"He would take it personally”- Former writer comments on WWE legend Michael Hayes

Former WWE creative writer Andrew Goldstein recently shared his experience with Michael Hayes and said that he takes anyone denouncing wrestling personally.

Although Hayes retired from in-ring competition in 1999, he remained in the wrestling industry. Throughout his backstage career, he became an announcer for WWF as Dok Hendrix and eventually became WWE's Vice President of Creative Writing and Booking as well as a senior producer.

His heavy involvement with the sport was talked about by Andrew Goldstein, who worked with the WWE Hall of Famer for a few months. In an episode of The Universal Wrestling Podcast, he shared that Hayes would take wrestling-related insults personally.

“Guy like Michael Hayes, I didn’t realize the extent to which that was their life, right? Like Michael Hayes, since he was a teenager has been in the wrestling business and he’s never known any other life, and so, to s**t on something wrestling-related in his presence where everybody might laugh … He would take it personally,” Goldstein said. [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Goldstein was with WWE as a creative writer from June 2006 to January 2007. He also worked with companies like MTV, BET, and Spike TV Programs.

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Michael Hayes has taken some memorable calls in WWE throughout the years

The wrestling landscape has drastically changed throughout the years. One of the major things that changed was the preparation that wrestlers have for their matches.

Hayes, however, has taken some memorable calls on matters related to certain superstars.

An example of this was when Rene Dupree shared that he was threatened with a $1000 fine by Michael Hayes for dancing in the ring.

Ric Flair also opened up on how the executive told him to drink before his retirement match against Shawn Michaels back at WrestleMania 24 in 2008.

"I remember, I wasn't drinking during the weekend it was so much fun that we're in Orlando, of course, and Michael Hayes looked at me and said, 'What's wrong with you, you stupid son of a b***h. You've been drunk before every match you've ever had your entire life,' which is true, 'What are you doing walking around drinking a Diet Coke?' I said, 'You're right.'," Flair said.

It's not new for the company to hire former wrestlers to become executives or to have a backstage role in the company. An example of this is Adam Pearce, John Laurinaitis, and most notably, Triple H.