love you sign to the fans and finger painted "WCW" to all four corners of the ring, which got a surprisingly big pop, and went back to the dressing room. He first confronted Michaels who swore that he had nothing to do with it. Michaels, obviously afraid Hart would punch him out right there, told Hart that he gets heat for everything that happened but this time it wasn't his fault and he was as mad as Hart about the finish. He said he didn't want to win the belt that way, was disgusted by what happened and to prove it would refuse to bring the belt out or say anything bad about Hart on Raw the next night. Hart said that Michaels could prove whether he was in on it or not by his actions on television the next night. The entire dressing room was furious at McMahon by this point. The feeling was that if Hart having worked for the company for 14 years and not missing shots due to injuries the entire time and having made McMahon millions of dollars throughout the years could get double-crossed this bad, then how could any of them trust anything he would say or do? People were saying that how could anyone trust anyone ever again and that it was an unsafe working environment.

For three years after the steroid trial and all the bad publicity McMahon had worked feverably to change his legacy in the industry as not the man who ran all the other promoters out of business, not the man who marketed pro wrestling to young children while pushing steroid freaks and the man who tried to destroy wrestling history and create his own, not his worked Harvard MBA, worked billion dollar company, a man who was so vain as to give himself a huge award in Madison Square Garden as "the genius who created Wrestlemania" not the man who at one time tried to monopolize every aspect of the business for himself but instead as the working man's hero, coming from humble beginnings, fighting those ruthless rich regional promoters and through nothing but guts,gusto and vision became the dominant force in this industry and taking it to a new level. And now, against all odds, the generous friend trying to keep all the small regional promoters acknowledging the past history of the business, fighting against Billionaires Ted, the man who was selling all his self-made creations while wasting his stockholders money because of some alleged petty vendetta because the WWF would never be for sale, stealing his patented ideas of Monday night wrestling, was hanging in there and would outlast his enemy again and outshow in the end coming out on top.

Three years of a facade that was largely working to a new generation of wrestling fans who saw him as their underdog hero. The man who to a generation that didn't know better created pro wrestling, Hulk Hogan and localized interviews and rose this grimy little industry from carnival tents to major non-smoking arenas and who was the friendly face in the Father Flanagan collar who every Monday night epitomized the world of pro wrestling was flushed down the commode. Even though he was so good at hiding who the old Vince McMahon was to the point only those who had dealt with him for many years remembered about not letting your guard down when the pressure was on the old Vince returned. Only this time it was in a situation where those who didn't "know" him were truly "introduced" to him for the first time.

Undertaker was furious, pounding on the locked door and when he came out to talk with him Undertaker told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to apologize to Hart. He went to Hart's dressing room where Hart had just come out of the shower. Smith answered the door and Hart said he didn't want to see him. Vince and son Shane McMahon came in with Sg. Slaughter and Brisco anyway. Vince started to apologize saying that he had to do it because he couldn't take the chance of Hart going to WCW without giving back the belt and he couldn't let Bishoff go on television the next night and announce Hart was coming while he was still his champion and said how it would kill his business. Hart shot back that he had no problem losing the belt and told McMahon that he was going to dry off and get his clothes on and told McMahon "If you're still here I'm going to punch you out." Hart called McMahon a liar and an piece of **** and talked about having worked for him for 14 years only missing 2 shots the entire time and being a role model for the company and the industry and this was his payback. McMahon tried to say that in 14 years this was the first time he'd ever lied to him and Hart rattled off 15 lies over the last year alone without even thinking about it. Those in the dressing room watching were stunned listening to Hart rattle those off and McMahon not offering a comeback. Hart got dressed and twice told McMahon to get out. Hart got up and a scuffle started with them locking up like in a wrestling match, Hart breaking free and throwing a punch to the jaw that would have knocked down a rhino. One punch Ko in 40 seconds. McMahon growled like he was going to get up but he had no legs. Shane McMahon jumped on Harts back and Smith jumped on Shane's back pulling him off. Not realizing there would be trouble Smith had already taken off his knee brace and hyperextened his knee in the process of pulling Shane off. Hart nearly broke his hand from the punch.
McMahon's jaw was thought to be fractured or broken. Hart asked Vince if he was now going to screw him on all the money he owed him and a groggy Vince said "No". He told Shane and Brisco to get that "piece of ****" out of here and glaring at both of them told them if they tried anything they'd suffer the same results. In dragging McMahon out someone accidentally stepped on his ankle injuring it as well.


And later: Hebner, at the hotel and on his way out of town was confronted by one of the wrestlers who asked how he could do that to one of his best friends. Hebner claimed ignorance and swore that he knew nothing about it and was so mad about it he was going to quit. Jack Lanza, likely as part of another facade, was begging him not to. Patterson, Michaels and Prichard all denied any knowledge to the boys. Everyone denied it, but it was clear everyone had to know from the production truck to go off the air several minutes early, to the director to get the shot perfect of the sharpshooter where you couldn't see Bret's face not quit, to Hebner in particular, to the ring announcer to get the announcement so quickly to the man handling the music to have Michaels music all cued up, to the agents who were surrounding the ring knowing the possibility of something unpredictable happening. When Hart got back to his hotel room in a total daze he was furious at McMahon because he knew he was screaming at the timekeeper to ring the bell but almost recognizing it as a reality of the business that he should have known better than anyone. But when he had a tape of the finish played to him he clearly heard that it was Hebners voice screaming "ring the bell" and at that point was personally crushed. Phone lines were ringing off the hook around wrestling land that night. People closest to the inside of the business were thinking double-cross, although the big question was whether Michaels, since he looked so pissed at the finish, was in on it. Some more skeptical types, remembering Brian Pillman and Kevin Sullivan, thought because of the prominence of the match and the interest, that it had to be a very well acted work. Virtually all the wrestlers back stage thought it was a double-cross, but a few not wanting to be marks were weary of fully committing to the idea. Some people who were close to inside thought it was the greatest worked finish in the history of wrestling because it got everyone talking. Others particularly people who had casual fans watching with them or those attending the show live saw how the finish to a casual fan came off looking so badly thought it was either a poorly conceived angle that was well acted by a company trying to hard to fool smart fans or maybe a double-cross. But by the morning the true story had become obvious.

