Shawn Michaels may have worked with Vince McMahon for decades, but the relationship between the two wasn’t always friendly.
During the mid and late 1990s, Michaels, by his own admission, was battling personal demons, which would be a factor in his four-year retirement from wrestling.
Although Michaels would eventually return to WWE after finding God, the Heart Break Kid’s reputation as difficult to work is still remembered years later.
Traveling
During the New Generation era, the WWF tried to maintain ‘kayfabe’ by keeping heels and baby faces apart at all times, in case fans spotted them outside of an event.
For many wrestlers, that meant keeping away from their closest friends, which Shawn Michaels was not ready to do.
Speaking on the ‘Kliq THIS’ podcast, Kevin Nash recalled Michaels exploding on then WWF head Vince McMahon, who quickly backed down.
“They told Shawn[Michaels] that Scott [Hall] couldn’t ride with us, because they were working the matches together. And Shawn, I mean just zero to one hundred went to ‘Mother f***er! You got me on the road 300 days a year and you’re going to tell me who I can spend my time with?!’
“And Vince just went like [raises hands] ‘Woah. I didn’t realize it was that. Okay. If it’s that much of a deal to you three, jeez. Do what you want to do.'”
When asked why McMahon, traditionally someone who had things done his way, was so quick to back down, Nash said that the quality of the Michaels-Hall feud gave them leverage.
“The match was so good. What are they going to do?”
Kevin Nash on Vince McMahon not punishing Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall.
To the Club
It wasn’t just travel arrangements that McMahon tried to have control over, as Nash also had his share of demands from the then-Chairman of the company.
Speaking about his own experiences with Vince, Nash recalled he and The Undertaker being told to keep out of strip clubs as they were babyfaces, and McMahon believed that a face wouldn’t visit such an establishment.
“Me and ‘Taker got called into the office. Principal McMahon told me and ‘Taker that he didn’t want to see us or hear of us being in any strip clubs. He said it wasn’t a good image for Mark [Calaway] and I because we were both babyfaces at the time.”
Despite the strong warning by McMahon, both men defied the order and had a reunion at a club.
“I look straight across from me in the room, I see this long flicking hair, I see a bandana. I look over and I f**king just see ‘Taker. We’re not gonna sit with each other, we’re just like, ‘Oh, so you didn’t listen either.’ It was just acknowledged, like, ‘F**k that, right, man?’”
Kayfabe
With wrestlers appearing regularly out of character on social media, many have argued that ‘kayfabe’ is dead in the modern day.
Addressing the idea, Nash recalled finding out that wrestling isn’t as legitimate as it is portrayed on TV, and whether kayfabe can still exist.
“I knew this sh*t was a work when I was ten. Don’t have a boom mic when you’re doing the shot. I say ‘oh! Boom mic. I’m watching a movie. Oh, he hit him 45 times in the face, and there’s no blood.’
“You’re selling the disbelief that these two guys are going out there and trying to beat each other’s ass. You can tell when you have the people. When you have a hot angle and you have the people and you work stiff.
“You can say what you want about Bill Goldberg but when he was on his streak… people sat up.”
The former WWF Champion also claimed that Edge Vs. Dominik Mysterio on last week’s Raw was able to “hook me in” with how aggressive Edge was following the latter’s heel turn at Clash at the Castle.
For use of any quotes from this article please give a h/t to SEScoops.
