By Richard Gardner, Torch specialist

In an era when Vince McMahon is willing to put the WWE Title on Batista the day before he departs for major surgery, it's almost laughable to think that a title change less than 12 years ago could have caused such a furor. Yet the industry was much different in November 1997 than it is today.

World Wrestling Federation was being hammered into a humiliating submission by World Championship Wrestling on a weekly basis when Vince McMahon made the controversial decision to end the Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels match in Montreal prematurely.

Vince McMahon believes he had to do everything within his power to prevent his champion turning up on WCW Nitro with the WWF belt. Bret Hart is insulted by claims that he would do such a thing after so many years of loyalty to McMahon's company. There is certainly enough written about the so called "Montreal Screwjob" to enable anyone who wasn't watching wrestling in 1997 to form an educated opinion.

So I would not want anyone to think that I am undermining the historical significance of what took place on the November 9, 1997 with this article. In fact, it is a shame that the conclusion of that year's Survivor Series has been trivialized to the degree that it has.

WWE's bookers believe recreating the finish will result in instant heat on the authority figure that is cheating the babyface. Actually, each time this finish is used it has less impact than the time before. Nevertheless, WWE dragged this tired concept out yet again at last Sunday's Breaking Pont Pay-Per-View.

WWE had booked itself into a corner as of last week. Sunday's card was promoted as having three main events with submission match rules. The themed Pay-Per-Views may succeed in drawing better buy rates in the short-term (and overexposing match concepts in the long-term) but Breaking Point revealed a significant flaw in this process of booking the main event match stipulations so far in advance of deciding who would actually be competing.

C.M. Punk's feud against The Undertaker may yet turn out to be one of the better feuds of the year, but their first match was handicapped by submission match rules. Taking the title from Punk would have halted the momentum of a man who is emerging as one of the best heels on the roster. Submitting The Undertaker for the first time on a secondary Pay-Per-View would have been even more non-sensical. It seems that even the greatest writer would struggle to write television, hampered by zero planning, unwieldy match stipulations and the whims of Vince McMahon.

Of course, the WWE creative team is hardly full of great writers. Creatively bankrupt may be a more suitable term for the writers that gave us the Chavo Guerrero-Hornswoggle feud. So the decision was made to turn Teddy Long heel by cheating The Undertaker.

How much thought did it take? How much brainstorming did the creative team need before they came to the conclusion to revisit 1997 yet again? Not only had it been used at the following two Survivor Series, it has also been create countless times since, as well as in WCW and TNA. No wonder that they struggled to draw on Sunday night since they seem to be content on destroying any good will they have from the Canadian fans.

The Survivor Series finish has gone from being the most important event in modern wrestling history to a cheap, overused means of getting the title off the champion without pinning him. With imminent Pay-Per-Views dedicated to specific match concepts, the potential for incidents like this to happen has significantly increased.

Maybe before WWE sets the stipulations for their Pay-Per-View main events, they should consider who will actually be competing first.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt