Mid 90s Shawn Michaels vs Mid 00s Randy Orton

[Deleted]

Who was a bigger asshole backstage?

Inspired by the other thread with Shawn vs Vader gif. Who was a bigger pill to handle backstage?

I want to say Shawn Michaels, but everyone in the mid 2000s era said Orton was a major dick. Supposedly, he changed one his daughter was born but was in a dark path.

But then again, hearing about what Shawn and the Kliq did to Chris Candido is sickening.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Mid 90s Shawn

At least Orton got disciplined every now and again but HBK had Vince ear and was doing shit for himself that f***ed over everyone. WWE believed in Randy but they were never as tied to the hip to him as they was Shawn

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

Randy was doing stupid immature baby shit.

Shawn was going way past the line of immature antics.

[realist]

Randy Orton was a dudebro frat boy type. Immature? Sure, but eventually they grow up. Shawn Michaels was a pilled up mess of a human being. He had two choices: grow up or die. Luckily, he grew up.

[Prince Petty]

Orton was an asshole, but Michaels was a full-on nightmare. Arrogant, entitled, spoiled and drugged-up to the gills, and all of that with a management structure that was willing to overlook almost anything he did.

[Deleted]

Feb 8, 2019 14:00:34 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

Orton was an asshole, but Michaels was a full-on nightmare. Arrogant, entitled, spoiled and drugged-up to the gills, and all of that with a management structure that was willing to overlook almost anything he did.

But why? Unless Vince had special feelings for Shawn, there is no reason for your employees to act that way.

[Prince Petty]

Feb 8, 2019 14:05:53 GMT -5 @coolio1234 said:

Feb 8, 2019 14:00:34 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

Orton was an asshole, but Michaels was a full-on nightmare. Arrogant, entitled, spoiled and drugged-up to the gills, and all of that with a management structure that was willing to overlook almost anything he did.

But why? Unless Vince had special feelings for Shawn, there is no reason for your employees to act that way.

Some people think Vince had special feelings for Shawn, certainly. I tend to think that Vince just saw Shawn as a star, as the next face of his company, and wanted to do all he could to keep him happy. Shawn was a spoiled brat, and by all accounts, threatened to jump ship and go to WCW on more than one occasion. Vince must have been terrified of what adding Shawn to the NWO might do in terms of WCW's dominance.

Remember, after Nash and Hall left, the WWF was kind of short on star power for a while - They had Bret, they had Taker and they had Shawn. Losing just one of those guys in 1996 would have been too awful to contemplate. Bret and Taker were professional enough to be trusted (ironically), but Shawn had to be handled with kid gloves at all times.

[auph10imitated]

Shawn Michaels was in his 30s in the mid 90s when he was at his absolute worst, he was a political nightmare hurting a lot of other people in the process.

Randy Orton was in his mid 20s in the mid 2000s and was just an immature punk.

It’s not even close, Michaels wins by a country mile

[Slanted and Enchanted]

HBK by a country mile. Orton also grew up faster and acknowledges his past. Just hangs out playing video games with his kids or coworkers nowadays. HBK has made a show of redeeming himself through Christ and still fails to acknowledge his past sins by blaming drugs and a hazy memory.

[Deleted]

Feb 8, 2019 15:07:45 GMT -5 Slanted and Enchanted said:

HBK by a country mile. Orton also grew up faster and acknowledges his past. Just hangs out playing video games with his kids or coworkers nowadays. HBK has made a show of redeeming himself through Christ and still fails to acknowledge his past sins by blaming drugs and a hazy memory.

I see Michaels caught Bischoff's "I don't recall" bug.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Shawn Michaels in the 90s was the spoiled, whiny douchebag against whom all future spoiled, whiny douchebags would be measured against. Orton was kind of a dick. It's Shawn and its not even close.

[Venti]

Isn't there even stories from this time of Orton being actually a cool dude occasionally?
I read that he took the blame for some things wrestlers lower on the card did, like trashing hotel rooms.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 8, 2019 17:29:11 GMT -5 Venti said:

Isn't there even stories from this time of Orton being actually a cool dude occasionally?
I read that he took the blame for some things wrestlers lower on the card did, like trashing hotel rooms.

Depends on when. Like, I know he tried to take the storyline mentorship of Cody and DiBiase seriously, and would make a point of paying for any meal they had together for all three of them, since he knew he obviously made way more money than they did, but that's also after the period most people cite as his most troubled.

[JCBaggee]

Orton's been a tool, but he's never gone out of his way to get someone fired so far as we're aware.

[Deleted]

No contest, it's Shawn. From what I've gathered Orton was basically a real life, one man version of the Undisputed Era. Douchey, but he had nothing on Shawn and the shit he's said to have pulled.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Orton was a douche, HBK was evil.

There’s a reason why nobody backstage did anything when The Undertaker threatened to beat him up at wm and that if he didn’t then Taker was gonna do a shoot run in.

[Deleted]

Shawn and it’s not close.

[Deleted]

Feb 8, 2019 14:05:53 GMT -5 @coolio1234 said:

Feb 8, 2019 14:00:34 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

Orton was an asshole, but Michaels was a full-on nightmare. Arrogant, entitled, spoiled and drugged-up to the gills, and all of that with a management structure that was willing to overlook almost anything he did.

But why? Unless Vince had special feelings for Shawn, there is no reason for your employees to act that way.

I dunno what it was, exactly, but you could make the argument that Vince felt like Shawn was all he had as far as being a credible draw in the WWF. Sure, he had guys like Bret Hart and the Undertaker, but Bret Hart was always gonna be the emergency "Break Glass in Case of Failed Experiment" dude to bail him out for a few months, and Undertaker was stuck working with monsters of the week that didn't get over to the crowd. As a result, Vince gave Shawn a much longer leash than most other talent.

In plenty of ways, the rise of Austin helped out the company in more ways than one, as Austin didn't have anywhere near the headaches Michaels did, and Austin actually was a profitable champion.

Besides, Orton was routinely punished by being suspended or put on SmackDown, and it wasn't until late 2007 before they put a world championship back around his waist.

[Deleted]

I think Shawn is still an asshole, and that his Born Again schtick is a work.

(Insert joke about working yourself into a shoot, brother)

[agent817]

I love Shawn as a wrestler (Though I preferred 2000s Shawn to 1990s Shawn), but I have read a lot of horror stories about him from the mid-1990s. Man, he sounded like a real piece of work. I even cringe when looking at the end result of his match with British Bulldog at One Night Only, mainly because Smith was initially booked to win the match, but then Shawn threatened to leave if he didn't get the win for that match.