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Profile: Shawn Michaels
Having debuted with Marty Jannetty as one half of The Rockers in 1987, Shawn Michaels is a decorated WWE veteran who remains one of the most acclaimed performers in the company. Known for his role in two of the biggest controversies in wrestling in the mid-late '90s, Michaels built a reputation for politicking and being difficult to work with, until a back injury suffered in early 1998 forced him into a four-year retirement. Since his return, Shawn is regarded as a changed man, a born again Christian content with a legacy upon which he continues to build regardless.
After being signed from the AWA, The Midnight Rockers - shortening their collective name - took their brand of babyface high flying teamwork to the then-World Wrestling Federation, and briefly tasted WWF Tag Team Championship gold when, due to Jim Neidhart's firing, they were booked to defeat The Hart Foundation in October 1990. However, when Neidhart was rehired a week later, the title change was overruled on account of the top rope breaking during the match.
The Rockers split up in 1992 when, following weeks of teased tension, Michaels superkicked his partner during an interview on Brutus Beefcake's Barber Shop segment, and tossed Jannetty through a glass window forming part of the set. With a cocky new attitude and new adoring manager Sensational Sherri, a conceited Michaels would go on to win his first Intercontinental Title that year from the British Bulldog, while Jannetty left the WWF. Marty would make a surprise return the following May however, defeating Shawn for the title in the process before Michaels regained the title a few weeks later with the help of a new bodyguard, Diesel (Kevin Nash).
Having split with Sherri in early '93, Michaels continued to win matches with the outside help of Diesel. In September however, Shawn quit the Federation leaving the Intercontinental Title vacant. Before his return to television in November, Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) had been crowned the new champion, leading to a classic ladder match between the two at WrestleMania X. Michaels lost the match, but went on to aid Diesel in defeating Ramon for the title the following month.
That Summer, Shawn introduced his own interview segment called The Heartbreak Hotel, allowing him to reduce his schedule to recouperate injuries whilst remaining on television. In August, teaming with Diesel, he began his first official WWF Tag Team Title reign by pinning The Headshrinkers. However, several miscommunications between the team involving Michaels accidentally superkicking his partner led to the combustion of their allegience in which Shawn threw down the gold. The very next night, Diesel defeated Bob Backlund in eight seconds to become WWF Champion, while in January Michaels entered the Royal Rumble at number one and went on to win the match, earning a shot at Diesel's title at WrestleMania XI.
24 hours after failing to defeat Diesel, Michaels' new bodyguard Sycho Sid - whom he'd recruited in the lead-up to WrestleMania - turned on Shawn, powerbombing him multiple times on Monday Night Raw. None other than Diesel made the save, reuniting with his recent challenger as babyface allies. Following time off selling the attack by Sid, Michaels returned at the second In Your House pay-per-view in June to win his third Intercontinental Title from Jeff Jarrett, and helped Diesel knock back the challenge of their mutual enemy Sid. The following month, a rematch from the previous year's WrestleMania saw Michaels finally defeat Razor Ramon in a ladder match.
The following January, Michaels won his second straight Royal Rumble, leading him to a sixty-minute Iron Man match against Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII, in which he won his first WWF Title in "sudden death" overtime.
With Michaels, Diesel and Ramon all enjoying top spots within the company, the three good friends formed a backstage alliance known as The Clique, allegedly using their influence with management to lever certain situations in their favor. Also in the group were their close friends The 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman/X-Pac) and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H). Shortly after WrestleMania, Michaels, Ramon (babyfaces), Diesel and Hunter (heels) broke kayfabe at a house show in Madison Square Garden, embracing in the middle of the ring as Hall and Nash were leaving the WWF for WCW. The taboo-breaching display angered management, but although Hunter's push was derailed, Shawn escaped punishment as champion.
Through most of the remainder of 2006, Michaels headlined pay-per-views against a variety of challengers with the man who trained him, retired wrestler Jose Lothario, in his corner. In November however, Lothario was attacked by Sycho Sid during a title match at the Survivor Series, creating a distraction that cost Shawn the gold. Ironically, babyface Michaels was booed by much of the New York City crowd against heel Sid - a scenario that would be reversed over a decade later when a heelish Michaels would fight a blue-eyed John Cena at WrestleMania 23.
After regaining the championship in his hometown of San Antonio at Royal Rumble '97, Michaels was due to defend against Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 in a rematch from the previous year. However, due to a knee injury, Shawn instead vacated the title and took time off, attracting accusations of not wanting to return the job. Backstage animosity between Michaels and Hart would continue to grow, and once Shawn returned to action and briefly held the Tag Team Titles with Steve Austin, he and Bret engaged in a legitimate fight backstage, almost resulting in Michaels quitting the company. Instead he was persuaded to return and, in events surrounding SummerSlam '97, he gradually turned heel to feud separately with Hart and The Undertaker.
Meanwhile, the following month, he defeated Hart's brother-in-law The British Bulldog for the European Title in England, becoming the WWF's first ever "Grand Slam Champion," having held, over the course of his career, all four titles available at the time.
His second match with The Undertaker, at In Your House: Badd Blood, saw the debut of Hell in a Cell, and Michaels' unlikely victory (following interference from the debuting Kane that allowed a bloody Shawn to score the pin) placed him in the number one contendership position to Hart's WWF Title. During this time, with Hart leading heel faction The Hart Foundation, Michaels began associating on-screen with former Clique member Triple H along with Hunter's bodyguard Chyna and their collective "insurance policy," Rick Rude. Playing off a promo by Hart, the group became known as D-Generation X, creating a gang warfare atmosphere leading into the Survivor Series title match.
