10 Moments You Can’t Believe WWE Left On The Network
4. Shawn Michaels Abuses Kai En Tai
Shawn Michaels was an insufferable little pr*ck in the 1990s, by virtually all accounts. Paranoia over his spot and substance dependency often manifested itself in ugly behaviour, onscreen and off. WWE in 2017 is hardly going to scrub all that from the Network; there'd be little footage of the New Generation left.
But there is one moment WWE would be wise to erase, given how performer and company alike revel in his born again, butter wouldn't melt status.
On the July 13, 1998 episode of Monday Night RAW, Michaels provided guest commentary on Taka Michinoku & Too Much Vs. Kai En Tai. The match itself was the pits, despite the moderate to very good talent involved. Funaki landed on his a*se when taking a monkey flip from Brian Christopher in the first exchange. The action barely improved beyond that. The prevailing narrative of the Attitude Era is that every performer was over. That's not the case here. The crowd sits on their hands throughout the whole thing. One observer who was enthused was Michaels - who marvelled at the amount of athletic nip-ups in the match. Get it?
For the record, there were no kip-ups. Michaels just said that for the incredibly dubious LOLs. He cracked Jerry Lawler up, at least.