Monday, September 13, 2004

The chamionship year of 1996
If you were to single out 12 months of Shawn's career that brought out the best in him it would have to be the year of 1996 because that is when he won his first WWF title. It all started in January at Royal Rumble '96. Shawn was completely healthy by the time of the Rumble even though he did not wrestle for a few months prior to the big battle royal. He won the 30 man over the top rope battle royal propelling himself into the main event at WrestleMania 12.

Prior to wrestling in the main event Shawn had to beat Owen Hart to get revenge for putting him out of action for a couple months. After he beat Owen at the February '96 PPV it was onto WM12 where he would face Bret Hart for the second time on PPV.

This was the Iron Man match that lasted over 62 minutes. It was a superb match by both men as they wrestled gallantly for 62 minutes without getting a pinfall. I always felt that if the match was 45 minutes instead of 60 it would have been the greatest match ever. Because of the extra fifteen minutes there were times when the crowd was silent and the action was slowed down by rest holds. Everything between the resting was dynamite and so was the ending to the match. Shawn won it with his "Sweet Chin Music" (a Super-kick) and as Vince McMahon said it best: "Shawn Michaels has just turned his boyhood dream into a reality." Finally Shawn Michaels became a world champion.

In April '96, Shawn had a memorable match against Diesel in what was probably Kevin Nash's best match ever. It was a no-holds barred match that signified the start of the WWF going to the extreme in their matches. Better yet, it was the start of the "attitude" era. Shawn showed Nash the door that led to WCW and began to take on all comers who wanted a shot at his coveted world title.

Shawn's next feud, May and June '96, was against the British Bulldog. This one became heated after the Bulldog falsely accused HBK of sexually harassing his wife Diana. Shawn ends up winning this feud at King of the Ring '96. That great match is often overlooked because it was the same night that Austin 3:16 was born. Although the feud was not legendary it did provide several good matches and it elevated a deserving competitor in The British Bulldog.

At Summerslam, HBK faced another big test who turned out to be Vader. At the time Vader was made to look as if he was unbeatable especially after pinning Shawn in a tag match at the July '96 IYH PPV. In this match Shawn turned the tables and won with a moonsault in a 20 minute match that was one of Vader's best matches in the WWF. Vader actually won the match on two separate occasions (countout and disqualification) but his manager Jim Cornette ordered the match to continue which led to Shawn's victory. The highlight of the match was probably when Shawn took a Vader powerbomb on the concrete floor, which was something few people would do four years ago.

At the September '96 PPV, Shawn participated in one of the most brutal matches that I have ever seen. It was a wild brawl against Mankind that provided some of the craziest bumps in the careers of these two amazing superstars. As Mick Foley said in his book, this was the match that Foley was most proud of in his illustrious career. It was arguably Mick Foley's greatest match and is among the top four matches in Shawn's career. Sadly, both men retired before they turned 35 years old due to their willingness to take suicidal bumps. Simply put, this was another great match that is often overlooked due to the fact that it was on a poor PPV and it ended with a DQ finish. No doubt about it, this was one of the best matches that I have ever seen anywhere in the world.

At the Survivor Series in November '96, Shawn went into battle against yet another monster, Psycho Sid. Sid ended up winning the title from Shawn thanks to the fact that Sid knocked out Jose Lothario and then nailed Shawn with a video camera to win the title.

Shawn ended up winning his title back at Royal Rumble '97 in front of his hometown crowd in San Antonio to be the WWF champ for the second time. On both occasions Shawn proved why he was such a great wrestler because he was able to carry a pile of crap like Sid to a good match. Is there anything he can't do?

Shawn's role in the WWF during this time was very important because of the lack of success the WWF was having in the mid '90s. Wrestling in the United States was suffering in '95-'96 due to the WWF's tendencies to produce characters with outrageous gimmicks rather than promoting good wrestling. After Kevin Nash's unsuccessful world title reign in '95, highlighted by horrible feuds with Mabel (Viscera) and Sid, Shawn was given the title for nearly eight months. While Shawn's reign was in full force the WWF's former champion Bret Hart took a seven month leave of absence to think about his future in wrestling. Without Bret around to produce good matches and with Austin and Foley climbing the WWF ladder, Shawn seemingly carried every PPV during the year. His matches with Bulldog, Vader and Mankind were all very good.

He was so productive during this time period that many critics offered the same praise to him that Ric Flair was given several years earlier. They said that Shawn could carry a broomstick to a **** match which backs up my claim that 1996 was as good a year that any wrestler has ever had in the history of wrestling. It came at the perfect time because without Shawn as their leader who knows where the WWF would be today. Wrestling would not be where it is today without all of the hard work put in by the Heartbreak Kid when the business was struggling to keep its head above water.

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Sunday, September 12, 2004

"The Clique" or The Kliq"
You may be looking at this heading and wondering what I am talking about. What I am referring to by "The Clique" is Shawn's relationships with his best friends in the wrestling business. "The Kliq," not the spelling, is the name he had for his legions of fans. The Clique consists of Shawn, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Triple H, and Sean Waltman aka X-Pac. These are his best friends in the wrestling business. Although other people may be friends of these five men it is widely known that these men are the main members of "The Clique."

