Shawn Michaels has lived enough for two lifetimes. And now it's time to tell the tale.
Shawn's new book, Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story, covers the life and times of WWE's legendary "Heartbreak Kid." From his childhood in Texas, to his wild days with Marty Jannetty, to his transformation into a singles star, to his triumphant return to WWE in 2002, the book pulls no punches and shows fans a side of HBK they've never seenbefore.
Recently, Shawn took the time to sit down with Raw Magazine and talk about the book, what inspired it, and what's in store for the future of the "Heartbreak Kid."
Raw: What prompted you to write a book?
Shawn Michaels: Everybody giving me a hard time about it! (Laughs). No, I did get asked by a lot of people when I was going to write a book. A lot of the guys had written one, and it's sort of become something you need to do, or at least feel like you should do. I was reserved about it. I'd essentially told my story over the years, especially after I won the WWE Championship (at WrestleMania XII). You know, 12-year-old boy, had a dream, that sort of thing. So I wasn't sure what else I could write that would be very interesting. But after some thought and prayer, I began to feel that I could write a book and be honest. Not to imply that other books weren't honest, but a lot of them didn't get real personal, they didn't touch on real struggles and real openness and straightforwardness. I wanted to be able to do that.
Raw: What were your hopes in being so forthcoming?
Shawn Michaels: I hoped to reach others who had gone through the same struggles I had. Ninety percent of people in our industry and 90 percent of men in
general go through the same struggles that I went through. They just never talk about them. So I wanted to go ahead and do that and hopefully help someone else out. I wanted to lay it out there and tell everybody about the non-glamorous side of my life and my career.
Raw: Was it difficult for you to revisit some of the struggles and hardships of your life?
Shawn Michaels: It wasn't difficult for me to tell the story; it was difficult from the perspective of being a father. I have children, and you can't help but think that someday they will read this. I wasn't a great guy before, and I wondered what my kids might think someday about their dad. So it was difficult from that perspective; how they would take it. Hopefully, they'd see it as a victory and not anything else.
Raw: Was writing this book healing for you in any way?
Shawn Michaels: It was really cool. I did really enjoy it. The guy that I wrote the book with, Aaron Feigenbaum, was genuinely interested and genuinely intrigued with my story, my life, and my faith. He asked a lot of questions. The million-oollar question with me has always been, "Everything was going so well, why would you have problems?" And he really asked those kinds of questions. So it was eye-opening, it was revealing. I learned more things about myself than I think I had intended to.
Raw: In writing the book, did things come up that maybe you hadn't inended to write about?
Shawn Michaels: There are a few stories that I didn't remember, but then there were some that Aaron asked about that just never happened. l know that I am a controversial figure, but I didn't know that there were so many stories out there
that simply weren't true. So what I was sort of enlightened to was just how controversial and how much of a lightning rod I was. When you work every day, you don't get a sense of that. I just didn't have any idea that some controversial story about me was a daily occurrence.
Raw: Did this book make you look at your life as a public figure in a new way?
Shawn Michaels: It really has. Even at my worst, I still looked at this as my job. It's my nine-to-five and it has been since I was 19. So to try to get a grip on how many people really are paying attention was eye-opening.
Raw: Do you have any regrets
Shawn Michaels: No. Sure, there are choices that perhaps you wish you hadn't made, but for me, every decision I've made and everything that I've done has brought me to where I'm at. And where I'm at is the greatest place in the world. So, to change anything in the past would alter where I'm at now, and I wouldn't want that.
Raw: Your faith is very important to you. How does it impact your everyday life?
Shawn Michaels: It's a regular, consistent part of my everyday life. We live a spiritual lifestyle. Obviously, we live in a secular world, but we don't step in and out. I don't want to sound critical, but there are Christians who wear masks. It's something they do on Sunday, and that is their choice and their right. My family chooses not to step in and out of it. The music we listen to, the books we read, the shows we watch, there's just not a lot of secular stuff in our lives. It's what we genuinely enjoy. I've gotten to a point where, on Sunday afternoons, the beer commercials make me uncomfortable. It's just something that I don't want getting into my spirit.
Raw: Does that ever lead to a disconnect with some people?
Shawn Michaels: I'll be around some of the guys and they'll say, "Oh, I know you can't do this." And I just chuckle and say, "It's not a question of `can't,' it's just not something I do." Owen Hart, God bless him, never went out and partied. He was all about his family, and everybody knew it. But no one ever looked at Owen and said, "We know you can't go out, Owen." They just knew he didn't go out. But for me, having been the chief of all sinners, and then to have gone the other direction, it looks like I've gone to a legalistic standpoint. But that's not it. My heart has
really been changed.
Raw: What changed you?
Shawn Michaels: So much of it has to do with my wife and our son. More than wanting to be a good wrestler, I wanted to be a good father and husband. When I met
my wife, I fell so madly in love with her. It was my first experience where I wasn't thinking about myself and things of that nature. And with our son, that was magnified. Then you start to realize that it's truly not about you. The conflict there was, you know all the stuff to say, but you need to model it. It's like that commercial, `Where'd you learn to do this? I learned it by watching you!' And that goes for everything.
Raw: So does this book close a chapter in your life?
Shawn Michaels: I look at this book as my testimony. It was time for me to take a moment and tell my story. It's 300-plus pages, and there's just no way to get everything in there. There are still going to be a lot of unanswered questions. I hope it helps people, touches them. It's like one of my matches. I just hope people enjoy it.
Raw: How do you look at your life today?
Shawn Michaels: It's been an unbelievable ride. Every time I come back from the ring and people tell me it was a good match, I just think to myself, "Lord, you're too much!" Because I never thought I'd be doing this again. I know physically what I'm capable of, and I think I'm as good as I ever was, if not better. It never ceases to amaze me-what's going on, what has gone on. And I'm always excited and intrigued to find out what's around the corner.