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What's the story?
On the latest show on the WWE Network 'Something Else to Wrestle' with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, the backstage veteran has revealed some fascinating stories including The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and the events leading up to WrestleMania XIV.
In case you didn’t know…
During his initial run with WWE, Shawn Michaels was infamous for being extremely difficult to work with. His injuries and other personal demons he was battling allegedly made Michaels an extremely disliked person backstage.
His group The Kliq was also notorious for rubbing many wrestlers the wrong way, with their rebellious ways and disproportionate political clout backstage. One such wrestler was The Undertaker. The rumour regarding Taker threatening Michaels to do his job has been around for years, and now Prichard reveals the story behind the incident.
The heart of the matter
Shawn Michaels was suffering from a serious injury while working the main event of WM 14 with Stone Cold Steve Austin and would be out of action for four years after the match.
However, Prichard revealed that many of the stars backstage were sceptical about Michaels' injury claim, even going to the extent of thinking he might be faking it to avoid dropping his title, or for whatever other reasons. (Transcript via Wrestling Inc.)
"There were definitely grumblings and I would venture to say that there were far more skeptics than there were sympathetic ears at this point because of the timing and the fact that a year [before], his knee was injured and while talking about dropping the title due to a knee injury, he brings up losing his smile.
So I guess it was 'suspect at best' as my friend, J.R., would say. People doubted it. People didn't know if it was legitimate, which, by the way, it was a legitimate injury and it was a very bad injury. The timing of it though, didn't help. And it certainly didn't help that, Shawn being Shawn, wasn't talking to a lot of people and I think that he didn't allow anyone to feel sorry for him, really."
Prichard went on to reveal that he would rate the Heart Break Kid at 9.5/10, in terms of how difficult he was to work with. He also revealed the reality of what transpired between HBK and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 14.
According to Prichard, though the two did not go head-to-head or exchange any words, The Undertaker did send a subtle threat to Michaels, by wrapping his hands right before HBK was about to make his entrance. Apparently, HBK and indeed the entire locker got the message loud and clear.
"Undertaker was seated directly in front of me and he sat there and wrapped his hands as Shawn Michaels made his way to the ring. There was a subliminal message there, 'I'm going to be right here when you come back to make sure you do business'. That was the message.
That was the message the entire locker room took and that did happen. And Undertaker was sitting right in front of gorilla [position]. He didn't say anything to Shawn, nothing. But Undertaker had just finished his match, sat there and just wrapped his hands."
The former WWE manager also went on to reveal that Vince McMahon thought of Michaels as a son and appreciated everything he did for the company, especially since it was HBK who carried out the infamous Montreal Screwjob.
Below is a sneak peek from the show:
What's next?
This segment is from the first episode of the podcast, featuring WrestleMania 14. There are sure to be many more such amazing backstage stories by Prichard in future episodes as well. You can watch the show exclusively on the WWE Network
Author's take
As a fan, it is fascinating to hear backstage stories like these. It really is amazing to hear about how powerful a leader The Undertaker really was backstage, and how terrifically HBK transformed personally over the years.
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