Michael Jordan had “the flu game,” and Shawn Michaels had the “flu match” in 1997.
NBA legend Michael Jordan turned in one of his most memorable performances during a June 11, 1997 playoff contest dubbed “The Flu Game,” but Shawn Michaels found himself in a similar situation earlier that year at the Royal Rumble. This week’s episode of The Bump saw Shawn Michaels looking back on his WWE Championship match against Sycho Sid at the 1997 Royal Rumble. The bout was not only a rematch from a memorable Survivor Series event in 1996, but it was also a hometown crowd that Michaels was performing for.
Asked to reflect on the event (which celebrated its 25 anniversary the day of the interview), Michaels said the thing he remembers most is how sick he was. Michaels cut a promo at the event and revealed the illness then, but he said he looks back on the night with more appreciation today than he did back then.
“Honestly, the thing I remember most about that is having the flu and being up all night, being incredibly sick for that event. The worst I’ve ever felt before any show, and of course, it happens in your hometown, ironically, but everything with Sid was fun. He was an unbelievable character and the thing is, everybody wants to go out there in front of their hometown and have a huge event, a great showing, so for me,” Michaels said, “that was honestly the biggest thing about it.
“It sounds very cliché, I worked and wrestled in San Antonio many times, but to have a big huge event and get to win the championship back, it was one of those all-around, real-life feel-good stories,” he explained. “It’s one of those things that you get to carry with you for a long time. And again, it’s something that you can’t make sure it’s going to happen in your career, but all of these aspects lined up and it turned out to be a pretty cool thing, especially looking back all these years later, I have a much better appreciation of those things now than I did when I was actually going through them in real time.”
Michaels was then asked if he felt more pressure being in front of his hometown fans in San Antonio, but the “Showstopper” said that he put that weight on himself because he wanted to deliver every night.
“I always felt pressure and anxiety every time I went out and performed. Obviously, depending on the size of the event was the anxiety and pressure, but certainly in your home town, in the main event, winning the championship and again, knowing that you’re not feeling well and having a great performance, all of those things were a regular thing for me. To be honest, it continued for me until my very last match. I was always nervous before I went out there because the performance was incredibly important to me, obviously. I felt like I needed to deliver at a level that I expected,” Michaels noted, “and what I expected was a better performance than everybody else. I didn’t always achieve that, but that was always my goal going out there. I put a lot of anxiety and pressure on myself to do that every time.”
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