Eric Bischoff Reveals Another Who Jumped to WCW Because of the “Screwjob”

Former WCW president and WWE employee Eric Bischoff revealed some interesting information this week on his podcast, Bischoff on Wrestling.

The incident referred to as the “Montreal Screwjob,” occurred in 1997 when Vince McMahon and WWF employees covertly manipulated the pre-determined outcome of the match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at “Survivor Series.” This result led to Hart losing his WWF championship, and immediately leaving the company for WCW.

However, Hart wasn’t the only one affected by the incident that night. According to Bischoff, “Ravishing” Rick Rude was another member of the then WWF roster to make the jump because of the “Screwjob:”

“I was at home. I wasn’t watching the PPV. The Montreal PPV. I had no idea what was really going on. One of the first phone calls that I got, I remember specifically being on my couch in Atlanta with my kids watching television, the phone rang and I picked it up and it was Rick Rude. Rick Rude, from what I remember, don’t quote me verbatim, but Rick basically was in the room when he saw the incident go down with Bret. He described to me how Bret knocked out Vince McMahon. Rick was so pissed off over the whole Montreal Screwjob incident that he picked up the phone and basically said, ‘I’ll be there tomorrow morning if you want to use me.’ That’s how upset he was. Yeah, it was clearly motivated by what Rick saw go down in Montreal.“

[h/t 411mania.com for the translation]

Rude is scheduled to be inducted into this year’s Hall of Fame class.

Rick Rude appears on both Raw and Nitro in the same night - November 17, 1997

Editor’s Note:

I’m not surprised by this one bit. There were a lot of people in WWE who were friends with both Hart and Michaels, and it should be expected that some people would want to leave the company, based on how they were both treated that night.

What do you think Rick Rude leaving WWF because of the “Montreal Screwjob?” Leave us a comment below, or post a comment on our Facebook page!

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