The Kliq, Shawn's fans, was formed in late '95 after Shawn started getting sympathy babyface heat which was a result of the attack in October. It was also pushed by the WWF after Owen Hart nailed him with an enziguri causing HBK to suffer from post concussion syndrome. This was just an angle to get easier babyface pops for Shawn. It worked because when Shawn came back to the ring in January '96 he was by far the most popular wrestler in the WWF as he proved to the world that he can carry a company.


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Saturday, September 11, 2004

ends badly
In October '95 Shawn suffered a beating at the hands of several men outside of a nightclub in Syracuse, New York. This was not a work, it was a true story. The details of the incident are not fully known although there are many things that we do know about the altercation.

Shawn Michaels, Davey Boy Smith (British Bulldog) and Sean Waltman (X-Pac) were at a bar in Syracuse. At some point during the evening the three WWF wrestlers were confronted by a pack of men. Nobody really knows how many men were there although it is believed that it ranged from anywhere between 8-14 of them. When they left the bar these men met them out by their car and began provoking them. A few of the men held back Smith and Waltman while the others attacked Shawn probably because he was the Intercontinental Champion at the time and the most famous of the three. On WWF TV, they said that nine men attacked Michaels although nobody really knows if that is true. For the purpose of storylines, they did not mention that Waltman and Smith were there. The extent of Shawn's injuries are not fully known although most believe that he had minor injuries because of the assault.

He appeared at the October '95 PPV and forfeited the title to Dean (Shane) Douglas who in turn lost the belt to Razor Ramon. On the episode of Raw following Survivor Series '95, Shawn took an enziguri kick from Owen Hart that forced Shawn to suffer from "post concussion syndrome." In reality, Shawn was 100% healthy by that time and only sold the Owen Hart kick so that he can return in '96 as the federation's top babyface. I repeat, it was an angle, he did not really suffer an injury from Owen during that match. It was one of the first “worked shoot” angles that the company ever did. They fooled a lot of people with it and it also helped build Shawn up as a sympathetic babyface that the fans could get behind at the start of the new year.


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Friday, September 10, 2004

1995 Starts out great but......
In the eyes of many people, 1995 was supposed to be the year in which Shawn took that giant leap from midcarder to main eventer. He continued his role as a heel and was successful in terms of getting over. He "hired" Sid Vicious as his bodyguard because he claimed that he was too important to the WWF to get hurt. Although it was for the storyline, there was some validity behind it. He won Royal Rumble '95 as he became the first wrestler ever to be the first participant in the match and come out of it as the winner. He earned the shot to face Diesel (Kevin Nash) at WrestleMania XI for the world title. It seemed as though it was the perfect time to put the big belt around the qualified waist of Shawn. He seemed ready, he seemed qualified but it did not happen. He lost to Nash cleanly in the center of the ring in what turned out to be a pretty good match. Maybe it's because Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy were at ringside for that match. Nevertheless, Shawn's stock rose after his great performance at WM XI.

The next night on Raw, Shawn was powerbombed by his "bodyguard" Sid Vicious who claimed that Shawn was stealing his spotlight. With every powerbomb the sympathy for Michaels grew. He took a short break in order to sell the powerbombs and when he returned he was one of the biggest babyfaces in the company.

At the July '95 IYH PPV Shawn captured the IC title for the third time in a matchup against Jeff Jarrett. To this day the pop that Shawn received at the end of the night was one of the loudest that I have ever seen. I think it was important to Shawn because it was the first title he won while he was wrestling as a face. He defended the title at Summerslam '95 against Razor Ramon in the aforementioned second ladder match. This time around, they were both babyfaces and after twenty-five minutes of showstopping action the two hugged in the ring to the delight of the crowd. Sadly, all of that jubilation was quickly forgotten due to an unfortunate incident that took place a few months later.


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Thursday, September 9, 2004

The Birth of HBK
The Heartbreak Kid is a personality of Shawn Michaels that was launched in early '92 after the Rockers break up. When the HBK persona was born Shawn was only 27 and had great potential in him athletically. What everyone soon found out was that HBK was very good on the mic to go along with his tremendous work rate. His ability to get the crowd to hate him was evident as soon as he turned heel. He then established a regular talk show segment on WWF shows called the "Heartbreak Hotel." This cocky, young, brash superstar spent his time gaining a reputation as a guy who did a lot of talk yet he was still able to back it up because of his in ring talent.

His first taste of WWF gold came in a match against the British Bulldog on October 27, 1992 when Shawn won the Intercontinental title. A month later wrestled Bret Hart at Survivor Series in a match he lost for the WWF world title. This was the first of three PPV matches these two had. It did not really have as much hype as you would expect although it was still a classic match.

