7 Wrestlers Who Made Vince McMahon Their BITCH!
3. Shawn Michaels
Vince McMahon adored Shawn Michaels, the extent to which was so intense that Bret Hart reckons they were in love.
Vince had to go with guys he would class as undersized in the mid-1990s. The steroid scandal almost put him away for several years. Shawn, despite holding very little in the way of a business case, was always Vince’s preferred option. Vince pushed Bret Hart as the face of the New Generation initially, impressed by his crowd connection and popularity beyond the United States, but there was always a “needs must” aspect to it. Vince respected Bret immensely, but if you track his title history, you’ll see how often and how relatively quickly he wanted somebody else in his spot as the man. Vince still tried to market his beloved size, but neither Diesel (tall) nor Mabel (wide) had the stuff.
Shawn, to Vince, had it all: charisma, bell-to-bell ability, heartthrob good looks, a body that would arouse everything but suspicion. Shawn wasn’t a draw, but Vince figured there was a ceiling on the WWF after its body guy era, so pushed him very hard regardless. Shawn probably surmised by the ear-splitting volume with which Vince would scream his name that he could get away with anything he liked - and he liked to get away with never dropping a title the traditional way, undermine any wrestlers with a remote chance of competing for his spot, and hound Bret Hart out of the World Wrestling Federation for good.
Shawn had Vince tucked in his pocket so tightly that he in effect changed the entire tone of the product around his idea to be edgy and cool. Shawn drove wholesale change in 1997 as much as John Cena did a decade later - without any supporting numbers bar an impressive Madison Square Garden house in early 1996.