With the horns taken care of it was time to go back to the room and really see what we had to deal with. Here’s the room layout. As you walked into the closet, I mean room, on the left was the bathroom. It was so small that if I needed to sit down on the toilet, I could not close the bathroom door because my legs were in the way. There was a stand-up shower that was tiny too. The bed was a step past the bathroom on the left as well. It was a small single bed with a solid mattress, not to mention my feet hung over the end. I felt like Andre the Giant in that bed.
The other thing that made me suspicious of my surroundings was the coin slot on the ten-inch screen television. That’s right, my laptop screen was bigger than the TV in my room. Too bad there was no Internet access, at least none that I could access. Well, at least I had a good view — not! I opened the window and all I could see were old buildings and laundry wires everywhere filled with hanging clothes. It was not exactly ideal conditions to say the least.
We all got together and decided that since we had the rest of the day to kill, we would go scout the area for something to eat. After sampling the local cuisine, we went back to the hotel and played cards in the lobby. Usually we play in someone’s room but I think you can guess why that was not an option.
The next morning we made our way to the arena. It was a setup day which meant the stage, lighting, and ring would be put together and the first of two TV tapings began the next day. We finished our duties rather quickly and before we left to go back to our cubicles at the Owl, we mentioned our rooms to Lynn to see if she could do anything about getting us into a better hotel. She tried with no luck so we made the best of it for at least one more day. When others asked us how bad the rooms were, Chimel and I got into full Rodney Dangerfield mode.
“The room is so small, when I put the key in the door I broke the window.”
“That hotel is so bad, they stole my towel.”
“The hotel was so bad, room service had an unlisted number.”
“I called the front desk and asked them to send up a larger room.”
It was our way of stressing our point with humour instead of sounding like whiny schoolkids. It didn’t work that day but the next day, Chimel had an ally who would resolve the hotel dilemma.
Shane McMahon was at the TV tapings in Japan and when Chimel saw him in the production office, he immediately explained our hotel plight to him. Now Chimel and Shane go way back to when Shane was learning the business from the bottom up. When he was setting up rings, Shane was on Chimel’s ring crew. Upon hearing about our hotel conditions, Shane made sure that the matter was handled right away. Before you knew it, we had a driver take us back to the Owl Hotel, grab all our stuff, and take us to the Tokyo Dome Hotel to stay with everyone else. I can’t speak for the other guys’ rooms but mine was large. A king-size bed, a big chair, a nice TV, and a bathroom that was bigger than the entire room at the Owl. Oh, and my favourite amenity was the heated toilet seat. You read that right, a heated toilet seat. Not only was the seat heated, the toilet also acted as a bidet. The control panels on the side of the seat made it feel like you were in the captain’s chair on the Starship Enterprise. The difference between the two hotels was night and day.
It’s experiences like that that make great stories to tell your grandkids. As much as I disliked that Owl Hotel, it was kind of fun having to deal with the obstacles presented to us. Hard times are sometimes fun times.
Chapter 13
Montreal from My Vantage Point
Whenever I speak with wrestling fans, especially those who were fans back in the ’90s, one question almost always comes up: “Were you there for the Montreal Screwjob. Was it a work or was it real? What was the reaction like backstage?” There are many more questions but these are the ones most often asked. The Survivor Series 1997 in all likelihood spawned more debate and became the most infamous moment in professional wrestling or sports entertainment history. The events of that evening are still talked about. I can remember it as if it just happened. We all knew that Bret was leaving the company for the competition in a month or so. He and Shawn had well-documented disagreements in the past. These two even came to blows in the locker room one night in Hartford, Connecticut. So everyone was curious how things would play out on this night.
I guess people either don’t remember the entire match or just forgot that I was involved in the early part of the match. As Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart battled all over the arena in Montreal, we followed them everywhere. Our main duty was to keep the fans away from the boys as they fought all over the building. It was part of the match. So, to answer the question about being there that night, yes I was there. After our little part was done, we retreated back to the Gorilla Position and waited for the finish of the match. The finish as it was told to us by Pat Patterson was that the match would end with a non-finish. Members from both D-X and the Hart Foundation would get involved and the match would be thrown out. Pat would send us, the referees, to the ring at the right time to break up the brawl and restore order.
Watching the match unfold on the monitor, I was preparing myself for when we would be sent to the ring. Also at Gorilla were Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. They were also waiting for their cue to go to the ring. A funny thing happened on the way to the finish, though. Well, it was not funny but it was definitely unexpected.
Earl Hebner, who was the referee for the match, had just taken his planned ref bump. With the referee down and out, HBK applied Bret’s own finishing maneuver, the Sharpshooter, on him. Here is where things got bizarre. I heard someone in my earpiece say, “Okay, Earl, get up. Get up now!” I looked over to the microphone that the producers use to communicate to the referees and the instructions were not coming from there. I can only speculate that whoever told Earl to get up was in the production truck or ringside. Either way, the call didn’t come from Gorilla that I saw. Earl then made his way to his feet and acted as if he was checking to see if Bret would submit to the Sharpshooter. Without waiting for the Hitman to reply, Earl called for the bell. He then bolted out of the ring to where his brother Dave was waiting in a car with all of Earl’s clothes in the parking garage. Earl jumped in and they sped off.
