The obvious solution to Bret-Shawn in Montreal

[Aceorton]

Someone must have thought of this before me, right?

How do you get Bret to lose without being pinned or giving up? A disqualification.

But a title can't change hands on a DQ, so ...

QUEBEC PROVINCE RULES.

Survivor Series was in Quebec.

Add the QPR stipulation the week before (through some kind of chicanery by DX). During the match, have Austin run in gunning for both men, but attacking Shawn first because he's closest, which causes Bret to be DQ'd and lose the title. Bret's beef is now with Austin, his old nemesis. This sets up Bret's final WWF match with Austin on the Dec. 7 PPV. And it plants the seeds even earlier for Austin-Shawn at WM14.

OR ...

A double DQ under the Quebec rules causes the title to be declared vacant, since both guys "lost." However they go forward from there is fine, because at least now the belt is off Bret.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

The thing about that is, Bret didn't want to drop the title to Shawn. Shawn was a colossal prick, had gotten out of dropping titles before, had buried multiple people, and shortly before that match had screwed over Davey Boy.

Bret would have dropped the title to anybody except for Shawn. Hell, had he been asked to drop the title to Ken Shamrock in a 15 second match, he would have done it, the problem was giving Shawn the title.

[Deleted]

or have Bret drop it on the next Raw

[Spider2024]

A question I've been wondering, did it HAVE TO be Shawn?

Would Bret have been willing to lose to HHH? I know Bret & Trips weren't exactly buddies then either, but was it "Just not Shawn" or would Bret have nixed the idea of losing to Hunter as well?

[Nr1Humanoid]

I thought he did not want to lose the title in Canada period.

[sfvega]

Ya know, for a guy like Vince who was terrified that Bret would take the belt with him or appear on TV and throw it in the trash, he sure did let Bret have the title until the 11th hour. It's weird that all three parties involved were completely uncompromising, but no one you talk to attributes the blame evenly. Myself included.

[BorneAgain]

The clear answer would have been the WWF quickly petitioning the provincial government to declare Quebecois independence (if even just temporarily), that way Bret can't be upset at losing the title to Shawn in Canada, because Montreal wouldn't be Canada anymore.

[mauled]

Or simply have him drop the Belt to Taker n
instead and Shawn can win the belt off Taker the next night on Raw

[chronocross]

He'd probably say no as I believe he had creative control and as mentioned HBK was a super prick at the time who did not want to put anyone over.

As mauled mentioned, you can have Taker beat Bret back for the title, then HBK gets the title off of him and take it from there till WM14.

[Natural Born Farmer]

There were a lot of obvious solutions, but why make things easy?

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Jun 22, 2019 10:10:31 GMT -5 Nr1Humanoid said:

I thought he did not want to lose the title in Canada period.

Nah, he offered to put literally anyone else over, it was specifically Shawn he had the problem with.

[illiniman88]

Bret said he would even put over the Brookly Brawler

Anyone but Shawn

[Aceorton]

I'm going on the idea that losing by DQ due to hijinks involving one or more other wrestlers does not qualify as "putting Shawn over." No one would view it as Shawn actually beating Bret, which seemed to be Bret's entire hangup.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

That's the fascinating thing about the Screwjob: it could have been easily avoided. Bret could have been the bigger man and done the job. Shawn could have not been a huge prick to Bret throughout their careers. Vince could have gone with Bret's suggestion to put the title on anyone else to transition to Shawn. If all three had put their egos aside, it wouldn't have happened. They just couldn't.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Jun 22, 2019 11:48:59 GMT -5 Hulkshi Tanahashi said:

That's the fascinating thing about the Screwjob: it could have been easily avoided. Bret could have been the bigger man and done the job. Shawn could have not been a huge prick to Bret throughout their careers. Vince could have gone with Bret's suggestion to put the title on anyone else to transition to Shawn. If all three had put their egos aside, it wouldn't have happened. They just couldn't.

I'm gonna put it more on Vince than either Bret or Shawn, though. He'd spent so much time having his fun, playing them against each other like a kid smashing action figures together, that when it came time to do right by a guy who had been an absurdly loyal soldier, he just couldn't sac up and do it.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

All jokes aside, Montreal was completely avoidable, Vince is just a stubborn jackass and he had weeks to take the belt off Bret. Oh wait, I'm sorry, Vince McMahon is a genius who's never done anything wrong.

Jokes not aside, they should've just had Taker sit outside Bret's locker room taping his fists.

[Mozenrath]

Cornette sucks, but I will say I agree with him about this whole mess to an extent.

