A Look At Shawn Michael's Career By Steve Marlow
Thanks to the upcoming release of WWE Anthology,wrestling nostalgia seems to be on the upswing. Just look at your WWE TV to see the results. Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels both hold prominent spots on the Raw brand. A few months ago, Hulkamania ran wild for one last time over the summer. Before that, the nWo lived again for a short time. Now, WWE commercials are featuring past stars like Bret Hart, Ultimate Warrior and Gangrel, fueling rumour of those men’s possible returns.This column will take a look at Shawn Michaels, the Heartbreak Kid, who’s recent return to the ring has been spectacular. It’s even given him a chance, albiet a slim one, to win the WWE Championship (Raw brand) again since he is involved in the Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series.
Michaels (real name Michael Shawn Hickenbottom) got his start in the Minneapolis based AWA. At the time of Michaels’ time there (the mid-80s), the AWA was on the decline, thanks to the steamroller that was the WWF. Still, Michaels managed to turn a few heads teaming with Marty Jannetty as the Midnight Rockers. Michaels and Jannetty were cut from the same cloth as the Rock and Rock Express, two pretty boys who had some pretty impressive highflying moves.
Micheals and Jannetty soon ended up in the WWF, being picked up from the sinking AWA. Admittedly, the two, now known simply as the Rockers, did not set the world on fire, but they did put on some entertaining matches with such teams as the Hart Foundation, Demolition and former AWA alumnis The Beverly Brothers. It wasn’t until Michaels made a go as a solo competitor that things started to really take off for him.
In a memorable skit on the Barber Shop, an interview segment hosted by Brutus Beefcake, Michaels turned on Jannetty by superkicking him through a window.
Michaels earned his first WWF singles title on October 27th, 1992, beating the British Bulldog for the Intercontinental Championship. His first run as champion would be a long one, capped off with a spectacular feud with Jannetty, who beat Michaels for the title on May 17th, 1993. Michaels regained the title a few weeks later and Jannetty floundered in the mid-card for years, eventually ending up as part of the New Rockers with then undercarder Al Snow.
Around this time, Michaels began what became known as the Clique, a group of real-life backstage friends that ended up manipulating backstage politics. Micahels had brought in Kevin Nash (then known as Diesel) as his bodyguard. Scott Hall (then called Razor Ramon) was riding high as Intercontinental Champion. Jean-Paul Levesque (Triple-H) and Sean Waltman (X-Pac) soon joined the group. Together, these five men would become the most important group in the mid-90s WWF.
Michaels developed some bad habits that had the fans wondering what he was up to. It never seemed like he would ever be beaten cleanly for a title. For example, instead of losing the Intercontinental title in 1993, Michaels was instead stripped of the title for failing to meet “contractual obligations”. The same thing happened in 1995, where Michaels gave up the Intercontinental title before a match between Shane Douglas and Razor Ramon, forfeiting it to Douglas, who then lost it to fellow Clique member Ramon. In 1997, Michaels vacated the World Heavyweight Title due to a knee injury, letting Bret Hart beat the Undertaker for the title.
In this last title drop are the seeds of Michaels’ greatest and most infamous feud. It was no secret that Hart and Michaels did not like each other. Hart viewed Michaels as a showoff and a prima donna. Michaels saw Hart as a throwback to a wrestling era long past. But the chemistry the two had in the ring was undeniable. During 1996 and 1997, Michaels and Hart strung together several stellar matches, including a 60-minute Iron Man match at Wrestlemania XII, which netted Michaels his first run as WWF World Heavyweight Champion. The feud came to a head at the 1997 Survivor Series, aka the Montreal Screwjob.
Bret Hart came into the Survivor Series as the WWF champion and was adamant about not losing the title on Canadian soil and especially not to Michaels. Hart, who had just signed a long term contract with rival WCW, offered instead for a DQ finish for the match, leading to a forfeit of the title on the next night’s Raw. This put Vince McMahon in a tough decision. If Hart left with the title to WCW, it would be a devastating blow to the WWF’s credibility and prestige. Similarly, if Hart simply forfeited the title to Michaels after a screwjob match, it cheapened the WWF title and Michaels as champion. McMahon ultimately chose to screw Bret over by calling for the bell after Michaels put Hart in Bret’s trademark sharpshooter hold. While Michaels denied that he knew about the plan after the match, he recently revealed on Confidential that he was in on the screwjob.
Micheals rode his title victory to further glory as part of the offensive and contraversial Degeneration X (featuring Clique members Waltman and Triple H). His career as a wrestler, however, was coming to a close. Michaels lost the title to Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIV. Soon afterward, Michaels hung up his boots due to a severe back injury, one which that would threaten his ability to walk should he ever step into the ring again.
Michaels did some growing up away from the ring. He got married to former Nitro Girl Whisper, had a son and opened his own wrestling school in San Antonio, TX. During this time, he wrestled his “last match” against Venom (previously known as AWA star Paul Diamond), whom he beat. Michaels renounced his partying and politicing ways and found religion. He also made sporadic appearances as WWF Commissioner before giving that job over to Mick Foley.
Michaels return to the WWE was part of the wave of nostalgia that has washed over wrestling in the past year. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, even Curt Hennig and Goldust came back in 2002 to varying levels of acclaim. Michaels came back to help his friend Triple H, but ended up on the receiving end of a sledgehammer and having his face ran through a car window thanks to his former friend. Michaels and Triple H hooked up at this year’s Summerslam in a brutal match that left Michaels a bloody mess.
Two weeks ago, Michaels came back to the WWE to gain revenge on Triple H (now the Raw brand’s version of the World Champion) to end up in the six-man Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series. Can Michaels repeat what Hulk Hogan did only six months before: win the Worlds Title with his best years way behind him? Time will tell.
Steve Marlow
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