In 1996, Shawn Michaels stepped into the ring with Mick Foley (Mankind) at In Your House: Mind Games. The bout is widely considered one of the top matches of each man's career with both men finding a way to adapt to the style of his opponent.
The drawback to the match by the account of many fans is the finish, which saw things end in a DQ once Vader got involved.
Speaking to Robbie Fox on My Mom's Basement, Michaels reflected on the match.
"Mick is one of the few guys -- everyone else, you at least had a couple times on the road working with each other -- Mick and I really didn't. I was one of those abstract matches. He had a different style than anyone else. It was sort of a holding place for both us as we were in different stories. It was an odd placement. For a long time, it was a hidden gem that was so fantastic and an entity unto itself that people brushed past it. It was the process and Mick just....not thinking outside the box for him because he knew his character and knew it well. The things he wanted to do put my character in a place where he just hadn't been. I don't think any of us really knew at the time that it was so vital for us to have at that time. It couldn't have been more perfect. It was two guys adapting and adjusting to one another. This job can be easy at it's core, but you usually only have that with your best friend because there's always another emotion getting in the way. Mick is one of those people who I never hung around and didn't know, but when you get together, there's a chemistry there. It's an odd pairing in a fantastic way," he stated.
He ended by saying, "It'll always be special because there's no storyline or follow-up. It's one of those matches where you go, 'Didn't that end in a DQ?' Heaven forbid you do those now. I understand it because it may not play the same now, but that's what made it special in that moment in time. It was a perfect thing that just sits there and had you done more with it, it might have messed it up. People have come to appreciate it for what it was."
Michaels and Foley would have just one other televised singles matches in their career, battling on an August 1997 episode of WWE Raw.
Elsewhere during the interview, Michaels explained how he connects with NXT talent. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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