The Survivor Series used to be known for elimination matches, and tonight’s big WWE show will be about War Games.

But in the late 1990s, Survivor Series was all about controversy.

Bret Hart’s title defense against Shawn Michaels in 1997 threw the red-hot battle between the WWF and WCW into chaos.

Hart had won his fifth WWF championship from The Undertaker at SummerSlam 97 when special referee Michaels accidentally knocked Taker out with a chair shot.

This led to the Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood. Michaels won thanks to the debuting Kane, the vengeful younger brother of the Undertaker.

As a result, Michaels earned a shot at the WWF title against Bret, who was defending in front of his adoring Canadian fans in Montreal.

THE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTION

However, nobody knew that Hart was ready to jump to WCW after Vince McMahon had let Bret out of his lucrative contract.

The last thing Vince wanted was his champion appearing on the competing TV show, so he did something about it.

Late in the match, Shawn Michaels put the champion in Bret’s own finishing hold, the Sharpshooter.

Referee Earl Hebner called for the bell and awarded the title to Shawn. Bret had not submitted.

When Bret realized what had happened, he spat on McMahon and later punched him backstage.

THE AFTERMATH

Losing the champion did not sink the WWF. In fact, it propelled the company to new heights.

Vince McMahon became the greatest villain in company history. When “Stone Cold” Steve Austin stepped up to battle him, business went through the roof and the WWF eventually put WCW out of business.