Tag: Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels on bringing CM Punk to NXT: Of course I would, I just don’t think anybody would let me

HBK would have no qualms about welcoming CM Punk to NXT, but would WWE allow it?

After his infamous walkout following the 2014 Royal Rumble, the thought of CM Punk returning to WWE seemed far-fetched. However, with his AEW departure earlier this month and having made an appearance backstage at a WWE event earlier this year, the stars align now more than ever for a potential comeback.

When asked about Punk returning to WWE, president Nick Khan commented in the aftermath of the UFC merger that the company respects him and wishes him “nothing but the best,” neither confirming nor denying the possibility. It kept speculation open, which carried into the media call for NXT No Mercy.

Shawn Michaels was asked on the call about the possibility of bringing Punk to NXT, to which he said he would welcome Punk, but doesn’t think anyone would let him have him there.

Of course we’d welcome him here in NXT. My guess would be he’d want to go to the main roster, but I always enjoy working with Phil. Didn’t get to do it much. I understood him. Whether you want to say there were similarities in us.

He once at TV pulled out of his wallet, right there on the spot, a little autograph that I guess I had apparently signed for him at a hotel that he still had. So I’ve always liked him, and I understand he’s a different kind of cat and can be sometimes challenging to get along with. That’s probably why I like him because I suffer from the same thing.

Obviously that’s for people to decide who are higher up on the food chain than I am. He’s a guy that does numbers and makes money. I think that’d be a risk-reward ratio that I’m sure from a company standpoint they’d have to consider. But when it comes to would we take him in NXT and have him on our television, are you kidding me? Of course I would, I just don’t think anybody would let me. Who wouldn’t take that kind of star power? I don’t know. If I get in trouble for that, I’ll let you know.

Michaels’ enthusiasm for Punk suggests that he would welcome him to NXT, which would undoubtedly boost their ratings. The presence of main roster stars like Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley on the developmental brand has already created a buzz, so one of the biggest stars of this generation would only increase that.

The Heartbreak Kid’s statement doesn’t sound promising for the possibility of Punk appearing in NXT or anywhere in WWE as of now. Crazier things have happened, but betting against his return is reasonable for now.

How Gunther’s historic WWE Intercontinental Championship reign has elevated the title and its holder

Gunther’s current run with the WWE Intercontinental Championship is a bit of a throwback in all the best possible ways.

Remember the good old days, when the WWE Intercontinental Championship meant something, when the holder was next in line for the world title?

I feel like we as wrestling fans have asked and answered those questions countless times over the last 20 years or so.

That is not to say the title did not have its share of highlights during the last two decades. The Miz and Dolph Ziggler’s battle over the Intercontinental title in 2016 was the best feud of that year. I thought Cody Rhodes introducing the classic title design was an amazing decision. 

I also believe the list of title holders is still as illustrious today as it’s ever been with the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley, Finn Balor and AJ Styles.

But Miz and Ziggler’s feud was an outlier among mostly forgettable ones. The classic design conjured up memories of the title’s heyday, but its historic luster was never fully restored. And the title felt more like a demotion to the middle of the card rather than a stepping stone to greater success.

But Gunther’s record-breaking title reign has changed that.

As Gunther surpasses Honky Tonk Man to become the longest-reigning Intercontinental champion of all time, the title feels as important today as it did during its glory years when legends like Bret Hart, Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels held it.

But how did we get to this point? How did WWE successfully revitalize a title that had seemingly lost its place in the wrestling business for so long? Well, there were a few reasons.

First, Gunther was the right person to become champion once he arrived on the main roster. At the time, there was only one top title in WWE and we all know who that belonged to (hint: it’s Reigns). 

WWE has never been shy about immediately strapping the rocketship to someone’s back and placing them in main events. Gunther’s size and strength made him a prime candidate for such a position. 

However, WWE was more patient, mainly because it could be. The promotion already has a monster heel enjoying a lengthy title reign at the top of the card. There was no need to rush another into the same position. It was a luxury WWE fortunately took advantage of by giving Gunther the Intercontinental title instead.

As Intercontinental Champion, Gunther defeated virtually all of the company’s mid-card stars, slowly earning him and the title more credibility in the process. Once again, his size and strength also made him a believable candidate to run roughshod over a good chunk of WWE’s roster. 

This does not feel like the Honky Tonk Man squeaking out technicality victories. This is Gunther winning night in and night out, which brings me to my next point: Gunther has not been pinned.

If there is one well WWE loves to go to time and again, it’s having its champions lose non-title affairs. Yeah, they will eventually somehow win when the title is on the line, but they could easily lose every match leading up to that point, leaving the wrestler and the title as collateral damage to terrible decision-making.

Gunther, on the other hand, literally didn’t lose a match until Chad Gable defeated him a couple of weeks ago on Raw. And even that was via count-out. Gunther being so dominant obviously helps him, but it also helps the person that eventually beats him — because, in theory, that person will also be looked at as a future star.

Speaking of future stars, Gunther’s title reign sure has done a lot for Gable, even with him ultimately coming up short of winning the title in the end. Time will tell if WWE will eventually capitalize on Gable’s newfound momentum as a singles competitor beyond a couple of great title matches. But the opportunity is there, which is saying a lot given he has seen most of his success occur as a tag team wrestler going back to his days on NXT.

The matches Gunther recently had with Gable were not the only great ones during his run. Gunther’s hard-hitting affair against Sheamus at Clash at the Castle was arguably WWE’s best of 2022. Throwing Drew McIntyre into the mix at WrestleMania 39 only helped create another bruising classic.

