The Undertaker reveals reasons for bitter rivalry with WWE rival Shawn Michaels

The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels have fought some of the most memorable matches in WWE Wrestlemania industry. The two legends squared off for the first time inside Hell in a Cell at Badd Blood in 1997. But their wrestling rivalry came to fore when Hall of Famer Michaels challenged The Deadman for a fight at the Grandest Stage of them all, and vowed to end Undertaker’s Wrestlemania streak. Michaels failed to do so in 2009 and then challenged The Phenom again - this time raising the stakes high: If Michaels loses, he would announce his retirement from in-ring competition. Michaels eventually lost to The Undertaker and bowed out from WWE.

But this all was part of WWE storyline. In real life too, The Undertaker, real name Mark Calaway, shared a hostile relation with Michaels. In an out of character interview to WWE, The Undertaker talked about the reasons on why he never got along with the former World Champion at the time.

Speaking on WWE Untold, he said: “Where Shawn Michaels and I are today and where we were at back then on a personal level, it’s taken a complete 360. If Shawn Michaels back then was on fire, I probably wouldn’t p*** on him to put him out. But, that being said, there is no one that I would rather be in the ring with than Shawn Michaels.”

Michaels, on being questioned on the same, added: “When it came to bell time and we were looking across the ring at each other, we knew it was going to be something really special.”

“It’s not like there was a bunch of animosity. We were just two very different personalities. I was very outgoing, which is to say I was overly obnoxious, and Mark’s always been a very quiet, laid-back kind of guy.”

“A very Cool Hand Luke, very Clint Eastwood-ish type, and I was not.”