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In June 1997, real-life tensions between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart boiled over in a backstage brawl. Shawn Michaels demanded to be released from his contract to join his Kliq buddies in WCW, citing an unsafe work environment. Vince McMahon refused.
A few months later, McMahon told Bret that the WWE could no longer afford his 20-year contract, so Bret signed a lucrative deal to join WCW. This set the stage for The Montreal Screwjob, unleashing a chain of events that changed the course of The Monday Night Wars. But what if Vince honored Bret's deal to stay in WWE, and let Shawn go to WCW?
10 Good: Shawn And Bret Could Have Avoided Serious Injuries
Two months after the Montreal Screwjob, Shawn Michaels landed awkwardly on a casket in a match against The Undertaker. It ended up being a career-ending injury (for 4.5 years, anyway). Then in 1999, Bill Goldberg recklessly kicked Bret Hart in the head, concussing him into retirement.
Had Bret been in WWE and Shawn in WCW, these matches would never have taken place, and fans could have been treated to extended prime years from two of the all-time greats.
9 Bad: No 2002 Comeback for HBK
In 1998, "The Heartbreak Kid" was struggling with several nagging injuries and an addiction to pills. His 4.5-year break from wrestling gave him the opportunity to heal and clean up some personal problems. When he returned in 2002, wrestling fans were treated to a refreshed "Showstopper" for nearly 8 more years.
So without his "career-ending" injury, it might have actually been a net loss for HBK's career and personal life.
8 Good: Shawn Freshens Up The nWo
Imagine 1997 DX Shawn Michaels in the nWo? A fantasy booking scenario could go something like this: "Hollywood" Hogan loses clean to Sting at Starrcade '97 (without the Nick Patrick pseudo-fast count). The next night on Nitro, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash would kick Hogan out of the nWo for dropping the ball. At which point, Shawn would enter and anoint himself the faction's new leader, superkicking Hogan before the rest of the nWo lay waste to their former boss, putting him on the shelf.
Michaels would spend 1998 trading the WCW Championship back-and-forth with Sting, before losing the title in the rubber match at Halloween Havoc where a babyface Hulk Hogan would return to foil The Outsiders' plans of interfering in the match. This would set up a double Main Event for Starrcade '98 of Hogan vs. Michaels and Sting defending the WCW Title against an undefeated US Champion Bill Goldberg in WCW's version of The Ultimate Challenge.
With fresh match-up and feuds like this, the success WCW had from 1996-98 could be sustained through 1999 and beyond.
7 Bad: Kliq Backstage Politics in WCW
As great as the above storylines sound, let's be honest, Hall & Nash were a big enough scourge on WCW's locker room on their own. Add in a pre-Born Again Shawn Michaels to a shark tank that already contained the likes of Hogan, Savage, Piper, Flair, etc, and toxic backstage politics would be in overdrive.
On top of that, the domino effect of Michaels in WCW could have influenced Sean Waltman to stay, and even Triple H to join them in Atlanta when his WWE contract expired. The full Kliq lineup, without Vince McMahon around to police things, could have created an impenetrable force that would be too much for any wrestling company to survive.
6 Good: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin Rematch Would Be Better Than HBK vs. Austin at WrestleMania 14
At WrestleMania 14, Shawn gutted through his back injury to have a good, not great main event with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Bret Hart, on the other hand, had one of the greatest matches in history with Austin at WrestleMania 13. The image of Austin's crimson mask launched him into the stratosphere, but he never got his win back. So what better occasion for an Austin 3:16 coronation than WrestleMania 14 against the man that bloodied and beat him one year earlier.
Mike Tyson could stay involved as the Special Enforcer. Instead of "Iron" Mike joining DX, he would align himself with the Hart Foundation, claiming that the US fans turned their backs on him for biting Evander Holyfield's ear, causing him to join the anti-American stable. Then come WrestleMania, Tyson would betray the Hart Foundation, counting the winning pin fall for "Stone Cold" and then introducing "The Hitman" to his right hand.
5 Bad: Shawn Was A Better Fit Than Bret For Vince Russo's "Crash TV"
Shawn's risqué work in 1997 helped catapult the WWE into the "Attitude Era". And while '97 may have been Bret's creative peak too, it likely wouldn't have lasted. As WWE gained popularity and Vince Russo got more power, in-ring action took a backseat to increasingly outrageous storylines.
Bret may have fared well enough through some of 1998, but as the company delved deeper into Russo's "Crash TV" of late 1998 and 1999, it's hard to envision the methodical grappling prowess of "The Excellence of Execution" flourishing alongside meaningless 3-minute matches, Beaver Cleavage and GTV; a product Russo claims he and Ed Ferrara wrote while watching "The Jerry Springer Show" in the background.
Conversely, a Degenerate-mode Shawn may have felt stifled by Turner's Standards and Practices in WCW.
4 Good: Shawn Michaels Dream Matches
Shawn Michaels vs. Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, William Regal, Ultimo Dragon, Booker T, Fit Finlay, and on and on. The potential match-ups are mouthwatering.
And that's just singles action. Shawn being added to multi-man and War Games matches would bolster the work rate for the nWo side on Nitro and PPV Main Events aplenty. For years, WCW shows were infamous for having terrific undercards that fizzled out with underwhelming Main Events. Having a workhorse like Michaels would do a lot to quell that problem.
3 Bad: The Kliq Burying "Mid-Carders"
Let's be honest again, with "The Bad Guy" & "Big Sexy" in Shawn's ear, and how WCW generally treated "mid-carders", any match with an opponent who wasn't perceived as a Main Event player would probably fail to live up to its potential.
The laundry list of Kliq victims in WWE is long: Chris Candido, Dean Douglas, Jean-Pierre Lafitte, Vader, just to name a few. It would be naive to think WCW's roster would evade the same fate.
2 Good: Bret Hart Dream Matches
With Michaels out of the picture, Hart would be free to have rematches against more developed/over versions of The Rock, Triple H (if he stayed), Mick Foley, Steve Austin, and even reignite his feud with brother Owen Hart, perhaps this time with "The King of Harts" in a role reversal as the babyface.
And just imagine the bouts Bret could have in 2000 and beyond with the likes of Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, and on and on.
1 Bad: No Austin vs. McMahon?
Austin vs. McMahon was perhaps the biggest feud in WWE history. But if Shawn left and Bret stayed, there would be no Montreal Screwjob. And without that monumental event, it's likely Vince would have never turned heel by playing up the Mr. McMahon character that screws his employees with Austin as his unruly foil. Without this storyline, it's possible that "Stone Cold" never gets as big, and the WWE never reaches the same heights.
Then again, Austin stunned McMahon in Madison Square Garden, over a month before The Screwjob, so it's conceivable that Vince would have turned heel and feuded with Austin anyway.