The history of professional wrestling is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of iconic, legendary individuals, each of whom have left their own respective impact on the industry. Hulk Hogan captivated crowds in the 80s with his patriotism, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin dropped jaws in the Attitude Era with his rise against authority and Daniel Bryan encourages thousands of fans today, to raise their arms in unison for a chorus of “Yes!” chants whenever he steps in the ring.
But while so many people have impacted upon the wrestling industry as a whole, there is only a handful of people who have made a tremendous impact on my own life, not only as a wrestling fan, but as a young adult. Guys like Eddie Guerrero, CM Punk, Jim Ross and The Undertaker would certainly qualify, but sitting at the top of that list is undoubtedly the most talented man to ever set foot in a wrestling ring, the ‘Heartbreak Kid’, Shawn Michaels.
Not a lot of people can say that they are gifted in any realm of pro wrestling, but Shawn Michaels not only had talent in all aspects of the business, he perfected them too. With his immense in-ring ability, skills on the microphone and endless charisma, it’s no surprise that ‘The Showstopper’ is a multi-time champion, with a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame to boot. It was a sad day for the industry when he retired in 2010, despite a legendary match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26.
However, last Monday on the 28th of April from the Leicester Square Theatre in London, Shawn Michaels gave some lucky fans in the UK (and from around Europe) a night to remember. ‘An Evening with Shawn Michaels’, hosted by Rob McNichol and organised by the fine folks at PSI Events, where ‘The Icon’ would answer questions from the fans, speak for two hours about memories from his career and then spend several more meeting and greeting some of the people in attendance.
And now, after a week of birthday celebrations and hard work, I can finally sit down to bring you all my thoughts and reactions from last Monday’s show. Obviously I won’t be able to write down everything that Shawn said, but I’ll do my best to recap as much of the topics discussed as I can. Let’s get started!
I’ll begin by saying that we hopped on a flight to London at about 11am, and arrived in Leicester Square at about 3pm. Due to the Tube Strike starting that evening and ending two days later, my father and I were staying in the Premier Inn just across the road from the Theatre, which made things much easier for us after the show.
The doors to the theatre opened at 6:15pm, and after purchasing a programme and an 8×10 photograph of Shawn Michaels, we took our seats and waited for the show to commence at 7pm.
I’ll be honest when I say that seeing Shawn Michaels come out on stage was a surreal experience. I’ve seen the man perform in Dublin several times, and even saw him referee one of the best matches I’ve ever seen in person, between Triple H and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 28 in Miami, but this was a much different atmosphere to those events. This was an extremely intimate, emotional evening, where Shawn was talking directly to us (a few hundred people) rather than a TV screen or an audience of 80,000 people.
I had the privilege of attending (and reviewing) Jim Ross and Bret Hart’s shows in the UK, and experience would suggest that this would indeed be an extraordinary event, so I knew what was in store. The people at PSI know what the fans want, and better yet, know how to deliver it, so I had no doubts that this would be the very same. But still, seeing one of my biggest heroes in life was a rather gratifying moment to say the least.
Shawn opened by taking a photo of the crowd with his newly purchased iPhone, although he still hadn’t figured out how to work it, and sat down with Rob to discuss his matches with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 and 26. He said that they’d been discussing retirement for a long time before they actually introduced the stipulation for their second match, but didn’t know if it would be at this event that he’d finally hang up his boots.
In fact, Shawn said that the plan to call ‘Taker out at the Slammys hadn’t even been confirmed until a few minutes before he accepted the award for ‘Match of the Year’. They’d discussed having the rematch, but this was completely spur of the moment, and as we all know, it worked out for the best.
Michaels recalled people asking how they’d top the previous year’s match, and he saw that as nothing more than an obstacle he wanted to overcome. He said himself that the retirement stipulation added a sense of uniqueness to the match, and I’d be inclined to agree. The initial match at WrestleMania 25 may have been better, but I’ll always consider the rematch more memorable just for the fact that it was his final bout.
