WWE legend made amends with Shawn Michaels backstage at WrestleMania 39

It is well known that Shawn Michaels made a lot of enemies earlier in his WWE career due to his backstage attitude. In a recent podcast episode, Rob Van Dam (RVD) revealed that he and Michaels settled their differences when they bumped into each other at WrestleMania 39.

Van Dam has made no secret that he did not get along with Michaels in WWE. The ECW legend once claimed in a YouShoot interview with Sean Oliver that The Heartbreak Kid "dripped with insincerity" whenever they interacted. He also made fun of his former opponent's lazy eye.

On his 1 of a Kind podcast, Van Dam said he addressed those remarks when he spoke to Michaels backstage in Los Angeles:

"He said something to the effect about he didn't take it that seriously, which he's told me before, but I still wanted to say this. Something about growth. I said I wouldn't do that now. Now I'm all about trying not to put anything negative out there. He said something about, 'Yeah, look at me, I used to be a d**k.' I'm paraphrasing, I don't remember what he said [laughs]. He said something about we all grew from where we were before. We hugged it out." [2:45 – 3:26]

Shawn Michaels, 58, now works as WWE's Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Rob Van Dam, meanwhile, still wrestles at the age of 52. On August 9, he lost to Jack Perry in an FTW title match on AEW Dynamite.

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What did RVD previously say about Shawn Michaels?

Rob Van Dam made his viral remarks about Shawn Michaels in 2016. At the time, he had an issue with the WWE icon's reaction to his surprise return in the 2009 Royal Rumble match.

Van Dam thought Michaels was trying to make it clear that he was not part of the full-time WWE family:

"He dripped with insincerity, you know what I mean? Like after I was gone for a while and I came back at the Royal Rumble, he was like [lazy eye impression], 'That's what I enjoy about these things, is like you get to see people that aren't normally here that come back.' To let me know I'm not part of the family or whatever."

The wrestling legend also did not like Michaels' reaction to his induction speech for The Sheik at the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. Michaels described the speech as "charming and funny and witty." However, Van Dam saw the praise as a "back-handed compliment."

What do you make of RVD's comments about Shawn Michaels? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Please credit 1 of a Kind and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use the first set of quotes from this article.