Random Happenings
Joe is X-Champ again. Makes Daniels going over in Ultimate X look like a really goofball booking decision. Having Liger not come in for Lockdown also looks like another weird decision. Joe killing Sabu in the cage match seems odd. Anyone noticing a trend? TNA Booking = An anomaly like no other in wrestling. Well except for….
Umanga The WWE’s looking real ethnic these days huh? I personally think the whole Umanga character is just a bad idea. I mean, what was wrong with Jamal? Shit he got over in All Japan wearing jean shorts (well that’s not at all uncommon for “good” wrestlers these days is it) and a Miami Heat Jersey. Case in point, it wasn’t his Samoan-ness or his ummmm face paint or whatever else is going on in creative’s head these days, but rather his work rate. I know what your thinking, Umanga, work rate? Surely I jest, but I kid you not. The guy can go, if given a chance and a gimmick he’s comfortable with. Fortunately for him, he won’t be given either of those in his current WWE Stint. Here’s to that 200,000 check he’ll be picking up this year. I give Umanga 3 Minutes, if you know what I mean.
The Great Kali. Dalip Singh. That really weird tall guy. Whatever you know him as, I think Zuma said it best in his column when he said, that he was just a mountain of a man. Not that tall overweight gargantuan figure in the mold of a Big Show or Andre. Not a Stick figure, like the Giant Gonzales. But just a really really big, built man. It’s funny, I was watching The Longest Yard with some friends of mine in November, and one of them asked me, because I’m known as somewhat of a wrestling guru to them, if Dalip Singh was a wrestler at one point in time. I shot him an abrupt and to the point, No!. I thought he had the look, but would probably to big and clumsy to ever really make it as a wreslter. just a really really big, built man. It’s funny, I was watching The Longest Yard with some friends of mine in November, and one of them asked me, because I’m known as somewhat of a wrestling guru to them, if Dalip Singh was a wrestler at one point in time. I shot him an abrupt and to the point, No!. I thought he had the look, but would probably to big and clumsy to ever really make it as a wreslter. 5 months later…… I don’t know you tell me.
Now onto the good shit!
HEALING IS A PROCESS . . . . .So tough shit Canada, get over it.
Column Topic: Has the time already come for the fans to stop chanting “You screwed Bret”, or should the chants continue on? Why or why not?
Was this not the greatest topic that could have been given to me and the Canadian Kid. He being from Canada, and my favorite wrestler of all time being The Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels (not to be confused with CM Punk (the guy in my signature) who is my favorite wrestler of the past 2 years). The Screwjob is a very touchy subject for the both of us. I guess I was going to have to do it one way or another, although I’ve always tried to avoid it. I guess I’m finally going to have to do a Montreal column. There are some things in life that happen by chance. That chance meeting with that special girl, that one day becomes Mrs. Beeach. Stumbling upon the best columns forum in the entire World Wide Web.And in some cases there are things that are inevitable. Like experiencing disappointment (missing ECW), loving, living, dieing, and writing columns about Triple H, John Cena, and the Montreal Screwjob. No one can run and hide from these things. No matter how hard you try, you will fall victim essentially, sooner or later. I guess it’s my time.
It is rare that the cultural landscape of our modern society is ever touched by a person of such extraordinary brilliance, that all must stop in awe of their majesty. So few of us, during the course of our lives, can look back and say that we were there to witness such a glorious display of the fantastic at its very peak; its apex, if you will. Such a time had finally come. All the world had now was the chance to stop and witness the genius, and the spectacle that was… Bret Hart?!? Now depending on what breed of wrestling fan you ask (especially those of the Canadian persuasion), that last statement holds as true as the law of gravity and the revelation that the Earth is indeed, not-flat. I myself, while a huge Bret fan, growing up in the New Generation and all, I do not think of him as having the ability to walk on water, rise from the dead, or make a seemingly endless supply of fishes and bread from nothing. [/cheap Easter plug]
I mean sure Bret was infallible, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t make mistakes, right? Right. To get a real good understanding of why this is/was still such a subject of controversy you have to understand the magnitude of the Screwjob in its entirety. You have to put within context the respective characters of the parties involved. Now to say that in 1997 Bret Hart was big stuff is like saying Zuma writes pretty good columns. No shit! And to say that even before the screwjob, that HBK was a hated man in Canada, well I think this picture should just about sum up both sides collective feelings on the other party.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s the boy toy with a little floss action.
