Bret Hart famously left WWE in 1997 after an incredibly controversial exit. That departure still lives on in pro wrestling fandom, but it seems that the incident is water under the bridge for everyone involved. 

The Montreal Screw-Job

The Montreal Screwjob went down during the 1997 Survivor Series match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. In the closing moments of the bout, there was a controversial and unexpected turn of events. Despite Bret Hart not intending to drop the WWE Championship in his home country of Canada, Vince McMahon, the owner, and operator of WWE at the time, instructed the referee, Earl Hebner, to ring the bell and declare Shawn Michaels the winner. 

This decision, which was made without Bret Hart’s knowledge, stirred immense controversy and changed the landscape of professional wrestling. It became one of the most talked-about incidents in the industry’s history. Not only did it inspire the legendary “Bret Screwed Bret” promo before memes existed, but it also lives on in pro wrestling history.

The Aftermath of the Montreal Screw-Job

During an interview with Steve Fall, Earl Hebner opened up about his current relationship with Bret Hart. It seems that the two have mended their bridge after that controversial Survivor Series main event in 1997.

“I have a merch shirt that says ‘Damn right I did.’ And a lot of people want me to say, Can you write on it ‘I screwed Bret?’ I go, ‘No. I can’t do that.’ A while back, maybe three or four years ago, I would do it but Bret and I made up. And before my brother passed, we were at a house show, or indie show and he was there and he called us into the ring and he put us over like big time. So now Bret calls me now and then and I’ll call him and we got a good relationship back and I’m not gonna screw it up by writing something over a dumb ass shirt. It’s gonna destroy our friendship.

Earl Hebner was questioned about any concerns he had before reuniting with Bret and the possibility of Bret being upset with him.

“For a long time it honestly it bothered me. It was bad for me, you know, cuz I carried it with me for a lot of years. We met one time an airport, and I wanted to talk to him and he said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ … I said, ‘can I talk to you for a minute?” He goes, ‘I don’t want to talk.’ I said okay, so I let it go and that was it. And as time went on, you know, it finally worked out well. We got to see each other [and] communicate.” 

Working With Randy Savage

Earl Hebner went on to speak about some talent who weren’t so easy to work with. One of those people was “Macho Man” Randy Savage, because he was such a perfectionist, and Savage wrote everything out in his matches move-by-move.

“Well, from the old referees and today’s referees and today’s matches back then in there, it’s a world of difference. It’s not the same. It’s just it’s like old school and new school. You know and the old school you had to work and be smart because they never gave you everything. You know a lot of times back then I’d go in there and I go, ‘What’s the finish?’ They said, ‘just count.’ Okay. We did know the finish a lot of times. I mean 99 percent of the time. We knew the finish Some of the old guys just come through and tell you what it was. They said watch the match and count.”

“Macho Man. I mean when it comes to WrestleMania, he gives you a sack of papers that thick of the whole match way before it was ever gonna go on. I mean two weeks before WrestleMania and then he comes back and I’ll go, ‘damn, this is a joke here.’ But that’s how he was, he was a perfectionist.”

Steve Fall went on to note how Diamond Dallas Page wrote his matches out move by move before bell time. This caused Earl Hebner to reply, “Oh Randy was the same way about like TVs and house shows, you know same thing…If you screwed up he’d go, ‘What the hell’s going on here?'”

Earl Hebner is full of stories, and he was a part of pro wrestling history along the way. It’s also nice to see that he was able to mend some of those relationships that he tarnished along the way.

Earl Hebner’s book titled “Earl Hebner: The Official Story” can be purchased at this link.

The Starrcast convention is underway in Chicago. The multi-day convention features numerous fan interactive sessions including one last night with Eric Bischoff and Bruce Pritchard.

Both Prichard and Bischoff have weekly podcasts with Conrad Thompson (convention organizer) where they relive their times as key figures for WCW and WWE respectively.

At last night’s “Monday Night Wars” panel, Bischoff and Prichard shared the stage and both reflected on “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s departure from WWE in 1994.

