Shawn Michaels was now the WWF Champion, but as was so often the case with his career, controversy wouldn’t be far behind.
In May 1996, Kevin “Diesel” Nash and Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall were set leave the company for WCW. They were best buddies with Michaels and along with him and Sean “1-2-3 Kid” Waltman were part of the infamous “Kiliq”, a powerful group that with “HBK” at the forefront, supposedly prevented the upward mobility of other WWF wrestlers and had the “stroke” with boss Vince McMahon (Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who would later find much greater fame in DX and as a main event star in his own right, worked his way into favour with the “Kliq” by apparently laughing at Shawn’s jokes and carrying the bags for him and Nash). On their last night with the company, the much-talked-about “Curtain Call” incident occurred at a house show in Madison Square Garden.
After Michaels beat Nash in a Steel Cage Match, Hall and Helmsley joined them both in the ring and in acknowledgement of Nash and Hall’s departure, all 4 men broke character and embraced in the middle of the ring.
This incident was controversial at the time, as the Internet was still in its infancy and “behind-the-camera” acknowledgements such as this were seen as “exposing” the business.
For the fans in attendance, it was a nice send-off, and something that you definitely wouldn’t have seen on TV (Michaels and Hall were fan-favourites, while Nash and Helmsley were heels, the WWF at the time didn’t want to give fans the impression that the guys who “hated” each other on TV were really best buddies and were working together to put on a “show” or “performance” for the audience). I’m sure that it was genuine heart-felt gesture from Michaels and friends and not a senseless act of defiance to management. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon and WWF higher-ups didn’t take too kindly to the move and to prove a point decided that someone had to be punished. But who would it be?
Michaels was virtually untouchable as he was the WWF Champion (and there was no way Vince would risk losing him to WCW as well). Nash and Hall were already on their way to pastures new. Which just left the upstart Helmsley.
Hunter was the “sacrificial lamb” and got booked into oblivion for the better half of a year. After partaking in the “Curtain Call”, he became a “Curtain Jerker” (opening match act) and regularly lost his bouts. The WWF also dropped plans for him to win the 1996 King Of The Ring (the gig went to Stone Cold Steve Austin, who after winning the tournament, cut his infamous “Austin 3:16” speech).
Meanwhile, Michaels was the reigning and defending WWF Champion. He was still a babyface (and the face of the company) but unfortunately, he didn’t have the same impact as Hulk Hogan (who McMahon had tried replacing with Bret Hart and Diesel, but alas neither man had the “Hogan factor” at the box office).
That said, it would be unfair to label Michaels an unsuccessful WWF Champion. The company faced turbulent times in 1996 (and 1997) as they were put on the brink of collapse by WCW (who as mentioned previously, had acquired most of their “star attractions” from the 1990’s). Shawn Michaels was the best man for the job at that time and was a reliable worker, who continued to have some superb matches with a variety of opponents (hell, he even got some good bouts out of Sycho Sid, who beat Michaels for the WWF Title at Survivor Series, only for Shawn to regain it on his home turf in San Antonio at the Royal Rumble in January 1997).
With WrestleMania just around the corner, it’s believed that the WWF had planned to have a Michaels/ Hart rematch (likely with Bret Hart going over, being as Shawn had beaten him the previous year), but in February 1997 on a special edition of Raw, Michaels vacated the WWF Championship on live TV, citing a knee injury and that he had “lost his smile.”
Throughout the segment, Michaels was teary-eyed and gave the impression that he was retiring. At the time, Michaels’ “farewell speech” caused a stir as critics (including Bret Hart) apparently believed that Shawn simply didn’t want to drop the belt at ‘Mania and was using the whole “injury/ retirement” thing as a “smoke-screen” to the truth.
Whatever the case, Michaels left the ring and had knee surgery (and appeared as a guest commentator at WrestleMania 13, where in the replacement match, The Undertaker beat Sid to become the new WWF Champion). He returned a few months later but got injured again in a short match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at King Of The Ring.
