Shawn Michaels says WHAT?

[Guest bcu1979]

RAW was a complete load of crap. But I started a new thread to focus on the Shawn Michaels interview. So much for Michaels being a changed man. First chance he gets an live mic, and he immediately goes against script to take potshots at the Kliq's political enemies.

 

I can't believe Michaels actually had the gall to say that Rock tries to steal Hunter's spotlight? What a frigging joke. When it comes to star power and mainstream appeal, Triple H couldn't even hold Rock's jock. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything more after he called Kevin Nash one of the biggest names in the industry, said the NWO was the most feared group and said X-Pac was the best worker in the industry.

 

But at least his kissing up the NWO made sense in the storylines. How exactly does this fit into the storylines? Triple H is a face. Rock is a face. They have not been feuding for 2 years now. It just makes everyone go "huh." Did he run out of time to make cracks on Jericho?

 

And Michaels might as well have just come out and said "Austin did not beat me...this is fake...Vince decided that Austin should win." It would have served the same purpose as his whining. I knew as soon as Michaels made those comments that Austin must have had another falling out with WWE.

 

It's probably already too late, but I hope Rock was watching the show tonight. From Vince's comment about Austin not having balls, it appears that Triple H has won his war with Austin. Rock's pretty much the only one left who could have any say with Vince to stand up to this crap. If ratings keep sinking, the more power Rock potentially has over Vince when Vinces comes begging for Rock to return. Hopefully Rock will take advantage of the situation this time.

 

And if these "shoot" promos are supposed to get people talking. Then why don't we make it a fair fight and give Rock or Jericho or Austin a live mic on RAW to say whatever they please.

[Guest notJames]

I could forgive all those pseudo-shoot marks and delusional verbal blow-jobs to X-pac...

 

... but they completely fucked up Booker's face turn. All the heat was on HBK and none on Booker T. You could tell it was building up to Booker breaking away from the nWold all on his own, but noooooooo, Michaels had to "steal the spotlight" and be the one to "kick" him out.

 

So now, the nWold has two useless old-timers as mouthpieces and two JTTSs who think they're main eventers. And when Big Poochie decides to work for a living (aka his bicep heals... yeah, right), they'll have three useless ring slugs tearing up the midcard. Hip hop hooray...

 

If I was Austin, I would've bolted too...

[Guest JAxlMorrison]

Yeah I had Raw on tonight, but I was more listening then anything........but when HBk said that about the Rock it definitely registered and made my head turn.......I mean the guy is back for all of two shows and already he is starting shit? Doesn't look good for his future.......or the future of the WWE...

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

Somehow, I think this will turn into a HHH bashfest. Don't they always?

 

-Shiro

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

I could forgive all those pseudo-shoot marks and delusional verbal blow-jobs to X-pac...

 

... but they completely fucked up Booker's face turn. All the heat was on HBK and none on Booker T. You could tell it was building up to Booker breaking away from the nWold all on his own, but noooooooo, Michaels had to "steal the spotlight" and be the one to "kick" him out.

 

So now, the nWold has two useless old-timers as mouthpieces and two JTTSs who think they're main eventers. And when Big Poochie decides to work for a living (aka his bicep heals... yeah, right), they'll have three useless ring slugs tearing up the midcard. Hip hop hooray...

 

If I was Austin, I would've bolted too...

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

 

In fact, I *KNEW* it was going to happen just as soon as I heard HBK came back. I'm not trying to get into backstage bullshit, by the way, I'm just calling it like it is.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

$10 says that HHH convinced Steph to convince her daddy to end the 'brand extention' so he and his buddies could get together and run the place like it was 95 all over again... Selfish fucker.

[Guest Army Eye]

RAW was a complete load of crap. But I started a new thread to focus on the Shawn Michaels interview. So much for Michaels being a changed man. First chance he gets an live mic, and he immediately goes against script to take potshots at the Kliq's political enemies.

You have a copy of the script?  Could you post it for us then?  I think that would be cool to read

[Guest]

oh my god....I seriously do fear for the WWE now. I may be oveereacting to nothing, but still ... this can't be very good.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Your damn right it aint good.

 

The WWE has 2 proven draws.

 

One of them is in hollywood and the other one just walked away.

 

New stars?

 

HA!

 

They didnt make any!

 

Jerichos contract is coming up...Angle wants to go to the olympics...

 

Taker and HHH better get ready to headline alot of ppvs.

[Guest bcu1979]

As I stated above, what possible storyline purpose could the comment have served? Triple H and Rock are Smackdown wrestlers. They are both faces. They have not been feuding for several years. Rock has not even been around the last couple months. And if Rock does come back for a month or two, he won't have any interaction with Shawn Michaels or the NWO since they are on different shows. It had nothing to do with Booker T or the latest version of the NWO. And it made no sense to anyone listening at home.

