EXCLUSIVE: Shawn Michaels Revealed To Be A Massive Spider-Man Fan

Shawn Michaels is a big fan of Spider-Man!

Aidan Gibbons smiling in front of a green screen in an Adidas hoodie

Jun 4, 2025

Graphic featuring Shawn Michaels and Spider-Man

Shawn Michaels isn't just a fan of Blackburn Rovers as it has been revealed the WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative is a massive fan of Spider-Man.

That is according to Josh Terry, who performed in WWE as Riley Osborne until his release in early May. While speaking exclusively to Cultaholic's Tom Campbell about how his WWE name came together, Terry noted 'Osborne' was inspired by Spider-Man villain Green Goblin and let it slip that Michaels is a big fan of the web-slinging superhero.

"You've got your 10 first names, your 10 second names, you choose all of them and send them to the office and they choose which ones they like. I knew I wanted Riley, so I put that first on my list of the first names and it was slightly bigger than all the others too. Osborne I put like three down. Riley is the dog from Call of Duty: Ghosts, I was like cool, that'll do. And then Osborne, Green Goblin. I was like great Riley Osborne sounds really cool, I hope they choose that one," Terry stated.

"I'm a big comic book geek, that's why I chose Osborne. I think Shawn really loves all the Marvel stuff, like Shawn Michaels. I know he's a massive Spider-Man fan. So I'm guessing me putting that in there, he had some creative light bulb like 'Hang on, he's Spider-Man. He could be a goblin.' I'm guessing maybe that's how that came about but I was just really happy to have a cool name."

The idea of Osborne with a Green Goblin-inspired name came together around the time a feud was planned between Osborne and Axiom which would have led to Osborne being a comic book-inspired arch nemesis to Axiom. That plan was ultimately scrapped after two matches on NXT Level Up between the two talents.

Osborne revealed to Cultaholic he was planned to wear a Power Rangers-esque suit on WWE EVOLVE but he was opposed to that idea.

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