Ken Shamrock Opens Up About Montreal Screwjob Derailing WWE Career

The infamous Montreal Screwjob may have marked the end of Bret Hart's association with WWE and the beginning of Vince McMahon's on-screen persona on WWE programming, but according to Ken Shamrock, it also marked the beginning of the end of his efforts to attain superstardom within the promotion. In an interview with "Vlad TV," Shamrock recalled that he was on a fast track to become a major figure within WWE, along with then-rising stars Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, but the now-infamous incident from November 1997 "put ice on it."

"Why the Screwjob was happened because Bret didn't want to put over Shawn Michaels," Shamrock said. "He told me that he wanted to lose it to me. He wanted to put me over ... But at the time, I didn't realize that the office wasn't with this. I didn't know. I was like, 'Oh great!'"

After the controversial conclusion of Hart's loss to Michaels, Shamrock stated that things "started going downhill from there" as a result of guilt by association.

"I believe it was because I trained with Bret," he said. "I went to Calgary and worked out with them at Stu's place and became close to that group. And when that happened, Bret came in into the locker room and I was in there with all those guys. When Vince went in there, he told everybody to leave — of course, we all left, but that's when Bret hit Vince and all that stuff happened."

Shamrock concluded that his friendship with Hart resulted in his being "lumped in with what he called the Canada connection." Shamrock would briefly hold the Intercontinental Championship and the World Tag Team Championship with Big Boss Man, but he felt his potential was never realized, and he left the promotion less than two years after the Screwjob.