Now as is typical in any Benbeeach column, in case this is your first offering of such literary delights, I want your opinion and mine to be formulated from the same base knowledge that no one is left in the dark as to where I’m coming from or vice versa. A great man once said, to know where your going you have to know where you came from. Those who fail to recognize the mistakes of their past are doomed to repeat them. “Memory” as Malcom X once said, “is what separates man from that of animal.” I guess opposable thumbs hadn’t been invented yet. But to make a long story short (or in this case even longer), it’s time for a Benbeeach staple, the history lesson. Strap-on those thinking caps fellas.
Lets take a walk down memory lane, shall we. The Year is 1996. After his loss to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XII in March, Bret Hart left the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). For the next seven months, he was in talks with both the WWF and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) over contracts and was considering giving up wrestling.
In October 1996, Hart signed an unprecedented twenty-year contract with the WWF. Hart had been with and remained loyal to the WWF since 1986. He also had emerged from wrestling mainly in tag teams to becoming a popular and respected singles star. Between 1991 and 1996, Hart won the WWF Championship three times and the Intercontinental Title twice. He also won the 1993 King of the Ring tournament, was named WWF Superstar of the Year in 1993, and was joint winner of the 1994 Royal Rumble alongside Lex Luger. To make a long story short, he was a pretty good wreslter. Got it? Good.
The contract that he signed in 1996 called for him to wrestle three more years with the WWF and then complete his career in a behind-the-scenes writing and booking position. Both sides felt that the contract was a suitable and appropriate expression of Hart's loyalty to the WWF and its loyalty to him.
However, by the middle of 1997, the WWF was in serious financial straits due mainly to WCW taking over as North America’s top pro wrestling promotion. This was cause for Vince McMahon to regret offering such an expensive deal to Hart. Additionally, many felt that Hart's behavior had become more erratic. As a result, WWF owner and chairman Vince McMahon informed Hart that he wished to withdraw from the contract, and he encouraged Hart to again seek employment with WCW. When Hart asked about his plans for his "Hitman" character, giving McMahon an option to entice Hart with interesting story ideas, the ideas put out by Vince made it clear to Hart that he was not part of McMahon's longterm plans, and he elected to sign with WCW. At this time, Hart was still the WWF Champion, having won the belt for a fifth time that August from The Undertaker, in a match where Shawn Michaels of all people was guest referee, remember that name people, he gets kind of important as the story progresses.
On November 1, 1997, Hart agreed to a three million dollar a year contract with WCW. As part of his WWF contract, Hart had "reasonable creative control" over his character in the last days of his WWF tenure. Therefore, he had some input as to what he would and would not do and say.
He also had one major quandary: he would not lose the WWF Championship to anyone in his home country of Canada and certainly not to Shawn Michaels, with whom he had personal animosity that had spanned for years.
Here’s where things getting a little sticky and always will be from anyone with a less than 100% pro-Bret stance. Shawn Michaels is my favorite wrestler, so excuse me for coming off as a biased HBK loving sympathy ridden prick.
The legitimate backstage ill-feeling between Hart and Michaels, which had been bubbling for years, meant that neither man was willing to lose face in or out of the ring to the other, but they agreed to work together for the sake of the business. At the time, Hart and Michaels had radically different lifestyles and attitudes out of the ring and had clashed previously. One such incident was provoked when Michaels implied that Hart was sleeping with WWF valet/manager at the time Sunny better known as Tammy Lynn Stych. This led to Hart attacking Michaels backstage during a taping of RAW after they had gotten into a verbal argument.
The relationship between both men was very rocky at best. Hart was angered about how much booking power the Clique had gained during the mid 1990s. (The Clique had all but run the main storylines of the WWF in 1995 with Kevin Nash as WWF Champion and Michaels and Scott Hall at the top of the midcard feuding over the Intercontinental championship.
At WrestleMania XII, Michaels beat Hart for the WWF Championship. Michaels was supposed to return the favor at WrestleMania 13; however, Michaels needed knee surgery and would not be able to wrestle for months. Michaels gave up the title on a special episode of RAW in what is now known today as the infamous "Lost My Smile" speech. Despite popular belief, Michaels did not say that he was doing it because he had lost his smile. He did say this, but he was referring to an earlier interview he had given after losing the title to Psycho Sid at Survivor Series 1996. But rather due to a reoccurring knee injury and lack of cartilage in said previously aforementioned knee that doctors told him would be career ending. Some people believe that the speech was just an excuse to not drop the title to Hart.
