Shawn Michaels Talks Fantasizing About Signing With WCW, God Angle With Vince McMahon
Recently on The Ric Flair Show, 'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels was a guest on the podcast for a two-part interview. Among other things, Michaels talked about whether he ever seriously considered leaving WWE in favor of WCW. Also, Michaels talked about the 2006 angle pitting Vince and Shane McMahon against Michaels and God.
On the subject of whether he was ever close to signing with WCW, Michaels indicated that he fantasized about the prospect of joining his friends in WCW; however, he was always under contract with WWE and he never really entertained the idea of leaving WWE.
"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."
Michaels added that Vince McMahon told him that he would not enjoy any creative freedom if he left for WCW.
"Even when all the WCW stuff did come up and I asked him, 'jeez, let me go', he said point blank, he said, 'you wouldn't be happy down there'. He said, 'Shawn, they wouldn't let you be you'. He said, 'you'd suffocate – you'd never make it'. But the thing is, that was the day when I realized, again, he gets me."
With respect to the infamous storyline where The McMahons defeated Michaels and God, Michaels indicated that his focus has always been on the in-ring product. In this light, Michaels was fine with the storyline despite his strong religious beliefs.
"I thought that was funny. It was so over the top and so silly. I don't know. It's funny, years later, I can remember [Triple H], I think it's not years – months or a year later – I remember Hunter coming to me and he goes, 'dude, we didn't think in a million years you'd do that'. He goes, 'we really thought you would be all hurt and uptight about it'. I was like, 'dude, what do I care? It's silly.'" Michaels continued, "the part inside the ropes, the part where people decide if it's a good match or a bad match, that's the part that I take very, very, very, very, very seriously and that I respect the most. All the other stuff though is just, it's just window-dressing and silliness. And so, none of that stuff bothers me. And so, I don't know. It wasn't the most intellectually stimulating angle or storyline that we've ever did at the WWE, but, look, we used my personal life – we've used a lot of guys' personal lives or real wives and stuff like that to fill up a storyline – mine is no different. Again, I don't know that it was, honestly, I don't know that it was one of the best by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn't one of the worst. It was just another in a run of many sort of over the top, maybe too overdone storylines in WWE lore."
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Source: The Ric Flair Show