WWE’s Montreal Screwjob officially turned 25 years old on Wednesday, and Bret Hart spoke with Sports Illustrated about the infamous event. If you don’t know the backstory, the Survivor Series pay-per-view on Nov. 9, 1997, was headlined by a WWF Championship match between rivals Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Hart had already agreed to leave the WWF for a more lucrative contract with WCW but was still the WWF Champion at the time. Because of the personal animosity between the two, Hart didn’t want to drop the title to Michaels in his home country of Canada, but Vince McMahon didn’t want the title change to happen any other night nor did he want to run the risk of Hart popping up on WCW Monday Nitro with the title. So, without Hart’s knowledge, the match’s finish was changed to where Michaels would be declared the winner after he locked Hart in the Sharpshooter, even though “The Hitman” never tapped.
