Wrestling for My Life: The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar

by Shawn Michaels

  You have done it for me again, I would tell God.

  Without God, I would not have been able to wrestle. Near the end of my career, my body was wrecked. I had no cartilage in either knee. The back was still bad. My left shoulder was in such poor shape that I could barely raise my arm completely above my head. I shouldn’t have been able to wrestle at all, much less wrestle well. Yet each time in our sport’s biggest spotlight, I would be part of another showstopping match.

  Others would tell me I had been amazing in a match, but I knew it wasn’t because of me. I knew the ability came solely from the Lord. I don’t know if it is possible to be prideful when you consistently acknowledge God’s faithfulness in your life.

  I’ve learned that the pride thing only plays well in the ring. It surely doesn’t work in the rest of life. When my son was thirteen, he had been making mistakes driving his race car, and I told him to get out of the car after a race.

  “Look, if you continue to do that,” I told him, “I’m going to have to take you off the track.”

  “Please don’t make me get out of the car,” Cameron told me. With tears rolling from his eyes, he told me that racing was what he loved to do. I could see then that he viewed racing the way I had viewed wrestling.

  I had to reassess my threat. A year later, he was in a bigger, faster car, and he was racing so much better. He was still making some of the same mistakes, but he had improved from the back of the pack to where he is now in the front of the pack.

  That was a case where I couldn’t let my pride get in the way and needed to admit that a dad can be wrong.

  I still can’t give you a great explanation of everything involved in being a “new creation.” But I know that God made me one, that He changed my life, and that He gave me a new identity.

  Being called The Heartbreak Kid, Mr. WrestleMania, and all those other names doesn’t even begin to compare to what it feels like to know that the Almighty God who created the universe calls me His child.

  CHAPTER 7

  STAY TRUE TO YOUR STANDARDS

  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

  It’s easy to declare that you won’t compromise your standards. The difficult part is walking that out in your real life.

  I experienced that in my return to wrestling as a Christian. That’s probably no surprise, given wrestling’s image. But the reason why is surprising. Vince and the people at WWE didn’t make it hard for me to not compromise my standards. The difficulty came because of fans, members of the wrestling media, and even some peers who wanted to define what my standards should be.

  To me, being a Christian means knowing that Jesus is my standard-maker and also acknowledging that I will never achieve the standard He set when He lived on earth. Jesus was perfect, and I’m nowhere near it. But that doesn’t excuse me from trying my best to live up to His standards.

  One of the most reassuring passages in the Bible for me is Romans 8:38 – 39:

  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  Those two verses comfort me because I’m a screwup. When I became a Christian, I confessed of my sins and God forgave me of all of them. I then entered into a relationship with Him, and my life changed completely. That did not mean that I became sin-free. God loves me. The reason is, simply, because He chooses to. It’s not because I have done anything to earn His love.

  There is nothing any of us can do to earn God’s love. He gives it to us. Romans reassures us that when we enter into a relationship with God, nothing can separate us from that love. When I mess up, I’m confident that God still loves me. When I stumble, I do not unearn His love.

  Now, that does not give me free reign to run around being an idiot, as I did while living my old lifestyle. I make every effort I can to live a life pleasing to God. I desire for people who aren’t Christians to see the change in my life, to see how that change has lasted, and then want to make the same decision I made to follow Christ. I know, however, that not every single action or thought of mine will be pleasing to God. Jesus lived like that, but He is the only One capable of doing so.

  I don’t know if God looks down and shakes His head at some of my actions or when my sarcastic sense of humor is on full display. But if I can use that image, when God is looking at what I do and sometimes isn’t pleased, I also believe that at the same time He is looking into my heart and recognizes that my aim is to please Him. I’m a hunter, and I don’t always hit where I aim. I like to think that God at least takes into account where I’m aiming with my life.

  That’s why even though I know that I can’t live up to the way Jesus lived on earth, He still is my standard bearer. His example is what I’m aiming for. The problems I encountered in not compromising my standards as a Christian wrestler came from fans and media who believed Jesus’ standards were different from what I believed. We were aiming at different spots.

  In my return, I wanted to be a good employee while glorifying God. I was on fire for God and wanted to witness on the platform I believed He had brought me back to. I knew I could still be entertaining while being a Christian.

  I told Vince there were certain areas in which I would not compromise because of my faith. Vince was receptive to that, saying they would work with me in any way they could and that he couldn’t see any reason there would be a problem. Just as changes both in my life and within the company made it possible to bring more emotion into storylines, Vince had been wanting to alter WWE’s image so we could attract more family-oriented corporate sponsors. So there was another way in which the timing was right for my return as a Christian.

  One big difference from before, I told Vince, would be my involvement in storylines involving women. WWE did not need convincing that sex sells, and sexy women had long played an important role in wrestling. But as a married man, I told Vince I would not be doing anything flirtatious with women. I also told him that I wouldn’t be cussing up a storm as I had before. Again, Vince had no problems with that. However, not compromising my standards was harder than I expected.