Namely: Shawn was a major piece of shit at the time, but A. Bret's out the door, anyway, what does it matter to him who gets the belt? Why is it his business any longer? and B. he didn't run to the papers when they gave him the WWF title all those other times, but he does so when things don't go his way, which is pretty prima donna of him, too.

Three colossal egos, and while Bret is the most sympathetic party and the most likable of the three, he had his share of douche moments, too. I don't think you can become a main eventer, and stay a main eventer, for years without getting a big head. Bret, Foley, Daniel Bryan, some of the most humble main eventers ever, but still, they can get *real* smug, too. I think you kinda have to be.

I like Bret a lot, but if we're going to shit on Hogan for refusing to drop the title to Bret and instead only agreeing to do it for Yokozuna, back when Hogan thought he was coming back, anyway, then what lets Bret off the hook when he was knowingly leaving the company, probably forever?

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Jun 22, 2019 14:09:14 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Cornette sucks, but I will say I agree with him about this whole mess to an extent.

Namely: Shawn was a major piece of shit at the time, but A. Bret's out the door, anyway, what does it matter to him who gets the belt? Why is it his business any longer? and B. he didn't run to the papers when they gave him the WWF title all those other times, but he does so when things don't go his way, which is pretty prima donna of him, too.

Three colossal egos, and while Bret is the most sympathetic party and the most likable of the three, he had his share of douche moments, too. I don't think you can become a main eventer, and stay a main eventer, for years without getting a big head. Bret, Foley, Daniel Bryan, some of the most humble main eventers ever, but still, they can get *real* smug, too. I think you kinda have to be.

I like Bret a lot, but if we're going to shit on Hogan for refusing to drop the title to Bret and instead only agreeing to do it for Yokozuna, back when Hogan thought he was coming back, anyway, then what lets Bret off the hook when he was knowingly leaving the company, probably forever?

The thing is, Bret WAS down to do it, just not in Canada. He said he'd drop the title to Shawn, just not in Canada. THEN Shawn said, "Hey, I really appreciate you dropping the belt to me, but I just want you to know, I'd never do the same for you", and THAT'S where Bret took the slap in the face, and it became "Anyone but Shawn", which I think is pretty justified.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 22, 2019 14:12:12 GMT -5 2coldMack is even more baffled said:

Jun 22, 2019 14:09:14 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Cornette sucks, but I will say I agree with him about this whole mess to an extent.

Namely: Shawn was a major piece of shit at the time, but A. Bret's out the door, anyway, what does it matter to him who gets the belt? Why is it his business any longer? and B. he didn't run to the papers when they gave him the WWF title all those other times, but he does so when things don't go his way, which is pretty prima donna of him, too.

Three colossal egos, and while Bret is the most sympathetic party and the most likable of the three, he had his share of douche moments, too. I don't think you can become a main eventer, and stay a main eventer, for years without getting a big head. Bret, Foley, Daniel Bryan, some of the most humble main eventers ever, but still, they can get *real* smug, too. I think you kinda have to be.

I like Bret a lot, but if we're going to shit on Hogan for refusing to drop the title to Bret and instead only agreeing to do it for Yokozuna, back when Hogan thought he was coming back, anyway, then what lets Bret off the hook when he was knowingly leaving the company, probably forever?

The thing is, Bret WAS down to do it, just not in Canada. He said he'd drop the title to Shawn, just not in Canada. THEN Shawn said, "Hey, I really appreciate you dropping the belt to me, but I just want you to know, I'd never do the same for you", and THAT'S where Bret took the slap in the face, and it became "Anyone but Shawn", which I think is pretty justified.

It's f***ing Shawn, though. After the Sunny Days shit, etc, why care now, of all times? Like, he could lose it on a boat, to a goat, and Shawn would have made a smug comment about it, given Bret was leaving and not going to be there to kick the shit out of him again. Given even the non-screwjob version of events would probably have Shawn winning the title in some messy way for heat, it's not like Bret wasn't going to be any less protected, and the Canada stuff is also weird to me. Like, did Bischoff mandate that to him in order to try to protect his stock there, as if a title loss to Shawn would damage him more on Canadian soil for some reason? Otherwise, it's his home country, sure, but it wasn't his hometown, or even his province. It'd be like if Shawn had said, "I can't lose the title to Bret in Milwaukee, it'd be a slap in the face!"

[realist]

I never understood why they didn't just make it a triple threat match. Put anyone else in the match. Hell, let's say Ken Shamrock. Shawn cheats to pin Shamrock for the title and that sets those two up for the next month's ppv. You can even have Bret punch out Shawn after the match so he can stand tall as a Canadian hero after the match.