A Brief History Of Shawn (Shaun Michaels)

Member Name: Smark1985

Product:	Shaun Michaels
Date:	14/02/01 (736 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Posssibly best wrestling entertainer ever!

Disadvantages: Has been plagued by countless injuries during his career

Many claim that Shawn Michaels is the greatest in ring entertainer and performer of all time...I can't really disagree!

By no means I am saying that Shawn Michaels is the greatest "wrestler" of all time, because that award simply must go to Bret Hart. What I am saying is that no other wrestler alive today could have a match with anyone and make a good match. Look at the evidence...Shawn had some good matches with a wrestler, if you can even call him that, who is so bad that it actually hurts. Sycho Sid Vicious.

Since the age of 12, Shawn had always wanted to be a wrestler, more specifically he wanted to be the WWF World champion. Whatever else he now does in his life, he can say that he has fulfilled his lifelong dream. To be honest, not many deserve it more than him.

His career began in the mid-eighties, he was half of a tag team with Marty Janetty, they were known as the Midnight Rockers. In 1988, they were signed by the WWF and were renamed just simply, The Rockers. They were a tag team unlike any other as they were high flying and risk taking. They were the equivalent of todays Hardy Boyz. Although they never held the Tag Team titles, they never failed to be entertaining and were regulars at the big shows such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam. They both had potential to be HUGE. Vince McMahon obviously saw this and in 1992, decided to split the team.

The teams split was acrimonious, they were being interviewed by Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake when suddenly Shawn grabbed Janetty and threw him through a window. It had appeared that Shawn was the one who WWF wanted to push, perhaps due to Janettys love of the night life, something which would severely hamper an extremely promising career.

Shawn was now the heel, as he portrayed a new, cocky persona which would carry on for years. It seemed to be a natural role for him, they sat that the best wrestling characters are an extension of the wrestlers r
eal life personalities. This is evident in the case of Steve Austin and the new Undertaker (the American Bad Ass). Whatever the case, Shawn grabbed this role and put his heart into it. Within months he was the Intercontinental champion. The next few years were a bit slow for Shawn as he continued to feud with numerous opponents such as Tatanka and Razor Ramon. He just couldn't seem to get out of the mid card level.

This all changed in 1995 as in January of that year, he won the Royal Rumble. Not only did he win the Rumble, but he won it in incredible fashion. He was the first wrestler to enter the Rumble which meant he lasted for well over an hour! The Royal Rumble is a 30 man battle royal in which the winner gets a shot at the World Title at WWF's biggest yearly event, WrestleMania. He won the Rumble and faced Diesel. Although he lost the match, his career was elevated to main event status. The rest of '95 was frustrating for Shawn as he was injured for the majority, and when he returned he was put back in Intercontinental feuds to get back in the swing of things. He did this very quickly and in an unprecedented occurance, he won the Royal Rumble for the second year running. People had won the Royal Rumble twice before, but not in consecutive years. Shawn was once again in the main event of WrestleMania.

His opponent was the legendary Bret "Hitman" Hart, who was the current WWF World Champion. They would meet in an "Iron Man" match. An Iron Man match is an unusual format for a match as the two wrestlers wrestle for 1 hour. During the hour they try to score as many falls as they can, either by pinfall, submission, disqualification or count out. Bret had previously been the federations main star, but it was time to pass that honour to Shawn. Shawn won the match, which most consider to be the best WrestleMania main event of all time.

1996 would prove to be the best year of Shawn's illustrious career as h
e defended the belt consistently for 8 months, beating wrestlers such as Diesel, British Bulldog and Vader along the way. Shawn would finally be beaten in November of '96 as he lost to Sycho Sid. 1997 would not repeat the success of '96 as he was injured for several months. Even though 1997 saw the beginning of DeGeneration X and Shawn winning the World Title again, neither were done in perfect situations.

Survivor Series 1997: The Rematch - Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels.

This match was meant to be an epic equal to that of their WrestleMania encounter. It turned out to be the most controversial match in wrestling history.

Bret was due to leave to WCW in a matter of days. Obviously Vince needed a way to get the belt of Bret before his departure. Shawn and Bret were never friends in real life, and Shawn actually left WWF at one point because of their personal disputes. Bret was told that he was going to lose at Survivor Series to Shawn thus losing the title. The only problem was that Survivor Series was taking place in Montreal, Canada. As a devout Canadian and seeing as it would be Brets lat ever WWF match. He did not want to lose the title in front of his Canadian fans, so Vince, although reluctant, agreed to end the match in a disqualification so that Bret could lose back in America a few nights later....thats not quite what happened.

After a highly entertaining match, it was drawing to a close. Bret and Shawn had worked out an ending between themselves earlier in the day. Shawn was to put Bret in Bret's own finisher, The Sharpshooter, and Bret was going to reverse it and apply the hold himself. Then DX would run down and cause the match to end in a D.Q.

But as Shawn applied the Sharpshooter, Vince ordered the match to end and awarded the match, and belt, to Shawn Michaels. Shawn was actually unaware that this was happening and he was disgusted, a legend was just screwed by the federation that he had called
home for 16 years....Bret Harts WWF career was over.

Although certainly not happy, Shawn got on with the job of being WWF Champion as he held the WWF Title until March at WrestleMania where he lost to Steve Austin in a match that Mike Tyson was the special enforcer of.

Since this loss, which was in March 1998, Shawn has only been seen on the odd occasion, usually promoting his TWA Wrestling federation which he formerly ran.

Recently however, Shawn has stated that he wants one more run in WWF Wrestling. He has sold his wrestling federation and is preparing for his return. His return could be any day now, the WWF are just working out what to do with him.

Don't bet against Shawn being in the main event this WrestleMania. He could return as early as No Way Out! Whenever he does return, the WWF will be a much better place for it.....welcome home Shawn!

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