The Montreal Screwjob

WWF November 9, 1997 Survivor Series. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF title. This is one of the most infamous matches in WWF/WWE history. A little background first. The WWE was competing with

a new organization called WCW which was signing a lot of the WWF's stars when their contracts expired. WCW offered Bret Hart a lucrative contract which he did not turn down. At the time Bret was the current champion of the WWF so he would have to drop the strap before he left. The WWF annual Survivor Series PPV was to be held in Bret's home town of Canada, When the WWF owner Vince McMahon informed Bret that he would have to lose the match and the title at the pay-per-view Hart tried too convince him to let him lose it the next day at their Raw broadcast. Vince taken aback at the gall of his departing star in asking a favor decided to trick him. The plot was to let Bret think that he would win the match but in reality Shawn was going to win the match and the title making Bret look like a complete fool at the end in front of his hometown fans.

The script as told to Bret was that the match would end when Shawn would try to win the match using Bret's own finishing move- the sharpshooter. Bret would then reverse the hold and win the match using his finishing move. What was really going to happen was that when Shawn got Bret in the sharpshooter the referee would call for the bell before Bret could reverse it. Shawn Michaels and the referee would both be in on it. After a great match between two of the WWF's most talented wrestlers the screwjob went down. Shawn got Hart in the sharpshooter and the referee quickly called for the bell as Bret was trying to reverse the hold. The look on Bret Hart's face was priceless. Meanwhile the cowardly Shawn Michaels put on a great acting job pretending to be upset at the way the match ended. For years he would continue to deny he was in on the plot before 'fessing up years later. Vince made sure he was at ringside when the match ended and when Bret saw him he hit him with a huge blast of phlegm. Vince wiped the spit away from his face as others whisked him away to prevent him from further harm. Backstage Bret confronted Shawn and asked him if he knew what was going to go down. Shawn obviously terrified of the enraged Hart lied to his face. The two superstars never really got along and if Shawn would have told him the truth Bret would surely have jumped on him. Bret was known to have a mean temper. Bret Hart then insisted on having a meeting with Vince McMahon and Vince showing way more courage than Shawn agreed to meet him. Bret promptly blackened his eye with one punch.  

Years later Vince and Bret Hart would make up and Bret would even return the WWE as an occasional wrestler including a match with Vince at Wrestlemania 26. Bret won the match thus getting his "revenge". You can watch this infamous match here.