Shawn Michaels On Why He Returned To The Ring, Being Held To An Unfair Criteria, Why He Shaved His Head

E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness made its long awaited return to the podcasting world along with special guest Shawn Michaels. The WWE Hall of Famer opened up on a myriad of wrestling related topics, including his recent WWE return at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view.

On His Post-Match Physical Condition:

Because of the moonsault, I felt my spine top [popping sound effect] all the way down and of course, we landed and I’m flexing my fingers to see if everything’s moving. You don’t notice anything at that time and then you get done and my neck is stiff, my hands are swollen up, and my knees were a little tight and then you fly for literally 20 hours to get home, on and off flights, walking through airports, all that stuff and I had to take off my watch, my rings, everything. My hand was swelling up. My knees had swollen up and again, I was the healthy one, so I have no idea what kind of agony he [Triple H] was in, doing the exact same thing with a torn pec. It’s crazy. It’s just what we do, right?

On Whether He Would Wrestle Again & More On Why He Returned:

Negative [answering whether he would do it again]. The one upside is one of the things you’re curious about is, ‘Can I do my stuff?’ Technically, I can do my stuff and have a young guy to work around me and all of that, but the 100% only reason I said yes to this one was for one; It was a special request by other people and the way I looked at it was that somebody’s asking The [Rolling] Stones and KISS to come and just play their greatest hits. Unfortunately, it’s sorta sad because everybody feels like, ‘Oh, it was the money and this that or the other.’ They mean it respectively, of course, but technically I’d make more money doing a singles match at WrestleMania. You know what I mean? Because that brand is bigger. I’m charging more for a singles match [laughter], I’ve got news for you. You know what I mean? But, I didn’t feel like I was put in a position in this particular match to be that guy and everything else about working with a younger guy and it being WrestleMania puts me in a much tougher more difficult position performance wise and that’s something that’s been consistent over the last years is that I don’t want to be put in that position. I’m good with the performances I had at WrestleMania and end those the way that I ended them. This just happened to be a special thing that I didn’t think in a million years would come up, but it did and that’s honestly the only reason I said yes. Also, I’ve never been in the ring with those guys. I have no doubt we’d have good timing and all that stuff, but it’s still an unknown on top of all the other ones and then of course, the anxiety of the situation. All of those elements were not there in this one. As we got closer, the anxiousness of the unknowns was there a little bit, but every other aspect of it and the entire process was fun and enjoyable and as you guys know, WrestleMania is less fun, so to speak, as it is stressful and anxious and all of that. You’re excited about it, but it’s a whole lot of stress.

On Being Held To An ‘Unfair Criteria’:

When I came back in 2002, people saw my first match and it took one day to go back to holding me to the standard of ‘96, when I left. That’s the only thing and it’s a good problem to have. I wouldn’t get held to the same standard that [Ric] Flair gets held to. If he doesn’t do everything spot on or perfect, that’s fine. They still give him some grace and mercy and all that. You guys know as well as I do, I won’t get that. I miss a step, I do one thing and they’re gonna be all over me, so it just isn’t worth it. Again, I don’t say that bitterly. I’m held to an unfair sorta criteria. I’m one with that, but I’m not gonna try to live up to it either because I don’t think any man can. When all that’s there, it takes a lot of the enjoyment out of it and it doesn’t seem to be worth it and no amount of money is, if you ask me.

On Why He Shaved His Head:

Before this storyline started, I was doing a movie. I did this independent movie in Texas where I played a younger version with my hair and I played an older version of me that got sick and everything else, so that’s why I ended up shaving it for the movie and then I got called in to do this thing and I just thought, ‘You know what? Hunter’s got his head bald, I’m just gonna go ahead and leave it that way.’ Plus, it was thinning up there anyway, man. It was just better to go ahead and keep it all off and now, of course, my wife likes it and as you guys know, the short stuff is a lot easier to manage.

(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)