10 Wrestlers WWE Protected In The WORST Way Possible

4. Tolerating Those Shawn Michaels Antics

Shawn Michaels is surely glad it isn't 1998 anymore.

He suffered a career-threatening back injury that kept him benched for over 4 years in '98. Before that, HBK was a spoiled brat throughout the 90s, and he set the template for the kind of backstage envelope pushing others like Randy Orton could follow early on in their own careers. At times, Shawn was intolerable to be around for some.

Vince McMahon shielded Michaels from criticism even when he was, by his own admission, an absolute annoyance who was out of control. Being real, this didn’t actually do Shawn many favours, because he ran riot and often went against company policy or refused to drop titles cleanly in-ring. Why should he when he was allowed to get away with whatever he pleased without proper punishment?

That irked fellow top stars like Bret Hart and The Undertaker. They were outraged (particularly Hart) that Michaels was being enabled by McMahon when the boss had full authority to put his foot down. Instead of doing that, Vince backed Shawn over a dependable, more stable workhorse like Bret. Montreal, and all that noise.

It's staggering how creative Michaels got when seeking ways to get out of doing the job for belts. He'd claim injuries and vacate titles, or pass belts off to pals like Triple H so they could drop them instead. It certainly isn't out of line to suggest that NXT chief and developmental talent darling Shawn wouldn't have seen eye to eye with his old self.

There's no way he or anyone else would want to manage a powder-keg like mid-90s HBK.