7. Punching Rebecca
Probably the most memorable moment in the angle between HBK and Y2J was when Chris "accidentally" slugged Shawn's wife. The event took place at SummerSlam, with Michaels appearing in the ring to deliver the news that the eye injury he suffered at Jericho's hands was forcing his retirement. When he went to walk away, Jericho threw a punch, and when Shawn dodged he socked Rebecca instead. Michaels says his original pitch was for him to enter the ring with two child actors portraying his kids and have Jericho shove the girl down. That was immediately vetoed, and while brainstorming for another idea Rebecca casually said "I just figured he'd punch me." After making sure that she was honestly okay with it he took the idea to Vince who saw the dollar signs behind it and gave it the green light. Unfortunately the segment didn't go off exactly as planned and Jericho legitimately hit Rebecca, commenting on the sickening, squishing feeling when his fist connected with her face. Chris and Shawn touch on how valuable Vince was to the angle, interjecting small bits of advice here and there that had a big impact overall, such as telling Jericho to act concerned after hitting her rather than gloat. Shawn admits he was angry with Jericho for what happened, but when they got backstage, Rebecca - probably sensing she needed to defuse the situation - teased Chris by remarking "Is that all you got?' HBK remarks that he's worked with Y2J enough times to know that whenever he says "Don't worry", it's time to worry.
Brad Hamilton
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Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
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