#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.
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