Fantastic and entertaining "Monday Night War" debate with @EBischoff @PrichardShow & @HeyHeyItsConrad on @Starrcast18! If this is an example of the quality of shows be sure to get this on @FiteTV! pic.twitter.com/7IcsySfwD0

— David Penzer (@davidpenzer) August 31, 2018

Bruce Pritchard and Eric Bischoff on Randy Savage in 1994

According to Bischoff, Savage approached him in 1994 saying that Vince McMahon didn’t want him to wrestle anymore. Vince had given him a job at the commentary booth instead and Savage wasn’t happy. According to Bischoff, Savage told them he wanted to wrestle but Vince wouldn’t let him.

“Essentially (Randy Savage) told me, he said ‘Vince didn’t want him in the ring any longer. He wanted to retire him to the announce booth,'” Bischoff said. “Randy called me and said ‘I’m not ready to give it up in the ring, is there a spot for me?'”

Furthermore, Bischoff continued to say that Savage’s contract was “almost free” until 1997 as it was covered by his Slim Jim endorsement deal.

Meanwhile, Prichard’s story is that Macho Man had recently moved to Connecticut at the time in order to work in the office. Savage told them he didn’t want to take bumps anymore and was looking at the next 20 years of his career.

“He was saying different things to different people,” Pritchard said. “If he had told us ‘hey I want to go back and I want to be on the road, I want to work, put me in a major program’, to have Randy Savage involved in something – that would have made a big world of difference.”

“Randy expressed to us he didn’t want to take bumps anymore,” Pritchard continued.

New day, New #STARRCASTonFITE DAILY PACK Offer! Get Day 2 & Best content @Starrcast18 for ONLY $39.99! Hurry up and order at https://t.co/qrNFVd4mHo ? https://t.co/0yAH5mSrzq pic.twitter.com/X30knhNek1

— TrillerTV (@Triller_TV) August 31, 2018

Why do you think Randy Savage jumped ship from WWF to WCW In 1994? 

The main event of this week’s NXT was a women’s championship 3-way elimination match. Asuka would once again defend her title against Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross.

NXT
June 14th 2017
Full Sail University

1. Drew McIntyre vs. Rob Ryzin

• No highlights of this match were posted.
• This was a showcase match for Drew.
• McIntyre wins a quick bout, finishing him off with a Yakuza kick.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

2. Authors of Pain vs. Anthony Dominguez & William Freyday

• Only Akam wrestled for AOP in this match. Rezar just stayed on the outside and talked with Paul Ellering.
• Akam finished off the local talent, and his partner finally came into the ring after the match to deliver the Super Collider.
• They cut a promo about how Heavy Machinery were foolish to challenge them.
• This brought out Heavy Machinery and the 2 teams stared each other down for a moment.
• Paul Ellering got in between the four of them and ordered his team to back away.

Winners: Authors of Pain

3. The Velveteen Dream vs. Raul Mendoza

• The Velveteen Dream does not appear to be going by Patrick Clark anymore.
• He wins clean here with a very Macho Man-esque flying elbow drop.

4. NXT Women’s Championship Match
3-Way Elimination Match
Asuka (c) vs. Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross (Sanity)

• Cross picked up the first pin by eliminating Riot with a corkscrew neck breaker while Riot was draped on the top rope.
• Asuka and Cross then just started to have a wild brawl.
• They brawled to the back and the ref waved the match off.
• In the final move of the brawl Cross hit Asuka with a cross body that took both of them through a table.

If you’re a fan of WWE’s curated “Collections” of themed matches and angles, then we have some good news for you. As reported on Saturday by Steve Coulson of WWE Network News, Monday (November 7th) will see the release of two new additions to the Collections bucket: Austin vs. McMahon Part II and Randy Savage: Cream of the Crop. Here are the official descriptions for each collection:

Austin vs. McMahon Part II:

One of the greatest rivalries of all time rages on as the next chapter in the saga between the tyrannical Mr. McMahon and the defiant Stone Cold Steve Austin unfolds. Beginning with WrestleMania XV, follow The Rattlesnake and The Boss throughout their journey of ups and downs, Black Weddings, Greater Powers, celebrations, farewells, and more, culminating with the stunning fallout from WrestleMania X-Seven. Relive these unforgettable matches and moments in this exclusive WWE Network Collection!

