AEW analyst and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross gave his thoughts on the time that Shawn Michaels “Lost His Smile” and went on hiatus to heel up from what was thought to have been a career-threatening knee injury in February 1997 on Grilling JR. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Jim Ross on the backstage atmosphere ahead of the Raw featuring Shawn Michaels losing his smile: “It was unprecedented, so we didn’t have somewhere to go back to reference it to any degree. Nothing to this level. I think there was a lot of confusion and a lot of wondering what was going on. Unanswered questions. And when wrestlers can’t get a straight answer or the straight answer is not ready to be presented to them, they get very unsettled. I think that’s what we had on that day. It was a day of being unsettled and all that stuff. Nobody knew what the hell we were doing and there were a lot of stories floating around and how was it gonna come off. Some guys were concerned Shawn was gonna have a live mic and may say some things that were off-script. It was an interesting day of trying to get through that day and come out on the other side.”
On the talent reaction to Shawn’s promo: “Most of them didn’t trust him. Most of them thought he was working. Not everybody, but a lot of them because Shawn is giving away what they were all there to attain, and a lot of them couldn’t relate to that or couldn’t believe it could or would be done. So it was just a time of controversy, uncertainty, and a locker room that was wrought with controversy and things of that nature. The wrestlers don’t need any more help in becoming insecure. It goes with the territory for a lot of them. Shawn was especially sensitive to a lot of those things. But I still think his addiction issues were his biggest enemy, not his knee.”