 

It came across as nothing more than Michaels taking a shot at Rock and flexing his newly regained political power.

 

Booker T is not the only one to get screwed out of this whole deal. What about Chris Benoit? They put him on RAW to feud him with Austin and make Arn Anderson his manager. Anyone notice what AA did tonight? Run away. I don't believe that was a coincidence. Benoit is left without a program now and if he stays heel, he'll just have to play third fiddle behind the NWO and Brock Lesnar.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

I am actually waiting for the 'fall' of the Wwf; it is nothing to be worried about.  Once the Wwf realizes that they are in for the longhaul that means they will up the quality and try to keep as many 'hardcore' fans as possible.  Which means Benoit vs. Regal, Benoit vs. Eddie, Eddie vs. Rey, Rey vs. Helms, and all that good shit.

 

Or they can go backrupt and I, the bitter bitter wrestling fan that I am will crack a smile and my piggy bank and get more tapes...speaking of which, I haven't gotten any RINGS, hmm....*rubs chin*

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Austin dicked over Eddy and Benoit.

 

BIG TIME.

 

 

As far HBK goes...meh.  

 

Hes just one of many problems when the company chooses to spend valuable tv time on HBK, NAsh, Flair, Hogan and Vince...instead of creating new stars.

[Guest justcoz]

I'm not defending HBK here because all of you are absolutely correct.  It was a Clique cheap shot at The Rock.  But you know what?  I MISSED THIS STUFF!!!!  I miss Raw episodes where you could sit there and literally feel the legit heat between HBK and Bret Hart as they dueled off on the mic giving the show an unpredictable feel with their shoot comments.  Screw me for being selfish but I find inner turmoil to be highly interesting as a fan.  I'm not a road agent.  I'm not a McMahon.  I don't care about who gets along in the locker room.  Let Rock come to a taping and lay the smackdown on HBK backstage.  Maybe we'll get a PPV match where the legit tension makes even a weak match feel like a classic like Bret and Shawn.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but The Rock took some cheap shots at HBK in past interviews commenting how he had absolutely no desire to work with him.  Seems to me like The Rock had this one coming.  Not to mention the Tonight Show comment at HHH.  Why?  What the hell does Triple H's demands for a push have to do with The Scorpion King?

 

The bottom line is that we as fans don't know what goes on in the locker room no matter what websites we finish.  We are getting "leaks" led favored toward a different individual and targeted at the internet community.  Dave Schearer isn't going to report that HBK compliments Jeff Hardy backstage but he'll comment on who HBK talks trash on.  They aren't going to run a story about Hogan playing video games with the undercard talent and being looked upon as a legend and buddy but if Hogan were to refuse to job to say Eddie Guerrerro it would be all over the net that he was a dick to the locker room for screwing someone out of their push!

 

Fact of the matter is that HBK's interview was the highlight of a show where the top attraction walked out on the company and wouldn't cooperate with his bosses orders.  At least HBK participated in the angle presented to him by his employer.  Hell, I have more respect for Scott Hall at this point than Austin.  Hall may have been drunk prior and after the shows but he showed up to work and did what was asked of him.  

 

HBK delivered a classic heel interview without once sacrificing his new found morals.   I was entertained...

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

I agree that HBK's interview was great (despite the dead crowd). I too missed that "he can shoot at any time" atmosphere of pre-attitude WWF.

 

But I also agree that his comment was completely out of left field and unwarranted. I initially chuckled at the remark, but when I thought about I was like "hey, what the fuck? was there a reason for that?".

 

And I don't recall Rock specifically saying it was HHH who was politicing, but he mentioned something about people who abuse politics in general. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was HHH who overreacted and thought that the comments were about him. Rock could've been talking about anyone really.

[Guest RicFlairGlory]

I dont know about you guys, but that was one of the best interviews (HBK's tonight) that I'd seen in the WWF in a long time.

 

Man anything that talks about history, laughs at WWeeeeeeee, Has shoot comments in it, Laughs at Austin, Has backstage problems and "unholy alliances," and puts the nWo over as "the spotlight" is GOOD SHIT

 

Not to mention that the superkick was fucking classic.

 

Not good. Not great. Not really cool.

 

Fucking Classic.

 

The guy who mentioned the on air heat between Bret and Shawn nailed it on the head. Thats what we missed so much. It has all been McMahon "in this very ring..." or Austin "What? You know, I was drinkin beer..." or HHH "ahhaghaghaghaaa, I aham thah ga-hayme"

 

A solid, classic, HBK interview. Pff, what more do you want?

 

Highlight of the night

[Guest Human Fly]

I thought the comment was strange. But where did everyone find out that it wasn't in the script?