  Many of the challenges I encountered had to do with other people not understanding the world of wrestling. For most, the pretend character that I played on TV was the only “me” that existed. But I wanted to make the real me more visible as a good witness to the fans, which is one reason I wore Christian-themed clothing in the ring. Reaching fans was part of my platform for sure. But there also was this whole other world behind the curtains and the cameras where I had access that few believers did. To me, that was where my witness was most on display. That was where I could make the most positive impact. The guys back there — the other wrestlers, WWE’s production people — knew the real me. They had known the previous real me, too.

  I knew intimately what that world was like, and it wasn’t the same as the circles of influence of those who thought my standards should be more like theirs.

  I haven’t spent time with Christians called to street ministries, but I can imagine that when they’re building relationships with prostitutes and drug addicts, their conversations are vastly different from what is heard in a typical church on Sunday mornings. The standards the street ministers protect are different than mine. And you know what? That’s just fine.

  It’s actually none of my business how they go about their ministries. It is for them and God to determine where they need to draw their lines. God knows the type of people through whom He can reach the down-and-out on the streets. If those ministering believe with all their hearts that God is okay with them reaching people by uttering a couple of words most Christians wouldn’t use, then say them, brother!

  Hunter and I had been part of the original D-Generation X that helped pioneer WWE’s Attitude Era in the 1990s
with our crude humor and pranks. The two of us reunited as DX in 2006. Neither of us felt then like doing DX as we had previously, when we were all crude all the time. For one, we were both in our forties, so much of the young punk stuff that was a hit before wouldn’t have fit. But then again, DX couldn’t exactly come back as choirboys, either. I took on the role of an out-of-the-loop middle-aged man, the nerd to Hunter’s hip character. I was the guy with young kids who spent most of his days watching Dora the Explorer, so in character, a lot of Hunter’s humor went over my head because I was no longer cool.

  Scantily clad women were still part of the DX (and WWE) routine. When they would come out, I would put my hands over my eyes. In our earlier days, women flashing us had been part of our shtick. After we re-formed DX, there was one time when I recall Hunter having a woman flash him. In character, I walked off-camera so I wouldn’t be a part of it. Even though that was all acting, I was married and didn’t want to give any impression that I would flirt with or be interested in anyone other than Rebecca.

  In our original form, DX had been famous for the “crotch chop” and a signature slogan that was really popular with the fans. We would say, “If you’re not down with that, we got two words for ya.” Then the crowd would shout along with us, “Suck it!” It was all about being funny and obnoxious while doing anything to draw a reaction. When I went back as a Christian, I thought a lot about how to handle that.

  In our second time around as DX, I started doing another gesture that took my hands down to my waist, but I didn’t do the old crotch chop. With the slogan, we wanted to keep the DX part of our characters as entertaining as possible without my crossing over any lines. What I ultimately decided that I would be comfortable with was for me to be the guy who would say the “If you’re not down with that” part to set up Hunter and the crowd for the finisher. Honestly, coming up with that solution wasn’t easy. It wasn’t a black-and-white issue for me. I knew I would get heat no matter what I did. Ultimately, it came down to following my own convictions, and I was fine with what I chose to do.

  There are fans and people in the media who have told me that covering my eyes, walking off-camera, or making a different gesture weren’t enough, that I should not have had any association with any of that.

  Let’s face it, WWE does not have the most edifying programming on television. But I was aware that there would be fans watching us on television — and perhaps some of them would be people the Lord was working on — and they would notice that I was doing something different than my partner.

  If that caused them to ask why I was different and a friend could tell them it was because I was a Christian, I would take that in a heartbeat. And if it went undetected on television to most, I knew that the other wrestlers and people behind the scenes were noticing that the changes in my life were real and not for show, not some kind of fad that would soon run its course.

  The moment when I first grasped my challenge in handling everything that accompanied being a Christian in wrestling came as the result of using the word “damn” in a promo.

  I had told Vince that I wouldn’t be routinely cursing, but I was asked if I would say “damn” one time as part of a storyline I was working with Hunter. I can’t remember exactly what they wanted me to say, but it was something to the effect of “I don’t give a damn” that would serve as an exclamation mark to show how angry my character was. My mad act basically was a selling point for an upcoming pay-per-view.

  I debated it, decided that I was only acting a part, and said the word.

  The backlash was substantial.

  Even at my next Bible study back home, Keith Parker pulled me aside when we had finished.

  “Brother,” he began in the same Alabama drawl with which he had led me in the Sinner’s Prayer at my first Bible study. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” I answered. Keith and his wife, Priscilla, had become good friends and mentors, and we could talk about any subject.

  “How are you doing?” he said.

  “Good.”

  “I watched you Monday night.”

  “Oh, that’s good.”

  “Well, I noticed that you said a cuss word.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, and I told him why WWE had asked me to say it for the promo.

