lunataxc
Mephisto
Hot and Cold
Posts: 714
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Post by lunataxc on Dec 27, 2007 18:24:08 GMT -5
The greatest business decision ever thats what I'll always see it as.
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Post by Bob Schlapowitz on Dec 27, 2007 18:33:11 GMT -5
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Post by Hakumental on Dec 27, 2007 18:52:44 GMT -5
The following assumes this was real and does not subscribe to the "it was a work" theory:
It was an unjust punishment for an unprofessional decision stemming from understandable reasons. Bret didn't want to leave the WWE behind after a long and distinguished tenure as a hated villain, but taking a loss from someone he had legitimate heat with, someone he had no problem calling a "great wrestler" but whom he felt had never shown him the same kind of respect, in a place that never treated him as a villain, was a bitter draught to drink from.
Many people point the accusing finger at Bret while saying Vince did the only thing he could- but that's as smallminded as saying that Bret did the only thing he could. Vince was willingly dismissing someone who'd been loyal to him for years. This was the "only" way he could send him out? I like to think the man has some more creative versatility than that.
However, as impartial as I try to be on this, as a fan, I simply can't say who was right and who was wrong, no matter where my sympathies lie. Events with this much historical resonance, events that so vehemently set the constellation for whole companies, are the most difficult to judge, especially when witnessed as a 12-year-old boy. (I know, it still blows my mind to realize I was that young.)
But it is amazing to think of how different things could have been if Survivor Series 1997 had not taken place in Canada. I don't often like to dwell on hypotheticals, but...it's a big What If. Bret's said numerous times that he would have lost his last WWF match to Shawn anywhere but Canada. Had the SS been scheduled to occur at, say, Madison Square Garden, would Bret have done what Vince asked of him? Would there have been any need for a screwjob? And of course, it ties into the larger What If that's been debated to death in the IWC: without the screwjob, could the Vince McMahon character have taken off? And if not, what would it have meant for the Attitude Era? Could there have been an Attitude Era?
Again, though- it's just so difficult to judge.
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