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

It's all speculation. Though I will say if Shawn was improvising, he did a great job.

[Guest Human Fly]

Maybe Michaels and HHH still are friends after all then.

[Guest bcu1979]

I'm not defending HBK here because all of you are absolutely correct.  It was a Clique cheap shot at The Rock.  But you know what?  I MISSED THIS STUFF!!!!  I miss Raw episodes where you could sit there and literally feel the legit heat between HBK and Bret Hart as they dueled off on the mic giving the show an unpredictable feel with their shoot comments.  Screw me for being selfish but I find inner turmoil to be highly interesting as a fan.  I'm not a road agent.  I'm not a McMahon.  I don't care about who gets along in the locker room.  Let Rock come to a taping and lay the smackdown on HBK backstage.  Maybe we'll get a PPV match where the legit tension makes even a weak match feel like a classic like Bret and Shawn.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but The Rock took some cheap shots at HBK in past interviews commenting how he had absolutely no desire to work with him.  Seems to me like The Rock had this one coming.  Not to mention the Tonight Show comment at HHH.  Why?  What the hell does Triple H's demands for a push have to do with The Scorpion King?

There's just one problem with your Bret/Shawn comparison. Bret and Shawn were feuding at the time and both of them got significant mic time. They were also on equal footing, for the most part, at the time in the company.

 

Rock and Austin weren't at the show tonight. They didn't get any mic time to tear Shawn a new one. It doesn't come across as using a shoot angle to build heat in a feud. There was no dueling promos tonight. If it's a one sided thing, then it's just certain guys using their political power in the company to bury their enemies/rivals.

 

If Rock comes back and this leads to some legit feud between the Kliq and anti-Kliq (Rock/Jericho/Austin) forces then maybe you're right and this will lead to compelling television.

 

But if not, it's just WCW all over again.

 

Also, Rock never publically buried Triple H. He was asked in a couple interviews about jealousy in the locker room over his success and he admitted that there was some jealousy from certain individuals. The Observer lated confirmed that Rock was indeed referring to Triple H. And if the Kliq can retaliate for Rock's tame comments, where was Jericho's retaliation for Triple H saying Jericho was beneath him on a tv show right before Mania?

[Guest justcoz]

Let Jericho shoot on Triple H then.  If guys are going to be marks for their own gimmicks and take their roles in this business so seriously to the point where they publicly trash talk others then the WWE's attitude should be what comes around goes around.  Triple H wants to shoot on a talk show, Jericho has free reign to shoot back on Smackdown.  Then HHH can whine to his daddy in law just like Kevin Nash whined when The Rock called him Big Daddy Bitch because he was trash talked and humiliated on a WWE program viewed by many more people than a Canadian talk show.

 

Yeah, maybe it's not the best thing for locker room morale but hasn't somebody gone on record saying that Vince likes to create tension between his top talents because he feels it makes them more competative for their spots?

 

HBK shoots on The Rock and there is no storyline.  You know what though?  When the moment arrives for The Rock, microphone in hand, staring down HBK, the NWO or Triple H, we will all be sitting around like a bunch of marks in anticipation remembering this night and this comment.

[Guest]

Jericho doesn't need to retaliate. He has more than enough class and professionalism in what he does to be involved in airing dirty laundry out in public like this fucking Kliq and the McMahons and all that bullshit. Fuck them.

 

And as far as I'm concerned, both him AND Austin have more than enough class and professionalism to be in that shithole that's become the WWE.

 

That is all.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Although I'll admit the "back in the WWF... WWE" mocking line was kinda cute, the rest was uncalled for simply because it had no place storyline-wise and made very little sense other than to confirm "Yea, we're still the Klique, we still get to do whatever we want SCREW YOU hahahahaha!"

 

Oh wow, he did a super-kick too.  Justin Credible does a super-kick.

[Guest]

Shawn Micheals had very interesting things to say in his interview.

 

The WWE will be dead for good by next year.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

It seems we're split between the "Yeah, I like backstage drama because it makes things more interesting" guys and the "I like a completely stable locker room of guys following the script" guys.

 

 

I'll fall into the former. As long as Vince rebuffs all the attempts at politicing by the Clique and others, and tries to work the tension into angles, we'll get some goodness out of it. So HBK trash talks the Rock unwarranted. Okay. But when you end up with Rock, Jericho, RVD, Booker T and Kurt Angle as the Anti-Clique faces, vs Shawn, Triple H, and the nWo (X-Pac, Big Show, Nash, and throw Benoit and Eddy in there as well since the Horsemen angle looks to be going nowhere), you know it'll be a markout moment. I'm assuming Shawn and Nash aren't wrestling here and will do the typical "outside support" heel shit, but cmon. It would make entertaining television.