Randy Savage: Cream of the Crop:

Get ready to freak out and let the madness begin with this WWE Network Collection celebrating the storied career of Macho Man Randy Savage. From unforgettable moments and interviews, to both rare and classic battles against Macho Man”s greatest rivals, there is only one place to find these eclectic moments from the Hall of Famer”s legendary run in sports entertainment!

At a couple different points tonight, the official WWE Games Twitter account tweeted these animated GIFs to hype Tuesday’s release of the Hall of Fame downloadable content pack for WWE 2K16, which is out this Tuesday:

Tatsumi Fujinami battles @RicFlairNatrBoy in the #WWE2K16 HOF DLC on 2/23! Details: https://t.co/jp2yakMZRp pic.twitter.com/MraHdecC2r

— #WWE2K25 (@WWEgames) February 19, 2016

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. @RicFlairNatrBoy in the #WWE2K16 HOF DLC! Drops 2/23! Details: https://t.co/jp2yakMZRp pic.twitter.com/KHlWWxZmho

— #WWE2K25 (@WWEgames) February 19, 2016

It was already known that 1991 versions of Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami plus a relevant match replay mode were in the Hall of Fame pack, but they had two matches that year. It seemed like it made more sense for 2K to base it off their match from Superbrawl in St. Petersburg, Florida, but from the above footage, it looks like they didn’t. Instead, 2K picked the OTHER Flair-Fujinami match, from the NJPW Tokyo Dome show that year, which is known as both WCW Japan Supershow and NJPW Starrcade ’91 In The Tokyo Dome. So that means that the arena that comes in the pack is an ersatz Tokyo Dome, faithfully recreated by 2K Sports. They can’t call it that (and I don’t believe WWE games ever name real venues), but 2K does a great job with the presentation of the arenas and this should be no exception.

Here’s the full lineup for the DLC pack, which, if this is any indication, should also include at least two more WCW arenas and some early ’90s WWF arenas along with period appropriate versions of the wrestlers:

• “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
• Rikishi vs. The Rock
• Alundra Blayze vs. Paige
• Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes
• Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair
• The Bushwhackers (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) vs. The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake)
• The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray)

– There has been a lot of talk behind the scenes in WWE over the past couple weeks regarding “Macho Man” Randy Savage being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

During an interview with Steve Austin last month on the WWE Network, WWE Chairman and chief executive officer Vince McMahon said that the legendary wrestler will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Although McMahon revealed during the podcast that Savage will receive an induction at some point, he did not say exactly when the former WWE Champion will receive the honor.

– As seen last night on Raw, Natalya rode a distraction from Paige and defeated Nikki Bella in a reverse of last week’s result, Paige then ran to her Total Divas castmate’s aid and saved Natalya from an after-the-bell ambush by the Divas Champion. Tonight on WWE Main Event, Paige will square off with Nikki in a non-title match. Following last night’s events, Nikki offered her thoughts via Instagram.

She wrote, “As I have had time to think.. To get lost in my thoughts.. Last night on RAW was a disgrace. A kick in the face is a lack of respect. It’s a dishonor to your champion, to your Queen. If you don’t have the WWE Network I suggest you get it bc tonight I will destroy PAIGES of what I thought was my next chapter. Main Event just got heated up. It just got FEARLESS! #FearlessNikki #MainEvent #RackAttack @wwe.”

WWE officials concerned with Roman Reigns’ lack of crowd reaction – details

– A fan recently uploaded a video of Daniel Bryan, who didn’t appear on RAW this week, to the show on Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. You can check that out at Instagram.com.

