I question how close the WWF was to bankruptcy in 1997. It’s certainly the narrative, and it’s undeniable that WCW was winning the ratings war, however the WWF had superior live gates (5,826 average attendance to WCW’s 5,472) and PPV buy rates (228,000 average to 217,000) and nowhere near the outgoing expenses (Hogan was paid $150,000 per Nitro and WCW salaries were absurd) and it’s hard to fathom how the WWF was so close to bankruptcy whilst WCW thrived. In fact, I recall an interview with Hart, in which he rubbished the notion that WCW ever surpassed the WWF, and there might be some truth to this.

Without Montreal, the Austin vs. McMahon rivalry might not have had as much heat, the WWF product in general might not have been as hot, however I still believe WCW would’ve committed business suicide and the WWF would’ve prevailed.

There are other factors, too. Michaels was intended to face Hart at the Royal Rumble in 1998, therefore Michaels would never suffer the injury that shelved him for four years. The WWF’s ability to rebound from losing both men was impressive, however the WWF would’ve been in a stronger position with both on the roster in 1998 and 1999.

Additionally, had Bret not left WWE in 1997 following the screwjob, his 20-year contract he signed in late 1996 would have ended in 2016.

I've been wondering how different the Attitude and Ruthless Agression eras would have been if Bret stayed. He missed the opportunity to have feuds with wrestlers who played an important role in those eras, such as The Rock, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Batista to name a few.

The Montreal Screwjob was one of the saddest moments in WWE history, in addition to later events such as Owen Hart's death at the 1999 Over the Edge PPV and Chris Benoit's double murder-suicide in 2007.

@David Pro said:

Today marks 20 years since the infamous incident that changed wrestling forever. Looking back how different would wrestling be if this haven't happened. Would wcw put the wwf out of business? This is arguably the beginning of the Attitude era.

I don't think there was any room for it to not happen. Bret had already offered to put the belt on Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, The Undertaker, Mankind and The Brooklyn Brawler. McMahon was hell bent on getting the championship on Shawn Michaels no matter what. Whatever plan McMahon had - it didn't involve Bret and that's that.

The only person that we've never really heard a full version from is McMahon himself. What matters is that everyone has moved on so there's no real point in going on about it. People always give Bret a hard time about it, but that's pretty much his legacy at this point is the guy that was screwed and in doing so allowed The Attitude Era to flourish.

But I'm not going to lie, the rumors of McMahon and Michaels having an affair are pretty interesting when you considering Michaels's behavior and what seems like McMahon's constant need of feeding his behavior.