The 50 Greatest Wrestlers Of The Last 50 Years: Shawn Michaels Joins The List

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Updated: July 23, 2016

#22 Shawn Michaels

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According to WWE’s DVD titled “The 50 Greatest WWE Superstars of All-Time” Shawn Michaels is the greatest wrestler to ever lace them up for WWE. In 2014 a poll of WrestlingInc.com readers proved that readers believed that Michaels was the best North American wrestler of the last 25 years. A lot of people believe that Michaels deserves to be much higher on this list, and there is definitely an argument that he could be in the Top Ten at least. However, I believe there are some glaring errors in his career which ultimately have him slotted here, at #22, which by the way isn’t that bad of a spot. Michaels grew up in a military family that moved around a lot before settling in South Texas. The captain of his high school football team, Michaels started training with popular Mexican wrestler Jose Lothario who was a prominent star in the Texas territory. He made his debut in 1984 and by 1985 was working for World Class Championship Wrestling and different National Wrestling Alliance territories. In the Kansas City territory he began teaming with Marty Jannetty, a wrestler of similar build and athleticism. For the next several years Michaels would be almost exclusively a tag team wrestler, pairing with Jannetty to form one of the best tag teams of the 1980s.

In 1986 Michaels and Jannetty began working for Verne Gagne in the American Wrestling Association. Their tag team was called “The Midnight Rockers” a play on the popular tag teams The Midnight Express and The Rock n’ Roll Express. The duo would end up capturing the AWA World Tag Team Championships from Doug Somers and Buddy Rose in January of 1987. The duo caught the eye of Vince McMahon and were brought into the World Wrestling Federation, but their time in the promotion would be short-lived. Michaels and Jannetty were notorious partiers, as famous for their late night antics as they were for moonsaults and superkicks. Following an incident at a bar, Michaels and Jannetty were fired from the WWF just two weeks after signing with the promotion. The team would go back to the AWA before being brought back into the WWF later in 1987. The team’s name was abbreviated to just “The Rockers” and their high-energy and athletic wrestling made them a popular babyface tag team, especially with women and children who made up a large portion of WWE’s audience during the Hulkamania era. Despite their popularity, The Rockers rarely won important matches, instead being defined as an underdog team that tried very hard but were ultimately defeated by larger tag teams. By 1990 the tag team division in the WWF was thinning out and The Rockers began to work with The Hart Foundation who were the WWF World Tag Team Champions. The team would actually win the championship from The Hart Foundation at a TV taping, but the match was never broadcasted due to Vince McMahon changing his mind on the decision to take the championships off of The Hart Foundation. The team would continue to work together until December of 1991, when Michaels turned on Jannetty and threw him through a window on the set of Brutus Beefcake’s talk-show The Barber Shop. Michaels would then strike out on his own as “The Boy Toy” and “The Heartbreak Kid” and was paired with Sensational Sherri who had recently left Randy Savage. It was as singles star that Michaels showed that he was undeniably going to be superstar for the company. While he was teaming with Jannetty it was acknowledged that Michaels was a good worker and a great athlete, but his ability to carry himself on the mic and his overall showmanship and charisma were virtually unknown. Michaels quickly got over following his breakup with Jannetty and won his first singles PPV match, defeating veteran Tito Santana at WrestleMania VIII. Michaels was given a tremendous opportunity as a young heel in 1992, contending for Savage’s WWF World Heavyweight Championship, coming up short at WWF’s UK only PPV UK Rampage. Michaels would then make history, wrestling Bret Hart in the first-ever ladder match to ever take place in the WWF. Michaels would prove unsuccessful, but the match would soon become a staple for the WWF as an exciting way to settle title feuds. Michaels would capture his first singles title in October of 1992 when he defeated The British Bulldog for the Intercontinental Championship. Michaels then main evented Survivor Series against Hart and his WWF World Heavyweight Championship, coming up short. Michaels would lose the Intercontinental Championship to his former partner Jannetty on Monday Night Raw in a match that was voted the Match of the Year by readers of the Wrestling Observer. Michaels would regain the championship shortly thereafter with help of his “bodyguard” Diesel. Michaels would get suspended for failing a drug test, and would be stripped of the championship. He returned at Survivor Series ’93 when he filled in for Jerry Lawler in a tag team match against Hart.

Michaels would then begin a long feud with Razor Ramon, who had captured the Intercontinental Championship after Michaels vacated the championship. Michaels claimed that since he never actually lost the championship he was the rightful champion and began to wear his own championship belt. Eventually the two championships were hung from the balcony of Madison Square Garden in a ladder match at WrestleMania X. Michaels was absolutely spectacular in the match in what would become a theme for him on the big stage, coming up short against Ramon and yet still managing to be the real winner down the road.

WrestleMania X ended with Bret Hart dethroning Yokozuna for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Michaels and Hart’s careers would intertwine until Hart left the company in 1997, and it was Hart who really opened the main event door for Michaels. The WWF and Vince McMahon were in a lot of trouble over allegations that his company was running rampant with steroid use, they needed to push wrestlers in the main event who were not noticeably on steroids, and Hart proved to be an effective drawing champion, making it clear that a wrestler of similar stature could be a major star in the company.

Following his loss at WrestleMania, Michaels would turn his attention to tag teaming with Diesel. The pair captured the World Tag Team Championships from The Headshrinkers, but the pair would soon dissolve after Michaels cost Diesel the Intercontinental Championship. The two would then engage in a long rivalry that saw Diesel capture the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Michaels would go onto win the 1995 Royal Rumble, setting up a championship match at WrestleMania. Once again Michaels came up short, but once again Michaels stole the show, carrying Diesel to what was probably the best match of his career on a grand stage. Diesel was going to remain the champion, but there was no denying that Michaels’ time was coming.

While Michaels’ in-ring career was nearing its peak, he was working almost as hard behind the scenes as well. Michaels would cultivate a real-life friendship with other top stars, including Ramon and Diesel and two up-and-coming stars, Hunter Heart Helmsley and The 1-2-3 Kid. The group was known inside and outside of the ring as “The Kliq.” While the group’s members certain had a lot of talent, they drew the ire of many who were excluded from the group. The idea behind The Kliq was to form a coalition of the top names in wrestling, thus giving them more leverage when it came to dealing with promoters. A big part of that was to only work with each other, and since Ramon, Diesel and Michaels were arguably three out of the four biggest stars in the company that kept a lot of promising talent out of the spotlight.

With the political backing of The Kliq, Michaels returned to the ring after taking some time off following WrestleMania X as a big babyface. He defeated Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Championship in July and then defeated Ramon in a Ladder match at Summerslam. However, right as Michaels’ star was supposed to be reaching its zenith, Michaels’ trouble outside of the ring began to …

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