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– WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recently spoke with ESPN in a great article, looking back twenty years at the infamous ‘Montreal Screwjob’ and more, check out the highlights below:
On when he first learned of the plan:
“And then of course was, I guess, an infamous phone call between myself and Hunter and Vince — I want to say it was just the week before. There was certainly no talk of it, for me, one way or another, until that phone call the week before Survivor Series.”
On plotting out the match with Bret Hart and producer Pat Patterson:
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“[It was] probably the most uncomfortable day I’ve ever had in the wrestling business,” Michaels said of having to sit with Hart and plot out the match before the show began. “By the time the day comes, the decision has been made. But no one knows how it’s going to get done until Bret and I sit down to start discussing the match — none of this can actually go into play until we do that. And so it was just an uncomfortable day knowing what you know, [how others]assume it’s going to happen, and then you having to be the one to orchestrate it all.”
On his involvement:
“It’s one thing to make the decision to do this. It’s a whole ‘nother thing to actually have to be the person to make it happen and not have any idea about how you’re going to go about doing that. And then, even if you are successful, it’s absolutely going to be the worst thing that could ever happen to you,” Michaels said. “From a professional standpoint, reputation standpoint, even though I wasn’t the most lovable guy back then, it was still just an absolute miserable day, [a]very uncomfortable day.”
On concealing the decision of the match from Bret Hart:
“It’s sort of a surreal moment,” Michaels said. “You made the decision, you’ve got everything set, and there’s still a wrestling match. So you’re out there doing your thing, which is again an unbelievably athletic, tough performance — entertainment and being in character, and things of that nature. And then on top of that, on top of already concealing who you really are in just doing your job, you have to conceal from the person you’re working with any hint of what may or may not happen. You don’t go into something like that not understanding [the consequences],” Michaels said. “You may end up having to fight your way out of the building, or getting in a couple fights, or who knows. But one of the biggest things in the wrestling business is when you go out there with guys, you’re trusting one another with your bodies. With all the differences Bret and I had, they never made their way into the ring. And so — believe it or not — that, more than anything, was the thing. Even though you’re asked to do it, being obedient to your boss, it isn’t fun. Pain, or getting in a fight, or getting beat up, that stuff heals eventually. It would’ve been a lot easier, honestly, to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I knew and I did it,’ and face whatever happened,” Michaels said. “Because at least then, it’d be out in the open and whatever needed to happen would happen right there and then.”
On it being the worst day in his wrestling career:
“I enjoyed darn near every day I was at work for 25 years doing that job, and that certainly was the worst day I can recall in the entire 25 years I was in the wrestling business,” Michaels said. “I probably aged more in that one day than I did in the [rest of that]25 years. And again, you wonder, but nothing really prepares you for how big that moment is, or actually doing it.”