Earl Hebner Reveals If WWE Gave Him A Bonus For Montreal Screwjob

This week marks the 25th Anniversary of one of the most controversial ordeals in the history of pro wrestling – The "Montreal Screwjob." Rewind back to Survivor Series 1997; Bret 'The Hitman' Hart was transitioning away from WWE to begin working with their heated competitor at the time, WCW. But despite a looming exit, "The Excellence of Execution" was unyielding on the subject of losing the WWE Championship in his home country of Canada to Shawn Michaels. Vince McMahon agreed with Hart about the finish, but after they spoke, he shifted plans to benefit WWE. During the match, Michaels locked Hart in his own Sharpshooter submission hold as McMahon instantly demanded referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell and award Michaels the victory. One of the men instructed to play along and do as he was told was referee Earl Hebner, who appeared on "Busted Open Radio" this morning to discuss what happened during the controversy.

"I said to a certain person, 'I'm not going to do it.' And that didn't go over too good ... Walking to the ring, I had the different feeling of, 'Oh, what do I do really? Am I going to do it or am I not going to do it?' And I guess when I got to the ring, I ended up doing what they asked me to do, but it was a tough situation because it's either do it or you don't have a job or whatever price I was going to pay after."

Doing something as courageous and potentially dangerous as Hebner did pay off for him financially, though, as he revealed he received a bonus for the match. In July 2005, Hebner was released from WWE and has since gone on to work for promotions like TNA/Impact Wrestling and AEW.