411’s WWE Rivals Report: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels

An interesting one here for WWE Rivals as Shawn and HHH have been tied to each other for thirty years at this point and now are the two men running creative in WWE. Let’s get to it!

-Gabriel Iglesias is joined at the table by Kevin Nash (DUH), JBL, Natalya, and Kofi Kingston. Nash notes that both men wanted to be wrestlers from a young age. He notes they were comparable in some ways and night and day in others.

-We start with Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Shawn says that was the character that got HHH in the door.

-May 13, 1996: Shawn vs. Hunter happens for the first time and we see Shawn get the win with a superkick.

-Now we learn about Shawn’s journey and he is called one of the greatest workers to ever put on a pair of boots. Elton Prince mentions Shawn wore ludicrous clothes, but was the coolest man out there. Pritchard notes that Shawn had an attitude and could be difficult to deal with at times. You don’t say! HHH: “Shawn was a prick. Straight up prick to most people.” Friends can always be the most honest! They discuss Shawn’s drug and alcohol issues. X-Pac says Shawn expected his friends to live up to the standard he set and he remembers Shawn chewing him out one night.

-Shawn says they were both helped out a lot by Terry Taylor. HHH says he and Shawn are similar, but he wishes he was as athletic as Shawn. HHH helped Shawn through a lot of his substance issues. Shawn says HHH took a lot of heat and never threw him under the bus. They had each other’s backs on everything.

-JBL talks about HHH’s sense of humor and how it was stifled by the Hunter Hearst Hemsley character. That leads to DX and HHH getting to show off another side. He got to show more attitude and personality. CM Punk says when DX was on TV it was dangerous and must-see TV. “They were the attitude era.”

-Royal Rumble 98: Shawn takes a bump over the top and over a casket but doesn’t clear it completely and wrecks his back. Shawn says he crushed several discs in his back and had to have fusion surgery. At the time it was assumed that Shawn’s career was over and he admits he was incredibly angry.

-Commercials!

-Shawn can’t wrestle but is still under contract. JBL: “If Shawn was in a hospital bed he was going to be under contract.” HHH gets to pick up the ball with DX and becomes the new leader. HHH admits he was still seen as secondary to Shawn and the question was could he be a Main Event player? X-Pac says you can’t replace Shawn Michaels, so he was just himself and they had a great time.

-Mick Foley says he was shocked that they lost Shawn and yet, DX became hotter than ever. JBL puts over HHH reinventing DX without Shawn. Meanwhile, WWE is getting hotter than ever and Shawn is a little bitter. Shawn was so bitter to be buried the shit out of Pac in an interview segment and X-Pac mentions he was pissed.

-Shawn was married but was not happy with how things. Punk: “This is a job where if you are not having fun, holy shit does it make it so much more difficult.” Shawn’s drug use got out of control and it hit a breaking point.

-HHH tells the story of HHH, Taker, Austin, and Rock backstage and Shawn comes in pilled out of his mind. The boys go to Vince as they tell him Shawn has problems and his behavior was embarrassing. Vince tells HHH he is going to talk to Shawn, and as you would expect, Shawn doesn’t take it well. In front of everyone in the back, Shawn lets loose on HHH. He just stands there and lets Shawn get it out of his system and then thinks, “fuck this asshole.” They got into a very heated shouting match and left with both saying, “fuck you. We’re done.”

-Commercials!

-JBL says HHH had everything you needed to be a star and we see the “I am the fucking game” promo with JR. We jump to 2002 with HHH as one of the Main Event stars and multi-time World Champion.

-There was still friction between Shawn and HHH and it was Nash that helped mend fences. HHH says Nash called him and told him that Shawn is trying to clean up. He is seeing things clearly and is feeling bad for what he did. HHH told Nash that of course, he would answer the phone if Shawn called. Shawn talks about turning his life around with his wife and was in a better place. He made the call to HHH and let him know he had found God, had cleaned up his act, and oh by the way, I think I can have one more match. Hmm, backs can be tricky so I hope it works out for Shawn.

-We see Shawn as part of the nWo. That’s still weird, but officially, Shawn was a member of the group. Shawn wants a match but feels the best and safest way for him to do it was against HHH.