It must be noted that Bret allegedly refused to lose the title to Shawn in Montreal. I say allegedly only because I was not privy to those discussions, but it has been made public knowledge that Bret wanted to relinquish the title the next night on TV from Ottawa, Ontario. I’m not sure about those details but you can read Bret’s book if you want to know the back story to what transpired.
Everyone in Gorilla began to freak out wondering what had just happened. It took a few seconds but you could see in the faces of some of the guys that they realized what they had just seen. It took me a little longer to clue in but suddenly, I too understood what went on. It was a plan devised to get the WWE title off of Bret without his co-operation. Shawn did a great job of acting as if he had no part in what went down. Of course years later we found out that he was fully aware of the plan. Bret’s focus was not on Shawn, rather, the main target of his displeasure was Vince McMahon. Bret spat in Vince’s face. As everyone left ringside and headed backstage, Bret remained in the ring, lashing out by destroying the announcing position.
In the back, I along with many others was unsure of how to react to what we had just witnessed. It was a moment that those of us who worked on the crew didn’t have a lot of time to digest. We had to get right to work and disassemble the ring and go to Ottawa for Raw the next day. The ride to Ottawa that night was quieter than usual, but there was some talk about it. No one sided with Bret or the company. Believe it or not, we were more concerned about Earl and how he was handling the whole thing. Then the discussion turned to “What would you do if you were in Earl’s shoes?” I could not answer that question, truthfully. Unless you are put in that position, how could you know what you would do? For people who say that they would have refus
ed to do it if they were in Earl’s shoes, I say that’s easy to say when your job and the ability to provide for your family could be in jeopardy. As much as I love the wrestling business, my family comes first and always will.
No one knew what to expect the next day in Ottawa. There was talk that many of the boys would boycott Raw that night in protest of what went down in Montreal. A few did but returned to work soon after as they were under contract and faced potential legal action if they did not return. Rick Rude left the company and became the first wrestler to appear on WCW’s Monday Nitro and Monday Night Raw on the same night. It was a taped episode of Raw airing that night, making it possible for Rude to accomplish the feat.
While things worked out fine for Rick Rude, Earl Hebner was dealing with his own dilemma. He told us how terrible he felt about his role in the Montreal Screwjob and that he had contemplated quitting his job. In his mind, he had betrayed a friend. Several locker room veterans sat down to speak to Earl to let him know that they did not blame him for what happened. He was just following orders. It was just what Earl needed to hear. They ended up convincing him that he should stay with the company and that he had their support.
The biggest news to come out of the Ottawa live Raw was the famous interview Vince McMahon did with Jim Ross. Vince defended his position and explained to a worldwide television audience his side of the story. I thought it was a bold decision by the boss to go on TV with a black eye and reveal to everyone things that the public normally don’t get to share. Listening to the interview as it aired on TV, I was amazed when Vince first uttered the words, “Vince McMahon didn’t screw Bret Hart; Bret screwed Bret!” Amazed because as soon as I heard him say it, you knew that it was only the beginning of a master plan the boss had. That one line would be the catalyst for turning Vince into Mr. McMahon, the most hated heel in the industry. It was the shot in the arm the WWF needed in their ongoing ratings war with WCW. We took the lead in the ratings and never looked back. In my humble opinion, Vince McMahon may have had this idea of being the “Evil Owner” for a while. The circumstances that night in Montreal were the perfect storm of events that allowed him to present the Mr. McMahon character to the world.
The day after the Ottawa Raw, we were in Cornwall, Ontario, to tape the following week’s Raw. This was the day Vince McMahon held a meeting with all the talent to explain his reasoning for what had transpired two days prior. We all sat back and listened to the boss. I can’t speak for anyone else, but from my perspective, he had no choice but to do damage control with his talent. I can’t tell you if the boys bought his explanation or not but to me it really didn’t matter if he was being truthful or not. I needed my job so I wasn’t going anywhere or saying anything. As terrible as I genuinely felt for Bret, for me it was business as usual. I didn’t have the luxury of making a statement by not showing up for work. The thing that surprised me the most was how much the Screwjob was referenced and replicated for so many years afterwards. That day will live in infamy in the history of pro wrestling as quite possibly its most controversial moment.
For years afterwards, I couldn’t help thinking about that day and the repercussions. Then a very different idea emerged in my overactive mind. What if the entire scenario was an elaborate plan? What if the chain of events as they unfolded were carefully mapped out by Vince in an attempt to get the end results he got? This may be a conspiracy theory but there are a few things I found strange when I think back on it.
First off, according to Bret, he spoke with Earl Hebner the day before Montreal and told him that he felt WWF might ask Earl to screw him in the match at Survivor Series. Why would he even think that? Either Bret was tipped off or he has keen ESP.