At SummerSlam, Michaels was the “Guest Referee” for a WWF Championship match between Undertaker and Bret Hart. The WWF had built Shawn’s involvement on the premise that he couldn’t possibly “co-exist” with Hart in the ring and bring himself to count the fall and possibly award him the title. However, when Michaels swung a chair at Hart (after Bret spat in his face) and inadvertently decked Undertaker instead, “HBK” found himself doing exactly that: Counting the fall and awarding his enemy the WWF Title.
This incident led to a Michaels/ Undertaker feud, which officially kicked off shortly before Shawn beat The British Bulldog in his home country at “One Night Only” (UK PPV) in September, becoming the new WWF European Champion and nearly starting a riot at the Birmingham NEC in England (fans were convinced that The Bulldog would win, as he had previously never lost a WWF match on UK soil before).
During his feud with ‘Taker, Michaels officially returned to the “dark side”, playing up to the fact that despite his popularity with young kids and females of all ages, he was generally hated by most of the men in the audience.
After going to an official wasting “non-finish” at In Your House: Ground Zero, Michaels was put in a new match concept with Undertaker at In Your House: Badd Blood in October.
The “Hell In A Cell” Match was a variation on the long-established and popular “Steel Cage Match”. However, this one had a roof and was surrounded by real mesh fencing (as opposed to black or blue steel bars). It was bigger, more intimidating and far more dangerous than your standard cage match.
The idea was that Shawn had been running from Undertaker, executing sneak attacks on Raw and generally escaping like a thief in the night. However, in “Hell In A Cell”, there was no escape. Michaels couldn’t climb over the cage due to the roof and he couldn’t escape through the door, as it was padlocked shut. There was truly “no way out” for “The Heart-Break Kid” (plus his new “D-Generation X” associates “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Chyna wouldn’t be of much use either, as they would be “shut out” of the match due to the “Cell”).
Much has been written about this first “Cell” match between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker (I myself have referenced it many times in previous columns). To this day, it stands alone as the greatest “Hell In A Cell” Match of all time and not just for “nostalgic” value.
The performances from both men were spot-on and the emotional involvement this encounter gave the viewers at home and the live audience in attendance that night was incredible. Michaels bumped in and around the “Cell” like a stunt man and took that infamous fall from the roof of the structure through the announce table below (as commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler cried “Incoming!”). Michaels also got catapulted face-first into the side of the structure and bled buckets to demonstrate the brutality of the “Cell” and the unrelenting attitude of The Undertaker.
But let’s not forget about the contributions of The Undertaker himself. In takes “two to tango” as they say, and “The Phenom” entered a career showing here.
The finish was surrounded by controversy, but at least it gave us a stunning debut of a new character (Undertaker’s “brother” Kane), plus after the beating her took in the “Cell” match, I don’t think many people would have found it plausible if Michaels had beaten Undertaker cleanly.
After surviving his first-ever “Hell In A Cell” Match, Michaels then moved on to his next rivalry. Shawn would be challenging for the WWF Championship again and his opponent would be none other than Bret “Hitman” Hart.
As previously noted, plans for a Michaels/ Hart rematch at WrestleMania 13 had been dropped when Shawn “lost his smile” in February 1997. Bret believed that Michaels had pulled out of the match due to not wanting to drop the title back to him (“returning the favour” from WM 12 when Shawn won the “Iron Man” Match).
The on-screen feud between Hart and Michaels had also expanded into real-life and throughout 1997, their battles and promos on-screen had been a mixture of real animosity and scripted actions. (That year, Michaels went out to the ring on Raw and implied that Bret had been having an affair with Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, WWF’s top female star at the time. Things really got out of hand when Bret attacked Shawn backstage and reportedly tore a clump of hair from his head. In response, Shawn allegedly stormed out of the arena (apparently citing an “unsafe working environment”) and threatened to leave for WCW).
Heading into their rematch at the 1997 Survivor Series (held in Montreal, Canada), fans and insiders who were privy to the behind-the-scenes heat between the two debated just what would happen when Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had their 2nd biggest match together on PPV. Would this thing turn into a shoot (i.e. real fight)? Would Bret Hart even the score in his home country? Would Bret leave the WWF with his head held high? (Word had now got out that Hart was leaving for WCW and that Survivor Series would be his last “hurrah” on the grand stage).
