Scott H. sent this recap in.
It was supposed to be a night with HBK hosted by JR, but it was the first ever show done by Shawn and JR and they did it together on stage, not with JR as a host.
Talk turns to Sherri Martel. HBK says Sherri was without a doubt a major influence on his career. He tells how Sherri used to kick people outside the ring if they refused to sell for Shawn. JR talks about how talented Sherri was a worker, how she never ever took away from the talent and that today’s Divas should focus 10 minutes of there day watching Sherri Martel instead of shopping on Louis Vuitton.
JR is asked about what King is like on the road, and he says he is true fun, especially if you are female and under 25. Jim says King loves to sing Beatles song in his full Memphis accent and that when WWE is in Liverpool King loves doing the Beatles tour.
Talk turns to the streak ending and HBK admits he wasn’t a fan of the decision and neither is JR. JR tells how Brock Lesnar didn’t want to beat the streak and asked to lose, but the decision had been made.
Shawn talks about how he was suppose to be part of a team of former champions who went out to the ring to celebrate with Daniel Bryan over his title win, but HBK refused after the way the crowd reacted after Brock’s victory, so he left the Superdome early.
Asked about current talent, Shawn said all 3 members of the Shield are good workers but he doesn’t really watch the product much these days.
Shawn tells of how he came up with the entire match with Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 and how it came to him in the middle of the night, he jumped out of bed and wrote down the finish and how he was going to mouth, “I’m sorry, I love you.”
JR says Flair didn’t want to retire and that Shawn was picked as the guy to end Flair’s WWE run and his career on a whole.
There is talk of Shawn working a long program with Randy Savage, 1993-1994 then Randy would have become a commentator, but Shawn says he never heard of it and that he and Randy were pretty close and he never once mentioned it to him. Shawn talks about how they worked together one time in England in 1992, but it was very early on in the HBK run.
Asked about his supposed WrestleMania 22 match with Eddie Guerrero, Shawn says that he was told about all of his matches and had some input into them, he says he was never once told that Eddie was going to be his opponent.
HBK reveals that he was asked a number of times to have the WWE World Title during his second run, but he turned it down due to the schedule that a champion needs to fulfil.
JR talks about how talented HBK is because he could tags with Marty, singles in the early 90’s, go through the Attitude Era and then evolve once again to be HBK of the 2000’s.
A lot is talked about with HBK and JR’s meeting at Shawn’s home in 2001. Shawn’s WWE deal was going to end and it was JR who convinced Shawn to stay. JR told Shawn that his knowledge and experience would be so worthwhile backstage. JR wanted Shawn to help younger guys and mentioned Orton, Cena and Edge.
Shawn is asked about if he nearly joined WCW, he says apart from going to Nash and asking questions here and there, he was never really close. He says he asked Vince and Vince told him no, and he said that Vince was right.
Asked about his greatest superkick of all time, HBK talks about the Shelton Benjamin one and says all the credit is due to Shelton.
JR talks about how talented and what a nice person Shelton is, he says he was so frustrated that WWE just couldn’t unlock him, he says they couldn’t find the tune for Shelton’s music to play.
JR talks about how it is nice that Shelton Benjamin gets a mention, he says Shelton was recruited by him and sent to OVW with Cena, Randy, Brock, Batista and that Shelton was easily the best athlete out of the whole bunch. JR makes the comment that WWE are making a lot of cash out of the talent he got signed.
Shawn is asked about Marty Janetty. He says Marty is working here and there in New Jersey and spending a lot of time helping out in the gym with the kids. He says Marty was a fantastic athlete and that he was an extremely good babyface.
The art of selling is discussed, and JR says that todays product lacks it, far too much. JR tells talent if they want to learn how to sell, watch Shawn Michaels, Ricky Morton, Ric Flair or Ricky Steamboat.
JR talks about Dusty Rhodes and says Dusty was himself 24-7, there was no fake, you could trust Dusty with anything.
Shawn is asked what advice to give a Christian in wrestling and he talks about not wanting to preach at people and people feeling awkward around him at times. He says that at the end of the day just be your own man.
Shawn tells that he was offered a major role at WrestleMania 32 but he turned it down because he simply feels like there is nothing left for him to do. He says he has loads more left in the tank but that he has had enough. He said if you have a gun you done fire everything in it.
JR talks about Mick Foley;s near death bump at King of the Ring 1998. He says that Mick is feeling the effects of his hardcore career today and that he really thought Mick was dead that night.
JR talks about how he didn’t like knowing what was going to happen, he says that he felt it was more real when you didn’t know what was coming. Some of todays commentators want to know step by step.
JR says that NXT is the most important aspect of WWE’s business model. He says WWE can go to Wall Street and get a VP from anywhere but they cant just go and grab Sami Zayn, Neville, Finn Balor or Kevin Owens from just anywhere.