Speaking to Jim Ross on part 2 of his podcast interview, Shawn Michaels confirmed there was never any consideration given for him to wrestle Daniel Bryan in 2013.
Michaels said he was that the storyline between he and Bryan would be a natural fit, but strictly in a non-wrestling capacity.
In response to being asked whether they had ever been a serious discussion about a match, Michaels said:
“No. No, every time I go back, people joke about it or I’ll get a person here and there who says, ‘If we did this and this, would you do it?’ But, they’re never the decision-makers, I should say. But, no, there was never anything.”
Michaels continued:
“The only person who has say-so on whether I wrestle again is me. I guess I can play with it every year and pretend to start the rumor, but I’ve just never done that. Even though I have absolutely never once in the last four years, going on five now, ever given anyone the impression that I was entertaining the idea.”
Michaels said he was asked to return to television to cost Daniel Bryan his WWE Title match at the October Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but nothing else was worked out ahead of time, saying:
“I stay out of the loop. I come back, I do stuff. And, I have recently decided that I need to at least – when I go back, before I do anything – ask, ‘Where is this going?’ Because I don’t want to disappoint anyone. And I don’t want to mislead the fans. I also just try to come back, do my job, and go home.”
With his angle with Bryan, Michaels acknowledged that it raised questions about a possible match against his protégé, but said he tried to address that by having Bryan get the best of him the following night on Raw:
“I know that it did look like that, I guess I always assumed they have a direction and an idea. And, some of it was just left out there (laughs) and there was never really much resolution. I can say there was going to be even less resolution until – after kicking him, I said, ‘Can I at least go back the next day and let him stretch me?’ I threw it out there, ‘Let me stay here until Monday, let him stretch me, and get that back. And then I’ll go home and you can do whatever you want.'”
To conclude, Michaels said:
“There may be (internal) discussions that go on that the Internet guys know about that no one ever mentions to me. I suppose that’s possible, but I never gave anyone the idea I was going to wrestle again.”
Michaels interview with Jim Ross can be heard here.
