The Undertaker has not held back on what his first impressions of a young Shawn Michaels were when HBK and Marty Jannetty first came to the World Wrestling Federation as The Rockers.
Michaels and Jannetty first joined the WWF together in 1987 in something of a false start. According to Michaels’ biography, the two men were fired two weeks into their tenure with the company for an incident at a bar, that Michaels put down to a misunderstanding.
A short run back in the AWA brought The Midnight Rockers another run with the AWA Tag Team Titles before returning to the WWF in 1988. Upon their joining WWF they dropped the ‘midnight’ from their name and simply became The Rockers.
Two years after Michaels and Jannetty joined the WWF once again, The Undertaker debuted for the company at Survivor Series 1990. Speaking on Shawn Michaels A&E Biography documentary, The Undertaker remembers not being enamoured with Michaels or Jannetty back then.
The Deadman explained:
“I met Shawn in 1990. [Shawn and Marty] were fun loving guys. They tested me a little bit with their antics. They were both pretty much peckerheads. I gotta call a spade a spade.”
Despite not being the biggest fan of either man personally back then, The Undertaker continued praising The Rockers for their innovation in the ring:
“They were definitely innovators, doing tandem moves together and such a cohesive unit. The fans were nuts for them, especially the women. The long hair and all that.”
While Jannetty’s star burned out in the WWF, Michaels and The Undertaker would go on to have legendary careers in the company. The two men met in the first-ever Hell In A Cell match at Badd Blood 1997, and thirteen years later they faced off in the ‘Streak vs. Career’ match at WrestleMania 26.
Not all episodes of A&E Biography – WWE Legends have been well received. Lanny Poffo, the brother of Randy Savage wrote at length all the things he found wrong with the portrayal of the Macho Man in the episode dedicated to his life and career.