[37] This triggered a split between the two, a storyline that was drawn out until Survivor Series on November 24. [1], After teasing retirement, Michaels returned to the WWF at the Royal Rumble match on January 21, 1996, winning for the second year in a row to receive a WWF Championship match in the main event at WrestleMania XII. "[117] The following week, Jannetty refused McMahon's offer and instead took Chris Masters's "Masterlock challenge. Shawn Michaels Recounts His Legendary WWE Career The wrestling legend takes us behind the scenes of his career and shares how he found his faith. This match was off the charts, and it was another classic between the two. However, Michaels spent four years on the sidelines after WrestleMania 14 until SummerSlam 2002 as he sustained a serious back injury in a casket match with The Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumble. [26] He was put together with mirror-carrying manager, Sensational Sherri, who according to the storyline had become infatuated with him. [103] On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared to save Michaels and accept his offer. While the Penguins successfully defended their Stanley Cup championship the following year, the HBK Line was broken up when Kessel was moved to the 2nd line with Evgeni Malkin and Bonino left the team in free agency. [1][51] The concussion was scripted, which was kept from most fans at the time. [115] On the February 13 episode of Raw, McMahon unsuccessfully forced Michaels to sign retirement papers. Perfect (Curt Hennig) in the tag team match that involved Randy Savage against the team of Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. Once people retire, they can kinda let themselves go, too. [155] The next week, they had a contract signing for the match and were involved in a brawl, causing a legit small triceps tear for Michaels. This was Michaels' final match on Raw before his retirement. [54] As Diesel and Helmsley were seen as villains at the time, in contrast to Michaels and Ramon, this constituted a breach of "kayfabe", as acting out of character, which was rare and controversial at the time. [185], On the February 13, 2012 episode of Raw, Michaels confronted Triple H about accepting The Undertaker's challenge for a Hell in a Cell match on April 1 at WrestleMania XXVIII, and announced he would be the special guest referee for it. There was a mix-up between DX, and Miz rolled up Michaels to clinch the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. Moreover, ShoMiz isolated Triple H in their corner. That night, Jericho punched Michaels's wife in the face. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels is one of the most decorated WWE Superstars of all time. [53] At WrestleMania XII on March 31, Michaels defeated WWF Champion Bret Hart in the overtime of their sixty-minute Iron Man match, which had ended in a scoreless tie. [140] Orton continued the beating and performed an RKO to a fallen Michaels, who was removed out of the ring in a stretcher. [11] He knew he wanted to become a professional wrestler at the age of 12 and performed a wrestling routine at his high school's talent show, complete with fake blood. [158] Later that night, Jericho replaced CM Punk in the World Heavyweight Championship scramble match, and won the title. The self-proclaimed Sexy Boy could be an unrepentant primadonna, but he was so fluid and brilliant in the ring that it hardly mattered. In his tweet, Hart described working on the DVD as a "cathartic" experience, and Ross asserted that both Hart and Michaels had been very honest and emotional in their interviews. [95] Following this, Michaels was out of action for a few months with a legit torn meniscus. [54] As WCW gained momentum due to the signings of Hall and Nash, Michaels held the championship for most of the year. It was every man for themselves, and HBK eliminated Triple H from proceedings. [160] After failing to help JBL win the World Heavyweight Championship from John Cena on January 25, 2009 at the Royal Rumble,[161] and being derided for it, Michaels agreed to face JBL in "All or Nothing" match at No Way Out on February 15,[162] which Michaels won thus letting him out of his contract early while still receiving full payment.[163]. If it keeps this pace he's still gonna have many years. [118] On March 18 at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII, Shane defeated Michaels in a Street Fight after he applied a sharpshooter on Michaels, leading to McMahon ordering for the bell to be rung though Michaels did not submit, which was an allusion to the "Montreal Screwjob". [81] Continuing the angle, a week later, Triple H attacked Michaels from behind in a parking lot and put his head through a car window, in storyline. [4] Along with his new name came a new gimmick as a vain, cocky villain. [45], Michaels returned to the ring as a fan favorite in May 1995 and defeated Jeff Jarrett to win his third Intercontinental Championship on July 23 at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks. Styles, the case for him being the best wrestler since Shawn Michaels", "A definitive ranking of the top 101 wrestlers of all time", "Is Shawn Michaels WWE's real 'Mr. [165][166] Their match was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. This bout only lasted 15 minutes, and it was a decent match between the