Shawn Michaels On Whether He Considers Himself The GOAT, What He Enjoyed Most About His In-Ring Career

In a recent interview on Rasslin’ with Brandon F. Walker, Shawn Michaels discussed what he enjoyed most about his wrestling career, whether he considers himself the greatest of all time, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Shawn Michaels on what he enjoyed most about his wrestling career: “Honestly, that’s what I enjoyed most about my career. Everybody almost always has a style, and it took me a long time to realize I don’t really have a style. One of the things I did was I adjusted and adapted to everybody. I think that’s what gave me the opportunity to have so many different matches and pretty darn good matches with a lot of guys. That’s what I enjoyed most about it was not putting myself in a box and adjusting to whatever it was that they did really well. And I guess, when everything is said and done, that was probably my best strength, which was my adaptability. But it also really kept me in the area that I enjoyed most, which was, ‘How can I make this the best match possible?’ And sometimes, if you have painted yourself into a certain style, sometimes that can make it a little bit more difficult. I didn’t go in planning it that way, but that’s how it ended up turning out.”

On whether he considers himself the greatest of all time: “I don’t. But it’s funny when you’re younger, certainly you do. But I don’t know, I now only have the ability to see everything in the rearview mirror. Technically, at 56, I am back to where I was at 19 when I was just realizing that my idea of success was having a car and a one-bedroom apartment and maybe one of the main guys in the local territory in South Texas. Obviously, it has become so much more than that. I am now unbelievably flattered that I get mentioned. Look, people argue about it, whether who is or who isn’t, and my name is in there. And that to me is good enough. That is beyond my wildest dreams. Those things never get determined, and every generation is different. Again, I’m just glad to be at this point in my life and look back on a really cool body of work that I’m proud of.”

Shawn Michaels on his favorite In Your House match: “I would say the one with Jeff Jarrett because it was the one that was in the original In Your House [concept]. It was Tennessee, it was fun, it was good guy vs. bad guy. It was a very traditional type of match. All those others are so fantastic, but at that point it was becoming bigger than In Your House. So, I always go back to that one with Jeff and it was such a blast and was easy to do, no pressure. Him and Road Dogg were out there flying all over the place. Jeff and I had worked with each other a thousand times, and he was so unbelievably talented and an easy bad guy to dislike. So, it was one of those worlds where all the traditional wrestling stuff applied, and it was fun to do.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Rasslin’ with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.