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Ted Turner had a bigger checkbook than Vince McMahon himself and once he handed it over to Eric Bischoff with express authority to run wild on the roster of WWE, the President of WCW went on to acquire the services of every major talent to emerge out of the Stanford-based promotion.
Hulk Hogan had no qualms about jumping ship and a whole lot of other home-grown WWE talents followed the Hulkster as WCW was dwarfing WWE in terms of bids. In a few short years, every significant WWE superstar became a part of WCW. Well, almost everyone.
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Before the rise of Rock and Austin, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were the only top stars left on the side of Vince McMahon. Undertaker and Michaels stuck with the Chairman through thick and thin and to this day, McMahon regards the two of them as close friends and family members, and not merely his employees. Unfortunately, the two locker-room leaders did not get along well in the 1990s.
Undertaker And Shawn Michaels Were Loyal To WWE
To be fair, Undertaker was the only locker-room leader in the company and Michaels was the farthest thing from a leader. HBK was almost royally narcissistic during the 1990s and much like almost everyone else on the roster, Undertaker did not get along well with him. The Deadman probably rolled his eyes backstage during the infamous promo where Michaels claimed that he had lost his smile. A few years later, Mark Callaway cut one hell of a shoot promo and he referenced Michaels and this particular promo with a look of disgust on his face.
Despite baring his heart out in such an emotionally-driven promo, Michaels returned a few months later and took part in the infamous Montreal Screwjob, and Undertaker was not too pleased by that either. At the time of occurrence, the backstage area was a chaotic hell, but the Undertaker was the only guy who had enough gall to confront Vince McMahon about what he had done to his biggest star.
Meanwhile, Michaels himself admitted that he was actually scared to go up to Undertaker and talk to him but eventually, he gathered enough courage and went to Callaway to explain himself.
Undertaker and Michaels themselves have talked at length about the aftermath of the Montreal Screwjob but just a couple of months later, Undertaker and HBK were at odds once again. The WrestleMania season was in full swing and Austin was slated to win the title and kick-start a new era but Michaels, bad back and all, was not ready to put over the new star.
According to a number of people involved in the business, Michaels was doing his best to avoid dropping the belt to Austin but this time around, Undertaker went straight up to him and warned him of consequences if he did not see the match through as McMahon intended. After Undertaker was done with his match, the locker room leader taped up his fists, sat in Gorilla position, and waited until the end of the show. The Deadman only got up when Austin had won the match.
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The star of the show, Steve Austin himself commented on the troubles predating the WrestleMania match and confirmed that it was a real pain getting Michaels on the same page. Michaels gave his side story of the story as well, admitting that he was pissed off due to the fact that his career was coming to a close and the agonizing pain he had to deal with made him grumpier than usual.
Calaway And Michaels Are Good Friends Today
Years later, after his retirement from pro wrestling, Undertaker openly spoke about how at odds the two legends were during the critical time of the 1990s. Callaway mentioned that their relationship today was a complete 180 of what they shared back in the olden days. Despite his legitimate dislike for Michaels back then, Undertaker said that despite all the issues he had with him, HBK was always his first choice in terms of an in-ring partner.
Nowadays, Calaway and Michaels are good friends. The two put on the greatest WrestleMania match of all time at the 25th installment of the event and Undertaker was the one who retired the Heartbreak Kid in 2010.
This backstage rivalry had nothing to do with professional jealousy. Instead, it was a plain old story of a babyface versus a heel, only this time, it was very real.
Undertaker was concerned about where the company was headed while Michaels was concerned about himself alone. Thankfully, all went well in the end.