McMahon began seeking a way to transition the title off of Hart. Michaels was then booked as the #1 contender to Hart's title in the fall of 1997. Of course, Hart took immediate issue with the idea that he would lose the title to Michaels, in Montreal, at the Survivor Series 1997 PPV event on November 9, 1997. He did not believe that Michaels would have offered a loss in return had he stayed in the WWF.
McMahon tentatively agreed to end the match in Montreal with a planned disqualification finish, which would involve various cohorts of both Hart and Michaels running in and disrupting the match. Hart said that he would make a live speech on the November 10, 1997 edition of RAW and then hand the belt back. However, Hart was not going to be under contract then, and McMahon had heard that line before. In December 1995, the WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze/Madusa had made a similar deal. Instead, she appeared on WCW Monday Nitro with the belt and threw it in a trash can. Fearing that a similar incident was going to happen, McMahon decided to take the title away from him at Survivor Series.
Now if you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 10 years you could and probably should skip these past and future sections and get right down to the opinion based portion, but if you like to see what 1 and a ½ days of wrestling research looks like, by all means keep reading.
The Wednesday before Survivor Series, Vince McMahon devised what would become the Montreal Screwjob. As Gerald Brisco sat in a hotel room showing Michaels how to defend himself against Bret attempting to shoot on him (hit him for real), McMahon decided that he had no alternative other than to make sure that Survivor Series would end with Michaels as champion.
On the day of Survivor Series, Hart and McMahon sat in a room and discussed the different possibilities. Vince seemed to agree to everything that Hart wanted to do, knowing full well that he was never going to fulfill it anyway. Hart left feeling a little more relaxed, despite being warned by several wrestlers (including Vader, who was a veteran of the Japanese scene (Akira Maeda comes to mind) and knew the prospect of a screwjob could be looming) never to let himself be pinned for more than a count of one or be on his back for too long.
Surely the thoughts of that upcoming Sunday night not going “exactly as planned” wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for either side.
However, Hart was deeply aware of the possibility of a last minute change of plan behind his back and,fearing a double cross, went as far as asking the match's referee Earl Hebner to swear an oath on his children's lives that he would not participate in such an incident. Hebner shook on this. *insert You Screwed Bret chants*
The match script given to Hart on the day detailed the planned disqualification finish. Michaels would put Hart in the Sharpshooter, and Hart would reverse, only for D-Generation X and the Hart Foundation to run down for a big brawl to end the match. This would then lead into the title being dropped and Hart being free to leave for WCW.
During the match, after an arena-wide brawl before the match had even officially started, Hart allowed Michaels to place him in the Sharpshooter, his famous finishing leglock hold. Michaels then gave Hart his foot to reverse the hold. McMahon, positioned at ringside, elbowed the timekeeper and screamed at him to "Ring the damn bell!" Hebner then signaled to the timekeeper as if Hart had submitted to the hold, and Michaels was quickly awarded the match and the title as his theme music began to play.
Hebner rapidly ran backstage from the ring, allegedly to a waiting car. Astounded by the unexpected turn of events, Hart was immediately outraged. As Hart stood dazed in the ring, Triple H and Gerald Brisco came out to escort Michaels backstage as the fans threw garbage at him and rained boos. Michaels himself was told to act even more outraged than Hart because if he didn't, they feared that Hart would attack and pummel him for real again. (He had done so earlier in the year backstage at a RAW taping.) This would have been bad for business if the WWF's new champion had been beaten to a pulp on live PPV by the leaving participant. As ringside commentators Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler quickly departed their announce position, Hart looked down at McMahon from the ring, spit right in his eye, and shortly after destroyed several TV monitors at ringside before climbing the turnbuckles and signing the letters "WCW" to the rabid crowd. Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Davey Boy Smith hit the ring to try and calm him down. Backstage, after cooling off, he learned that many of the other wrestlers were disgusted and were forcefully pressuring the now-in-hiding McMahon to face up to Hart and explain himself. (Hart even proclaimed to his wife, "The piece of shit's locked himself up in his office.") Hart's son was physically upset at what had happened, and his wooly mammoth of an ex-wife laid a verbal onslaught onto Triple H (who she rightfully believed knew about the whole thing), while the Undertaker confronted McMahon and demanded that he meet with Hart face-to-face. McMahon, along with Brisco and son Shane, went to see Hart, and the incident ended up as a physical confrontation in the Montreal locker rooms. After McMahon tried to apologize to Hart, he was told to get out or get punched in the face. McMahon refused to leave and got punched in the face. With Shane and Brisco also there, one of them trampled onto McMahon's ankle by accident and broke it.
