The impact of no Montreal having happened.

[Nr1Humanoid]

The screwjob never happened.

Where would wrestling be now?

[FUNK_US/BRODUS]

In an ideal world, it somehow ends with a WrestleMania rematch between a non-stroke-stricken Bret Hart and a Shawn Michaels that still took the casket bump at RR 98, and came abck in 2002 all the same. Both guys going at it in a stadium somewhere. Both guys are matured, more friendly to each other, and still in shape to wrestle.

[rnrk supports BLM]

The Survivor Series '97 main event goes to a double DQ, Bret vacates the title the next night on RAW, Shawn wins it later the same night, spends the next few weeks making particularly vicious, shoot-y comments about Bret's ego, probably still gets his back broken in the Royal Rumble casket match, and drops the belt to Austin at Wrestlemania.

McMahon still transitions into his evil authority figure role by shortly after Wrestlemania, because it's the character he'd been wanting to play for decades anyway. WWF still pulls ahead and wins the Monday Night Wars, and Bret is still embarassingly misused and squandered by WCW before being prematurely injured.

What changes?

Instead of constantly being able to harp on the screwjob for cheap heat, the whole situation with vacating the belt is seen as an embarassment by WWF/E and from '98 onward, the incident is never mentioned on air again.

Bulldog and Neidhart stay in WWF for a time; the Anvil is barely used and released from his contract shortly thereafter, leading him to follow Bret to WCW, but Davey Boy continues to hang around the upper midcard and gets at least one throwaway In Your House PPV match against Austin for the belt. He eventually ends up as another flunky of McMahon's corporation, and continues to hang around the midcard for another few years before his steroid abuse catches up with him.

Bret Hart holds a rather notorious reputation amongst smarkdom, with many debating whether his in-ring expertise justified his infamous backstage politicing and his refusal to put over younger talents.

[repomanfan]

WCW possibly wins the ratings war for a few months longer; Bret Hart's career doesn't get shortened and there's a good chance that Owen is alive to this day.



As far as wrestling is concerned; WCW still dies and the WWF/E continues to get sleazier and raunchier and we end up where we are today; Vince's brand of entertainment; reality tv, soft porn, circus, sitcom and a little bit of wrestling all rolled into one.


The impact on wrestling wasn't huge, but the affect it had on people's lives; that's another story.

[wildojinx]

Jun 24, 2011 6:32:50 GMT -5 rnrk supports BLM said:

The Survivor Series '97 main event goes to a double DQ, Bret vacates the title the next night on RAW, Shawn wins it later the same night, spends the next few weeks making particularly vicious, shoot-y comments about Bret's ego, probably still gets his back broken in the Royal Rumble casket match, and drops the belt to Austin at Wrestlemania.

McMahon still transitions into his evil authority figure role by shortly after Wrestlemania, because it's the character he'd been wanting to play for decades anyway. WWF still pulls ahead and wins the Monday Night Wars, and Bret is still embarassingly misused and squandered by WCW before being prematurely injured.

What changes?

Instead of constantly being able to harp on the screwjob for cheap heat, the whole situation with vacating the belt is seen as an embarassment by WWF/E and from '98 onward, the incident is never mentioned on air again.

Bulldog and Neidhart stay in WWF for a time; the Anvil is barely used and released from his contract shortly thereafter, leading him to follow Bret to WCW, but Davey Boy continues to hang around the upper midcard and gets at least one throwaway In Your House PPV match against Austin for the belt. He eventually ends up as another flunky of McMahon's corporation, and continues to hang around the midcard for another few years before his steroid abuse catches up with him.

Bret Hart holds a rather notorious reputation amongst smarkdom, with many debating whether his in-ring expertise justified his infamous backstage politicing and his refusal to put over younger talents.

How does this affect Owen? For that matter, what about foley, taker, and rock (the other top stars of the attitude era besides austin)?

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

The WWF go out of business within a year.

[Crappler El 0 M]

I DOUBT WWE would go out of business without the screwjob as they still had The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, Kane, and Mick Foley who were really coming into their own. Having these talents at this time, along with a nice group of new characters introduced in 1998 (Edge, Gangrel, Christian, Val Venis, Droz, Al Snow) just seems like too much for WWE not to have still really turned their business around.

[Deleted]

The only person I feel it directly effected was Bret. Bret goes to WCW anyway, as that wasn't really disputed, but minus a large portion of the chip that he carried on his shoulder for so long. Concussion, stroke, retirement. The only really major effect on anyone else might be that it takes longer for Vince McMahon to invent the evil boss persona. Any attempts to make this into a fates altering, what if scenario that involve Owen's survival are silly, and implausible. Most likely end result is Bret is bitter(on a smaller scale)with WCW for poor booking.

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

Jun 24, 2011 9:47:26 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

I DOUBT WWE would go out of business without the screwjob as they still had The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, Kane, and Mick Foley who were really coming into their own. Having these talents at this time, along with a nice group of new characters introduced in 1998 (Edge, Gangrel, Christian, Val Venis, Droz, Al Snow) just seems like too much for WWE not to have still really turned their business around.

I know. I was just linking to the Rewriting The Book story on this very topic that sees that possibly happening.