Not too far from Leicester Square is a place called Earl’s Court, where Shawn Michaels had a match on Monday Night Raw against John Cena back in 2007, which lasted almost an hour long. It’s a match that should silence anyone who says that John Cena “can’t wrestle”, because as good as Michaels is, it’d be damn near impossible to have a match that good with someone that couldn’t wrestle.
Michaels expressed his respect and fondness for Cena, saying that despite what many people think, he does work incredibly hard and has the utmost passion and respect for the WWE. I agree, the dude has done so much for the company, and while he may be incredibly stale in terms of his character, you can’t overlook how hard he works. Also, the current feud with Bray Wyatt has been a significant change of pace for Cena’s character.
Someone asked how the first ever Hell in a Cell match came about, and what he initially thought of the concept, and Shawn revealed that he had a lot to do with the idea. He witnessed a match at a house show where two guys fought in a very low-budget closed-roof steel cage, and when he presented the concept to the WWE, they came up with Hell in a Cell.
He joked about seeing the structure for the very first time, and his first thought being “I want to get on top”. He laughed at how the concept was to keep people inside, but he and Undertaker really threw that out the window in the first match.
As we all know, this Hell in a Cell match back at Bad Blood in 1997 would also mark Kane’s debut, and Shawn revealed that before they went out to have their match, the timekeeper told them backstage that there were 55 minutes left on the PPV, so they needed to go for that long. We all couldn’t help but laugh when Michaels said that The Undertaker, upon hearing this news, merely replied “I’ll walk slow”. Shawn said that the entrance felt like it must’ve taken 15 minutes for Undertaker alone!
Shawn told us that he always preferred being told who to face, rather than choosing his own opponents. Upon being asked about dream matches that he never got to have, names like The Rock, Ricky Steamboat, Eddie Guerrero and Sting were thrown around. But Shawn reiterated that, although the matches would’ve likely been great fun to have, he never liked having a part in who he was going to face next, so that’s why he never requested a match with any of them.
Shawn was asked about the best advice that Vince McMahon ever gave him, and in a rather impressive impersonation of Vinnie, HBK replied “Shawn, sometimes in life, you’ve gotta learn how to eat shit… and then you’ve gotta learn to like the taste of it”. He said that he took this advice to heart over the years, and encourages fans to do the same. Because despite some things we may not like, complaining about them on the internet isn’t going to make things better.
Some of Vince’s questionable business decisions over the years came into question, such as the decision to have Diesel kick out at 1 after the Sweet Chin Music during one of their matches together (which led to Michaels turning face, which he felt wasn’t as much fun at the time), but Michaels always gave McMahon the benefit of the doubt. The guy is running a multi-billion dollar company, so he obviously knows what he’s doing most of the time. It’s just every once in a while, he comes along with his signature “guess what we’re gonna do!” which usually spells bad news.
He discussed CM Punk’s decision to walk away from the WWE, and said that he doesn’t have the right to judge the guy, considering he’s done it several times during his own career. He feels that if you’re not wrestling because you enjoy it, and you’re doing it for any other reason, then you should get out as fast as possible. That’s what Punk did, so he respects the guy for it.
Jim Ross’ trip to Texas to get Shawn Michaels to go back to the WWE was talked about, and Michaels said it was that talk, as Ross himself said, that got Shawn back on “Team WWE”. Michaels said that although JR considers Gordon Solie to be the best announcer of all time, he, having grown up listening to Solie’s commentary, feels that Gordon Solie couldn’t bring as much emotion to a match as Jim Ross could.
I completely agree, and I may be a bit biased as I grew up listening to Jim Ross, but I find that he is more passionate about wrestling than almost anyone else ever to be a part of the wrestling industry. That immense love and emotion always came through whenever he called a match. When Jim had his own show back in August, you could really see how much love he has for the industry, and I believe it was that (and the perfect voice for the job) that made him the greatest wrestling commentator of all time.
He was asked about a possible future as an actor, and Michaels said he would be open to it. He likes diving into things that he doesn’t know if he’ll be good at, and would like to do comedy, or a movie with some deep meaning to it. In terms of acting in wrestling, he said the whole bankruptcy story in 2009 was hard to pull off. He understands how it feels to be poor, but feels like it’s hard to portray a poor person (and have to work for JBL) while also appearing on TV every week.