The next night on RAW, McMahon and Michaels did what they could to kill the Bret Hart mystique. When the show opened, Michaels gave an interview in the ring where he mocked Hart by saying something to the effect of, "I ran the Bret down south with all the other dinosaurs, and Hitman, the gentlemen down there that aren't dinosaurs are my friends, and they can't wait to kick your butt either." Hart I would imagine was watching back at his home in Calgary and wasn't surprised at what they were doing.
Later that night, McMahon gave an interview with Jim Ross stating his side of the story. He then concluded, saying that he himself didn't screw Bret but that "Bret screwed Bret."
A week before Hart was set to debut on WCW Monday Nitro, Michaels further disgraced the Hitman name by claiming that he had secretly negotiated a deal to "Set the record straight" with Hart before he was going to leave. Hart's signature music played, and out came a midget dressed up like Hart. Michaels and the other members of D-Generation X pretended to torture him before attaching a WCW bumper sticker on his butt, kicking him out of the ring and saying, "There you go, Hitman. Head down south with all the other has-beens."
And like that history had been made. Phew, history lessons suck don’t they. The reverberence of this occasion can and will be felt for years and years to come. The question posed to me in this column was “Has the time already come for the fans to stop chanting “You screwed Bret”, or should the chants continue on? Why or why not?”
Now I’m on the fence about this very issue. Now as a fan of Shawn Michaels and I guess you could say of Earl Hebner (although he is no longer with the company) and Vince McMahon, I would love for this chant to finally be laid to rest like that of Brock Lesnar’s WWE career, but on the flip side of that, it is not within me to ask an entire country and culture of wrestling fans to simply say, hey you know what, you know that thing you guys care about so much, well ummm, yeah if you could just, I don’t know, forget about it, that, that would be great, ok now, have a good one. Mmmmmkay. Smooches. You see I can’t do that either. But as is the nature of columns like these, you don’t read them to hear how on the fence I can be. You want opinions so, that’s what I’m prepared to give you.
But even I, in all my eternal wrestling wisdom need more to go off of. What was at the core of Bret’s decision making leading up to the most famous match finish of modern times. Could it all been about the world title belt. I mean what is the importance of the world title belt at its core. We have to establish what the world title belt is all about. The World title belt in wrestling is an anomaly like no other. Almost all fans recognize that wrestling is predetermined. Winners and losers are determined by officials and writers, and not based in anyway shape or form upon which wrestler is superior grappler. Winners and losers are determined by storyline considerations, by who can sell the most merchandise, and sadly sometimes, by political collusion. Newsflash: We KNOW these things. As the constitution says, we hold these truths to be self evident. And yet recognizing that wrestling is as fixed as the UFC, oh yeah I went there, we as fans still work ourselves into a *tizzy* over the matter of pro wrestling title belts. We, of all people, should realize that they are little more than costume jewelry. If winners and losers in Pro wrestling have nothing to do with the actual wrestling skill, than what weight should be given to winning a piece of leather and faux gold in a wrestling match? Theoretically, the logical answer should be, “None.” But more often than not, that answer tends to be “A hell of a lot”. The belt(s) are an attempt to exemplify who the best is, in the kayfabe world of wrestling. The average fan equivocates this with being the best, and therefore shows the champion respect. How many interviews have you heard or read where a guy professes that the reason he got into the wrestling business was to hold the Big Title? More than you can count, I'm sure. And the thing is, I honestly believe each and every one of them. Some of 'em may not have a shot in hell of ever getting there (I’m looking at you Brian Kendrick), but I don't think very many guys have ever devoted themselves to the wrestling business with the goal of jobbing to Val Venis on Heat. Point being, titles are important! Got it? Good.
