At one time, getting Shawn Michaels to lose clean was like pulling teeth. However, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has revealed that was not the case for their classic match at WrestleMania 21.
Kurt recently told the story on The Kurt Angle Show of how Vince McMahon left the finish for the match up to the performers. To Angle’s surprise, Michaels made the decision to lose clean by submission to the Ankle Lock. Here is the quote, courtesy of Fightful:
“Vince left it up to us. I was surprised, I didn’t know that’s what he did. When I met with Shawn four days before WrestleMania, we went to ‘hotel party room’ where they had a ring set-up and you would structure the matches. Shawn came to me and said, ‘We don’t have a finish for WrestleMania, but I think you should go over by tap out and this is why. I think you’re going to do a program with Batista and we need to make you look really strong. Like, wow, Shawn Michaels just told me he was going to do a job for me.
I was pleasantly surprised and didn’t know if he was serious. It showed me that he respected me and he knew we would have an incredible match and it wouldn’t matter whether he won or lost. I understand the program with Batista, which never happened, but I’m sure it was supposed to. Shawn just decided to let me win without the guarantee that we would wrestle again because there weren’t any plans for us to wrestle after that.”
Angle also recently revealed that Michaels told him he wasn’t afraid to fight him. While some may have taken exception to this, Angle understood where Michaels was coming from. You can read more about that here.
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