The infamous “Montreal Double-Cross” has been discussed at length elsewhere and for that reason, will not be revisited in any great detail here. Simply put, Bret and Shawn had a decent, heat-filled match in Canada which according to a pre-match agreement from Hart and Vince McMahon (the conversation was picked up on Bret’s “Wrestling With Shadows” documentary, released in 1998) was set to go to a DQ finish with both DX and The Hart Foundation (Owen Hart, British Bulldog & Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) running interference. This would result in Bret retaining his WWF Championship in Canada (he would have then presumably have dropped the belt to Michaels [or someone else] on Raw the next night, or even at a non-televised house show event).
As we are all now aware, McMahon changed the plan without telling Bret and along with Shawn Michaels and Senior Referee Earl Hebner (who were both in on the ruse), double-crossed “The Hitman” in his “back yard” in front of a sold-out crowd. When Hart reached to grab Michaels’ leg to reverse the “Sharp-Shooter”, Vince called for the bell and Shawn won the match, as a stunned audience looked on.
Post-match, Bret spat in Vince’s face and trashed a couple of ringside monitors. (He later punched out Vince backstage, leaving him with a concussion and a bruise around his eye). Michaels was escorted to the back by HHH and WWF officials and up until a few years later, denied any involvement in the “Double-Cross.”
With Bret Hart now gone, Vince McMahon officially began a new era in the WWF. In what would become known as “WWF Attitude” in 1998, McMahon started heavily building his product around profanity, sex, violence and characters that were “shades of grey” (i.e. not clear-cut faces or heels). At the forefront of this was the aforementioned “D-Generation X”, the Michaels-led group of “degenerates”, who Bret had taken issue with prior to the Survivor Series.
DX was essentially an offshoot of WCW’s NWO (which included Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean “Syxx” Waltman, all of whom had remained friends with Michaels & HHH since leaving the WWF). However, they were cruder and ruder than their WCW counterparts and regularly pushed the boundaries of “acceptable TV” on Raw.
DX’s catch-phrase was “Suck It!”, a statement that was accompanied by a crotch-chopping action. Michaels and HHH basically went out to the ring and made the sort of “high school senior” jokes that previously would only have been heard within the walls of the WWF locker-room. However, by this point, McMahon was so desperate to stop Turner’s WCW breathing down his neck that he was willing to take a gamble and risk potentially pissing off long-term fans (and causing them to switch off entirely) in order to gain millions of new ones with a “hip” and more “realistic” style of programming (this would happen in 1998 with the birth of “WWF Attitude”, on the back of characters such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, DX, The Rock and others).
In the ring, Michaels continued to be the defending WWF Champion. At the Royal Rumble in January 98’, he defended the strap against his old nemesis The Undertaker in a Casket Match (first man to lock his opponent in the “air-tight” casket and close the lid wins). This was another entertaining scrap from two wrestlers who always seemed to bring out the very best in each other. Unfortunately for Shawn, this bout marked the beginning of the end for his career (at least initially).
At one point in the match, Michaels took a backdrop over the ropes and onto the casket. His lower back hit the edge of the wooden pine box, causing him to herniate two discs in his backand crush another one entirely.
Michaels won the match (again, due to interference from Kane, who turned on Undertaker [the “brothers” had apparently formed a “pact” prior to the Rumble] and choke-slammed him into the Casket, before pushing it up the aisle, hacking at it with an axe and setting it on fire), but that wasn’t the real story here. He had suffered some serious back injuries and looked set to be hitting the bench for quite some time (if not forever).
Obviously, this posed a big problem for the WWF, as they had planned on having Michaels headline WrestleMania 14 with their newest fan favourite (and the biggest break-out star to hit the company since Hulk Hogan) Stone Cold Steve Austin. They had hoped that Michaels would “pass the torch” to Austin at the biggest PPV of the year, ushering in a new era in WWF history (the Michaels injury was a further blow as Austin himself was only working big PPV matches and was being placed in relatively safe situations every week on Raw, after suffering a broken neck in a match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam 97’).