So the world title is somewhat important. Ok well we knew that already. There had to be more to it. It had to do with Canada. Bret said he didn’t want to job in Canada, especially not to HBK. Well to me, and a lot of others, that is stupid. When guys like Triple H, and Ric Flair, and even Shawn Michaels himself, with an astounding 30 World Title reigns between them say there is no such thing, as not doing the job, it’s hard for me to empathize with Bret. But alas here’s where it gets tricky. I’m not from Canada. Shit, my parents are natives of the West African Country of Ghana.
But you see that doesn’t matter, because if Bret thought it was important, and he really believed that doing the job in Canada was wrong, and all other Canadians think that it was important, than in my eternal red, white, and blue transcendentalism shouldn’t and couldn’t make it any less important. Perhaps it’s not a big deal to me, but it is to some people, and that in effect, doesn’t make it any less of a big deal. I know if the shoe were on the other foot, and I don’t know, Stone Cold or someone got screwed, we’d all be in outrage. I’m in no position to tell an entire country of fans how they should think, and what they should chant in response to said feelings . . . .
But I’m going to anyway. Now you see, the blame does not fall entirely on the annals of Quebec fandom lore, because a certain multi-billion dollar corporation that will rename nameless, will not lets us forget about a certain incident that took place nearly an entire decade ago. When things like this are shown to us time and time again,
it’s unfair of any of us, to expect our neighbors north of the border to forget about it either. When the sole proprietor of crime, Vinny Mac himself, seems to revel and relive the moment every day to stroke an ego so big he’d dare challenge, ummmm God, it can get old. Going as far, as to put a Screwing Bret Hart Storyline in the Smackdown! vs. RAW 2006 video game.
Not to say their aren’t times when the “You screwed Bret” chants and the sentiments behind them can make for great TV. For instance in Montreal last summer during HBK’s what I would guess was a 2 month heel stint, used all those same bad feelings toward his entire existence more or less and the reprehensible acts of his past and channeled them into a promo not about Bret (for the most part) but for his actual opponent, Hulk Hogan. For instance.
But on the one hand, and here is where I make my point, the chant can also become a nuisance to viewers, announcers, wrestlers, basically anyone not in the arena that day. For example during, the triple threat rematch for World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash 2004. The crowd in a way spoiled the match, by never letting up with their incessant chanting. Jim Ross perhaps pleading with himself, in saying “it happened 7 years ago folks”. My thoughts exactly. Or during Summerslam 2004 (were there a lot of pay-per-views in Canada in 204 or what?) when during the main event when Randy Orton took on Chris Benoit, “You Screwed Bret” chants were directed at of all people Earl Hebner. It’s during times like these I say to myself, you stupid Canadians, get over it already!
So I have my solution, answer, an excuse to end this column, whatever you want to call it. It is time in my humble opinion time to let the Screwjob lay to rest in wreslting history with the Gobbeldy Gooker and TJ Hooker, and Dusty Rhodes as a booker. I think now that Bret is in the Hall of Fame it’s sort of a moot point to mention his umm screwing. Shawn Michaels, while God’s favorite wrestler, is not an angel, will always have this flaw, blemish, asterix next to his name, and that’s just something he and his fans will have to deal with. Bret Hart more and more is remembered for how his career ended than than his career in its entirety, and continuation of the You Screwed Bret chants are only furthering this notion, not hindering it. So with Survivor Series 2007 being in the Bell Centre in Montreal, one decade after the Montreal Screwjob I think then will be time for this to be laid to rest once and for all. Bret, Shawn, and Vince must all be there. Wresltemania 22 would have been just as apropos, but this will have the more special feeling. Let something happen where this can be finally done and away with. Let there be the loudest You Screwed Bret chants ever. Drown out the whole pay-per-view if you must. And then let there be a handshake a superkick, a sharpshooter, just something to say it’s done it’s over, thanks for everything Bret.
And who knows, maybe by then Canada will have something new to chant. “Let’s go Punk, Let’s go Joe, Let’s go Punk, Let’s go Joe.” Well I can dream can’t I?
Download of the Week
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_ibkMz1_Rd0
The ScrewJob in its entirety
Thanks for reading
Copyright © 2005; TheWrestlingVoice.com & Douglas Nunnally.
All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer & Privacy Statement
| What Did You Think About WWE Backlash 2008? |
|
|