The name Shawn Michaels is privy to wrestling fans all over the world. For over the better part of a decade, Shawn Michaels entertained the WWE Universe with high flying action inside the squared circle, be it with his “Rockers” debut alongside Marty Jannetty, the Wrestlemania X ladder match with Razor Ramon or the clashes with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 25 and 26.
Shawn Michaels has always delivered the goods. But how different would things have been for the WWE if the “Heartbreak Kid” had moved to WCW at the height of the Monday Night Wars?
Shawn recently appeared as a guest on The Ric Flair Show where he did a two-part interview for the podcast. Michaels talked about whether he ever contemplated on signing for WCW and even spoke about being paired up in a tag team with ‘God’.
When asked if he ever wanted to sign with WCW, Michaels indicated that he had fantasized about the prospect but he was always under contract with WWE and he never really entertained the idea of leaving the WWE.
It is important to note that his friends, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were setting the wrestling scene ablaze at that time, beginning with their Outsiders gimmick that finally culminated into the popular stable, the New World Order (NWO).
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
“It's one of those things where you talk about it and you fantasize about it, but really, legally and contractually, no. I mean, I could never go. It's just one of those things where you can, in the theatre of your mind, you can fantasize about it, think about it, wonder what it would be like, but, ultimately, I think I've always felt like I was a WWE guy and I honestly didn't want to be anywhere else and the only reason you'd ever go anywhere else is for money.
As badly as everybody feels like I'm a sellout for one thing or another, I guess, ultimately, when it came to wrestling, I just wanted to wrestle where I want to wrestle. And something had to be bigger and more important than the money and for me, it was the time inside that ring.”
Shawn revealed that Vince told him that WCW would not have been able to handle him. Vince had also made it very clear that Shawn would not enjoy any creative freedom if he left for WCW.
When asked about the storyline against the McMahons where he was made to tag with God, Michaels indicated that the focus had always been on the action inside the ring and that he was comfortable with the storyline despite his strong religious beliefs.
Michaels revealed that he thought that the story was funny, over the top and silly. He iterated the fact that the part of the match inside the ropes was the part which he took seriously and respected the most. All the other stuff didn’t bother him.
Michaels told Flair that he knew it wasn't the most gripping storyline in the history of WWE but it definitely wasn't one of the worst. He said that WWE had used real life events in their storylines in the past and his case was no different.
He concluded by saying that it was just another in a run of many over the top and overdone storylines in WWE lore.