And these matches are not exclusive to Raw or secondary premium live events. They have taken place on the biggest shows on WWE’s calendar, which was not a guarantee for many other Intercontinental Champions.

Remember the good old days, when the WWE Intercontinental Championship meant something, when the holder was next in line for the world title?

I’m happy to say that I don’t have to think back all that far.

20 best WWE finishers of all time: The best finishing moves ever

Finishing moves come and go in WWE, but these 20 are the best we’ve ever seen.

There’s something undeniably thrilling about the best WWE finishers. Just the anticipation for an especially great finishing move is a lot of fun, the palpable feeling that ripples through the crowd when a match is about to reach its dramatic conclusion.

And those occasions where a wrestler unexpectedly kicks out of a top finisher — provided they don’t happen too often — produce some of the loudest crowd reactions in the business.

Thanks to its position as the No. 1 pro wrestling company in the world for decades (even during times it didn’t want to admit it), WWE has seen more than its fair share of amazing finishing moves. But we wanted to dive in and find the ones that were truly the best, the crème de la crème of match-ending maneuvers.

To do that, we consulted a number of lists of this type that are already out there, including the WWE’s own rankings of the 50 best finishing moves of all time. Like our list of the top WWE PPVs ever, that makes this list pseudo-crowdsourced and not just our own opinions — though we slid some up or down where we felt it was warranted.

So what makes a truly great finishing move? The answer varies from fan to fan, but we considered the following:

  • Recognizability/cultural impact – Is a finisher so famous that even casual or non-wrestling fans know what it is or who does it?
  • Believability – If pro wrestling wasn’t scripted, does the move look like it would really end a fight?
  • Uniqueness – Does the move stand out on its own, or does a certain performer elevate it by adding more atmosphere to it?
  • Sellability – Does it offer the person on the receiving end the opportunity to play it up even more?
  • Legacy – Has it passed the test of time, even if others don’t use it as a finisher?

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s dive in and check out what we found to be a bit of a consensus on the 20 best WWE finishers of all time, starting at 20 and working down to No. 1.

Shawn Michaels gives Sean Waltman credit for starting the DX crotch chop

Two words, X-Pac: thank you.

Except for Billy Gunn, who still gets in the ring on occasion in AEW, the members of D-Generation X have all hung up their wrestling boots. The stable’s influence lives on, however, and one of the most obvious ways is through the DX crotch chop.

An easy and readily understandable way to show disrespect toward an opponent (even without DX’s “two words”), the crotch chop makes semi-regular appearances across televised wrestling, and not just in WWE. But who was the first member of D-Generation X to start doing it? Shawn Michaels addressed that question in a new interview with the New York Post.

“The first place I remember seeing it was Sean Waltman, who was then known as 1-2-3 Kid and later X-Pac, doing it over in the UK,” Michaels told the Post. “Then all of a sudden, we were doing it as a group, to each other, kind of thinking it was funny.”

Michaels said the crotch chop was just one of the things that eventually made their way into DX promos that members of the group — which at its peak included Triple H, Chyna, Road Dogg and Gunn, along with Michaels and Waltman — found amusing while doing to each other.

“From a television standpoint, as we started to do DX, it just felt kind of natural,” Michaels said. “A lot of things that we did on TV as DX were things we were doing as friends behind the scenes long before we ever brought it to TV.”

So the definitive answer on who to credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) for the DX crotch chop is on the record. Thank you, Sean Waltman, for making it acceptable to motion emphatically toward your groin, at least among friends. Here’s hoping there’s still the occasional callback to DX’s glory days for years to come.

Iron Sheik, Shawn Michaels react to Siakam’s kick to Theis’ face

For a very brief moment, Game 5 between the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors might as well have been a WWE cage match.

The War on Theis continued in entirely new ways in Game 5 of the second round playoff series between the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors on Monday night, in ways that resembled a cage match in more than just a rhetorical way.

The ‘war’ refer to how Boston center Daniel Theis has found himself unjustly under siege by the referees of the 2020 NBA Playoffs throughout the first two rounds of the postseason.

In Game 5, things took a more aggressive turn for Theis as Raptors wing Pascal Siakam planted his foot in the face of the German big man.

More than a few fans of both teams who happened to also be aficionados of professional wrestling took note of the fact that Siakam seemed to be invoking his inner Shawn Michaels.

For the unfamiliar, Michaels is a WWE wrestler known for connecting the soles of his feet to the jaws of his opponents in the ring.

And it wasn’t just run-of-the-mill NBA fans making the connection, either.

Well-known professional wrestlers such as the Iron Sheik made a point of commenting on the similarities between Siakam’s (we’re pretty sure) inadvertent roundhouse and Shawn Michaels’ go-to move.

Sooner or later it had to get to the eyes of the man himself, who said, “Well, while I APPRECIATE you’ve been watching my old WWE tapes, you may run into issues hitting sweet chin music on an NBA basketball court!! Toronto Raptors”.

Little does Michaels know that the Celtics just so happen to have a pro-wrestler in training on the roster already for just such a purpose — Celtics center Enes Kanter spent last summer training with wrestler Diamond Dallas Page, after all.

Should Siakam try getting cute with a flying elbow off the top off the backboard, don’t be surprised to see the Turkish Shark appear out of the tunnel with a steel chair and the knowledge of how to use it.

Okay, that last part is probably never happening in an NBA game, but you can’t blame us for letting our imagination run with it a little.

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