Shawn says he’s a lot less confident than he was when he was younger. Someone asked him about abseiling into his WrestleMania 12 match, and he said he probably wouldn’t be able to do it today. Even on planes, he shuts the windows as soon as he gets on.
A big topic discussed was Shawn’s current relationship with Bret Hart, and whether their ‘buried hatchet’ is just for TV or if it’s a real-life thing. He said it’s real, and holds the moment in January 2010 very close to his heart, where he got to hug it out with Bret on Raw. He also talked about his conversation with Bret after his last match at WrestleMania 26. Despite what happened between Shawn and Bret in the past, HBK understands that they’ve been through an incredible journey together, for better or worse, and their tale is one that you would expect to see in a good movie.
Based on the show in March, and Rob McNichol said this perfectly, it’s clear to see that Bret sees Shawn as two different people; who he is now, and who he was back in the 90s. Shawn feels like their relationship is in a great place, and no matter what happened, he can’t change it, so he tends not to get upset or worry about things he has no control over.
Regardless of their past animosity, Shawn said that Bret and he always left their personal differences aside when it came to working together, which is why they had such good in-ring chemistry. For example, during their WrestleMania 12 Ironman Match, Bret called the first half, and Shawn called the second. They may have hated each other backstage, but they were professionals, and didn’t let it phase them when they wrestled together.
One thing that made this night so incredible was seeing how modest Shawn was. He hasn’t got a big ego, yet he’s literally the greatest of all time. He said it’s because he had such a big ego when he was young, which everyone got a chuckle out of. I just find it astonishing.
Some wrestlers have huge egos and end up looking like assholes, but Shawn is so respectful of his fans and doesn’t see himself as ‘Mr. WrestleMania’ or ‘The Main Event’. He’s just a father, a husband and in his words, a “Dipstick from Texas” who once had a rather successful wrestling career. It’s mind-blowing.
Shawn discussed other topics like his ‘Mania XX match with Hunter and Chris, Macmillan River Adventures, how he never watches his old matches, the way he found out that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were dating and the fact that if he needed one more match, it’d be down in NXT against Adrien Neville, Sami Zayn or Bo Dallas. He discussed some of the talent down there, praising Emma for her ability to pull off such a character.
Shawn then thanked us all for coming out and supporting him in his career and life, and said we were all very respectful and that he appreciated it. Then, after things were set up, and people without wristbands left, Shawn came back to meet the fans.
It took about two and a half hours for us to get to Shawn, and what followed was a huge surprise. My dad asked him to write “Happy Birthday” on the 8×10 for me (because I turned 18 on Wednesday), while I was getting my WrestleMania 28 programme signed. I wasn’t expecting him to do this, and there’s something very surreal about your hero wishing you a happy birthday, so naturally I was in a state of shock for the next day. He also told me not to be making any trouble when I was 18. I wish he was around on Saturday to tell me that.
Shawn Michaels is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and despite what anyone says about him at the start of his career, he has such respect for his fans and it truly was humbling to see him thanking us, the fans, for all our support. Meeting him was an experience I’ll undoubtedly treasure for the rest of my life, and I extend my thanks to Shawn, and the PSI Events for organising yet another huge show.
They’ve got Chris Jericho coming over in June, and it’s a real shame I won’t be able to attend it, as I’ve got other stuff going on. As you may know, I’ll be gone from SLTD Wrestling for the whole month of June, so enjoy my articles while you can! Hopefully they can organise someone else very soon, preferably in Dublin, because I’ve been to three shows hosted by PSI and they were all amazing. If you can, I recommend you pick up tickets for ‘London is Jericho’!
That about does it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed this article, please share it on Facebook and Twitter, and leave your comments down below. They are always read and greatly appreciated.
Also, if you want to speak to me about wrestling, my writing or anything at all, be sure to follow me on Twitter @AdamOB_SLTD.
See you all on Sunday!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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