Did Bret screw Bret as Vince McMahon once infamously claimed? Certainly so, according to Jake ‘The Snake Roberts.
In 1997, Hart was infamously ‘screwed’ out of the WWF Championship at the Survivor Series, after refusing to lose to real-life rival Shawn Michaels.
An agreement was made that Bret would retain at Survivor Series and vacate the title the next night on Raw, while not under contract with the WWF.
Instead, Hart and Michaels ‘screwed’ Bret of the title, giving Shawn a submission win without Bret tapping out.
You Deserve It
Bret being screwed is the most infamous example of a champion not losing the title, but hardly the only one.
When Rick Rude left the NWA to join the WWF, he did so as one-half of the NWA World Tag Champions.
Speaking on this week’s DDP Snake Pit podcast about Rude made his thoughts clear on champions and on Montreal.
“I don’t agree with that [leaving as Champion] at all. You know, there’s been so many guys who get away with it too. Holding up promoters because they don’t want to lose the title in a certain area. Maybe Canada, has that ever happened? Oh wait, it did. Shawn and Bret. He didn’t want to drop it in Canada, so they [Vince McMahon and others] screwed him.
“You didn’t get screwed a**hole! You got what you deserved. How do you have the right, not to drop that title? That title, that was given to you. You did not beat up anybody to get that.
“You didn’t get screwed a**hole! You got what you deserved.”
Jake Roberts on Bret Hart.
“The reason you have that title is because some other schmuck was a good enough guy to lose to you [The Undertaker at Summerslam 1997.] So you not dropping that title tells me you don’t give a flying f*ck about anybody else but yourself, and that’s very selfish. It’s wrong and if you are contemplating doing it, that’s for you.”
Working with Rick
While Rude would be part of DX at the time of the Montreal Screwjob, the act left a deep impression on the Ravishing One.
Rude would leave for WCW immediately after the Screwjob, and would bash Shawn Michaels and DX.
Speaking about Rude, Roberts said it was great working with him.
“It was very easy for me. I always play up to whatever they have. And Rick had a lot, so I could play up to a lot of things with him. So I was very comfortable with him and I was very fortunate that he listened to me.”
Rude sadly passed in 1999 and would be posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
For use of these quotes please give a h/t to SEScoops.