When it became clear that Michaels only had one match left in him (and even that was debatable due to his condition), the WWF pulled him from all active competition; replacing him in the huge “Unsanctioned” 8-Man Tag-Team Main Event At In Your House: No Way Out (the match featured Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack and Terry “Chainsaw Charlie” against HHH, The New Age Outlaws and Savio Vega; replacing Michaels) and only using him for interviews, promos and “sneak attacks” on Raw.
Even with all this “protection”, it was still hard to watch the Austin/ Michaels match at WM, knowing the pain that Shawn was in at the time. To his credit, he bumped all over the place and put Stone Cold over the right way (that’s not taking anything away from Austin, who had a different ring style to Michaels but developed into a bona-fide main event talent in 1998).
The finish came when Michaels fell prone to a “Stone Cold Stunner” and got “counted out” by Special Enforcer Mike Tyson (who had formed an alliance with DX in the run-up to ‘Mania).
Post-match, Shawn questioned why Tyson would count the fall on him when he was part of the “DX” fold (Tyson was even wearing a “DX” shirt for the match). Michaels got in Tyson’s face and the “Baddest Man On The Planet” responded by laying out Michaels with a [worked] knockout punch! Tyson then celebrated with Stone Cold after draping an “Austin 3:16” T-Shirt over an unconscious HBK.
Michaels returned to the WWF later that year to do some colour commentary on Raw and in November, became the story line “Commissioner” (taking over the role from Sgt Slaughter).
Throughout the remainder of 1998 and the early part of 1999, Shawn worked as both a heel and babyface “authority figure” and in the run-up to SummerSlam 1999, served as a “Special Guest Referee” (along with Shane McMahon who was also an official) in a number 1 contender’s match that saw both HHH (who was now breaking into the main event scene and was officially free of “DX”) and Mankind get declared the winners with a double-pin, which meant that they both got a WWF Championship shot against Steve Austin at the PPV.
Michaels continued to make sporadic appearances for the WWF over the next year or so, before opening his own training school in Texas (Michaels also came out of retirement [after having back surgery in 1999] for a “Bunkhouse Brawl” match with one of his trainees).
In 2002, Michaels returned to the WWF (now the “WWE”) as a member of the NWO (New World Order). The group’s stint was brief, and was memorable only for the sight of Shawn “super-kicking” fellow member Booker T on Raw and officially throwing him out of the faction.
Soon after, HHH (who in Michaels’ absence from WWE, had taken over DX and made it bigger and better, before going it “alone” and “breaking the glass ceiling” as a true headline star) teased a DX reunion with Michaels, but turned heel on his friend and also brutally assaulted him in the parking lot, driving his head through the passenger window of a car, leaving him bloodied and beaten.
HHH initially denied the assault, but later admitted to the deed after Michaels found “video evidence” to support his claim. The stage was now set for a showdown at SummerSlam, in a “Street Fight” that would mark Shawn’s first WWE match in over 4 years.
Obviously, many fans, insiders (and dare I say, fellow wrestlers) questioned whether Shawn Michaels (who was now a family man, with a lovely wife who also happened to be a former WCW Nitro Girl, and a young son) could perform like the “Showstopper” of old, even in a “gimmick” match that relied on “short-cuts” such as weapons and blood. Shawn Michaels had always been about the performance, but what if he couldn’t perform at the “Shawn Michaels level” at SummerSlam?
Fortunately, Michaels didn’t just perform at that level; he surpassed all expectations and in the process gave HHH his greatest match that year (“The Game” had returned to WWE in January following a devastating quadriceps injury in 2001. However, HHH was rusty in the ring and prior to his match with Shawn at SS had been in some mediocre bouts, which could be attributed to the fact that he came back with too much additional weight after training like a man possessed to get back in the squared circle in less than a year). This was a bloody and spectacular “Street Fight” that saw Michaels triumph “against all the odds” and beat his former friend, only to get smashed in his injured back by HHH’s trusty sledgehammer during the post-match celebration.
