The Montreal Screwjob is one of professional wrestling’s greatest scandals, and Vince McMahon made a number of enemies in the locker room with his decision to have referee Earl Hebner ring the bell while Shawn Michaels had Bret Hart in a Sharpshooter.
It’s well-documented that Bret Hart got into a physical altercation with the then-WWE Chairman following the WWE Survivor Series 1997 bout, but according to Bruce Prichard on his latest Something To Wrestle podcast (available early via AdFreeShows), The Undertaker was also quite upset with the situation.
The Undertaker Told Vince McMahon To Go Away While Speaking To Bruce Prichard After The Montreal Screwjob
Prichard revealed that while he was having a private conversation with the real life Mark Calaway after the situation unfolded, and Vince McMahon walked up to them to strike up a conversation. Undertaker was upset with McMahon and told him to go away in stern fashion. Prichard says he didn’t believe McMahon deserved the treatment at the time.
“[Vince] came over and was like, ‘Mark, how ya doing?’ And Mark cut him off and said, ‘When I’m done with him [Prichard], I’ll come and find you.’ And Vince walked away, and I was like, ‘Man, he didn’t deserve that, and you’re the last person who should have really done that to him today.'” (h/t WrestlingInc)
Thankfully, once all parties were able to cool down after the fact, Vince McMahon spoke to The Undertaker and they “hashed all their s*** out” according to Prichard.
Bruce Prichard made it clear on his podcast that he didn’t know about McMahon’s plans that night in Montreal as the WWE Chairman didn’t want his longtime associate to have to lie to the locker room about the situation.
Another high level executive who didn’t know about the planned double cross in Montreal was Jim Ross, who served as WWE’s Head of Talent Relations at the time. Speaking exclusively to Inside the Ropes’ Kenny McIntosh during a previous live event, Good Ol’ JR spoke about addressing the locker room in the wake of the controversy.
“So I tell them. I said, ‘I didn’t know it was gonna happen. it was news to me. No one informed me that this is the plan at all’. And some, mostly because I had not lied to them prior to that, some thought I was taking it too far, I couldn’t be telling the truth. I had to know, but I didn’t know. So that’s what I said, ‘If you guys are so torn up about this, you gotta go home. Let me know when your sensitivities ease and you’re able to come back to work as a wrestler’.” (h/t Inside the Ropes)