WWE.com has Shawn Michaels thoughts on Retirement and his Legacy, Young Talent, Resisting WCW and more

News

WWE.com has excerpts from a feature in WWE the Magazine which is an interview with Shawn Michaels. Here are some highlights:

On Resisting WCW: It was very hard. Technically, I was under contract, though, so it would’ve been a huge undertaking. It wouldn’t have been worth it. The one thing that people kept telling me was that I wouldn’t be able to “create” in WCW. I would’ve been handcuffed, and boxed in. In WWE, I was given an unbelievable amount of freedom – probably more than anyone else – to go against the grain, and do things that might’ve been risky. If I had been in WCW, making 10 times more money, but not doing what I wanted in that ring, I would’ve been miserable. To not be able to express my creativity in the ring – that is something I could never put a dollar sign on. A bunch of guys I know went down there. Maybe they had great experiences, maybe they didn’t. But they weren’t nearly as into being creative and expressive in that ring as I was.

On Young Talent: The risk of failing now is much more prominent. We have so many guys who get lost in the shuffle if they “mess up.” That fear makes everyone much, much more careful. They start walking on eggshells. You can’t do that. You have to go out there, free and easy, knowing that whatever you do is OK. I’ll never say I’m the best at anything – wrestling, talking or whatever – but I will say that I always went out to that ring with zero inhibitions. If I could sum it up in one word for them, it would be “relax.”

On his Legacy: My legacy is my two beautiful children, and that has nothing to do with wrestling. I realize that now, because I’m older. Back in those days, though, there was nothing more important to me than my time in that ring. That was the only place I felt totally free and able to express myself. I was a guy with a lot of stuff on his mind and, when I was in the ring, I could just let everything out. It was the one place I had complete control of my life. I say that, and people think I’m some sort of freak – which, I’ll admit, is a bit true – but, honestly, being in the ring meant everything to me.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.