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Ground Zero, Saturday 21st November 1998
First LIVE appearance on Australian television.
Participated in a quiz in which he actually won. Couple of questions - How many members in the band five. Shawn said 3 1/2 Ugly Phil said YES correct. Shawn said DAMN !!
Hulk Hogan was mentioned. Shawn said "Who ?" Talked on the couch and played around with the action figures. Ugly Phil mentioned the popularity of WWF in America, Shawn said we have conquered the states and Europe and Australia is next on the list. And that the WWF is going mainstream in the media.
Phil had the British Bulldog figurine and mentioned it had a hole for his thumb. Shawn almost got in that the Bulldog is used to having someone putting a thumb up his #@! ........ (something to that affect !!)
Basically promoted the figurines, new show and appearances.
Overall a great start for HBK, the audience was behind him and they didn't ask him if it was fake.
Sydney Appearance, Sunday 22nd.
First appearance a HUGE success, some estimates of the amount of people who where there was 5000, but it was more like 1500. Or so I have been told.
"Shawn arrived to a huge reception at
Toys'r'us, people even chanted H-B-K when he arrived!!!! He seemed to be really surprised at the reaction. People cued for about 50+ metres outside the doors and the area around the signing table was absolutely packed!!! You could hardly move!!! The security tried to clear passages but the push when the Heart Break Kid entered was HUGE !!!"
The crowd were well behaved and Shawn stayed over time to try and get through everyone.
Overall, a great success. An opportunity of a life time for fans to meet him in person.
Triple M, Monday 23rd
The Grill Team were pumped and the questions certainly were well prepared.
He was not in character for any part of the interview.
One of the first questions was - " From parts unknown ? "
Shawn replied - " No, my parts are known !! "
Mention's the hectic schedule, they perform 250 days of the year. And there is no off season.
They have been waiting so long to come to Australia,
" I have always wanted to be the one to come over and unleash this tour, its great to be able to finally do this".
Dermit - That bloke the Undertaker, he's bad news !! Loose canon ?
Shawn - " You don't tell the Undertaker anything, you ask him nicely to do something. If he wants to do something his way, he usually gets it."
They actually played some WWF on air, last RAW when the cage is on fire and Jim Ross is screaming, THE CAGE IS ON FIRE THE CAGE IS ON FIRE........
Eddie mentions the WWF was the number 5 show in the US ratings last week. Beating
Frasier, ER, Friends.
Briget - Is this all like acting ?
Eddie - OOOOOHHH !!!
Shawn - " No no no, this is sports entertainment " "Cannot fake chair shots " " Like General hospital with 300 pound guys !! " " Fans have alot to do with the outcome of the match. "
Briget - Can you walk down the street ?
Shawn - " Yes, but not alone. " He said that they are the most recognized athletes in the world.
He said that the pay scale for top athletes in wrestling are around the 2 - 3 million dollar mark. They also get some percentages of merchandise and PPV revenue."
" Higher the ratings, higher the pay scale " , Shawn replied.
When asked if he had been in any "serious" matches, he mentioned the fight he had with Bret Hart. HBK said that he soon found out that the match was not going to go as planned, and had to give it to him. Michael's then said that Bret doesn't like him and he doesn't like Bret, and Bret isn't in the Federation anymore.
On Bret Hart - " He wound up with the short end of the stick "
A well planned interview that went extremely well. Eddie heavily promoted channel 10's new WWF show which was surprising. They mentioned again and again Chadstone Toys r Us appearance. Although most people were already there as this interview was on at approx 5pm and his appearance was at 5:30pm.
Shawn said at the end, " Hope to see you next year, will bring everyone back !!!! "
Melbourne Appearance
Melbourne fans turned up and filled the entire Toys r Us shop plus the queue went all the way outside for what would have to be the biggest turn out ever for a wrestlers appearance in Melbourne.
The crowd were also well behaved and chants of HBK HBK HBK were loud and certainly welcomed Shawn into Melbourne.
Although he couldn't meet everyone the atmosphere and the "buzz" was certainly high enough to make everyone happy and made this appearance a great success.
Shawn is a true professional, an outstanding athlete and a great guy. He took time to visit the children's hospital and stay as long as he could at the appearances. At every appearance and on the radio he
mentioned that next year he will bring everyone back.
Thank you Shawn and all those involved in promotions, scheduling and ' behind the scenes ' on behalf of the entire Australian wrestling for what has been an unbelievable, once in a lifetime experience for WWF Australian fans.
"Shawn on Cheez TV
"Shawn Michaels was on cheez TV on channel 10 yesterday
morning. He was on before and after Pokemon (cartoon), he basically said the same as every other
interview. He was asked what the difference between WCW and the WWF was, he answered that "The WWF is truly the WORLD wrestling federation, you don't see WCW coming to Europe and other places like that". Thanks to
Jason
The appearance must of been taped when he was down. Its good to see because it re iterates WWF Superstars on channel 10.
"Shawn on Sports Tonight"
An interview took place on Sports Tonight Wednesday Night, it looked like he was in Sydney taking photos (perhaps for WWF magazine ?). Showed some WWF footage including
WrestleMania 14 press conference. When asked if it is all real he blocked the camera and said
That's it, and the lady who interviewed him started to Scream !!
"Shawn on Ugly Phil Top 30"
Shawn was on Ugly Phils Hot 30 Tuesday night. He answered questions from phone in's and also counted down the top 30.
"I'm Not Vince's bodyguard!!! Now Shawn Michaels watches his own back in the WWF"
When asked about DX Shawn said he didn't like the fact that he was thrown out of the group he created!!! He also stated that when his back in the ring DX had better watch out
'cos he's coming after them!!!! One listen asked if he would ever rejoin
DegenerationX???
He replied by saying "Why should I have to rejoin the group I created??? I may rejoin forces with them sometime in the future but certain things would have to change. Certain members would have to go, I could get back with DX but it would have to be MY way or the HIGHWAY!!! Its really up to them, you know. You see where ever HBK goes, the spotlight goes, and tag alongs follow.
That's DX, a group of Tag Alongs!!!"
He left the program by saying that he would be coming back to Australia next year and he'd be bringing all he friends with him for a WWF Australian tour.
"Sydney Appearance a Success !!"
Judging from the emails from fans in Sydney over 1000 people saw Shawn with a queue of 50m to see the Heart Break Kid. Here's some comments :
" Shawn arrived to a huge reception at
Toys "R" Us, people even chanted H-B-K when he arrived!!!! He seemed to be really surprised at the
reaction. People cued for about 50+ metres outside the doors and the area around the signing table was
absolutely packed!!! You could hardly move!!! The security tried to clear passages but the push when the Heart Break Kid entered was HUGE !!! "
Chris - " I was at the HBK signing and he said that he loved it in Aus and that next year he was coming back and bringing all the rest oif the WWF superstars with him for a tour of Australia !!"
Fluent Comm. - "Shawn was soooooo nice he even went overtime . we were there at 11am and didn't get to meet him until 1:30 and people were still waiting in the endless line after we left. He is
definitely worth meeting! he said that he's coming back next year and bringing his friends! although he wasn't on
sports world today he will definitely be on Today tomorrow (the guy announced it enough times !!) "
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Bradshaw visited Sydney,
Melbourne and New Zealand as part of his world wide tour.
