Shawn Michaels Denies He Did Crown Jewel Just For Money, Not Down For Another Match

– Shawn Michaels discussed criticisms that he did WWE Crown Jewel just for the money on E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness. You can see some highlights from the interview below, per Wrestling Inc:

On not wanting to get back in the ring again: “I’m glad to say that I did it, but I don’t want to try it again. Negative. Yeah, yeah, so, look, the one upside is… again, you’re always just curious, ‘Can I do my stuff?’ So, technically, yeah, I could go in there and do my stuff and have the young guys work around me and all of that. But the 100% only reason I said, ‘yes’ to this one was, one, it was a special request by other people. And, again, it was a chance… I looked at it like someone is asking the Stones and KISS to come over and just play their greatest hits. That’s it.”

On people who say he did it just for the money: “Unfortunately, everybody feels like it was all about the money and this, that, and the other. And I mean it respectfully, of course, but, technically, I’d make more money doing a single’s match at WrestleMania. Do you know what I mean? Because that brand is bigger. I’m charging more for a single’s match! Do 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. Do you know what I mean? And everything else about working with a younger guy at WrestleMania puts me in a much tougher, more difficult situation performance-wise. And that’s something I had been consistent about over the last eight years. I didn’t want to be put in that position because I’m good with the performances that I’ve had at WrestleMania. I wanted to end those the way that I ended them. [Crown Jewel] just happened to be a special thing that again in a million years I didn’t think would come up, but it did and that honestly is the only reason why I said, ‘yes’.”

On being held to a high standard by fans at his age: “I go out at 53 [years old] after eight years and I think it’s passable from everybody’s standpoint. I don’t care what anybody says. When I came back in 2002, I mean people saw my first match back and immediately, I mean, it took one day to go back to them holding me to the standard that they held me [to] in ’96 when I left. Do you know what I mean? The only thing is that, and it’s a good problem to have, I wouldn’t get held to the same standard that Flair gets held to. If he doesn’t do everything spot on or perfect, that’s fine. They still give him some grace, and some mercy, and all of that. [Edge and Christian] know as well as I do that I won’t get that. I miss a step, I do one thing [incorrectly] and they’d be all over me, so it just doesn’t work. And I don’t say that bitterly. It’s just one of those things that, and, again, it’s flattering. Yeah, I’m held to an unfair criteria and I’m one with that, but I’m also not going to try to live up to it either because I don’t think any man can.”