Posted in: Just Business Just Business #36 - "When it comes to a breaking point..."
By Plan
Sep 20, 2009 - 8:39:05 AM
#36
“When it comes to a breaking point…”
My name is ‘Plan and I have a breaking point. I live in the shadow of a single night, something that could simply be labelled an unfortunate turn of events. So do many others. And those others and I, this group of wrestling fans, must live a life hearing the same old phrase reiterated over and over, directed at us by other fans, directed at our chosen hero by the heroes of others.
It has now become more redundant than ever and now, here, where no one has a chance to talk over me or cut me off it’s time to drill some sense into the world.
“Bitterness imprisons life.”
Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart.
Words that have echoed throughout history. Even to this day, when they are parodied they are instantly recognisable. Montreal is one of those issues that every wrestling fan I have encountered in my time has some kind of an opinion on. Whether they feel Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart, whether they feel Vince McMahon screwed Bret Hart, whether they feel Shawn Michaels screwed Bret Hart, whether they feel WCW or Earl Hebner screwed Bret Hart is really irrelevant.
It’s irrelevant because frankly I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks. Truth is, none of us may ever know what happened both leading up to and during that fateful night in Canada twelve years ago. Do we need to? Is it not our prerogative as fans to form some kind of an opinion on it regardless? Perhaps.
So who is anyone to then come to me and tell me my opinion is wrong? Who is anyone to come to me with half the facts and tell me that what happened to Bret Hart, one of the most faithful employees in WWE history, was deserved? Was fair? It wasn’t. It never will be. I do not care if it was twelve years ago, I will not care when it is twenty five years ago, I won’t even give a damn when it is fifty years ago, I will ALWAYS feel bitter about it…but more on that later.
I am not here to just rant and rave and piss about how shit happens and how that’s not fair. I will, but first allow me to try and anoint the eyes of those people who not only truly believe Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart, but also those who get off on so consistently telling us Bret Hart fans to simply “get over it.”
It just isn’t that simple people. We can’t just get over it. I can’t. Not now, not ever.
“Bitterness paralyzes life.”
There are so many facts and figures involved in what went down it is almost impossible to know where to start. I don’t want to be here and bore you all half to death with facts you’ve probably already heard ten times over. I will instead ask you a question.
What choice did Bret have?
People are quick to start talking about traditions of the business and how Bret was in the wrong to refuse to put Shawn over. I can sit here and cite to you how Shawn’s previous actions alone were “unfair” on Bret, how they showed he didn’t deserve jack-shit from Bret.
Shawn did after all show fuck all gratitude to Bret after Wrestlemania 12; Shawn did after all conveniently come down with a knee injury he claimed could be career ending only…lo behold…he was skipping around on that knee picture perfectly by Wrestlemania 13! Surely Shawn wouldn’t lie?! Shawn did after all tell Bret in front of the entire locker room after Bret had gone to him and told him he had no problems putting him over at Survivor Series that he would never do the same back to Bret; some locker room leader, right?
But let us allow by-gones be by-gones. Any man worth his reputation is capable of doing that. It’s not like Shawn would bear a grudge against Bret for apparently “stealing” the Tag titles back from The Rockers after the top rope came off during the match…even though Bret simply wanted to put them over properly. No. Let us allow by-gones to be by-gones.
Still, what choice did Bret have?
He was signed on to a contract by Vince that Vince could not afford. It is easy to sit there and call someone a sell out, a concept I don’t believe in anyway no matter what walk of life it may be, forgetting that person has a family to look out and provide for, a retirement to contemplate, parents struggling financially due to a son swindling them out of their money at every opportunity. Bret wanted to stay; Vince claimed he couldn’t afford it. Vince was responsible for the WCW situation ultimately. Do not ever forget that.
And then…wait…suddenly Bret is the type to completely and venomously betray the company that helped make him the star that he was? Or are we forgetting this is the same guy that said nothing when he was told about the fiasco at Wrestlemania IX? Are we forgetting this is the same guy that didn’t need a one hour spectacular wrestling clinic Wrestlemania main event match to win his first title, but simply an easily overlooked non-televised house show? The same damn guy that was raised within the pro wrestling industry, respected the traditions of the industry, whose bitterness towards Shawn Michaels stemmed quite largely, so it seems, from the disrespect that the backstage Clique and later DX would show towards the traditions of the business? The same damn guy who had almost a paternal relationship regards to Vince McMahon! Suddenly this guy is the type to spit in the face of everyone and take a title belt to the opposition and drop it in a trash can?
…can anyone else smell that?
So, I ask again, what choice did Bret have?
On the one hand you have a man who has made nothing but false promises to you for the entirety of your early career. On another you have the man who has outwardly claimed to never intend on ever returning the favour of doing business for Bret should Bret do it for him. A contract you were signed to that proved too expensive for the man who created the damn thing. A crowd not knowing anything calling you a sell out. Your spot as a top babyface taken during your absence by the man who grates on you; your new spot as a top heel taken during your stint with a Hart Foundation taken by the same man who painted you as both a homophobe and a racist.
And he had no RIGHT to say “I’d rather put Steve Austin over the next night instead”? Or do creative control in contracts mean jackshit? It’s easy to forget that bit isn’t it? Bret had every right to do what he did.
