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Old 10-09-2018, 09:55 PM   #45608
Mr. Nerfect
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Slik View Post

In fairness to Shawn Michaels:

He probably could have taken a big paycheck to come back sooner. Maybe not $10 million for one match (and I don't know how much HBK is actually getting paid), but I'm pretty sure that when Rock and Brock blew up WWE's schedule, Michaels could have come back for several dates a year for several million.

Okay, now it's conspiracy theory time:

I called Shawn Michaels coming back as soon as The Rock rumors started coming out. I can't remember if I've posted this here. But as soon as, I think it was Brad Shephard or whatever his name is, said it and he's apparently got a bit of credibility, I was like "Welp, Shawn is going to come back." Why? Because Triple H does not want to be on The Rock's card. If there is going to be a Network spike because a genuine star like The Rock comes back, then Triple H is going to make sure his nose is right in there.

So why Michaels? Because Triple H isn't going to believably going to be able to spike the Network numbers with anyone on the roster currently. He's been doing that for years anyway. I thought about Batista, and I'm sure he was going to get the call if Michaels didn't say yes, but HBK would be the priority, because Shawn Michaels being back is special. Rock has wrestled more recently for the company. There's some believable Network-spiking cache in Shawn Michaels coming back.

And I honestly don't think HBK is coming back for the Saudi match. I think he's coming back to provide a main event act for Triple H to hitch himself to again so he can be a top guy when the WWE Network goes to 2 million subscribers or whatever it does when Rock wins the Royal Rumble. But you can't have Shawn return at the exact same time, because it gets diluted, and when you've got this business deal with the Saudis, you can't omit Shawn Michaels from those shows and have him work, say, just WrestleMania, because it looks disrespectful to them.

So I think Shawn's arm's been twisted by Triple H to make sure that Triple H can be in position come January, February, March and April. The Saudi match is just a necessary evil to get to that. And, to take it a step further, that's why I'm not surprised Triple H beat The Undertaker in Australia, and it wouldn't surprise me if DX wins the tag match with Triple H looking strong. If Triple H gets his way, he'll end up directly opposite The Rock at WrestleMania. They teased it in 2015 a couple of times. At first I thought it might be a match between Shawn Michaels and Triple H at Mania, but then I thought that even Triple H might find that a bit solipsistic. Then I thought it might be a Triple Threat between him, Shawn and Taker. It would allow No DQs, Kane to get involved, Shawn and Taker to pick their spots with ladders, caskets and sledgehammers -- like the "epics" they do in NXT and whenever Triple H needs to do a big match with Taker. And, sure, Taker only had one-on-one matches at WrestleMania, but what's sacred anymore? They're making up their own rules now.

But now I've come around to the idea that Triple H is going to be in the main event of WrestleMania 35 against The Rock. There have been no recent indicators, and the automatic belief seems to be that it will be Roman Reigns vs. The Rock. But if Triple H gets his way, he will end up directly opposite Rock so can be no divisor between them. If they do sell Mania to a television network, he will want that monster rating to his name. He doesn't want there to be any doubt about who was the main attraction on that show. Just like he had to headline in India, he had to headline in Australia, he had to headline at WrestleMania 32. His angle will be that he can take the loss at Mania, but they can't have a top guy like Roman losing at two Manias back-to-back as he's getting established, and Rock will kill him on the mic, and if he doesn't, people will be disappointed. The Saudis apparently Rock as Universal Champion, and you don't bring in Rock to lose, so that will fit that paradigm nicely.

My bold prediction is that Rock wins the Royal Rumble, they tease Roman vs. Rock, but then there is some sort of match, or even just an angle, where Triple H gets the Universal Title. It will probably be because of Shawn Michaels, who will start up issues with Roman Reigns in time for Mania. So Roman isn't being demoted, you see? He's getting to work with Mr. WrestleMania at WrestleMania, and it's a match they can actually put him over in. Roman can keep on being Roman and get the belt back from The Rock at SummerSlam or something. Everybody wins in this scenario, Vince.

And as for why Shawn would say yes. Well, Taker had his moment and didn't go. Staying retired out of respect to him seems frivolous and unnecessary. Plus, his kids are older and might want to see him live (well, his daughter won't in Saudi Arabia). But he also might just fucking want to, because he's Shawn Michaels.

TL;DR: Shawn Michaels isn't coming back because of Saudi Arabia. Shawn Michaels is coming back because of The Rock making Triple H feel insecure about his star power, which has always been the case, historically. Saudi Arabia is a necessary pit-stop to appease WWE's business partners because they can't just have Shawn Michaels and not fly Shawn Michaels to Saudi Arabia.
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