Shawn's IC title reign lasted for seven months, ending when he lost it to his former partner Jannetty in May '93. Although he did lose the title, he regained the title only a month later. He never lost the belt in a match though. He had to give it up due to "not meeting certain contractual obligations." In a span of a year he held the Intercontinental Title for 11 months. Shawn only lost IC title once and that was to Jannetty. He was stripped of it in '93 as well as in '95 when he couldn't compete due to getting attacked outside of a Syracuse nightclub in October of '95. I'll have more on that story a bit later on.

He was stripped of the IC title in '93 because he was in a contract dispute with WWF management. Because of the dispute, he did not defend the title within thirty days so he was stripped of the title in reality and in terms of storylines.

Being stripped of the IC title turned out to be a good thing for Shawn because of what happened at Wrestle Mania X. After coming to terms with management, a feud was built up between Shawn and Razor Ramon (the IC champ at the time) over who was the real IC champion. For storyline sake, Shawn carried around the IC title that he was stripped of a few months earlier. He claimed that he did not lose the IC title so the WWF decided to hang both IC titles from the ceiling and have a ladder match. The first ladder match saw Shawn losing the match to Razor in a match that determined the "real" IC champion. Despite the loss, both men came away winners because it was arguably the best match in the history of the WWF at the time.

Due to the success of the first ladder match, Shawn went on to have another ladder match with Ramon on PPV, this one coming at Summer slam '95. This time Shawn came in as the face, walked in with the title and also walked out with the title still around his waist. The Wrestle Mania X ladder match is one of the best matches that I have ever seen. Not only are these two of the best matches in Shawn's career but they are the two of the best matches in wrestling history. After people saw these matches it seemed obvious that Shawn wasn't just good in the ring, he was extraordinary.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Shawn's years as a Rocker
This is about how Shawn first started out in his early carrer before HBK was born.

Shawn's partner was his good friend Marty Jannetty who he teamed with to form one of the most exciting teams in wrestling history. The Rockers were together from the summer of 1988 until the end of 1991 in the WWF. Prior to that, they wrestled as the "Midnight Rockers" in the AWA.

They were both young men who were just getting their start in the wrestling business, as they tried their best to make a name for themselves. A lot of people do not know this but the Rockers never did win the tag titles although they teamed for more than three years. They had won the tag belts at house shows although they never were recognized on WWF TV as the champions. They were a team that gave fans exciting wrestling featuring plenty of moves that were not common to North American fans. They were doing hurricanranas and moonsaults before anybody else in the WWF and they earned a reputation as the best high flyers in the WWF. One of the best tag team matches of all time featured Michaels and Jannetty in a Royal Rumble '91 battle against the Orient Express (Pat Tanaka and Kato who is Paul Diamond).

Any wrestling fan should get their hands on this tape because this was one of the best tag team matches of all-time.

The Rockers alliance ended when Shawn turned heel by throwing Jannetty through a mirror in Brutus Beefcake's barber shop segment. It was one of those moments that will be etched in the minds of wrestling fans forever. It was the start of something special, it was the start of Shawn Michaels singles career as a heel.

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Tuesday, September 7, 2004

What Titles has HBK Held
He is a three time WWF Heavyweight Champ. He defeated Bret Hart on April 31, 1996 at Wrestle Mania XII for his first WWF Title, Sid Vicious on January 19, 1997 at the Royal Rumble and his third was against Bret Hart on November 9, 1997 at Survivor Series.

He is a three time Intercontinental Champion. He defeated British Bulldog on October 27, 1992, Marty Jannetty on June 6, 1993 and he defeated Jeff Jarrett on July 23, 1995 at In Your House 2 for his third and final IC Title.

He has held two Tag Team Championships with Diesel ( Kevin Nash).They first defeated The Headshrinkers on August 28, 1994 and defeated Owen Hart & Yokozuna on September 24, 1995 at In Your House 3.He has also held Tag Gold with Steve Austin when the defeated Owen Hart & British Bulldog on May 25, 1997.

He has held the European Championship once when he defeated British Bulldog on September 20, 1997 at the UK PPV One Night Only.

He also won the Royal Rumble in 1995 and 1996.

He is the only Grand Slam Champion in WWF(E) history meaning he's the only man to win all four major titles in the WW(E).

The Hardcore & Light-heavyweight title would be a fifth and sixth title but they are not considered major titles.


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Monday, September 6, 2004

Who is Shawn Michaels ?
Okay for all of you who dont know who HBK is here is a short Bio about him.

He was born on July 22, 1965 in Scottsdale, Arizona at Williams Air Force Base. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas. His real name is Michael Shawn Hickenbottom. He is 6'0" 234lbs and made his pro wrestling debut on October 16, 1984. He has spent his entire wrestling career using the name Shawn Michaels and has only wrestled in the WWF. But when he first started out he was a member of the Rockers in AWA. He trained by former pro wrestler Jose Lothario in San Antonio after his parents gave him their blessing so that he could realize his dream of becoming a pro wrestler. Under the tutelage of Lothario his career took off and he turned into the one of the greatest superstars ever. He was managed by two individuals, "Sensational" Sherri in 1992 and Jose Lothario in 1996.

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