Ken Shamrock Says Montreal Screwjob Led To Him Not Trusting People In WWE

The fallout of the Montreal Screwjob resulted in the birth of the Mr. McMahon persona, Bret Hart going to WCW, and Ken Shamrock allowing his inner thoughts to fester to the point he trusted no one. 

"That's why things started going south for me after that because I had this distrust going into the ring and I wasn't as focused on my craft at that time," said the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Famer on the "Ten Count" podcast.

While nobody in WWE ever gave him a reason to distrust them, the situation in Montreal made Shamrock feel uncomfortable. By seeing what happened with two of the company's biggest stars at the time — Hart and Shawn Michaels — Shamrock began wondering how the company would treat him and how far they would go if he said he didn't want to do something. 

"It's not fair to the organization, Vince, and anybody in the organization that I was thinking that way because you know that was a different situation with Bret and all of them," he said.

The situation with Hart and Michaels nearly led to Shamrock becoming WWE Champion at Survivor Series 1997. In an interview with "YouShoot," Jim Cornette disclosed he pitched Shamrock's name to be the one to take the WWE Championship off of Hart in a "double cross" since Hart did not want to drop the championship to Michaels on pay-per-view or in Canada. 

Shamrock wrestled Hart four times in two singles matches and two triple threat matches with Hunter Hearst Helmsley in the lead-up to Survivor Series.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Ten Count" podcast with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.