The WWE Curtain Call is one of the most infamous moments in pro-wrestling history. On May 19th, 1996 at Madison Square Garden, 4 members of the Kliq (Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Triple H) broke kayfabe and hugged in the middle of the ring. Here are 8 backstage stories from members of the Kliq about what really happened that night, according to them.
Was The WWE Curtain Call Pre-Planned?
During a roundtable interview with members of the Kliq, the group discussed the incident. Shawn Michaels revealed that the incident was in-fact pre-planned. Michaels admits that the idea was discussed between members of the group on the European Tour a few weeks prior:
“It was talked about in Europe then it was never talked about again. We had done a European tour, then we came back and had this last run. For us, not that we needed a reason to celebrate something, but everything was the last time we’ll be doing this, the last time we’ll be doing that”
Michaels says that none of them remembered the discussion until Triple H brought it up that night:
“Then, that night, as best as I can recall, it was Hunter coming up and going, “Hey, are we doing that thing we talked about?” I don’t think anybody remembered it”
So we know that the incident was at least planned a little bit ahead of time.
Nash and Hall Got High Before
On an appearance on the Steve Austin Show podcast, Kevin Nash revealed that he and Scott Hall got high before their matches that night at MSG. (Diesel took on Shawn Michaels in the main event, Razor Ramon took on Triple H in the semi-main).
This was due to the fact that they were leaving the company and had been drug tested extensively for the past few years. They had decided to say screw it since it was their final night with the company.
“Yep and this was back in the days, and people think that it was bullsh*t, that whole drug testing era…we were drug tested. For three years there wasn’t a f*cker in the WWF, from when I walked in that door to the day I left, there wasn’t a f*cker taking steroids, nobody smoking pot. Booze and pills, well you can get them from a doctor and alcohol is legal, but anything illegal was not being allowed in that locked room”
He continued:
“We’re driving up to the building and Scott looked at me and he goes, “This is the last time we’re going to be at the Garden. Let’s work this mother f*cker stoned”. I said, “Man I hadn’t been stoned for three years.” We rolled one out, he had a little bit of weed, we smoked one, you walk into Madison Square Garden and the house was like a $350,000 house”
Something WWE likely won’t mention on their specials for the WWE Network.
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