Vince Russo On Shawn Michaels And Vince McMahon Being At Odds, HBK Getting Mania Main Event Changed

Cards are subject to change. We've seen that more than our fair share of times as wrestling fans. The rule goes for any wrestling events, even the biggest of them all, WrestleMania.

On the latest edition of Nuclear Heat, former WWE, WCW and TNA writer Vince Russo recalled a WWE legend causing a WrestleMania main event to get changed, and the volatile relationship between that legend and Vince McMahon the previous year.

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"We had written the show. The direction was a three way between Austin, The Rock and Mick Foley for the title. I knew how excited Mick Foley was to headline WrestleMania. I was going to be the first one and tell him, and basically Mick had tears in his eyes," Russo said.

That joy was short-lived, however, as Shawn Michaels, then known as a master politician behind the scenes, caused the match to be changed.

"Shawn Michaels showed up, and when he caught wind of what the main event was going to be, he did what he did best back in that day, he was a different cat back then. He got in Austin's ear, telling Steve how WrestleMania should be Steve and the Rock, and Mick should not be a part of this. Shawn convinced Austin of this enough to plead the case to Vince McMahon," Russo said.

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Russo recalled being upset as he was told the main event was being changed, and that Foley was being removed from the match. He said he felt Foley deserved the spot, but was more upset at Shawn Michaels.

"I remember cutting a promo on Shawn to his buddy Triple H, and I regret doing that. It was absolutely wrong. Triple H relayed the message, and Shawn came at me, and said if I ever said anything about him again, there would be issues," Russo said.

Russo also remembers Shawn Michaels having major issues with Vince McMahon ahead of the previous year's WrestleMania. After carrying the company on his back before the Attitude era, Michaels didn't seem happy with the changing of the guard.

"Maybe Shawn didn't have the time with Vince that he used to, this is my assessment, and this rubbed Shawn the wrong way. It had gotten so bad between Shawn and Vince at that time, that they weren't speaking to each other at all. I was the go-between. I remember once Shawn was so irate and said 'You go tell f'n Vince McMahon that if he wants my f'n title that he can come to my house in San Antonio and take it off my f'n mantle himself.' It was really ugly between the two," said Russo.

Russo said that despite those issues, Shawn Michaels was a total pro at WrestleMania 14 and put on a great match with Steve Austin despite being severely injured.

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Vince will rejoin us on tonight for a new edition of the Wrestling Inc Podcast, which we'll be bringing you Monday, Wednesday, Friday and post-UFC 196 next week. You can check out this week's episode at this link.

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