Montreal Screwjob - Title Transition

Title Transition

Hart's imminent move to WCW created a tense situation, as he had won the WWF Championship at SummerSlam 1997 from The Undertaker. Hart's WCW contract was scheduled to begin on December 5, one month after the WWF's annual Survivor Series event, which was to be held in Montreal. Shawn Michaels, the leader of the emerging stable D-Generation X had been booked into a main event title match with Hart. McMahon, anxious for Hart to give up the title, sought Hart's consent to job to Michaels. Hart didn't want to give up the title to a member of The Kliq, apparently standing up for the rest of the locker room. As part of their rivalry storyline, Michaels had repeatedly performed acts insulting the Canadian flag and Canadian fans, which had also upset Hart. Wrestling fans also knew of Hart's long-standing personal difficulty with Michaels—Hart had been angered at Michaels's forfeiture of the WWF Championship on Monday Night Raw, which ruined plans for a Hart-Michaels rematch at WrestleMania 13, where Hart claims that Michaels was expected to lose the title to him. Hart also believed that Michaels had faked a knee injury and talked about major surgery just to get out of their planned match. While Michaels denied rumors that he did not want to lose to Hart, Hart felt certain that Michaels would not have offered a loss in return if he had been staying with the WWF. The two had been involved in a real fight after Michaels implied that Hart was having an affair with WWF valet Sunny. The recent storyline rivalry had also seen Michaels make insulting remarks about Hart's father Stu Hart, which had left Bret and others in the Hart family upset. McMahon's offering of an estimate of $1.5 - 3 million contract to Hart in 1996 had reportedly also upset Michaels.

McMahon remained insistent about Hart dropping the title. The WWF owner was anxious over a possible reenactment of then-reigning WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze's defection to WCW in 1995, which resulted in her dropping the WWF Women’s Championship belt in a trash can before a live audience on WCW Monday Nitro, despite claims from Bischoff (according to Hart's DVD biography) that legal issues between the WWF and WCW would prevent such a thing, and that he would rather have Hart join WCW with a "clean slate." Hart continued to refuse to drop the title to Michaels, offering to lose the title anywhere in the U.S. prior to Survivor Series or to surrender the title to McMahon on the episode of Monday Night Raw the day after Survivor Series, in Ottawa. After several disagreements, McMahon, Michaels and Hart agreed to a proposal of a disqualification finish, which would be the result of a brawl between Hart's allies Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Davey Boy Smith with Michaels's allies Triple H and Chyna, who would interfere in the match to aid Michaels. Hart would then hand over the title to McMahon the next day on Raw. Hart also asked for and obtained McMahon's permission for an opportunity to explain his actions, his heel character, praise McMahon and the WWF and thus leave on good terms with the company and the fans.