WWF.com: What's it like for you to be here?
HBK: It's fun. It's WrestleMania, and WrestleMania is always
fun. This is a little more special. I have some old friends here that
I get to see. We're a little older and a little wiser, hopefully.
We're definitely older. I know that much. It will be fun.
WWF.com: Speaking of your friends, how do you feel about Kevin Nash
and Scott Hall returning to the World Wrestling Federation?
HBK: I think it's great. I think it's wonderful. I understand
that there are certain people out there, I guess certain dotcom
folks, that have their opinion, but one thing everyone needs to
remember is that the relationship that wrestlers have with Vince
McMahon the relationship (Hall and Nash) had with Vince and the
relationship I had with Vince -more often than not is much different
than the relationship you have with the other wrestlers or with other
people in the industry. And that was always the relationship that we
concentrated on. Vince is very much like we are, or we're very much
like him. And that's why he likes us. People may or may not agree
with it, but I think all would admit that if you gave them a choice
of getting along better with your boss or getting along with your
friend, which one would you take? In my opinion, most would say
getting along with your boss.
WWF.com: Are the five of you Michaels, Triple H, X-Pac, Hall and
Nash still as close as you once were?
HBK: No, we're not as close, simply because we've all gotten
older and we all have different lives now. Hunter's life is where
most of ours were five years ago. Our lives were all concentrated on
the wrestling business. And that's where his life is now. My life is
concentrated on my wife and my son.
WWF.com: So Triple H is here, Nash is here, Hall is here, X-Pac is
here any chance we'll see Shawn Michaels back in the World
Wrestling Federation any time soon, even in a non-wrestling capacity?
HBK: I don't know. I certainly let them know, as I have in the
past, that I would be more than happy to. That's not my decision;
that's Vince's decision. Over the last five years and the 10 years
prior to that, every decision that Vince made concerning me and my
career, I always stuck to it and understood it. So I will do the same
in this case. If Vince wants me to do, I'll do; if he doesn't want me
to do, I won't do.
WWF.com: What do you think of how the nWo was brought in, in terms
of being "locker-room cancers," which was a tag given to the Kliq?
HBK: What the wrestling media calls "locker room talk" is not
really locker room talk. It's maybe three guys. The rest of that
locker room is filled with a bunch of young guys that are just trying
to make it in the wrestling business. The rest of the locker room is
filled with guys that all watched Hogan and Hall and Nash and
Michaels when they were young. So this so-called locker room talk
really consists of about three guys, and most of the time, those are
the guys who, for whatever reasons, have concerns, whether it be fear
for their position, or just a general dislike for us. Who knows what
their reasons are. But the one thing I have learned is that when they
say "the word is" or "the buzz in the locker room is," that consists
of about three or four guys.
WWF.com: The name "Shawn Michaels" has been synonymous with
WrestleMania for years. What are some of your favorite WrestleMania
moments?
HBK: I've got a lot of them. I always enjoyed WrestleMania. The
first one (at WrestleMania V) was memorable, just because it was my
first one. It was at Trump Plaza many years ago. And obviously the
Ladder Match with Razor (at WrestleMania X) will always be one of the
all-time best matches of WrestleMania. And the Iron Man match with
Bret (at WrestleMania XII), winning the title, going an hour with the
only guy at that time you could have an hour wrestling match with.
And the last one (WrestleMania XIV) is also special, for a couple of
reasons. I was fairly certain it was my last one, but also, it was
taking part in watching the wrestling business take another direction
and taking it to a level that it hadn't been at before. Just being a
part of that was pretty cool.
WWF.com: What's it like when you think about the fact that it has now
been four years since you competed in a World Wrestling Federation
ring?
HBK: I think it's been a long time.(laughs) Somebody just
mentioned that to me, and I was like, wow, has it been that long? And
it has. But you know, I had four wonderful years in between there,
especially the last three. As I always knew, the Federation and the
wrestling business are going to survive just fine without me.
WWF.com: There were rumors last year that you were supposed to make
your in-ring return to the Federation right around WrestleMania time.
Do you want to address those rumors?
HBK: There's been rumors and talk that I was going to come back
since WrestleMania XIV. There's talk now that I'm gonna come back.
Let's put it this way half the time (the rumors)say I'm gonna come
back, and half the time, (the rumors) say there are no plans for me.
If they keep saying that, eventually one of them has got to be right.
(laughs) So they're pretty consistent. And what are you going to do?
I'm not in touch enough to know what all the rumor and innuendo are;
all I can say is that they're just rumor and innuendo. And they call
it that. When the day comes that they start calling it "fact," then
maybe I'll start paying attention.