What’s the story?
Former WWE official and producer Bruce Prichard was recently a guest on the ‘Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast’ where he revealed how Vince McMahon didn’t initially look at WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels as a world champion as well as a babyface and what made him change his mind.
In case you didn’t know…
‘The Heartbreak Kid’ earned his first ever WWF World Heavyweight Championship match after winning the Royal Rumble match in 1995. However, he lost at WrestleMania XI to his good friend and then champion Diesel (Kevin Nash). Michaels finally won his first world title in the WWE at WrestleMania XII when he defeated Bret Hart in their iconic 60-minute Iron Man match. By the time ‘The Showstopper’ called time on his career, he had already been a 4-time WWE world champion.
The heart of matter
Prichard said that Vince McMahon did not see Shawn Michaels as the WWF Champion and more importantly, a babyface. However, there was certainly an inner feeling that in Michaels he had a superstar who was stealing the show on any given night irrespective of who he was facing and even the crowds were appreciating his work. Here’s what the former WWE manager said:
“Yeah, Vince didn't see Shawn as the WWF Champion at that time. In particular, he didn't see Shawn as a babyface. But there was an undercurrent there that here you've got a guy that is going out, stealing the show every night with whoever he worked with, and the audience after a while began to respect him, so Shawn was doing that every night.”
Asked about the traits which helped ‘Mr. WrestleMania’ to be recognised by McMahon as world championship material, Bruce Prichard said that it was his courage to say it to the WWE Chairman and the rest of the roster and to stand up for himself and his friends. Although many considered his actions as selfish, Vince looked at it differently and eventually couldn’t deny that he was very good.
Prichard was quoted as saying this:
“He had the b***s to say it every night and to say it to Vince to be defiant, to say it to the rest of the talent, to stand up for himself and his friends, a lot of people would call that going against the grain and selfish, but Vince looked at it as he had b***s and after a while, you couldn't deny that he was that good.”
Sportskeeda’s Take
Looking back, it is certainly tough to believe that a legendary WWE superstar like Shawn Michaels was not considered good enough to be a world champion. However, it goes on to show how hard ‘The Icon’ worked to find his place among the greatest ever performers in the pro-wrestling history.
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