November 10,1997: When the wrestlers fully realized what had happened, Hart turned into almost a cult hero and McMahon's image took an incredible tumble. Hart himself remarked that while he had his problems with McMahon in the late 80's that when Phil Mushnick wrote all those scathing articles about him during the 90's he defended McMahon even though he deep down knew most of what was written about him to be true. According to two WWF wrestlers roughly 95% of the wrestlers in the company were planning on boycotting the Raw taping that night over what happened. But as the day went on the talk simmered down, Hart told those who asked him that since they had children and mortgages that they shouldn't risk breaching their contract and should go. However Owen Hart, Smith, Neidhart and Mick Foley were so upset that they all flew home, missing the tapings both this night and also in Cornwall Ont. the next night. Many were saying they could no longer work for someone who would do something like that. While rumors abound about Hart, Smith and Foley all quitting at press time it appeared none of the three truly knew their future but that hey all had a bitter taste in their mouth for the company. They weren't the only ones.

Most of the wrestlers were there and with none of the Hart family around McMahon gave his side of the story. He portrayed it as if Hart had agreed to drop the title in Montreal but when he got to the building he said he was a Canadian hero and an ICON and refused to drop the title and said hart said he would give the belt to McMahon Raw the next night and refused to ever drop it. Reports were that by this time few if anyone in the dressing room believed a word of it.
Most of the wrestlers by this time knew Hart was more forced out than voluntarily leaving over money, although knowing he had signed a great money deal. Most of the heat was on Michaels with the belief that Michaels was younger and more in Vince's ear and there was a lot of bitterness because it wasn't a secret by this point that Michaels had told people on several occasions that he would never do a job in the territory. The show went on in Ottawa but not before Bishoff had already announced on Nitro one hour earlier in what was the same angle he's done so many times to tease and deliver the opposite that Bret Hart had signed with the NWO. Bishoff opened the show with the entire NWO holding Canadian flags and badly mockingly singing "Oh Canada". WCW announcers Tony Schiavonne,Mike Teneay and Larry Zybysko talked for most of the first hour about the announcement, with Schiavonne and Teneay, likely on orders from Bishoff, acting stunned describing Hart as a second generation wrestler who stands for tradition. In other words positioning him as another Curt Henning or Jeff Jarrett, rather than the level of a Hulk Hogan to justify a nearly $3 million per year salary. Zybysko was the one who acted as if he didn't believe it. In the first commercial break Gene Okerlund did a 900 line tease saying how Bret Hart punched out a prominent official and he'd have the story on his hotline, which did huge business. During the hotline because of fear of legal repercussions the story wasn't told until late in the report, only a sketchy version told, and McMahon's name was never mentioned. With more curiosity than anything in recent memory the WWF drew its strongest Raw rating since the early days of the Monday Night War- a 3.39 rating and 5.16 share-largely due to curiosity stemming from the publicity, the match, and from the announcement about Hart earlier in the event on WCW and amidst all the chaos and confusion presented one of its all time worst shows . Nitro did a phenomenal 4.33 rating and 6.39 share. Michaels opened the show Yes, he was carrying the belt. And what did he say about Hart? He said he beat the man in his own country with his own hold and that he ran him out of the WWF to be with all the other dinosaurs down South. And said that the few down there who weren't dinosaurs are his good friends and some day they'd kick his ass too. Those who were on the fence on the Michaels issue waiting for his interview to prove himself were give their final answer. McMahon never showed his face on camera. The fight with Hart was never acknowledged in the commentary although Michaels couldn't resist in his interview saying how Hart beat up a 52-year-old man after the show. In the commentary nobody tried to bury Hart but Ross who had never used this figure before on both Sunday and Monday used the phrase 21-year veteran perhaps as subtle acknowledgement of Harts age and Lawler did bring up the $3 million per year figure as a way to encourage the mindless "You sold out" chants. It was acknowledged that it was Hart's final match in the WWF although the reasons for it being the case were never even hinted at. The replay was pushed harder than ever and why not as it was the most bizarre finish in modern wrestling history complete with a commercial cleanly showing Hart spitting in McMahon's face and destroying the monitors which took place after the show itself had gone off the air. The show dragged on and the efforts to push the new stars, Merro as a heel, Goldust back as a heel, Interrogator, Blackjack Bradshaw and Road Dog & Billy Gunn all came off lame. You could almost hear the crowd groan when it was Rocky Maivia positioned as the next challenger for Steve Austin's IC title. With all the special effects the Kane gimmick still came across as a sure winner. And Ken Shamrock was thrust into the spotlight as Michael's first challenger on 12/7 after all. However there was another screw up. Shamrock's main event with Helmsley was suppose to end with Michaels interfering and then Shamrock pinning him and the ref counting to three, perhaps to take heat off Michaels rep for not doing jobs and perhaps as a way to convince Shamrock to return the favor for such an unpopular wrester on PPV.