The attack strongly suggested that this wasn’t just a “one match” deal for Shawn (after all, he would have to return to get revenge on HHH, right?). As suspected, Michaels came back and actually became the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match at the Survivor Series in November (beating “The Game” to win the gold).
HHH regained the title in a disappointing and long-winded “Three Stages Of Hell” Match at Armageddon, before Michaels moved onto to a new story line feud with the arrogant Chris Jericho.
Michaels and Jericho had a superb and heated rivalry that was built around the premise that “Y2J” had grown up idolising Shawn but had lost interest when he realised that he had “surpassed” him with his own career.
Together, HBK and Jericho had a brilliant bout at WrestleMania 19, which from a pure technical wrestling perspective, was the best match on the show (for pure entertainment value, however, the “show-stealer” for me was the Hogan/ McMahon “Street Fight”). The feud was kept going in the post-match when Michaels offered to shake Jericho’s hand as a sign of sportsmanship and respect, only for “The King Of The World” to embrace Shawn and then callously turn on him by kicking him in the balls.
Later that year Michaels entered a valiant effort as the last remaining member of “Team Austin” at Survivor Series, losing to Randy Orton thanks to interference from Evolution “Animal” Batista (the loss meant that Austin [who was now an on-screen “authority figure” after retiring following his 3rd WrestleMania match with The Rock earlier that year) would have to leave WWE “forever”; predictably so, “forever” was just a couple of weeks). Michaels then put Batista over strong by losing to him in a singles match at Armageddon in December.
In 2004, Michaels revived his feud with HHH, having a brutal “Hell In A Cell” Match with “The Game” at Bad Blood, whilst at Taboo Tuesday in October, he was voted into a WWE World Heavyweight Title Match with the “Cerebral Assassin”. The latter was truly a gutsy performance from Michaels: His knee was shot and he could barely walk (let alone wrestle), but he nonetheless went through with the bout and worked a very different, and emotionally involving wrestling match with HHH.
At WrestleMania 21 the following year, Michaels had a wrestling master-class against Kurt Angle, who prior to the PPV had attacked Shawn’s former tag-team partner Marty Jannetty and former manager Sensational Sherri with the dreaded “Ankle-Lock.” In a surprising finish, Michaels himself tapped out to Angle’s submission hold, giving “The Olympic Hero” the first win in their entertaining series of matches.
A SummerSlam, HBK fought Hulk Hogan in a “dream match”, which came about when Michaels suddenly turned on Hogan during a tag-team encounter. Michaels built this story line up strong, turning heel and hilariously donning a wig, shades, fake moustache and yellow and red feather boas to mock Hogan’s appearance on Larry King. Unfortunately, when it came to bell-time, Hogan was unwilling to lose to Michaels and “put him over” the right way.
The result was Michaels bouncing and bumping around the ring for Hogan’s now-weak-looking offence (by this point Hogan had truly become slow and stale in the ring). It was embarrassing to watch Shawn sell those Hogan punches and big boots in a way that looked so completely over the top. After the match, Michaels became a fan-favourite again when he shook Hogan’s hand and then left the ring to allow Hogan to take the limelight once again.
2006 saw Michaels battle his boss Mr McMahon in a dispute that started off interestingly enough with a stellar “No Holds Barred” Match at WrestleMania 22 (which saw Michaels execute a flying elbow-drop from the top of a ladder, through a table, which had Vince laid out on it with a trash can on his head), which was won by Shawn, but soon lost its lustre when McMahon booked himself and his son Shane in a tag-team match against Michaels and “God” at Backlash (that’s right: McMahon booked “God” in a match. He also mocked religion further by creating his own following, “McMahonism”). The McMahon’s won this bout (which was entertaining, if you took away the sacrilegious nature of it) thanks to interference from the male cheerleaders known as “The Spirit Squad.”