– Speaking of Monday’s RAW, there’s a video on Instagram of celebrity guest Joe Manganiello doing his “Macho Man” Randy Savage impersonation backstage at the show. You can check that out at Instagram.com.

The following are highlights from a Shining Wizard Podcast interview with Lanny Poffo:

On letting WWE induct Randy Savage into the Hall of Fame against Randy’s wishes, and the general lack of respect shown to him: “It occurred to me that I decided “what a minute, I’m not going to be put in the middle of all this.” The thing is the WWE did not ask my permission to run the parody of the Huckster and the Nacho Man, and I don’t have a battery of lawyers on retainer, so my belief is, do what you want. You want to honor him? Go ahead. This is the same company that didn’t send its condolences to my mother who is going to be 87 in January. Now I know they made a nice video tribute, but don’t you understand that that’s just PR. Just like when they fire you, they wish you luck on your future endeavors? That’s PR, they have a public relations department. So naturally, when somebody dies, and everybody always has, you know, because it’s either suicide or an overdose. In Randy’s case it was one of the few honorable deaths they’ve had. His toxicology report was crystal clear. Clean. And that meant a lot to me. Well, name a wrestler that died and they’ve all got something wrong with their toxicology report… Remember the Huckster and the Nacho Man? Everyone says “What’s the matter? Can’t you take a joke?” Well, some of those jokes were a little bit… like they accused Hulk Hogan of doing Elizabeth. Remember that one, when they did the Larry King one? And I thought that was- they said “How was Elizabeth?” “Not too good.” The guy imitating Hulk Hogan and Randy looked at each other. And they made fun of his balding, and that was a little bit of lack of respect. So I said wait a minute, it’s true that Randy wanted the Poffos to go in as a family but you can’t make them do that. So I figured, rather than put myself in the middle for the rest of my life, I said hey, go ahead and do whatever you want. I only have two requests. Leave me out of it- don’t invite me- and please don’t pay me, because I don’t need the thirty pieces of silver. That was the amount Judas Iscariot took to betray Jesus.”

On whether he was an innovator: “I like to consider myself just a guy that was in the right time and at the right place. Everybody says I invented the moonsault. Well, the truth is I invented it like moments after I saw video of Tiger Mask doing it to the Dynamite Kid. I thought, wow, I think I can do that. I don’t know if he innovated it. And then people say “you mind if I do the moonsault?” I said hey, I stole it, too. Just don’t get hurt and don’t hurt anyone, because those are possibilities. I don’t know if I innovated anything, except I can honestly say that every poem you ever heard me recite, I wrote on my own. I don’t consider plagiarism to be a joke.”

On owing his career to Randy and becoming the Genius: “Let’s get something straight. Anything good that happened to me was indirectly or directly because of my brother. If I weren’t the brother of the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, you wouldn’t know who the hell I was. He opened doors for me. We were in the car discussing gimmicks. And he was always on my team trying to help me. We came up with this Genius thing and he was a stickler for details. He presented it, he got it done. I tried to follow through with it and did the very best I could to try to recreate myself. To reshuffle the deck and try to make the people forget that was ever “Leaping” Lanny by changing my personality. And I did my very best to entertain the people; it is sports entertainment… one of the people I really stole from was Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther… It was a one-joke movie. “I knew that, you idiot. I was only testing you.” I thought the Genius would be a good character if he was not that smart, just thought he was. Because if I was really that smart, I would have to be a babyface. But if I’m a heel I would like to be a buffoon genius- to be something hilarious in a business that was very serious at the time. Now they’ve got other comedians sometimes I’ve noticed, but I was like the only one. I have to say, God bless Bobby Heenan, you know he’s a cancer survivor and I hope he’s doing well. He didn’t raise any objection to me being the Genius. After all, he was already the Brain. But what was I going to do? Point to my arms? I have garden-hose arms compared to Hercules Hernandez, the Warlord, the Barbarian, Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. My arms are just as long, but much thinner. I couldn’t point to my arms… I had to point to my head because I didn’t have what they call a body in wrestling.”

