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Jim Cornette on Shawn Michaels

I think the injury was legit (same thing that happened to Rick Rude and Bulldog). Rude never wrestled again and Bulldog crippled himself with pills and steroids and died a few years later. WCW went under in Mar 01 but HBK didn't wrestle again until Aug 02. His contract from 96 ran out sometime in the summer of 01.
 
Now I know that Jim hates HBK but ive never heard this one before. Jim's theory is that Shawn made the excuse to have back surgery to take time off after WM14 but they called it a retirement and Vince kept Shawn on the payroll to prevent him from going to WCW. Now come 2001 Vince no longer has to pay Shawn to keep him from going to WCW so HBK trains and makes a miraculous comeback. Now I've always believed that Shawn's injury was legit or at least legit enough to take some decent time off but I've never put two and two together in terms of the timing. What say you?


I don't know if Corny is right about that or not. He definitely has a grudge against HBK that's for sure. Let's say that he was milking the injury and he only needed a year or so off instead of 4. If HBK comes back to wrestle in 99 or 2000 he wouldn't be the top guy anymore. He would've certainly been behind Austin, Rock, HHH, Foley and maybe even the Undertaker. He would've been a mid carder and had to work his way back up and a lot of people there didn't like him to begin with. I personally think the injury was real and he had a bad drug problem. Being off the road that long and meeting his wife probably saved his life. Just my opinion
 
I don't know if Corny is right about that or not. He definitely has a grudge against HBK that's for sure. Let's say that he was milking the injury and he only needed a year or so off instead of 4. If HBK comes back to wrestle in 99 or 2000 he wouldn't be the top guy anymore. He would've certainly been behind Austin, Rock, HHH, Foley and maybe even the Undertaker. He would've been a mid carder and had to work his way back up and a lot of people there didn't like him to begin with. I personally think the injury was real and he had a bad drug problem. Being off the road that long and meeting his wife probably saved his life. Just my opinion
Yeah he was so fucked up on pills still in 01 that even HHH finally told him to kick rocks.
I do get a chuckle out of HBK claiming that "the power of prayer" healed his back.
 
Now I know that Jim hates HBK but ive never heard this one before. Jim's theory is that Shawn made the excuse to have back surgery to take time off after WM14 but they called it a retirement and Vince kept Shawn on the payroll to prevent him from going to WCW. Now come 2001 Vince no longer has to pay Shawn to keep him from going to WCW so HBK trains and makes a miraculous comeback. Now I've always believed that Shawn's injury was legit or at least legit enough to take some decent time off but I've never put two and two together in terms of the timing. What say you?



Shawn was legit injured but he was working through the injury. He had a real and verifiable reason to avoid doing shit he didn’t want to and used it. Other wrestlers wouldn’t have done this but plenty of them are crippled or dead.
 
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Yeah he was so fucked up on pills still in 01 that even HHH finally told him to kick rocks.
I do get a chuckle out of HBK claiming that "the power of prayer" healed his back.
People believe what they want to believe. From the outside looking in. Meeting his wife, changing his life because he found religion through her influence and settling down to have a family were major factors in his recovery. As someone who grew up in a very religious family and being around it all my life I've seen it change people for the better more times than not. If your mind isn't right the body will deteriorate as well. Some people use religion, some use a shrink, Yoga, nature, meditation ect....
 
Cornette has horrible political takes but he knows his wrestling and he was there to witness first hand what a prick Michaels was in his prime.

So I don't doubt the story. Not saying the injury was completely fake, but I can imagine it being embellished by Shawn while he was getting paid to sit at home and do nothing. The timing of the comeback is pretty... convenient.

Pretty much the opposite. Tremendous political takes and owns conservative snowflakes, but doesn't know his wrestling, unfortunately.
 
It makes zero sense.

Cornette is a bitter old loon, who lives in his own head.
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Cornette, who admittedly didn't follow politics or know anything about it until he was middle aged - political genius.

Cornette, who has made millions working in the wrestling business since the mid 70s, worked every possible job in the business, won Wrestling Observer's Booker of the Year 3x, Manager of the Year 12x, ran his own promotions, helped develop some of the biggest names in wrestling early in their careers (Lesnar, Cena, Batista, Orton, etc) - knows nothing about wrestling.
 
Pretty much the opposite. Tremendous political takes and owns conservative snowflakes, but doesn't know his wrestling, unfortunately.

My JUST BLEED God curse you with impotence to spare the future generations from the idiocy that you might pass down in your bloodline.
 
For some reason I've always thought the back injury was legit but didn't need near as long to heal as the public timeline says. Instead, imho HBK was off longer because of his substance problems trying to get that whole messed cleaned up, but they claimed it was because of the back because that's better press than saying he's coked out of his mind.
 
HBK first lost his smile, then he lost his backbone.
 
HBK first lost his smile, then he lost his backbone.
"Lost his smile" = too unprofessional to do a job. Despite the fact that the biggest show of the year hinged on him headlining it. And the fact that the guy he was booked to job to, was willing to put Shawn over the previous year.
 
I wonder what Bolin would say at this point about Cornette knowing wrestling.
 
"Lost his smile" = too unprofessional to do a job. Despite the fact that the biggest show of the year hinged on him headlining it. And the fact that the guy he was booked to job to, was willing to put Shawn over the previous year.
HBK was a very skilled wrestler and one I highly regard in all-time rankings.

He did his opponent dirty though and he & Vince knew about it all along. It's fairly obvious
 
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