Eric Bischoff Lost Respect For Top WWE Star After Hulk Hogan Match

Some wrestling matches are memorable, if only for the wrong reasons. One match that Eric Bischoff will always remember without fondness was the 2005 "SummerSlam" that pitted Hulk Hogan against Shawn Michaels.

In an interview on "83 Weeks" that recounted WWE's 2005 events, Bischoff recalled the bout with sour thoughts for the latter.

"I lost all respect for Shawn Michaels," he said. "It was pretty clear – there an issue between Hulk and Shawn Michaels. There was a lack of respect, I think there perhaps some jealousy on Shawn's part ... I don't know, I wasn't close to Shawn at that point."

For the benefit of those who don't recall the match, Sportskeeda defined it as being "one of the more controversial matches for what happened" – the wrestlers were supposed to engage in a series of matches beginning with SummerSlam, but Hogan insisted that would be a one-off, with Hogan as the victor. As a result, according to Sportskeeda, "Shawn Michaels did not take too kindly to this and reacted by overselling everything that Hogan did in that match, making for something hilarious."

Hilarious to everyone, it seemed, but Bischoff.

"He was doing it to prove a point," he said. "He was doing it to embarrass Hogan. I just lost all respect for Shawn Michaels that night ... Don't be a b*tch. Go out and do your job, be a pro and deal with it after the fact."

Bischoff added that in the years that followed Michaels "really turned his life around – the Shawn Michaels that you would meet today would probably be just as disappointed in himself for doing what he did as I was." He also doubted that Hogan carried a grudge against Michaels, referring to Hulk as "one of the most generous and one of the most forgiving people you'll ever meet – he doesn't want to carry any negative baggage around, especially when it's negative baggage that doesn't matter to anyone anymore."