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After winning the 1998 Royal Rumble, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin had his eyes set on the grand prize, Shawn Michaels' WWE Championship. The match was set for WrestleMania 14 but what fans might not know is that Steve wasn't a fan of Shawn Michaels back then.
Steve Austin On Why He Didn't Like Shawn Michaels
At WrestleMania 14, the WWE Championship was won by Austin after defeating Michaels in the main event, in which Mike Tyson was the special guest referee and played a significant role. In the storyline, Tyson betrayed Michaels by performing a quick count in Austin's favor. However, in reality, Michaels had to take the loss due to an injury to his back that he had sustained during a casket match against The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble, which caused him to take a break from WWE. The injury was only one of the demons plaguing Shawn as he had a bad reputation among his colleagues. At the time he was suffering from an addiction to alcohol and his antics backstage infuriated everyone. His smug and unpredictable attitude had everyone in the back frustrated so much so that it was even reported that The Undertaker was ready to beat him up if he didn't do the planned finish in the match with Austin.
Speaking on his podcast in 2020, Steve Austin confirmed this tale and also revealed that he didn't like Michaels back then. He said, “We both, Undertaker and myself, always respected Shawn’s ability, his work, the talent, the things that he could do in the ring because he was pretty much kind of unparalleled. He was that damn good. But as a person, I didn’t like him. Quite frankly, I didn’t like him at all.” At the time Michaels was WWE's top guy and hence everyone had to comply with his antics but when the company gave Stone Cold the ball, everything changed. The Austin era began that night and no one in WWE would see Michaels wrestle for the next four years.RELATED: 5 Biggest Allies Of Steve Austin's Wrestling Career (& 5 Biggest Enemies)
Steve Austin Hated His WrestleMania Match With Shawn Michaels
While the 19,000 fans at the arena and millions of fans watching rejoiced at Steve's win at WrestleMania 14 at the beginning of the Austin era, Stone Cold was disappointed as he disclosed in a live stream on the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel,"It was special because it was my first title, my world title, so that was a big deal for me as it was for everybody. The match, on a 1-5, a 2. Shawn and I consider… from bell to bell, I consider Shawn to have [no flaws]. Now Bret, as far as realism, you can’t top him. Flair is my traveling world champion, he’s the man. But from bell to bell, talent-wise, nobody can lace Shawn Michaels boots. So to go out there and have a lackluster match with him at the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania… It was cool being out there with Mike [Tyson]. Me and Shawn could have had a way better match, but he was in a bad place, he was injured. I was just red hot."
Austin added why he hated the match. "I hated that match and I loved Shawn and I have the utmost respect for him, but I don’t consider that to be a good match at all. I remember walking to the back and I told Vince, ‘Hey man, that match was the [shits].’ He just patted me [on the back] and [went] ‘We’ll get it tomorrow on Raw.’ Yeah, it wasn’t about the match, it was about transferring that title. I think Shawn was in a real tough place personally and [he was] in a lot of pain. It was a funky match. I didn’t know if he was even gonna walk to the ring. I didn’t know if he wanted to walk to the ring."
RELATED: Every Major Steve Austin Feud During WWE's Attitude Era, Ranked Worst To Best
Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin Become Friends
For his good and for all those who worked with him Shawn was able to fight his demons and come out a sober and healthy person. Upon his return to WWE in 2002 he was a changed man and had earned the respect of his peers including Steve Austin.
Austin and Michaels have maintained a close friendship for approximately fourteen years. Austin has consistently spoken highly of Michaels' accomplishments in his podcast and has even hailed him as the best in-ring performer. Similarly, Michaels has expressed admiration for Austin's career achievements. In fact, Michaels chose Austin to write one of the two forewords for his Wrestling for My Life book.
