Shawn Michaels Recalls DX Match Against The McMahons At SummerSlam

Shawn Michaels has taken a look back at what it was like for D-Generation X to team up against Vince and Shane McMahon.

It is SummerSlam day and while it’s important to focus on the current stars, sometimes we need to look back on big matches from the past. In this case, it’s the 2006 match that saw D-Generation X’s founding members Shawn Michaels and Triple H reunite to team up against Vince McMahon and his son Shane.

This was around the time when Shawn Michaels and Triple H were finally back on the same page after being rivals for most of the previous years. The founders of DX were together again for the first time in eight years and it led to a lot of comedy segments at the expense of the McMahons.

At the time, Vince and Shane McMahon were united as heels running the show. The fans hated them because of how they would abuse their power among other things. In reality, Triple H married Vince’s daughter Stephanie three years earlier, but WWE really didn’t make that public at this point even though most fans probably knew it to be true.

While talking to Sports Illustrated, Shawn Michaels praised Vince and Shane McMahon for being willing to do anything to put on a good showing.

“At one time, it may have been awkward to work against my boss and his son, but it wasn’t by that point in our careers. Talk about two guys that are unbelievably giving and open to darn-near anything under the sun. They were hustlers who just worked so hard, there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do.”

Shawn Michaels Says The Match Went “Better Than We Planned”

The match was won by D-Generation X when Michaels stopped Shane’s Coast to Coast dropkick attempt with a superkick. That was followed up by a trash can shot to Vince, then a superkick by Shawn and a Pedigree by Triple H for the pinfall win on Vince.

“There’s a different expectation in a match like that, and so much less pressure. For it to go so much better than we planned, that was a bonus. It’s the total opposite type of match for me. And they were willing to do anything. They were working for the best aspect of the match.”

That SummerSlam match wasn’t the end of the rivalry because they had a Hell in a Cell match at Unforgiven 2006 too. That one ended with DX’s Michaels & Triple H beating Vince, Shane and Big Show in a Hell in a Cell tag team match.