Jake Roberts didn’t mince words when making his thoughts known about Bret Hart’s role in the Montreal Screwjob.
Bret Hart’s WWE exit in 1997 was fraught with well-documented controversy as he famously refused to lose his championship to Shawn Michaels in Montreal, Quebec on the night his contract expired. Despite presenting other options and believing that he and Vince McMahon had struck an agreement for him to drop the belt at a later date, referee Earl Hebner called for the bell as Michaels had Hart in his own Sharpshooter, executing one of the most famous wrestling screwjobs in history.
Speaking on a recent episode of DDP Snake Pit, Jake Roberts was asked about a similar situation in which Rick Rude left the NWA while he was still one half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions. Roberts made it clear that he didn’t agree with that situation before turning his attention to Bret Hart, saying that Hart got exactly what he deserved in Montreal.
“I don’t agree with that [leaving as Champion] at all. You know, there’s been so many guys who get away with it too. Holding up promoters because they don’t want to lose the title in a certain area. Maybe Canada, has that ever happened? Oh wait, it did. Shawn and Bret. He didn’t want to drop it in Canada, so they [Vince McMahon and others] screwed him.
“You didn’t get screwed a**hole! You got what you deserved. How do you have the right, not to drop that title? That title, that was given to you. You did not beat up anybody to get that.”
Continuing, Jake Roberts noted that the only reason Bret Hart held the WWE Championship in the first place was that the Undertaker was willing to lose to him earlier in the year, and he believed Hart was being “selfish.”
“The reason you have that title is because some other schmuck was a good enough guy to lose to you [The Undertaker at Summerslam 1997.] So you not dropping that title tells me you don’t give a flying f*ck about anybody else but yourself, and that’s very selfish. It’s wrong and if you are contemplating doing it, that’s for you.”
h/t SEScoops