25 years ago, The Montreal Screwjob presented one of the infamous moments in pro wrestling history. Yes, it was a pair of iconic in-ring and real-life rivals, main eventing Survivor Series–a PPV where they had significant history with one another. All the more so, it became the ultimate collision point of storyline and reality as management swerved Bret Hart on his way out the door to WCW, causing him to relinquish the WWE Championship via a phantom submission to Shawn Michaels, the one man he had refused to put over.
This moment in wrestling history has been discussed at great length over the last two and half decades and there remains a degree of debate over who was right or wrong and to what degrees or for what reasons. One point is undeniable: the Montreal Screwjob changed wrestling history. There were a handful of talents who wound up benefiting from this unlikely turn events either quite directly, or more circuitously in the long term.
The Rock
When the Montreal Screwjob went down, The Rock was still finding himself. Yes, he’d made major strides with a heel turn and adopting the Rock moniker, but he was still very much a mid-card act, working his way up the ladder. Although he was on good terms with and still speaks reverentially about Bret Hart, Rock was one of the parties who enjoyed the greatest benefits coming out of The Hitman’s fall from grace and departure from WWE.
Hart leaving WWE, followed by Shawn Michaels sitting out most of the Attitude Era from in-ring performance due to back issues left a major void at the top of the card. Steve Austin was already on a course to the tip-top of the business, but Rock and Triple H alike were two clearest cut main eventers in waiting who got a big boost from these openings.
Moreover, The People’s Champion became the man to benefit most directly in storyline, as one year after the Montreal Screwjob, The Great One applied the Sharpshooter on Mick Foley for planned finish that clearly paid homage to what happened to The Hitman. Vince McMahon called for the bell from ringside, gifting Rock his first world championship as WWE refused to shy away from the biggest controversy in company history, instead embracing it for storyline purposes.
Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon was an on-screen character for WWE since before he even took the reins of the promotion from his father. However, there was little to no acknowledgment of McMahon’s real life power, as he was instead portrayed as more of a straight-laced broadcaster. The Montreal Screwjob changed things, as there was a very public acknowledgment of who he truly was when Bret Hart literally spat in his boss’s face.
Fast forward to Survivor Series 1998, and the Montreal Screwjob was the premise off which the Mr. McMahon character screwed Mick Foley. In a single stroke, McMahon cemented himself as a kingpin heel authority figure, embraced the heat from what he’d done to Bret Hart, and set the foundation for he, himself to become a wrestler—most often portraying a conniving heel whom fans were all too eager to watch get his comeuppance.
Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan may seem like an unlikely pick to have benefited from the Montreal Screwjob, given he was in WCW when it happened and wouldn’t return to the WWE fold until over four years later. However, Bret Hart first appeared for WCW shortly after WWE screwed him, and his real life circumstances wound up feeding pretty directly into WCW creative.
As a riff off what had happened at Survivor Series, Starrcade 1997 saw Hogan and company screw Sting out of the WCW Championship. The execution was horribly convoluted and messy, but the net result was that, rather than Hogan dropping the title cleanly to Sting, a Screwjob premise, and Hart demanding the match restart created mass confusion and kept Hogan in the world title picture for months to come.
From there, while booking a babyface Hart vs. a heel Sting may have felt like one of the most natural first time dream matches WCW could’ve booked, they never really got around to it in more than a cursory way. So, Hogan remaining world champion and the top star of WCW after Hart had signed in many ways only enhanced his standing in the business.
Mick Foley
Mick Foley famously took a very strong, principled stand coming out of the Montreal Screwjob, condemning the way WWE had treated Bret Hart and almost walking out of the company before he got talked down. Foley’s ethics, which he laid out clearly in his first book, came across very positively to fans in shoring up his spot as a beloved and well-respected star of his era.
Meanwhile, Foley also enjoyed similar benefits to The Rock, in taking part in the Montreal-inspired storyline at Survivor Series 1998, and enjoying an ascent to the main event picture himself that it’s harder to imagine him getting had Hart or Shawn Michaels still been active on the roster.
Moreover, Vince McMahon was notoriously a bit arbitrary and eccentric about what behaviors would earn his respect. While neither McMahon, nor Foley has spoken directly to this point, it stands to reason that The Hardcore Legend’s willingness to take a stand coming out of Montreal may have also contributed to winning over the boss, and helping convince him Foley should eventually be a world champion.
Shawn Michaels
Perhaps the most obvious beneficiary of the Montreal Screwjob was Shawn Michaels himself. In many ways, he had already won his real life rivalry with Bret Hart after Vince McMahon reneged on The Hitman’s contract and all but ushered him out the door to WCW. There had to have been a bit of extra pleasure, though—petty as it may have been—in winning the last match the two iconic rivals would ever have, and in Canada no less.
HBK would only remain active with WWE for a few more months after hurting his back at the Royal Rumble PPV, and soldiering through just long enough after that to put over Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 14. Nonetheless, wrapping the first act of his career as world champion after beating Hart set up Michaels to return as a top guy, too, when his body and personal issues allowed for a comeback in 2002. That follow up run would end up adding a great deal to his legacy, shoring up his spot as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time.
In the end, the Montreal Screwjob is generally looked at as a dark moment in WWE history. With their backs against the wall, WWE made regrettable choices around one of their top stars and their top title, dishonoring the business and fracturing a relationship with Bret Hart for a decade to follow. Nonetheless, there were a number of acts in wrestling who benefited from how things went down in the long term, regardless of whether they ever intended to.
