Triple H and Shawn Michaels are real life best friends. After moving from the WCW to WWE, the future Chief Content Officer became pals with the Heart Break Kid. This behind-the-scenes friendship soon blossomed into an on-screen pairing. Along with Chyna, the three became D-Generation X and wreaked havoc on national television. However, Michaels’ addiction eventually caused a rift between the two that ended with them going at it in front of the entire WWE locker room.
Also read: The Undertaker Reveals Why His Mother Hated Vince McMahon and Triple H
Shawn Michaels announced his first retirement from the WWE back in 1998 after sustaining a back injury. During his time off, HBK abused drugs much more than he did when he was active. This started wearing his relationship with Triple H who was starting to get tired of his friend’s antics.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels once had a backstage fight for real in the WWE
Following Shawn Michaels’ exit from the company, Triple H began his ascension into the main event scene. HBK would intermittently return to the show every now and then. By then, their friendship was not as close as it was before.
As mentioned before, Michaels’ addiction was getting worse by the day and Triple H got tired of it. Triple H recalled their fight on DX’s Biography episode.
“There comes a moment where it’s getting worse and worse, and it’s the night that Vince buys WCW. We all go into an office to watch this go down. Just as it’s about to happen, in walks Shawn, who is just a mess, it’s just embarrassing. Everybody else goes to Vince, ’embarrassing, he shouldn’t be here.’ Shawn comes out of that conversation and in front of everybody in that locker room, we went at it.”
The two stopped talking for a while. However, nearly a year later, HBK called The Game and apologized for his actions. Triple H forgave his friend and the rest is, well, wrestling history.
Shawn Michaels on how he would handle 90s Shawn Michaels
Triple H and Shawn Michaels have both retired from in-ring action. The Game is now the Chief Content Officer in WWE, while HBK runs NXT. During an interview with Inside the Ropes, he was asked how he would deal with a younger version of himself.
For the unversed, Shawn Michaels in the 90s was a menace. He was as much as, perhaps even more, troublesome than he was talented. Plagued with all his drug issues, Michaels was more than anyone could handle.
So how would HBK deal with 90s HBK?
His first reaction to the question was to let them go. However, upon further reflection, he suggested that it would be better to help someone so young and angry before they become a wrestling tragedy. However, if it was just an attitude issue and nothing else, then the best option was to let go of someone that’s more trouble than they’re worth.
“We should try to at least help him because the young man is going to end up hurting himself someday, or he’s going to be one of those wrestling tragedies that we hear about. So, I think if he had all the drug issues and things like that, that I had, that’d be the first step.”
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