The circumstances of Randy’s death: “First of all, he didn’t die from an automobile accident; he had ventricular fibrillation… the heart is divided into the left and right atrium and left and right ventricle. That’s four chambers. And the bottom chamber, which is v-shaped, fibrillated, which means it quivered, which meant he wasn’t getting enough oxygen into his blood; the blood wasn’t going everywhere, and he said “I think I’m going to pass out.” And that was his last words… And his wife, she was the hero because when he passed out at the wheel, his foot was on he accelerator, and she grabbed the wheel of the Jeep Wrangler and steered it into a tree, because they would’ve hit a motorcyclist and behind that was a bus. So when they’re going the wrong way going about 35-40 miles per hour- and that’s just what happened. When you have a heart problem, it would be nice if you’re not driving at the time, but that’s what they were doing, and Lynn was the hero.”

On Randy leaving for WCW and his relationship with Slim Jim: “Randy wanted to work with Shawn Michaels. He wanted to have a two-year program with him. They said they were having a youth movement, and that’s why he quit. He said “I think I’ll get a second opinion on that.” He would’ve lost the match to Shawn Michaels, at WrestleMania, but his goal, and one of the things that bothered him the most, was that he was never able to have a match as good as the one he had with Ricky Steamboat. He felt, even his his advanced years, I guess he was 41, that he could have a Ricky Steamboat-caliber match with Shawn Michaels. I don’t know if he could or if he couldn’t any more that if, you know, if he was already too old or whatever, but wouldn’t you love to see him try? He would’ve put him over, in the middle of the ring, and retired to the announce booth… but instead he went to the WCW and guess what he brought with him? Snap into a Slim Jim. And Vince doesn’t like to lose even one round. You know the difference between WWF and Slim Jim? Slim Jim sent to me and my mom and Randy’s widow? A beautiful bouquet of flowers, and best wishes, and condolences. And we didn’t get anything from the WWE. The only condolences I got are from two guys. They are Howard Finkel, and last month I got a call from Steve Lombardi. Now in these two cases, this is not management, this is labor. So there’s a little bit of a difference there. If I embarrass anybody then so be it. You know what? I’m gonna be 59 years old December 28th… and I’m gonna say exactly what’s on my mind all the time.”

Why wrestling is better now: “First of all, I don’t watch it now. But there’s two reasons why wrestling is better now than then. Number one, we didn’t have iPhones back then, so, you know, that Google Maps? I really love my Google Maps. Before, I couldn’t find my ass with two hands. Now I don’t have to worry about “turn left, stupid.” The other one is I really didn’t like when I wrestled, that all the fans were allowed to smoke cigarettes and whatever, and we had to breathe in all that second-hand smoke. Now almost all the venues are non-smoking. I wish they had been that way when I was breathing in all that smoke.”

Check out the complete interview online at www.shiningwizards.com.

-WWE returns to the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, the site of Sunday’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, on January 31st. The pre-sale password for tickets to the show is WWELIVE.

-On this day, 18 years ago, the famous fire incident in ECW took place with Terry Funk, Raven, Tommy Dreamer and Mick Foley in the original ECW Arena.

-Former WWE Superstar MVP celebrates his 40th birthday today. Also celebrating birthdays in the world of pro wrestling today are Christy Hemme, Les Thatcher and Rocky Romero.

-WWE Hall Of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch will be doing a live Q&A on November 14th in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as at Collector Mania in Milton Keynes, England on November 16th and 17th.

-TMZ posted an article today that noted Brian Wilson of the Los Angeles Dodgers dressed up as “Macho Man” Randy Savage at a Halloween party this past Saturday evening.

Randy Savage & Ultimate Warrior In The WWE HOF In 2014? — DETAILS HERE!

The following are highlights from a recent interview with WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler:

On his first memory of watching WrestleMania: “WrestleMania IV when they had the tournament for the title (won by Randy Savage). I was cheering for Ricky Steamboat. I was a big fan of Steamboat as a kid.”

