10 Things We Learned From Shawn Michaels On Vince Russo's Podcast
7. 2016 Roman Reigns Is 1996 Shawn Michaels
In one of Russo's more interesting opinions he goes on to compare modern-day despised babyface Roman Reigns to Shawn Michaels in 1996, and the comparison makes a lot of sense.
The years prior to the Attitude Era were difficult for the WWF, and business was down the toilet. Who was on top at the time? Shawn Michaels.
Russo makes a point that gives some sort of clarity as to the thought-process of Vince McMahon when it comes to his top guys. He tells that in 1996, Shawn Michaels got to the top of the card by being himself, and that as soon as the main event beckoned McMahon told Russo to write his promos in the style of (exact words) a 'vanilla babyface'.
Russo would write the promos and Shawn would give them whilst reading from a teleprompter, and not a single person involved was convinced. Shawn smiled for the cameras and the audience snarled back. Sound familiar?
Michaels was eventually allowed to be himself, and the rest is history. It is vital to the career of Roman Reigns that he is afforded the same liberty.