Later that year, Michaels reformed DX with HHH (fans who could recall the heyday of the group groaned as HBK and Helmsley rolled out the same jokes and routines as before, only this time, they weren’t brash or “angry young men”, it was more like your uncool dad or uncle showing up at your mate’s birthday party making tired jokes and trying to be “hip”) and the partnership continued until “The Game” tore his other quad at the “New Year’s Revolution” PPV in January 2007.
At WrestleMania 23, Michaels got to headline the show in a gripping WWE Championship Match against John Cena (Cena retained) and feuded with Randy Orton for the remainder of the year.
In 2008, Michaels famously “retired” Ric Flair in an emotional bout at WrestleMania 24 and later had one of the best feuds of that year with Chris Jericho.
The rivalry saw Jericho brand Michaels a “hypocrite” and a “liar” and even go as far as punching Shawn’s wife Rebecca in the face (accidentally) at SummerSlam.
WWE faced a dilemma when Michaels tore his left triceps prior to his “Unsanctioned” Match with Jericho at Unforgiven, but against all the odds, Shawn went through with the bout and gave everyone the best match possible under the circumstances.
At No Mercy the following month, Jericho retained his newly won WWE World Heavyweight Title in a memorable (but somewhat messy) Ladder Match against Michaels.
Soon after, Michaels entered into an odd story line with John “Bradshaw” Layfield, which saw HBK “working” for “self-made millionaire” Layfield after apparently blowing his earnings and life savings.
Thankfully, this implausible tale didn’t last long, and at WrestleMania 25 that year, Michaels got back on track with a very entertaining match against The Undertaker (which saw Shawn miss a moon-sault from the top rope and hit the floor with a sickening thud, while ‘Taker nearly broke his neck with his patented top-rope clothesline to the outside, which he thankfully, hasn’t used since).
Michaels wanted to be the guy to end ‘Taker’s WM “streak”, but after having his moon-sault attempt converted into a “Tombstone” pile driver, he lost the match (but gained respect from Undertaker in the process).
After taking an hiatus from the ring, Michaels returned in time for SummerSlam, for another DX reunion with HHH (in an angle that ran on Raw, HHH discovered Michaels working as a chef and convinced him to return to the ring. The angle was played for comedy, with some aspects working better than others). At the PPV, DX beat The Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase), but would lose to the young upstarts in a “Submissions Count Anywhere” tag-team match at Breaking Point in September, before winning the feud-ending bout (a “Hell In A Cell” Match) at “Hell In A Cell” in October.
At “TLC” in December, DX defeated Jericho and Big Show in a “Tables, Ladders & Chairs” Match to become the new WWE Unified Tag-Team Champions. However, Michaels’ obsession with ending Undertaker’s undefeated WM streak in a rematch at “The Granddaddy Of Them All” cost him and his partner the gold and caused the partnership to take a back seat to both men’s singles aspirations.
At Elimination Chamber in February 2010, Michaels actually cost Undertaker his WWE World Title in the SmackDown! Elimination Chamber Match. This was so ‘Taker would be “forced” into accepting a rematch with Shawn at WM. And the rest, as they say is history....
Obviously, Shawn Michaels has had a tremendous career. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this three-part special on what I believe were the main talking points of his incredible WWE career. Of course, everyone has their own opinion on whether Shawn Michaels will stick to his retirement vow. I’m not sure and would say “wait and see”, but at the same time, part of me thinks that he will.
Let’s face it: Shawn Michaels always been about the performance, giving 100% and giving everyone value for money. At the age of 44, he has made his money, has a comfortable life with his family and has hobbies and interests outside the ring such as his Church group. He wouldn’t want to come back and do it “half assed” (as he said when he “lost his smile” in Feb 97’) or be a shell of his former self. So why risk it?
Shawn Michaels overcame the odds when he returned in 2002 form that devastating back injury. He battled the odds throughout his career but always remained the true “Show-Stopper” in the eyes of many people. After making peace with his former enemy Bret Hart, admitting to his faults in his “past life” and truly being WWE’s “MVP” through the good times and the bad, it’s time for Shawn Michaels to say “no more” and go home. And after all he’s done for the wrestling business, how can anyone possibly deny him this?
Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:
http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/
