Shawn Michaels Talks Bret Hart Reconciliation, Y2J, Flair, Cena As Face Of WWE & More

Shawn Michaels was on Busted Open with hosts Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca. The show airs Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-4 PM ET on Sirius 92 and XM 207. Here are highlights from the interview that Busted Open sent to us:

His feud with Jericho and inadvertently causing the PG era: "Me and Chris (Jericho) would bury ourselves in the writer's room... We didn't have any direction and I guess that my point, and I guess we just sort of said it ourselves and went from there. The process was phenomenal , thought the angle was phenomenal and the truthfully we were the reason the PG thing came down and I bled like a stuck pig, there where people wanted to sponsor something and they saw me bleed like a stuck pig they left and there was no more of that stuff."

His reconciliation with Bret Hart: "It was very genuine. He and I, we had been texting each other. I can't give you a time frame. Some time before that you know me and Tyson Kidd were talking...Holy Cow! This whole thing needs to end. Tyson had passed his number along to me. And he and I had been texting, but not getting in to any detail, but we were testing the waters, like 'Hey, we can do this, it's been a long time and it sucks and its time to end to end it.' We saw each other at RAW, we asked each other, but we didn't talk about what we were going to do out there. But we did get to have a very long chat about everything and look the man in the eye and tell him I was sorry, for being a pain in his back side and it was very genuine. We have since texted one another, I think we will see each other again next week up in Stanford doing something. It's been very nice and its been a great weight lifted off our shoulders....it was important to us and it was important to the people that saw it."

John Cena as the face of the WWE: "I think John does a great job.....it's gonna be impossible not to be partial to John. Because I like him and I like him because he is a good guy. He is the hardest working guy in that company. There isn't anyone who puts in more time then John Cena. The only thing that works against John, and I tell you this with love.....you hardcore guys just decided to dislike him."

Issues with Ric Flair and his comeback after the sendoff WWE gave him: "You know what, he called me and asked me about, and Ric is happy when he is in the ring. I don't think there is any of us that know Ric, there wasn't one thought that he would be back in the ring again. It will still never take away that moment from me. That is the guy I watched growing up. I got to have his last match in the WWE....in the stage, it was a awesome moment, it was emotional, he was nice enough to ask and I know he the happiest in the ring. I only want the best for Ric, It's a totally different subject and that Ric is still wrestling and things like that, my buddy the guy that I know and whatever it takes for him to get there that what I want for him."

Staying loyal to the McMahon's and the WWE: "There where times when I was going threw my very tough times, just let me go, just let me go. He would say 'No, look you would be miserable, they wouldn't do with you what needs to be done. They wouldn't know what to do with you, and that fact that they put that kind of time in to me.' That was really the end of it, that's why I always sound like a company man....its genuine, and I know the real guy, the real guy has cared for me a great deal, and no one is more committed to this business then he is. It was easy to stay loyal. When it comes to the rubber meeting the road, he is gonna still be in the game."

On the Kliq ending the 'kayfabe era': "That would be a fair statement, I think I guess we sort of think, we would prefer to really felt that tradition way of doing things, was no longer working, was silly to do. As opposed to do as we felt it was insulating the intelligence to the viewer, we felt that was keep us limited as of, I think it would be better off being more open and honest with people and we can get more of them to come with you, no, no, no.....it's this."