Bret Hart has been one of the most famous pro wrestlers of his time. He was one of the most skilled wrestlers in WWE and is a five-time WWF World Title holder. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006.
Recently Earl Hebner, a former WWE/TNA referee spoke with Steve Fall for WrestlingNews.co spoke about how his relationship with Bret Hart has improved after the Montreal Screwjob incident in the Survivor Series of 1997.
Bret Hart & Earl Hebner have finally made up after the Montreal Screwjob. Damn, Bret can hold a grudge 😂 pic.twitter.com/IPNtqCVfjb
— Wrestlelamia.com (@wrestlelamia) December 18, 2023
Both of them fell out followed by the incidents of Montreal Screwjob and Earl Hebner’s role in it. In the Survivor Series of 1997 Earl Hebner on the whim of Vince McMahon made Bret Hart lose against Shawn Michaels. Bret was leaving WWE and moving to WCW and Vince did not want him to take the title to WCW therefore he ensured going off script and made Michaels win the match.
This made Bret furious and he remained angry for some years. While speaking in the interview Hebner revealed that he and Heart had not had any conversation for years. But with time things got better and both of them have cleared the things and are back to being friends.
In the interview, Earl said, “I have a merch shirt that says ‘Damn right I did.’ And a lot of people want me to say, Can you write on it ‘I screwed Bret?’ I go, ‘No. I can’t do that.’ A while back, maybe three or four years ago, I would do it but Bret and I made up. And before my brother passed, we were at a house show, or indie show and he was there and he called us into the ring and he put us over like big time.”
He further added, “So now Bret calls me now and then and I’ll call him and we got a good relationship back and I’m not gonna screw it up by writing something over a dumb ass shirt. It’s gonna destroy our friendship.” Hebner explained how he did not have good terms with Bert in the past but now things have changed for good and Bret Hart has forgiven him.
Conversation between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon leading up to “Montreal Screwjob”
Bret Hart recalled his conversation with Vince McMahon before things went worse for him and ultimately led to the infamous Montreal Screwjob.
In his “Confessions of the Hitman” series, he said, ““I told Vince what happened [with Shawn Michaels]. I told him I wouldn’t drop the belt to Shawn, and Vince said, ‘When I bring Shawn in, I’m going to bring him in and I want you to tell him everything you’ve just told me in front of him, and we’re going to deal with it.’ And it’s like, ‘Great – bring him in.’ And Vince took quite a while to find him and they never did.
Bret told Vince that he was not willing to drop his title against Shawn Michaels as he would not do the same for him. Vince asked him to tell the same to Michales but the three of them didn’t meet after that for a long time. When the three finally met Vince told Shawn that he was getting the title but Bret didn’t like it as it was not agreed upon.
Hart stood up and objected to the decision but did not get any response from Vince. He didn’t see Michales or Vince after that again until the Survivor Series and all of this led to the historic Montreal Screwjob.