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For pro wrestling fans, and specifically WWE fans, the phrase Montreal Screwjob in itself is enough to send shivers down their spine. But for current WWE star Cody Rhodes, it also raises a number of questions.
For the uninitiated, the Montreal Screwjob refers to a series of events that took place at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1997.
At the time, Canadian superstar Bret Hart was the reigning WWF champion. But Hart was set to leave the company for upstart rival WCW. In the main event of the show, Hart was scheduled to defend his championship against fellow star Shawn Michaels, with whom he had real-life problems out of the ring.
Hart, as the story goes, refused to lose to the title to Michaels in his home country. So during the match, WWF owner Vince McMahon came out to ringside and told the ref to ring the bell as Michaels had Hart in a submission hold, despite Hart never actually submitting.
Michaels was given the title, and Hart was furious, leading to him spitting in the face of McMahon and then legitimately punching the WWF owner in the face backstage, knocking him to the ground.
Cody Rhodes Questions The Authenticity Of The Montreal Screwjob
Hart did go on to leave the WWF for the WCW, and things became even more contentious between him and the WWF two years later when his brother Owen was killed in a tragic accident at a WWF show.
By all accounts, the Montreal Screwjob was a “shoot,” meaning it was not part of the scripted show. But Rhodes isn’t sold on that.
On a recent episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Rhodes told Simmons that he has some serious questions about the reality of The Montreal Screwjob.
“Whenever I tell somebody high-level confidential stuff, I use Chris, who’s in the corner, has probably heard me say this. I say Bret-Shawn level,” Rhodes said. “I have never heard from either that it wasn’t as real as it possibly could get, and maybe it was. It certainly ended up being real, no doubt, however, I have questions. There was a documentary crew backstage at a company that never, ever allows anything like that. There’s mics in the room.”
Rhodes, the son of wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, grew up around the business and the WWF. So if anybody would have a sense for that sort of thing, it would be him.
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Simmons, who is a huge wrestling fan in his own right, was stunned by Rhodes’ implication. He quickly asked two questions.
First, he wanted to know if McMahon would really allow himself to be spat on. And second, he wanted to ask how they faked McMahon getting legitimately punched in the face and receiving a black eye in the process.
Rhodes stated that McMahon would have no problem with the spit. And he said that the punch was simply agreed to ahead of time and all part of the act.
Now, as we said above, Cody Rhodes and the Rhodes family are key figures in wrestling history. If anyone in the modern-day locker room were to intentionally blur the lines between real and fake, it’s Rhodes.
So he could well be trying to work Simmons and the masses. But it is one of those things that makes you go “hmmm.”