There have been a lot of fans complaining about the current state of the WWE, many saying it is nowhere near as exciting or good as it was in the past. While most people associated with the WWE will defend it and blast fans who complain, there are some former WWE superstars who have never held their tongues. Shawn Michaels is one of those wrestlers.
In a current appearance on Edge & Christians’ Pod of Awesomeness podcast ( via Wrestling Inc ), the Heartbreak Kid spoke about one of the differences between today’s wrestlers and those from his era. Shawn Michaels said that wrestlers in the WWE today don’t evolve as much as they did when he was wrestling full time.
Shawn Michaels was a guest on the podcast along with Mick Foley and the two men discussed their amazing match at In Your House: Mind Games . According to Michaels, that was the first time he ever wrestled Foley, which is amazing considering the quality of the match. Shawn also said that the match was a good chance to develop his character because it was the first time he proved he could get “down and dirty.”
It is that character development and the evolving of characters that Shawn Michaels says is missing in the WWE today . Michaels said that he wasn’t trying to be critical of anybody, not pointing out specific superstars in general, but he said that many current WWE wrestlers are set in their characters and they are not growing as a result.
Shawn Michaels said that even when he was the WWE world champion, he continued to evolve and make changes toh is character. Michaels said that he was never a “finished product” and he continued to grow and stretch his character until he retired.
At the start of his career, Shawn Michaels used a body press as a finishing move but then developed his Super Kick. Despite that, Michaels never used the famous stomp for his Super Kick until a world title defense against Vader, an example of working to figure out new ways to grow and evolve.
Shawn Michaels said that many WWE superstars today are “set in their sequence” and have a distinguished moveset. While Michaels woulnd’t signal people out, an example is John Cena and his set up to his signature moves. Roman Reigns is similar .
Shawn Michaels said that is not a positive way of developing a character for longterm success for most wrestlers. According to HBK, that takes away the emotion from the matches and just makes them repetitive.
[Featured Image by WWE]