On his dream opponent for WrestleMania: “Shawn Michaels.”

On his favorite match in WrestleMania history: “Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV (won by the Undertaker). They could have just had a good match, and we would all still be talking about it. But they went out and had one of the best storytelling matches of all-time. I went into the crowd and just watched it.”

Check out the complete interview online at NOLA.com.

Related News: Update On The Undertaker’s Opponent For WrestleMania XXX

SESCOOPS.COM reader Derek Gash sent along the following post-show notes from Monday’s WWE RAW in Toronto, Ontario, Canada:

The crowd was chanting “Thank You Savage” during matches as there was a fan dressed as Savage and looked just like him. The crowd kept getting live whenever he stood up.

Edge got the pop of the night being here in his hometown, followed by Santino Marella and Goldust,

During the commercial break after the RVD match, “The Macho Man” fan was spoken to by WWE staff. I’m not sure what they said to him but he toned it down from that point on. This seems like the fan incident last week on RAW where WWE staff came out and told fans dressed as Hogan, Piper, etc. to tone it down. The crowd had been distracted since the match between ADR and R-Truth due to the fan.

Damien Sandow had repeated a part of his promo that he did during the commercial break when the cameras returned live. It was the same stuff that he had already while during the break

After RAW went off the air, Curtis Axl and Paul Heyman came out. As they hit the ring, Punk’s music hit he came out with the kendo stick and hit Heyman a couple times. Heyman took off back up the stage and a match started between Axel and Punk. Punk landed a GTS on Axl and won via pinfall. Punk then proceeded to hit him with the chair and then celebrated with the Toronto crowd sending everyone happy.

BACKSTAGE RAW NEWS: Vince McMahon FURIOUS At WHO?? And WHY?! [FIND OUT HERE >>]

“Leapin” Lanny Poffo, real-life brother to the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage recently spoke to the Pro Wrestling Torch about the latest on his brother being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

Poffo originally noted that his brother’s wishes were for he, Lanny, and his father Angelo Poffo, to all be inducted as a family into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Since then, Poffo has apparently given WWE permission to induct Savage by himself.

Poffo told PWTorch.com:

“I gave them permission to do it without my permission. Just don’t invite me and don’t pay me. I don’t need their 30 pieces of silver to defy my brother’s wishes. Kayfabe Commentaries had my best interview regarding the reasons Randy had for this position.”

Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage & Owen Hart In WWE HOF 2014 Class [READ >>]

-WWE Superstar CM Punk recently made his argument for The Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. In a new tweet, Punk wrote:

“Ultimate Warrior. Better be hall of fame bound. Savage too. All them Poffos.”

-WWE posted the latest edition of “Backstage Fallout” for this week’s RAW on their official YouTube channel. The description for the video reads: “Miz tangos with Fandango, and the Divas division breaks down.”

Check out the RAW “Backstage Fallout” for this week below:

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. CM Punk “99% Likely” For WrestleMania XXX [READ MORE >>]

–WWE.com posted video today from the “Booker T Day” ceremony held prior to the SmackDown television taping in Houston on Thursday evening. Additionally, Houston’s KHOU Channel 11 news ran a feature on the ceremony, as well as a profile on Booker’s wrestling school in the local area.

Check out our quick recap from the “Booker T Day” ceremony at the following link: Notes From “Booker T Day” Ceremony In Houston On Thursday.

-Speaking of WWE.com, the official WWE website recently ran a feature titled “The 50 greatest ring names ever!” The top ten were: 10. Cactus Jack, 9. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, 8. Gorilla Monsoon, 7. The Fabulous Moolah, 6. Bam Bam Bigelow, 5. Killer Kowalski, 4. One Man Gang, 3. Abdullah The Butcher, 2. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and 1. “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

Check out the full list, which includes the other top 40 ring names in WWE history, at WWE.com. You can also check out the old “15 absolute WORST ring names in history” list from back in January at this link.

Outcome Of John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan Match At SummerSlam Leaks Online