In early 2006, Vince McMahon began a rivalry with Shawn Michaels that would go on to be a long-running and surprisingly brutal feud that culminated at Wrestlemania 22 in a No Holds Barred match.
The match was incredible!
Their match was so well received that the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated voted it as Match of the Year in 2006, beating tough competition like Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker at No Way Out 2006, Kurt Angle’s TNA debut vs. Samoa Joe, and the Hardcore Match between Mick Foley and Edge on the same Wrestlemania card.
With the match being so well received Vince McMahon decided to continue the feud, with some minor additions.
Mr. McMahon Had A Feud With God... Seriously
God. Vince added God to the feud. The God, literal God. He wanted God to have a match.
After Wrestlemania 22, the more religious aspects of HBK’s life became a focal point as Vince McMahon continued to push Shawn Michaels’ buttons. It started when Vince took his son Shane to visit a church and while there Vince took as many cheap shots as he could against the Christian God and started to compare himself to the deity.
Vince claimed that while God had created Adam and Eve, he had created Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. Vince said that he didn’t believe in days off unlike God who always takes Sunday off. With stats like that, Vince clearly has a better work ethic.
The segment was hilarious to be fair. Vince made Shane recite a poem about Vince’s mighty semen, Vince bragged that he would defeat HBK at Backlash and asked God to strike him down if he was lying. God didn’t strike him down, but seeing Shane back away just in case was very funny.
The next week, Vince took things to the next level and proclaimed the start of his own religion, McMahonism. He would then reveal a series of doctored religious imagery with himself inserted into the Sistine Chapel as well as the Last Supper and joining Moses on Mount Sinai with his own commandments.
Then the insane Chairman made the match nobody thought would ever happen. Vince and Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels and… God.
Reflecting on the bizarre match on the 2007 WWE documentary The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak and Triumph, Vince McMahon said, “God has to have a sense of humor, so I suggested with, my ego being the way it is, that I could beat God.”
Being an outspoken born-again Christian, many were surprised that Michaels went along with the idea. Even Triple H admitted he never thought HBK would agree to it on the same documentary. When asked if he had any issues with the story on an In Your Head Wrestling Radio interview in 2011, Shawn Michaels said, “It’s funny, obviously it’s a big part of my life but when it’s so over the top amusing and so over the top just nuts, I don’t take offense to that kind of stuff. It’s pretty clear that kind of stuff is going to come anyway regardless of whether or not it’s about (my) faith.”
The Match Itself Was Really Bad
The match at Backlash 2006 went around 20 minutes bell to bell, but not before Vince McMahon introduced his opponent. “God” made his presence known via a spotlight making its way down to the ring. The spotlight was ever-present throughout the match but was of precious little help to Shawn Michaels who was having to wrestle two men by himself for the most part (there’s an allegory for religion in here somewhere). The match was hard-hitting, with plenty of weapons, high-risk maneuvers, and more than one blade job, but that’s not what anybody remembers about this match. The live crowd erupted into a chorus of boos more than once. While that may have been intentional, from Vince’s blasphemous ranting to the interference of the Spirit Squad, the whole thing was just a mess.
The match has become infamous as the years go by as one of the most ridiculous WWE has ever done, which is some accomplishment if you think about it. Over 15 years later many still look back on the match with distain, whether they thought it was offensive or just plain old ridiculous. In the Heartbreak and Triumph documentary, Chris Jericho said, “I think that was probably the dumbest match in the history of the WWE. Not the actual match but the idea behind it.”
On the match itself, on the same documentary, Vince McMahon himself said, “That was a one of a kind match. In all likelihood, to never, ever happen again.”
From your lips to God’s ears, Mr. McMahon.