We have done a fair few articles on Shawn Michaels who in my opinion is the greatest professional wrestler to ever step foot in a wrestling ring. Today we will look at his extraordinary journey in this sport which started on 10th October 1984 and his last match was on 28th March 2010 vs the Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 thus capping off an incredible career for Mr WrestleMania. First let’s give our readers a little information about the person as well , he was born on 22nd July 1965 which means when he was only 19 years old he had started wrestling.
Before coming to WWE Shawn Michaels was Sean Michaels and he was billed as being 6 ft 1 inches in height and 225 lbs in weight which was perfect for a wrestler of his physique. His home town was San Antonio Texas and he received his professional wrestling training from the great Jose Lothario and now he trains the future generations of wrestlers at NXT and the performance center.
So, now let’s see this incredible WWE journey of Shawn Michaels which started in 1988 and is going on till now albeit in a different capacity.
The start of a long journey
Although Shawn Michaels started wrestling in 1984 it was not until 1988 where he waa signed by WWE at just the age of 23 with unlimited potential waiting to be tapped. Shawn Michaels came into WWE as a tag team known as The Rockers with Marty Jannetty and this team grew very popular especially with the women and children and they were the mid card for close to 2 years and they grew over as an act. Shawn Michaels first PPV main event came way back in 1989 when the Rockers main evented a traditional 4 on 4 Survivor Series match. The Rockers were together as a tag team till the year 1991 where WWE thought that this team had to be broken up and Shawn Michaels was ready for a singles run.
The split and the rise of Shawn Michaels
On 11th 1992 finally came the day for the split and it was done in such a way which became one of the most memorable segments in WWE History. I. A Barber Shop talk segment Shawn Michaels gave a superkick to his partner Marty and then threw him out of the glass window and here the “Heartbreak Kid” villain Shawn Michaels was established. At WrestleMania 8 Shawn Michaels defeated Tito Santana in his first singles PPV match and it was clear WWE had big plans for him. On November 14 1992 Shawn Michaels won his first singles title which was the Intercontinental Championship from British Bulldog and at Survivor Series Shawn Michaels faced Bret Hart for the WWE championship in the main event but was unable to win the big one but it was clear that this kid was something special.
The starting of Mr WrestleMania
The year was 1994 and it seemed like Shawn Michaels was set to take the next step and this happened when he got in a feud with the late great Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship and this eventually culminated in the legendary ladder match at WrestleMania 10 where Razor won the match but the performance by Shawn Michaels was appreciated by all. Then Shawn Michaels and Diesel got into a feud which again resulted in a great match at Survivor Series 1994 but the story was not finished as Shawn Michaels and Diesel clashed at WrestleMania 11.
Also Read | Top 5 Shawn Michaels WrestleMania Matches
WWE Champion Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels returned to WWE in 1996 and again won the Royal Rumble match for the second successive year and this earned him a shot at Bret Hart and the WWE championship at WrestleMania 12 and In a 60 minute Iron Man match which had to go to extra time Shawn Michaels achieved his Boyhood dream of winning the big one and thus a new star was made.
Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart
We cannot talk about the WWE journey of Shawn Michaels without talking about the real life feud that he had with Bret Hart. From the year 1996 tensions were rising between the two and it was reported that Shawn Michaels was unwilling to lose to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 and thus we got Stone Cold vs Bret Hart but in 1997 it will out and it was out in the open and there were real backstage fights between the 2 and it came to a head at Survivor Series in 1997 where all hell broke loose as The Montreal Screwjob was born and after this Bret Hart left for WCW and this continued till 2010 and finally on an episode of Raw they both hugged and let bygones be bygones.
Also Read | Top 5 Best Matches of Shawn Michaels
2002 till 2008
Shawn Michaels was out of WWE for 4 years since 1998 where against The Undertaker he had a nasty neck injury which forced him out of WWE and he returned in 2002 for a feud vs Triple H and he was better than ever and this feud continued for a number of years going from WrestleMania to SummerSlam and finally culminated in a 3 states of Hell match at Armageddon where Shawn Michaels won the title. Then at WrestleMania 19, Shawn Michaels had a classic March vs the newcomer Chris Jericho and beat him but the best was yet to come for HBK.
At WrestleMania 21 a dream match was realized as Shawn Michaels went against Kurt Angle in one of the best matches of his career and it was storytelling of the highest order and Kurt Angle won that match. Then the last years in the career of Shawn Michaels were upon us but he saved his best for his last 3 WrestleMania Matches. At WrestleMania 24, it was an emotional match as he went up against hero Ric Flair and it was his last match and for 30 minutes Shawn Michaels showed why he is the best ever. He gave Ric Flair a perfect farewell.
Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker- The Best ever
WrestleMania 25 and 26 were the last 2 WrestleMania Matches in the career of Shawn Michaels and he had probably the 2 greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. Ar WrestleMania 25, it was perfect as perfect could get in a Wrestling match as The Undertaker beat Shawn Michaels as HBK just made one mistake and then the next year at WrestleMania 26, it was The Streak of The Undertaker vs The Career of Shawn Michaels and it was great and in the end Shawn Michaels lost his career but he was content on how it ended.
