15 Things We Learned From Shawn Michaels On Stone Cold's WWE Network Podcast

11. Keeping The Secret

Shawn mentions how incredibly uneasy he felt when the entire thing went down and says he's always likened it to a mob movie where you have to shoot your friend. "You might have had your differences but he's still a colleague." He claims what bothered him more than anything was that Vince was adamant that Shawn deny any role in the incident, choosing to take the blame and put all the heat on himself. Shawn says he couldn't convince his boss that he wouldn't be the one who'd feel the backlash, saying if anyone blamed him they'd do so quietly while blaming him outright. Michaels said it would have been much easier for him to admit it from the start and get punched in the face because at least then the truth would have been out and he wouldn't have had to live with the secret for all those years. He gives Hart credit because he says The Hitman understood that HBK carrying the burden wasn't easy on him. Austin asks how long it weighed on him, and he said it took a lot of reconciling within himself before he was able to come to terms with it, and when he finally let it all out it was a tremendous release for him.