3 WWE Superstars who took years to win Vince McMahon over and 3 who didn't

#2. Took years to win over Vince McMahon: Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon

Shawn Michaels is perhaps one of Vince McMahon's favorite wrestlers of all time. While WWE has consistently dubbed him the greatest in-ring performer in history, it's likely coming straight from Vince McMahon.

For more than a decade since his retirement, Shawn Michaels has been the gold standard of in-ring performers for the generations after him to look up to. But many forget that it took Shawn Michaels 8 years from his WWE re-debut to win his first World title.

Shawn Michaels didn't fit the billing of a world champion in WWE's golden era, but as they started to shift perceptions, stars like The Heartbreak Kid and Bret Hart were the biggest beneficiaries.

Even so, Bruce Prichard stated that it took years for Shawn Michaels to reach that level, but Vince McMahon pushed him when he was undeniably the best in WWE.

Jim Ross explained the strong bond that formed between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon over the years:

Vince [McMahon] and Shawn [Michaels] have always had that, a strong bond, and it's bonded together with the fact that Vince saw a little bit of himself as far being defiant, attitudinal, that type of thing with Shawn. So, they were connected in that respect. Even though they had great arguments, they had significant arguments. But, I just think Vince just had a, for whatever reason, he just had a special affinity for Shawn Michaels. And it just might have been, Conrad, God forbid, this could be this, the fact that he was arguably the number 1 or number 2 worker in the world at the time. And we'd built so much around Shawn, and rightfully so

This sums up the strong bond that the two had, something that took years to build.