Shawn Michaels Talks About The Undertaker Threatening To Beat Him Up

“Back then, Mark didn’t like me."

By Grahame Herbert /

Shawn Michaels has opened up about his problems with The Undertaker in 1998. Speaking with Sports Illustrated's Extra Mustard blog to promote his upcoming book, Michaels said that The Undertaker was telling everyone backstage that he would "beat the heck" out of the Heartbreak Kid if he screwed Stone Cold Steve Austin around at WrestleMania 14. Contrary to popular internet rumour, Michaels says that The Undertaker never actually made the threat to his face. The infamous story is that The Undertaker taped his fists and got in Michaels' face. After what happened with Bret Hart in Montreal, The Undertaker wanted to ensure there'd be no screwiness from Michaels in regards to putting Austin over at Mania 14. Michaels recollection of what actually happened is as follows -
"Mark went to everybody and told them, €˜If this doesn€™t go down the way it should, I€™m going to have a big problem and Shawn is going to have a big problem. I€™ll go over there and beat the heck out of him.€™ But he never had to say anything to me. My whole intention at WrestleMania XIV was to drop the belt to Steve, but I was going to make everybody sweat it out and make them think I wasn€™t. Obviously, I got that accomplished. That€™s extremely unprofessional, but that€™s exactly who I was and what I was doing.€
He also states that €œBack then, Mark didn€™t like me." The reason for the heat was that both men were at the top of the WWE, yet conducted themselves in very different ways. The Undertaker was respected and a leader in the locker room, whereas Michaels isolated himself and only got along with his select group of buddies. The pair eventually mended bridges in 2002 after Michaels returned to the WWE and proved himself a new man. They actually have a lot in common, they're both proud Texans and committed christians. Their old school wrestling mentality also ended up closely matched as the 2000's went on and they both became bastions of the WWE. In 2010 they had what is widely considered the greatest WWE match of all time, competing in an instant classic at WrestleMania 25.