Shawn Michaels had a bit of a reputation for being wild in his younger days, and it’s no big secret that he and The Undertaker weren’t fond of one another back then.
Even though Taker and Michaels weren’t exactly friends initially, their relationship has changed over the years. HBK recently spoke to ESPN and he explained why Taker rubbed him the wrong way years ago.
“He never once raised his voice or hit somebody. It bugged me the wrong way. Because he didn’t go and tape his fists. But he didn’t go and make theatrics out of anything. Any time he’d do anything it was very calm, and actually a pleasant conversation. Which was diametrically opposed to the gimmick, so to speak, behind the scenes. My immaturity at the time didn’t allow me to grasp that he had it from a respect standpoint. He did it by example. That’s the way it’s supposed to be done. But as I’ve been apologizing for damn near 30 years for everything, I didn’t have the ability to appreciate that when I was younger.”
Shawn Michaels ended up taking a few years off from wrestling due to injury, but eventually he made his way back to WWE in 2002 for another run which further solidified him as a Hall of Famer.
The former WWE Champion noted that when he returned in 2002 The Undertaker was one of the first people he apologized to.
“When I came back in 2002, he was one of the first guys I went to just to apologize for all of my actions in the past. And he was good with it, but at the same time he made it pretty clear: ‘We’ll see.’ I had a reputation. A lot of people weren’t sure that [my change] was real. Then of course he recognized how [sorry] I very much was,” Michaels said. “When we got to do the WrestleMania stuff, the bond just got thicker and much deeper. We had both changed and grown in a lot of ways. And when we got in the ring, that chemistry was just so dynamic.”
