When WWE paid Shawn Michaels $750000 to do absolutely nothing

There are a lot of legends in the WWE but no one came close to the following that Shawn Michaels had in his prime. Michaels was the go to guy and the hottest name is wrestling in the 90s. He was the face of the company at a time when the WWE had The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Bret Hart etc.

Vince McMahon loved Michaels so much that he went to extreme lengths to keep him signed with the WWE, so much so that he paid Michaels $750000 per year for four years to do absolutely nothing. At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels suffered a back injury and had to prematurely announce his retirement. The fans were distraught that their beloved superstar had to hang up his boots. Vince McMahon being the businessman that he is did not let him go away as there was a danger that Michaels would sign for WCW in a non fighting role.

So McMahon came up with the idea for Shawn to be involved with the WWE in a backstage/manager role and that contract was worth $750,000. WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross shed more light on this during one of his episodes on the Grilling JR Podcast. Ross said, “We paid Shawn Michaels $750,000 a year for about four years to do nothing.”

While that may have seemed like a waste of money, it all worked out well for the WWE as Michaels made his in-ring comeback in 2002 and wrestled till 2010 giving the fans a lot of great matches.

Austin Theory looks up to Shawn Michaels

WWE United States champion Austin Theory has revealed that he often looks to WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels for advice to understand how to perform well inside the ring. He said, “We’d go back and watch matches, and I remember something specifically he said when I first got there, when I was 22, this was the most confusing thing but I’m glad I figured it out.

“He told me, ‘Hey when you go out there,’ he was like, ‘Are you having fun?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m having fun.’ And he said, ‘You know, like hearing the people and everything?’ And I was like, I don’t really know if I hear the people and everything because I’m so focused on what I’m trying to do in the ring.

Read more: How did Roman Reigns get his name in the WWE? Know all about it.

He continued, “He said, ‘You’ve got to find who you are and be yourself,’ but at 22, I didn’t know who I was. So I’m like, ‘Wait, what? What do you mean?’ I would think about that a lot. I was still doing the same thing but I was trying to figure out his advice. Be yourself? Then I realized it was about letting a little loose. Have fun. Everybody knows being outside of the ring and being able to do promos and backstages, that’s what makes the character.

“That’s what gets people invested. It would be like watching a movie and it’s just action the whole time, you’re not really going to relate to anybody. That little piece of funny advice he gave me at the time went a long way. But I really tried to figure it out because I was like, Shawn Michaels isn’t just going to say this to me.”