 

I've LONG said that the nWo should not be killed with anything less than WWE heels and faces joining forces to kick them out. If the Clique is back and trying to get power, I'd say the need for such an angle is more important than before.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

"The WWE will be dead for good by next year."

 

Oh god, and I thought net fans are supposed to be "smart". Read an earnings report one of these days...

[Guest Prime Time Andrew Doyle]

I'll fall into the former. As long as Vince rebuffs all the attempts at politicing by the Clique and others, and tries to work the tension into angles, we'll get some goodness out of it. So HBK trash talks the Rock unwarranted. Okay. But when you end up with Rock, Jericho, RVD, Booker T and Kurt Angle as the Anti-Clique faces, vs Shawn, Triple H, and the nWo (X-Pac, Big Show, Nash, and throw Benoit and Eddy in there as well since the Horsemen angle looks to be going nowhere), you know it'll be a markout moment. I'm assuming Shawn and Nash aren't wrestling here and will do the typical "outside support" heel shit, but cmon. It would make entertaining television.

I agree with that idea. Hvae The Rock, Jericho, Austin, Benoit, Eddy G and Kurt Angle face of against the nWo (HHH, X-Pac, Big Show, Nash and HBK and have a returning heel Hogan) face off at Summerslam or save it for Survivor Series and have JR and The King hype it up as the BIGGEST night in history, where the rosters rejoin for that one match and play up the real backstage heat. Have the match non elimination style and at the end, bring in Heyman & Bischoff w/ Goldberg and Lesner and most of the undercard guys like Christian, Helms, Kanyon, Rhyno, Awesome, Storm, Palumbo (Fuck billy. Palumbo & O'Haire kicked ass) & O'Haire and have them take over with baseball bats. Have Bischoff and Heyman cut a promo starting the proper Invasion angle and have them split off into WCW with the conversion of some of the guys from the WWE/F like Booker to be a main player in WCW, Rhyno, Awesome and Lesner to be major heels, O'Haire and Palumbo and Kanyon to be upper carders and have Helms and Rey tear down the house. I know I got a lil longwinded, but that idea grew in my head

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Big, Giant Plan that involves a lot of people

Notice: This post continues on the fantasy booking tangent that spawned in this thread. Skip this post if you wish to remain on-topic

 

Well, I guess that would work. But chances of Vince yanking out the old WCW name again are almost nil. I see Eddy and Chris stuck as heels for a while and could lend credibility to the heel faction, and I just /don't/ see HBK & Hogan having any sort of chemistry even in promos (and face it, Hogan wants to end his days as Egomania Hulkster and not Hollywood.)

 

I just want to see a temporary Face/Heel partnership like what /should /have happened during InVasion (insead, what we got ECW's Raven got a face reaction for fighting WWF's Kurt.) A big "Get the HELL out of our backyard!" match to end the Clique/nWo/DX, and the days of "Attitude" in general.

 

It could be the farewell event for Shawn and Nash. Hogan will most likely retire sometime around the same time, clearing out a lot of the driftwood. HHH returns as Vince McMahon's hired muscle goon, who requests Pac/Show be rehired. Vince rehires them and they turn on HHH to go back to the midcard.

 

Finally, Flair reinstates Eddy and Benoit, and gives them The Rub™ before retiring himself.

 

....Boy. You'd have a set up for a real great era of wrestling after that now, wouldn't ya?

[Guest papacita]

I think the Rock comment was uncalled for, no matter what anybody says. However, it could just be Shawn's way of working smarts, so I'll just leave it alone until I hear any backlash from it.

 

As for the Austin stuff...what was wrong with it??? The fans abandonned him for Austin, so he's joined up with the only guy who cares about him. It made perfect sense storyline-wise, and I think some of you overreacted to it.

[Guest RicFlairGlory]

I think the Rock comment was uncalled for, no matter what anybody says. However, it could just be Shawn's way of working smarts, so I'll just leave it alone until I hear any backlash from it.

 

As for the Austin stuff...what was wrong with it??? The fans abandonned him for Austin, so he's joined up with the only guy who cares about him. It made perfect sense storyline-wise, and I think some of you overreacted to it.

Well I'm not having shoot comment paranoia, but I think Vince probably said "Hey Shawn, that asshole Austin decided to no-show again, at least you come to the Events when I ask, give him a lot of shit while you're out there"

[Guest liberal]

i didnt see raw but i thnk it sounded like an excellent show.  I also think that by Shawn Michaels shooting on all the people he doesnt like, it will help the ratings and ultimately lead to a benoit vs jericho iron man match for the hardcore title.

 

"In My Opinion......." - Evil DT (Michael Burling) - 2001