The Rockers are one of the most legendary tag teams. In an interview with The Hannibal TV, Marty Jannetty discussed meeting his future partner, Shawn Michaels, for the very first time, their immediate chemistry, and more.
Check out some highlights below:
His first time meeting Shawn Michaels in Central States Wrestling:
It was a wild thing. He came up, he was wrestling down in Texas, and they were talking him up already. He had to wrestle his first night in against Scott Hall. They asked me and D.J. Peterson to show him a good time and look out for him. We were like, out of all the people that came through here, nobody had that sort of build up. Being told to take care of them. What is this about?
This is his first night and it’s somewhere in Kansas. We’re trying to find him and there were so many extras [backstage]. We saw all these guys we didn’t recognize if they were Shawn, and then we went up to one that had blue jeans up to his chest and a big Texas belt-buckle and boots. We said, “Do you know who Shawn Michaels is?” He goes, “I’m Shawn Michaels.” When he went to put his hand out, we almost started laughing. Not trying to put him down, but we were expecting a cool guy, Mr. Rock ‘N Roll, and we got this nerdy ass Texas boy. That’s the first time we met him.
Seeing Michaels perform for the first time:
Scott [Hall] wasn’t that good when he first started. We were like, “That poor new kid.” But he went out and they had a good match. We were like, “Damn. [He’s good.]”
On tagging with him for the first time:
The first time we tagged together they had lost a match, so they threw it together. They asked, “Hey, can you do a four minute match?” It was against Scott Hall and Dan Spivey. They were called American Starship, it was Dusty Rhodes’ creation. They weren’t great when they first started, but they got good. I remember being on the outside and watching Shawn perform. I’d be like, “If he would just do this…” and then he’d do it! In hindsight, I found out he was doing the same thought process. We didn’t know each other, but we just clicked. We had that match, it clicked. We left the ring and we went, “Did you feel what I felt out there?” We just knew what the other was thinking. That’s something you can’t teach in wrestling schools.
Transcription by WrestleZone.com Senior Editor Tyler Treese
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