I do not intend to make him out to be a victim, though I feel he was, and I do not intend to paint him out to be a martyr; I wouldn’t want to impinge on HBK’s image now would I? I do feel, objectively speaking, that wrestling history is littered with people refusing to do business, incidents that are made nothing of, incidents where those who refused to do business were in no way anywhere near betrayed, stabbed in the back, lied to, cheated and embarrassed quite like how Bret Hart was at Survivor Series 1997.
Bret didn’t have any choice but to refuse to put Shawn over. If he was going to be made to look like a mug, he wasn’t going to lie down and let them do it now was he?
“Bitterness sours life…bitterness sickens life.”
Survivor Series 1998, Saturday Night’s Main Event 2006 and Breaking Point 2009 all have one thing in common; the WWE deciding they think it would be entertaining to revisit the single biggest crime this industry has ever witnessed.
A submission pay per view in Montreal was always going to have some kind of a reference to it, and while DX’s was pretty funny I will admit, to relive the finish…AGAIN…is just downright pathetic.
I’m not going to sit here and listen to anyone try and drill some so called “reason” into me. For too long have I been lying down and conceding that twelve years is a long time, that being bitter for this long is ridiculous. Well I have reached my breaking point.
So to all you people who feel justified in telling me to get over it I have one simple response back. A great big fat hearty…
…FUCK YOU!
Forget objectivity. Forget the nonsense that had gone on before and after Montreal. Forget all of it. It doesn’t matter. As a Bret Hart fan, if I want to feel bitter about it then I will.
Sure, you may feel compelled to patronise me, to pity me, to resent me and frankly, do it all, every one of them, all at the same time with bells and whistles. It won’t change the fact that what happened to Bret was wrong.
Shit happens? Yeah it does. And it’s always easy to sit on your laurels and point and laugh at someone’s misfortune, act like it’s unimportant, act like you don’t care. What if the tables turned though? What if it was you who had fallen down in the mud? Suddenly, shit happens becomes “It’s not faiiir!” People want to condemn Bret Hart fans, Bret Hart himself for feeling bitter. He…we have every right to feel bitter. Nothing like Montreal had ever, probably will never happen again so it’s all good to sit and point fingers and shake heads. Where the FUCK did the world’s empathy disappear to?
I’m not saying Bret’s hands were entirely clean. The whole situation was pretty damned fucked up and I pray no one else ever has to live through it again but I just…I’m dying for someone, anyone to tell me where they get off on telling me to “get over it”.
Believe me, I wish I could just put it all behind me and I wish I could look at Shawn Michaels and not feel my skin crawl with his new holier than thou image; a leopard may paint his spots but he can’t ever change them people. But how can I? How can I when WWE decides to grab me by the back of the head and rub my face through it all, all over again.
“It’s been twelve years ‘Plan! For gods sake!”
Yeah, it has. So WWE decide to use what was an irreprehensible act as some pissy get out clause for a corner they’d stupidly backed themselves into heading into Breaking Point? I call bullshit on that. It doesn’t take a big stretch of the imagination to come up with an original solution to a match you feel can’t go either way. And the bitch of it is I really wouldn’t care quite as much…if it had been more than a get out clause. It clearly isn’t leading anywhere. It doesn’t look like Long is turning heel. It doesn’t look like Punk will admit to what happened. Even the god damn referee pretended he had no choice!
It’s insulting!
How the hell can I get over it if WWE won’t stop reminding me about it?! And it’s all well and good to tell me it was inevitable, I should have seen it coming. I did see it coming. That doesn’t mean it should have fucking come. I have no intention on living in the past but let me ask you another question.
What choice do I have? My ankles are chained in yesteryear because Vince is too busy tugging himself off over his supposedly genius and innovative concepts to not realise the wider implications of his actions.
Vince screwed Bret and now he wants to keep screwing Bret’s fans. Fuck Vince. Fuck Shawn Michaels. Fuck WWE. And you know what?
Fuck everyone who is going to sit on their high horses and tell me to get over it! I won’t get over it! And nothing can change the god damn fact that what happened to Bret Hart on that night was wrong.
Bret Hart’s hands I’m sure were not clean in the whole mess…but I know they were a damn sight cleaner than anyone elses.
“Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.”
My name is ‘Plan and I hit my breaking point at the PPV with the same name. I had hoped the obvious would not happen. I had hoped that the WWE would have finally moved beyond it so that I could follow. But it was not to be.
No. Because no one can leave well enough alone. So I won’t stop feeling bitter. Not now, not ever. I hate Vince McMahon and I hate Shawn Michaels, and hate is a very strong word. I hate people who love Shawn Michaels…bar a couple of exceptions…and I hate it when people tell me to just get over it or that shit happens or that by-gones should be by-gones.
One day, I hope, Bret forgives Shawn. I would love to see the two most talented performers of an entire generation come together, if not as friends then at least as amicable colleagues. But me? Personally, will I ever get over it? Will I ever forgive Vince or Shawn or Earl?
It remains more likely that a flying pig will pull itself out of your arse right now and flutter away mooing.
Written with thanks to Harry Emerson Fosdick, from whom the quotes used here are derived.
Feedback to: planm4n89@hotmail.co.uk
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