two teams. Shawn Michaels. In his first WWE match since WrestleMania XIV, Michaels defeated Triple H at SummerSlam, but was attacked by Triple H with a sledgehammer after the match. [24] Sherri even sang the first version of his new theme music, "Sexy Boy". After charming crowds as a Rocker in the 90s, HBK infamously severed his partnership with Marty Jannetty by smashing his friends head through a window. [4][5] During his training, Hickenbottom adopted the ring name, "Shawn Michaels". Date Of Birth: Jul 22nd 1965. Shawn Michael's last defense of the Intercontinental Championship before his suspension was at SummerSlam 1993. . Bischoff refused to schedule such a match and instead told Michaels to find a partner. Brock Lesnar (No Holds Barred Match; If Lesnar won, Triple H would have had to retire)", "WWE RAW Results 10/28/13 (WWE Title Celebration)", "The League of Nations def. [195] He was one of the many WWE legends who appeared on the January 22, 2018 episode of Raw 25 Years. [36] On WWF programs, his suspension was explained by his having neglected to defend the title often enough. [107] The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit where he superkicked Roddy Piper and then challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan accepted the following week. Nevertheless, Jericho took Michaels out with the codebreaker. In contrast to the storylines featured on the show, this was in fact a real-life reconciliation which laid to rest animosities surrounding the Montreal Screwjob. The following is a timeline of the WWE career of Shawn Michaels. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Michaels became the first person to defeat Vladimir Kozlov, and so earned a match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV on April 5,[164] which he lost thus extending The Undertaker's WrestleMania winning streak to 170. Michaels came out of this match, dubbed by fans the "Montreal Screwjob", as the WWF Champion. [31][32] However, he won the title from The British Bulldog on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI, which aired on November 14. [57] After consulting with Dr. James Andrews, who concluded that he did not need surgery, Michaels underwent four weeks of physical therapy and returned to in-ring action a few months later, briefly teaming with Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. [92] The night before this, Michaels inducted Tito Santana in the WWE Hall of Fame. Shawn Michaels has picked up a plethora of high-profile wins on his resume, but the Heartbreak Kid suffered a few losses before he hung up his boots. Shawn Michaels is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. [182] Michaels was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 2 by Triple H. They were also joined by fellow Kliq members Kevin Nash (who had returned to WWE for the Royal Rumble) and Sean Waltman. However, the World's Largest Athlete cost his team as he helped out Jericho, who was his tag team championship partner, and Team SmackDown was triumphant. [135] At WrestleMania 23 on April 1, Cena retained the WWE Championship against Michaels after making him submit to the STFU. Punk attempted the GTS but Michaels connected with Sweet Chin Music to remove him from the equation. Michaels briefly left the WWF in June of that year after a real backstage fight with Hart, just hours before a Raw Is War show, which allegedly resulted from Michaels making an on-air remark, known as the "Sunny Days" comment, implying that Hart (who was married at the time) was having an affair with Tammy Sytch, a manager and valet who was signed to the WWF as Sunny. One of the biggest main events in the history of Survivor Series featured John Cena defending the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Survivor Series has been kind to Michaels as he won his final two World Championships at the event. [154] On the August 25 episode of Raw, Michaels renounced his retirement and challenged Jericho to an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven on September 7, which Jericho accepted. [136] The next night on Raw, Michaels and Cena competed in two back-to-back ten team battle royals, winning the first and losing the World Tag Team Championship in the second to The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) when Michaels threw Cena over the top rope. [177], On the December 14, 2010 episode of Raw, Michaels won the Slammy Award for Moment of the Year for his match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI and accepted it via satellite. [2][14] He attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, but dropped out to pursue a career in professional wrestling. A rebel in leather chaps, Michaels bucked authority and surrounded himself with people who did the same. [4][20] They then returned to AWA, where they won the AWA tag team titles for a second time,[10] but were re-signed by WWF a year later. [150] At One Night Stand on June 1, Michaels lost to Batista in a stretcher match. Only after he posed did he discover Playgirl has a mostly homosexual readership, for which some of his fellow wrestlers teased him. [152] The following week, it was revealed that, within the context of the storyline, Michaels had suffered a detached retina. There were a unique Submissions Falls Count Anywhere match between DX and Legacy at Breaking Point 2009.