The "Montreal Screwjob" is covered in detail elsewhere on the site, but in a nutshell, the controversial double-crossing of Bret Hart by promoter Vince McMahon, prior to Hart's departure for WCW, resulted in Michaels regaining the championship under nonconsensual circumstances. For years, Shawn would deny prior knowledge of the plan, but finally admitted in 2002 that he was in on it.
Shawn went on to feud briefly with Bret's younger brother Owen before a casket match with The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. During this bout, Michaels was chokeslammed onto the wooden casket, badly injuring his lower back. As a result, his upcoming title defense against rising star Steve Austin would be his last match for over four years. Michaels lost to Austin after "honorary DX member" Mike Tyson used his authority as guest enforcer to pin his so-called ally's shoulders to the mat.
During what was believed to be a permanent retirement, Michaels made a handful of non-wrestling appearances on Federation TV, usually as a guest referee or commissioner. Meanwhile, he married former WCW Nitro Girl Whisper and opened his own training school, the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy (with shows promoted under the banner Texas Wrestling Alliance). Among those trained at the school are Bryan Danielson, Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Lance Cade, Matt Bentley (Shawn's cousin), and Hernandez of the Latin American Exchange.
When Kevin Nash and Scott Hall returned to the WWF in 2002, and turned on New World Order leader Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X-8, Michaels resurfaced as a non-wrestling leader for the restructured faction, and together the nWo began courting Triple H to join the group and reunite The Clique. Though the faction was soon disbanded without much explanation, Michaels and Triple H continued to tease a reunion of DX, only for Hunter to turn on his old friend with a Pedigree in the middle of the ring. Further assaults by Triple H eventually led to an in-ring comeback by Michaels at SummerSlam, in which he defeated his nemesis in a streetfight but suffered a sledgehammer shot to the spine following the match.
Nonetheless, feeling comfortable with his body and his performance, Michaels made his return a permanent one, and won his first World Heavyweight Championship in the first ever Elimination Chamber by pinning Triple H, only to lose it back again in a Three Stages of Hell match at Armageddon.
In March 2004, Michaels participated in his first WrestleMania main event since 1998, challenging for Triple H's World Heavyweight Title in a triple threat match won by Chris Benoit. Though it was Hunter that tapped out to the Crippler Crossface that night, the rematch at Backlash saw Michaels do the same honors.
By WrestleMania 21, Shawn was embroiled in a feud with Kurt Angle following his elimination of the Olympic gold medalist from the Royal Rumble. The highly acclaimed match saw Michaels again tap out, and began a series of bouts between the two including a thirty-minute Iron Man match on the special WWE Homecoming episode of Monday Night Raw. During this feud, Angle brought Marty Jannetty back to WWE in order to make a point by beating him. During Marty's brief return, he and Shawn reunited as The Rockers for a one-time tag match defeating La Résistance.
Ever since his comeback, Michaels has remained at or near the top of the card on the Raw brand as a babyface, save for a brief heel turn setting up his "Icon vs Legend" SummerSlam 2005 match against Hulk Hogan. Michaels lost the bout by pinfall, with Hulk reportedly refusing a rematch that would allow the favor to be returned. The following night on Raw, with another short television stint from Hogan over, Shawn turned face again while mocking, with a metaphorical nudge and a wink, the reasoning behind the result of the match, in which he had deliberately over-sold much of his opponent's offense to express his resentment towards the booking.
From December of that year, Michaels became the next in a line of stars to feud on-screen with evil WWE Chairman Mr McMahon, leading to Michaels winning a No Holds Barred match at WrestleMania 22 and losing a handicap match (billed as a tag team match with "God" as Shawn's partner) against Vince and Shane McMahon at Backlash 2006. Then, while recouperating from knee surgery, Michaels reunited with Triple H on June 12, in the culmination of a D-Generation X reformation that had been teased for months. DX would then feud with the McMahons for most of the remaining year, playing pranks on the Chairman and his son and facing them in numerous matches.
During a feud with the team of Edge and Randy Orton (collectively labelled Rated-RKO), Triple H suffered the second quad tear in his career at New Year's Revolution 2007, putting him out of action and changing major plans leading into WrestleMania 23. Michaels instead began teaming with WWE Champion John Cena, and together they defeated Rated-RKO for the WWE World Tag Team Titles, marking Shawn's fourth reign with the tandem gold. The partnership was played as an uneasy one however, as Michaels had already challenged Cena to a WWE Title match at WrestleMania. After keeping his promise to watch his partner's back in the weeks leading up to the event, Michaels finally attacked Cena with a superkick on Monday Night Raw six days before the pay-per-view, where he would ultimately tap out to Cena's STFU in a match that divided fan loyalties. The rivalry would grow even more personal the following night when Shawn deliberately eliminated his partner from a battle royal to cost them both the World Tag Team Titles, making it clear that the singles championship was his sole priority.
With wrestling critics consistantly naming his performances as Match of the Year candidates, Shawn Michaels has successfully returned from retirement to reclaim his spot amongst the premier superstars in WWE, and is regarded as a future Hall of Famer in the company. While sometimes used to lend experience to younger, up-and-coming stars, Michaels has shown to have WWE's trust in producing dream matches whenever called upon, and looks set to remain a cornerstone of the product for as long as he's able to perform.
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