-The story is pretty easy HHH is the ultimate asshole heel and knows if Shawn returns it’s not good for him. They cover HHH putting Shawn through the windshield of a car and HHH admitting it was him. Shawn throws out the challenge for SummerSlam!

-Shawn says he got more anxious once the match was made official. They made the match a Street Fight which could help Shawn as smoke and mirrors would cover for things he may not be able to do anymore. Shawn talks about living up to his stature but was trying to temper expectations. HHH says Shawn didn’t get in the ring and just got himself in physical shape. HHH was wondering what they could do if Shawn couldn’t go. He told Shawn’s mom, who was crying, that he would not let anything happen to her boy. Friends!

-SummerSlam 2002: Aug. 25, 2002: HHH notes they didn’t know how long the match would go as there was a fear Shawn may take too many bumps and say screw this and call for it to end.

-Commercials!

-Back to SummerSlam and Shawn makes his in-ring return after just a bit over 4 years away. I do remember that the chatter going in was this was a one-and-done thing for Shawn. He says the biggest comfort was being in there with his best friend and knew HHH could work around him if he was limited.

-Kevin Owens says he was a wrestler and had a show, so he made the promoter put him in the opener so he could get home to watch Shawn’s return. KO is a total wrestling nerd and it’s awesome.

-The match is awesome and HHH knew Shawn was fine just after a few moves. Sami Zayn says he watched and was very concerned for Shawn. JBL notes that Shawn came back better than he was when he left. HHH was left wondering if Shawn was out training in the ring the entire time. Shawn gets the win with a roll-up to pop the crowd. Nash says that is when he knew Shawn the most gifted wrestling performer ever.

-HHH attacks with a sledgehammer after the match and JR IS PISSED! KO says is a Shawn fan and should have been mad, but he was happy as he knew this meant Shawn going to be back in the ring.

-Commercials!

-Gewirtz says nobody thought Shawn would do another match. They called Shawn up and asked if he wanted to be part of the first Elimination Chamber Match. Go watch the behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube of that match. It’s great and so is the watch along with Shawn and Booker T.

-That old Chamber was brutal and I can see why the new version is more protective. They show some of the behind-the-scenes stuff as the guys see The Chamber in MSG for the first time. HHH laughs as he says they are all fucked. They don’t include Booker mentioning someone was going to get messed up.

-Survivor Series 2002: Shawn wins the first Elimination Chamber to become World Heavyweight Champion and that was the last time he ever won a World Title. Not mentioned but HHH got injured as RVD caught him in the throat with a shin. Somehow, they worked around the injury.

-Armageddon: Dec. 2002: 3 Stages of Hell: Shawn defends The World Title against HHH. The first fall was a Street Fight that HHH won. Shawn wins fall two inside a cage and then HHH regains the World Title in the third fall in a Ladder Match. Mick talks about the chemistry that Shawn and HHH always had and how it worked best when HHH was the bad guy.

-They worked so well because they were friends and wanted the other guy to look good. They had bloody wars as Bruce notes some of the bloodiest wars are against friends.

-Commercials!

-We are just ahead as they continue the feud inside Hell in a Cell and man was that match every bit of the 47-minute run time. Yes, 47 MINUTES! HHH’s booking makes sense now.

-They also had a match at Cyber Sunday where Shawn was legit injured and they only went 14 minutes and spent the match with the story being about Shawn’s injured leg.

-We jump ahead more with a DX reunion. They weren’t the hip and cool guys from The Attitude Era and instead, were the Cool Dads making jokes. Gabriel says he got a phone call from his child’s school because his son was telling people to suck it.

-X-Pac says Shawn and Hunter are better as friends. Shawn notes he has spent more time with Paul than anyone else on Earth. Now they are the creative forces behind WWE. Sami says these guys wanted to take over the business in 95 and 96 and here they are, actually in charge of the business. Drew thanks Shawn for helping his career and says working with Shawn is when he got his PhD.

-We see Hunter holding court in a meeting and then the two of them on headsets at Gorilla. They have their fingerprints on everything in WWE. Shawn says they have always been wrestling fans and that is where everything originates. Shawn: “It’s fun.”

-The behind-the-scenes footage and stories were more interesting than the on-camera feud. It was fine, but not as much nostalgia for that time for more. Still an easy show to watch and definitely a worthy entry in the series. Thanks for reading!