Shawn Michaels Comments on the Wrestling Business Today

“There’s a lot of good, wonderful, decent young men in the business [today]. And because of that, the business is going to suffer (laughs), you know what I mean?

We were all a bunch of no-good young guys who were taught by an even bigger bunch of no-gooder old timers...there was a rebellious, take-no-prisoners, don’t-take-any-crap-off-anybody, not-afraid-of-being-unpopular, pushing-the-envelope [culture] and I think that helped.

I mean, a great many of us got in trouble and they’ve been some tragedies on top of that – but [today] the product suffers because there isn’t that in-bred attitude. I think they’re genuinely good guys – and the business is better for it from a ‘professional’ stand-point – but say I’m a viewer and I want to see somebody with some cojones on ‘em and stuff like that...

I don’t want to be one of those bitter old-timers that continuously knocks everything. I think, on one hand it’s very tough on the younger talent nowadays. They’re not having the luxury that many of us had – which is having four years of experience [working] countless different styles before we came to the WWE. They’re getting thrown from the frying pan into the fire. They don’t have a ton of experience. And the guys they’re working with are the same guys they trained with, for heaven sakes. I mean, they’re all going to be very similar...that guy came out in boots and tights and oil, and now you’re coming out in boots and tights...the chords in your song sort of sound the same as the chords in that guys'...

People are just so happy to have the job and be going out there that they don’t really think about, ‘what can I do to make myself different?’”