  We went back and forth for a few minutes, with me explaining that I was just playing a character and that if my appearing so upset with Hunter helped us sell more pay-per-views, saying “damn” once was worth it.

  “I just want to say one thing to you,” he interrupted. “The devil is a liar.”

  “I know.”

  “Well, Shawn, the devil is a liar,” he repeated for emphasis.

  “I get that,” I told him. “Are you saying I shouldn’t have said it?”

  We debated a little longer before he told me, “You said you weren’t going to go back and do any of what you had done before, and you did. And I am just telling you that it’s as easy as 1 – 2 – 3 and all of a sudden you are back into it.”

  I got a little upset and tried to explain to Keith that he didn’t understand what the wrestling business was like and that it was only entertainment, not real life. I threw out other excuses that I thought were legitimate. I wouldn’t admit how uttering “damn” could be the 1 in his 1 – 2 – 3 point.

  Keith, exemplary spiritual leader that he was, never lost patience with me.

  “All right,” he concluded. “I just wanted to talk to you about that.”

  I left in a bit of a huff.

  I had been driving all of two miles when I guess the conviction of the Holy Spirit became strong enough that I had to call Keith and apologize.

  “I did say I wouldn’t do what I had before, and I did,” I told him. “I won’t do it again.”

  I am grateful that early in my Christian walk, when I had aimed in the right place but missed the mark, I had a close friend like Keith who was courageous enough to call me out, in love, about damaging my witness.

  Bringing God into a storyline was another instance when I was reminded of the complications around my stance that I would not compromise my standards.

  Right after Christmas in 2005, we started an angle between Vince and me leading up to the Backlash pay-per-view the following April, when Vince and his son, Shane, would partner in a tag-team match against me and my unique tag-team partner for the night: God.

  The feud originated out of the Bret Hart controversy. Shane entered into the storyline, and after I defeated Vince in a No Holds Barred match at WrestleMania 22, both of the McMahons confronted me the next night on Raw and told me I had defeated Vince only due to an act of God. That set up the Backlash match. In one of his promos for WrestleMania, Vince even created his own religion, called “McMahonism.”

  The McMahons were first to the ring for our match, and then Vince took the microphone and introduced God, who was represented by a spotlight that moved toward the ring as harp music played. When the light reached the ring, Vince asked the referee to check “God” to make certain He didn’t have any foreign objects on Him. The ref didn’t know what to do. That was funny! Then Vince declared it wouldn’t matter anyway, because he was making the match No Holds Barred.

  The whole intent was to have a handicap match, with me in the ring by myself against the two McMahons. That set up the big ending when, as I was about to defeat the McMahons, the five-man Spirit Squad — interesting name for that match — came to the ring and, with me suddenly outnumbered seven-to-one in a no-disqualification match, cheated so that Vince was able to pin me for the win.

  It was fitting that the match took place at Backlash, because we received plenty of backlash. Criticism followed two streams. First, that it was a bad idea. Second, that it was offensive.

  Let’s start with the first one: It certainly was not a good angle. Okay, I’ll go ahead and say it: It was dumb. I had numerous highlights during my career, and that match is not among them. But that was an angle they wanted to do, so we did it.

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nbsp; Now, for those who called the angle offensive and contended I should not have taken part: Up front, let me say that I chose to be a part of the angle. Neither Vince nor anyone with WWE forced me into it. They brought the idea to me, and I chose to take part.

  Vince and I had several discussions about the angle before it started, and we kept talking about it as the storyline progressed. All throughout, he sought my input. He kept asking if I was okay with the storyline.

  “Obviously, we don’t want to offend anyone,” he stated early on.

  “Obviously, we are going to offend people,” I told him. After all, we were WWE, and offending people generally went with the territory.

  “I just don’t want to cross the line,” Vince said. “Let me know if anything will be in bad taste.”

  I assured Vince that I would not go along with the angle if I didn’t feel comfortable with it. I also said that I didn’t feel like he was mocking my faith. I did tell him, however, that he was mocking the church. More accurately, his character was mocking the church.

  I gave Vince my analysis: “You are playing the part of people who mock faith every day by the way they live their lives. They disrespect the church, disrespect themselves, and disrespect a lot of stuff. To me, what you’re doing is symbolism. I get it.”

  In my opinion, Vince’s character was so far over the top in what he was saying that it was obvious it wasn’t real. I thought he was hilarious. But then again, as that storyline demonstrated, it can be difficult for wrestling fans to separate what is real from what isn’t.

  Perhaps, without realizing it, I had factored in what I knew of the real Vince. Vince is a great guy who is nothing like the way he portrays himself on television. He’s a hard-working son-of-a-gun who is the epitome of trying to be the macho guy who has an answer for everything. Inside, though, he is a decent, feeling guy. Vince makes me laugh just by the personality he has. He is a wealthy guy who at the same time is also a dipstick, which I guess is what appeals to me about him. He smartly runs a gigantic corporation, yet still enjoys having silly fun.