WWE Superstars will always go above and beyond when it comes to WrestleMania. After all, it is the biggest wrestling event of the year where even the most casual fan will stop in and see what has been happening in the WWE Universe. Because of this, the performers will often go to extreme lengths to ensure that the thousands in attendance, and the millions watching around the world, can come out of the other side thinking that they saw WWE at their very best.
Over the years, WWE fans have seen things like Jeff Hardy being speared out of mid-air by Edge, Shane McMahon jumping off the top of Hell in a Cell (and missing The Undertaker in the process), and Mick Foley getting speared through a flaming table. The latter of those spots took place at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago, Illinois back in 2006, a show that featured another dangerous spot that had everyone in the Allstate Arena on their feet.
In his quest to finally get one over on the Chairman of the Board, Shawn Michaels went to hell and back with Vince McMahon in a brutal No Holds Barred match. The bout concluded with The Heartbreak Kid jumping from the top of an extra tall ladder, and delivering his trademark flying elbow through the heart of McMahon, who was lying on a table below. However, the spot was even more memorable for the fact that McMahon couldn't actually see Michaels coming as he had a garbage can over his head, meaning that he had no idea when he was going to have a 225-pound grown man crush his entire rib cage. With that in mind, McMahon needed to be given some sort of signal just so that the Chicago faithful didn't see him get killed.
In order for McMahon to have enough time to tense his body so that Michaels didn't cause any serious injuries, the referee, Chad Patton, had to give some sort of signal to his boss. That signal was very simple, a leg squeeze.
If you go back and watch the closing stages of the match, Patton is pleading with Michaels not to jump, while also holding the ladder in place so that it didn't fall over as Michaels made the climb. HBK did a few crotch chops as a final show disrespect to McMahon, and when the camera cuts back to the wide shot of the ring, Patton runs over to the end of the table where McMahon's legs are and gives him a simple squeeze, before getting as far out of the way as possible so that he didn't get hurt in the aftermath.
McMahon ended up leaving the ring on a stretcher, while defiantly flipping the bird to the camera, but once he got to the back, all of the wrestlers who watched on in horror were extremely impressed at their boss for having the guts to take the bump that he did. Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that McMahon worked a lot of the stars backstage in saying that he had no idea when Michaels was going to land and just had to hope for the best, but Meltzer revealed the magic behind the act a few weeks later. Despite this, it doesn't make the spot any less memorable or dangerous, and even with a little signal to help cushion the blow, you would be hard pressed to find someone crazy enough to take a move like that, let alone the man who is responsible for your financial well-being.
