Vince McMahon Knocked Out After Insitgating WWE Locker Room Fight
One of the most famous punches in WWE history didn’t happen in the ring but rather in the locker room and it seems Vince McMahon was the one trying to start the fight.
The Montreal Screwjob rocked the wrestling world in 1997 as Vince McMahon screwed Bret Hart out of the WWE Championship before The Hitman left his company to join WCW.
The event is one of the most talked about in wrestling history but what Bret Hart likes to talk about these days is what happened when everyone went backstage after the tainted match. Hart famously took a swing at Vince McMahon, leaving McMahon with a black eye. And it doesn’t seem the punch comes with any regrets for Bret Hart.
Vince McMahon Punch “The Sweetest Thing” To Bret Hart
Speaking on Casual Conversations with The Classic, Bret Hart opened up about laying one on the former WWE chairman and claims Vince McMahon was the one trying to start a fight:
I’ll tell you the truth: it was one punch, and it was a good punch. You had to kind of be in my shoes. I know this is hard to explain in a short couple of seconds, but I was actually being set up by Vince McMahon. He was kind of calling my bluff. He was trying to instigate a tussle or something. Cause he thought that’s how it looked best for him.
I could feel it happening. It’s like ‘This guy’s trying to start a fight with me in the dressing room and wants to sort of stand up to me in front of all the wrestlers and prove that he’s some kind of tough guy’—or I don’t know what it was. But I remember that I got madder and madder. I remember we kind of confronted each other. It wasn’t like Vince walked up to me, and I just drilled him in the head—you know, it was like that never happened.
Despite breaking his hand after catching McMahon with a clean uppercut, Bret Hart claimed he wouldn’t change a thing about it:
He came at me, and we really tied up like a pro wrestling match. If you were in the room, there was about 30 people—they were all gonna jump on us and pull us apart, just the way Vince wanted. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t have that happen.’ I’ve got to knock him out.
I remember if I had gone with a right-hand punch, they would have hooked my arm and that would be the end of it. We’d never hear anything good about that day. I decided to go for an uppercut. I came right between our arms, and I literally, honest to God, I’m not exaggerating—I lifted him about a foot off the ground, knocked him completely out cold, like a starfish.
His legs and his arms and everything were out like that. He was out cold for about 5 minutes. We all just stood around looking at him. I remember I broke my hand, but it was the sweetest thing I ever did, and I wouldn’t change any of it.
Vince McMahon has been accused of sexual abuse and sex trafficking in a lawsuit filed by a former company employee. This led to TKO bosses asking McMahon to resign as Executive Chairman, bringing his official association with WWE to an end.