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Bruce Prichard Recalls Shawn Michaels Incident At Syracuse Bar In 1995, Backstage Response In WWE

November 2, 2020 | Posted by Blake Lovell
Shawn Michaels Image Credit: WWE

In a recent edition of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard discussed the infamous Shawn Michaels incident at a Syracuse bar in 1995, the backstage response in WWE, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Bruce Prichard on Shawn Michaels getting beaten up at a Syracuse bar in 1995: “I got the call later that night at home, so we were made aware of it in the wee hours of the morning. No one really knew what condition Shawn was in at that point other than he had the hell beat out of him and was in a local hospital. Anything more than that, we didn’t really know. We didn’t know how bad his head injuries were or anything else. So, it was Jim Myers I believe – George “The Animal” Steele – who was the agent on record that was there that night that I believe was the one that went to the hospital to try and find to what the hell happened. But there have been so many different stories and so many different versions of what actually took place and the people that were involved in it, I dare say they weren’t in any condition to remember what the hell actually took place. So, your guess is probably as good as mine as to what really happened that night. I think that from all the different versions, somewhere in the middle lies the truth, but all we really know for sure is that at the end of the day, Shawn had the living shit kicked out of him and had a bad concussion and a lot of injuries coming out of it and fucked up a lot of shit.”

On the backstage response in WWE and whether there was heat on Shawn Michaels or Davey Boy Smith: “More than anything, an awareness like ‘What the fuck are you doing being that messed up and going out?’ The boys look after the boys. So, it was ‘Where the hell were you, what happened?’ and don’t go out and get so screwed up that you don’t remember what the hell happened. It was an opportunity for a lesson to be learned for some people, and don’t be stupid more than anything.”

On Shawn Michaels appearing at In Your House 4 and forfeiting the Intercontinental title: “It was sad, first of all, because you sit there and once you saw Shawn and you realize that this has now had almost a week or more – it’s had a while to heal up – and you think about ‘Holy shit’ and how bad it must have been. I actually did see pictures of him in the hospital, and it wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. It was tough, and you had to do something. I think there was a segment of the audience that felt ‘Well, is this real or is it not?’ So, you show Shawn, you show the injuries to his face and make a story out of it. You’re dealt a set of cards, and you have to play them the best way you can at the time.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Something to Wrestle with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.