the build up to Survivor Series 97 and would you have screwed over Bret?

Yeah. He was refusing to job to HBK and WCW had a window to sign him.

if it was up to me, he wouldn't have been champion going into the fucking ppv. Had him drop it the month before either on TV or at a fucking house show. Bret said he was going to do the job the next night after the ppv, fuck that you couldn't trust bret.

It was in his contract, though, that he had creative control over what his character did in the last few months or something wasn't it? I guess that's why Vince let him stay champion until that night and I think he trusted him too.

But despite being an HBK fan, I would have done the same thing. He was playing serious hard ball and if he wouldn't give over the title, then you take it from him in some capacity. Frankly I think Bret would have takent the fall on that night against anyone else except Shawn Michaels...

Bret screwed Bret.

I believe the terms of the contract were "reasonable creative control" during his exit period ... refusing to drop the strap to whoever Vince wanted to put it on is not reasonable. To say, "I don't want to be squashed, I want it to be competitive or even, since he's a heel how about if he wins it with outside help or some sort of cheating" is reasonable -- to say "I'm not going to make him champ" is not.

Bret chose to take the WCW contract. Yes, Vince walked him to the door and opened it for him, saying he couldn't live up to the terms of Bret's pie-in-the-sky contract with WWF, but Bret chose to leave. He knew Shawn was the guy who was going to be the next champ and he had personal heat with Shawn ... but it seemed as if Bret wanted to leave in such a way as to go to WCW and be able to say (or have people believe without him saying), "I was the champ there and I beat and am better than the champ after me" -- something VKM couldn't allow.

Remember that the trust issues were more with WCW and Bischoff than with Bret himself -- they had previously signed a Diva champ and had her throw the WWF belt in the garbage on TV, right? Vince had every reason to believe they might have Bret do the same and bury his company's biggest championship. No way was that going to be allowed to happen.

The real thing to me is that Bret seemed to be such a total mark for himself that it completely clouded his judgment. His gimmick is that he's "the best there is, the best there was and the best there will ever be" ... and he completely believed that was true. He believed he was a national hero in Canada (he was a popular entertainer, which is different than being a national hero) and therefore thought that meant he couldn't lose in his own country. That is utter rubbish -- imagine Ric Flair refusing to the job in North Carolina or someone else taking a similar stance.

I think it would have been reasonable for Bret to insist on not losing his belt in a way that would cheapen and weaken his character -- saying no to being squashed or quitting like a coward or wearing a chicken suit into the ring or cutting a promo saying Canada is a shit country, etc. -- but not where or to whom he was going to lose.

Bottom line, Bret was being unprofessional and thus screwed himself.