Second, Bret was wearing a microphone all day every day for the documentary someone was filming about him. Everybody knew the cameras were around and that everything might be caught on film or audio. This would put most people on their best behaviour. So when Bret went into Vince’s office to discuss the finish of his match, he had his mic-pack conveniently turned on as he talked to the boss. The crew picked up the entire conversation and recorded it. I believe Vince knew it was possible Bret was wired. Therefore Vince either made an uncharacteristic error in judgement or he just didn’t care that Bret or, more accurately, his film crew might have been recording them.
Last but certainly not least is why any boss would send a commodity as valuable as a Bret Hart to the competition, especially when the competition is beating you every week in the ratings is beyond me. I don’t consider myself a businessman the calibre of Vince McMahon but to me, Vince telling Bret to go ahead and negotiate with the “enemy” makes no sense. Then I thought it could be a long-term plan put together by both Vince and Bret. Maybe I’m way off base or maybe it is true that when you have been in the wrestling business for a while, you tend to believe everything is a work. So let me present to you what my overzealous imagination thinks may have happened.
DISCLAIMER: I have no inside knowledge of what really occurred. This is all just speculation, conjecture, and more than likely just some fantasy booking on my part.
Let’s just say that sometime in the second half of 1997, Vince held a meeting with Bret and Vince told him about the company’s apparent financial problems. What if the two of them mapped out a strategy that would see the boss screw the loyal employee? The loyal employee ends up working with the rival promotion while the boss becomes this evil villain who needs to be stopped. In the meantime, the evil boss sells shares to turn the family business into a publicly traded company generating enough cash flow and assets to keep his organization afloat. Fast-forward three years and once the employee’s very lucrative contract with the competition ends, he returns to his original company to exact revenge on the boss who screwed him. Now that would draw money! Why things didn’t play out this way one can only guess, but you have to admit, it really is a pretty good story. I do know better than to think what happened was anything other than genuine. I truly believe that Bret was an unwilling participant and it took him 13 years to finally find some sort of closure. Hopefully after all the times the Montreal Screwjob has been mentioned and rehashed in the last 15 or so years, we can all finally put the matter to bed. If those directly involved can move on at last, so should the rest of us. I definitely have.
Chapter 14
More Tales from Inside the Ring
Professional wrestling is a business that most who are in it take very seriously. That does not stop the boys from having a little fun. Not all of the laughs take place away from the ring. Some of that fun takes place inside the squared circle. There are countless times when I struggled to keep my composure and hold in my laughter. There were a few instances when it was impossible for me to hold it in. As I stated earlier, I take great pride in my ability to stay in serious referee mode. It didn’t always work, mainly because some guys just had a knack for getting me to break.
Owen Hart was the master at getting everyone to crack up. Besides the foreign napkin story, there was another encounter I had with Owen in the ring that made me burst out laughing. He was wrestling a young man by the name of Carl LeDuc. Carl was the son of Paul LeDuc, one of a pair of famous wrestling brothers from Quebec. At this point in time, Carl had very little wrestling experience. His WWF debut match was an opening match. He faced off against and defeated Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw, who later became JBL. I’ll get back to Owen, but I just remembered Carl’s first ever WWF wrestling match, which took place at the Montreal Molson Centre in August 1996 in front of a huge crowd. I was assigned that match and went to find JBL to see what the he wanted in the match.
John asked me if I knew anything about this kid. I explained to him that I had never met the kid before that day but I would go find him and bring him to John to go over the match. JBL introduced himself to the young fellow and asked him what his finish was. Since he was going over in his hometown, JBL wanted to make the kid look good. When young Carl answered that he did not
have a finish, JBL asked him another question, “Just out of curiosity, how long have you been working?”
Carl’s answer was, “I’ve been working about three weeks.”
JBL was very interested and had a follow-up question, “Who trained you?”
Carl replied that his dad gave him some pointers but he was mostly self-taught. The look on JBL’s face was priceless. He looked over at me and smiled. He looked back at Carl and asked him, “So, what can you do?”
I wish I could remember what the answer was but by this point, I was scratching my head in disbelief. I couldn’t understand for the life of me why anyone would allow this very green rookie to take part in a WWF event when he was blatantly not ready for it. Finally JBL just asked if he could perform a small package. A small package is a simple roll-up pinning maneuver. Once again the young man’s response raised more eyebrows when he said he did not know how to do the move. A clearly flustered JBL looked at me and said, “Jimmy, put me in a small package.”
I hesitated for a moment, and he repeated what he said. I’m not a wrestler but after so many years in the ring, I knew how to apply most of the basic moves. I small-packaged JBL and held him there for a few seconds. When he asked Carl if he got that, he said, “I think so.” JBL then said to him not to worry about a thing and to listen to him out there. He would tell him the right time to hit the finish. Carl agreed and I didn’t see him again until we were in the ring. Carl’s entrance was the best part of his performance that night. He did not belong in any ring, let alone a WWF ring and JBL introduced him to the world of pro wrestling. JBL didn’t kill the guy or anything like that but he was a bit snug and the kid was definitely feeling every blow. After a few minutes of agony, JBL ended the debacle by literally putting himself in a pinning predicament and pulling Carl on top of him. I counted to three and the Molson Centre erupted in a chorus of boos. As much as Quebecers love to cheer for their own, they are also intelligent enough to recognize what they see.
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