[1997-07-21-WWF-Raw] Bret Hart and Vince McMahon

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[adamsfan]

This one has always fascinated me. Bret Hart walks out from the back during a match and goes over to the announcing table- starts jawing with McMahon about getting screwed because shawn michaels is chosen as the referee for the Summerslam main event between bret and the undertaker. It gets heated and physical, culminating with McMahon and hart exchanging fisticuffs, and then a pull-apart. If you check out the LEGENDS OF WRESTLING roundtable--- " significant moments of wrestling" broadcast, Jim Ross picks this moment as a significant moment in wrestling history. It is one of the first " Mr. McMahon" moments, so it qualifies. What gives this the air of reality, is that JR appears shocked that it took place with this intensity. It's possible that this was vaguely scripted and it got carried away in a physical sense. I believe JR mentions that he was in "fear" during this segment., so I found this quite interesting.

[Loss]

Bret is pretty livid about the Shawn thing and confronts Vince at ringside. He ends up smacking Vince around over it and Vince sells this amazingly. He seems terrified but afraid to back down. He finally grabs Vince by the jacket and goes after him with A LOT of intensity. The Patriot tries to make the save and the Harts jump him. What an incredible segment. The Bret/Vince pull-apart really did look like something completely out of control that wasn't supposed to happen. In the context of Survivor Series, it's even more fascinating.

[Kevin Ridge]

Well, I'm cool with Vince getting smacked around but we get a real testy face to face confrontation between the two. And they get physical with each other too! Everyone is just craping on Vince right now. That was so unprofessional on your part McMahon.

[Childs]

Yeah, the intensity between Bret and Vince was something special, even more so in the pre-Austin-McMahon era. This whole show felt barely under control. What continues to stand out about the WWF's year is the rich interconnectedness of the main feuds -- so many lively issues rotating around Bret as the fulcrum.

[soup23]

Everything from when Bret snaps the headset off is magic. HHH vs. The Patriot being the match is kind of fitting too. Bret and Vince then have an intense lock up and a camera man even gets beat up. The Patriot tries to stop it but gets stomped for his troubles. Amazing stuff.

[adamsfan]

Out of curiosity, I picked up the Bret Hart autobiography, which is pretty comprehensive -but absolutely no mention of this in the book.

[PeteF3]

One of the best Raw segments in a loaded year. This whole episode seemed like it threatened to descend into complete chaos. The Halifax MetroCentre isn't a tiny dive bar of an arena or anything, but the fans are packed right on top of the action, and here it feels like we're about 5 seconds away from people jumping the guardrails. Also, notice how Shawn went out of his way in his last 2 promos to show that it was Vince's decision on what his role would be at SummerSlam.

[Exposer]

This segment is outstanding too. What a great RAW. Bret comes out in the middle of Patriot-HHH & confronts Vince about allowing Shawn to be referee at Summerslam. The heat for this is through the roof. Bret slaps Vince's headset off then grabs him & they get in a big tussle over the announce booth! Unreal. This is amazing with JR being excellent here yelling at Bret. The Patriot tries to get involved & gets jumped by the Hart Foundation for his troubles. HHH gets some cheap shots on him too. The Hart Foundation are removed from ringside as a visibly angry Vince tries to get himself together. This is an incredible segment.