The weeks leading up to Mania were brutal, as Shawn Michaels was not only dealing with the politics, but also with a back injury as well. At some time he just stopped talking to Vince, and I think Vince was “too afraid” to talk to Shawn. I never saw anyone talk to VKM the way I witnessed Shawn dress him down during that time. He just didn’t care what he said to him. When Vince would cut all those promos about HIS set of BRASS BALLS, they were literally two, finite marbles when compared to HBK’s. Looking back, I can remember Hunter being in a horrible place at the time, because he spent a lot of it at TVs representing Shawn and DX. Thank God that Triple H was always level headed, if he would have full-bore taken up Shawn’s cause business would have been extremely difficult to conduct.
Luckily, HBK never confronted Austin face-to-face; I think that had a lot to do with the way that Steve conducted himself through the entire ordeal. It was never a Steve-Shawn issue; it was always a Shawn-Vince issue. And, it exploded 6 days before Mania when Shawn delivered to me the line that is now the header of this article. Did Shawn really have any intention not to drop the belt to Steve? I honestly don’t think so. For starters, with the history of what went down before between Bret and Shawn at the Survivor Series, I don’t believe that Shawn would have ever wanted to travel down that road again, plus, I never witnessed Shawn not do what was best for business. He understood wrestling, he understood timing, and deep time he understood that Steve had earned the right to now be labeled “the guy”. Shawn’s intention was to just make Vince’s life miserable in the days leading up to the event, due to the way he felt he was being treated, and he clearly achieved that.
It was with flying colors that HBK did the job at WM XIV for Steve. Flying colors. By the matches end he had shown what a true professional he was, whether, or no, he agreed with the way that his boss handled the situation. The only thing I ever questioned in the end was exactly how hurt Shawn was going into the match. I say that because I would see him in excruciating pain in the weeks leading up, but then during the fire of the match there was that Superman kip-up where for a second I just didn’t know. But in the end, I racked that all up to adrenaline. Shawn gave the five-star performance, hurt and all, simply because that’s the in-ring performer he was. And for that he will forever have my respect.
(Vince will be launching a new channel on the RELM NETWORK in April. You can catch up with all his daily blogs/podcasts/videos at vincerussobrand.com.)
