Shawn Michaels: The Complete 90s Collection

[Music] we will [Music] sean michaels in my opinion is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time while wrestling insiders and smart fans like the revel and sean's shortcomings in regards to his backstage behavior and political power plays during the 90s no one can say that the guy wasn't good in the ring he was more than good he was a legitimate show stopper you could almost guarantee that when sean michael stepped into a wrestling ring you were going to see a great match no matter who his opponent would be and yes sean's actions backstage may have been a little cutthroat and there's no real way to defend some of his actions but if you're a professional wrestling fan who loves the art of professional wrestling sean michaels will deliver the goods each and every time on sean's journey to become a show stopper though many changes had to be made to how he worked and how he presented himself to audiences sean came into the wwf with his tag team partner marty ginnetti and the two men worked as the rockers an extremely popular high-flying tag team that had been fired from the wwf in 1987 and re-hired the following year shawn michaels and marty jannetty were money though their unique style incorporated high risk double team moves that excited fans of the world wrestling federation especially younger fans and of course female fans sean mike though wanted more hbk always saw himself eventually becoming a singles competitor he didn't want to remain a rocker for the remainder of his career and to be fair leaving the rockers would be one of the best things sean michaels could have done in the early 90s today's video then we'll take a look at the rockers breaking up and how sean michaels became a standard superstar within the world wrestling federation the rockers first began teaming up in 1985 with the duo really finding their fate in vern ghania's awa in 1986. i don't want to linger on the rockers history too long as i already put a video together looking at the rockers tag team run but all you really need to know is that sean michaels and marty gennady had been teaming up for close to seven years while working in the territories and in the awa sean and marty were able to go their separate ways after working their matches but in the wwf the schedule was so hectic that both men ended up spending every minute of the day together during their wwf run marty and sean did not leave each other's side at all they drove together they eat together they shared hotel rooms they wrestled together went to the gym together and of course they party together being attached at the hip like this to anyone would be enough to drive a wedge into any relationship but when you mix in the fast living lifestyle of a professional wrestler especially during the 80s and early 90s you can only imagine how trying even the most trivial of things would become the rockers would implode backstage and it was personal issues that caused the team to break up it wasn't as cut and dry as the wwf made out though these two men were having some serious problems backstage and the cause of all of this can be summed up with just one word ego there were two reported incidents that we can point to here both of which give us a real insight of the relationship sean michaels and marty gennady really had with each other in sean michael's autobiography and in his dvd documentary heartbreaking triumph and the bonus section sean talks about a legitimate fight he and marty had back in may of 1991 that was unintentionally instigated by roddy piper marty sean and piper had been drinking and during their drunken conversation piper mentioned that sean had an incredible amount of talent and michaels himself was the future of the wrestling business marty standing there listening to all of this praise being placed on his tag team partner took offense and challenged sean to a fight right there and right then sean apparently declined but this didn't stop marty throwing punches piper broke up the fight sean passed out and didn't wake up until the next day and marty according to marty jannetty himself was about to get arrested until randy savage showed up telling police that the fight was part of a wrestling storyline even though the macho man had no idea why the fight started in the first place that part may seem a little far-fetched but you have to admit it does make for a great story the two men did have a fight though and it all started over one guy being perceived as batter as the other egos got in the way and this incident here can definitely be seen as the beginning of the end for sean michaels and marty jannetty the second story we have concerns vince mcmahon himself and again it also concerns the rocker's ego inside the pages of sean's autobiography there's a tale about a photo shoot for a cereal box and sean says himself that this incident was the catalyst for the eventual demise of the rockers now i struggle to find any information about this online but if you turn to page 153 and sean's heartbreaking triumph book that's the hardback edition it's all there so the road warriors were also part of this photo shoot and the rockers found out that hawk and animal were getting paid five grand each for posing in front of the camera whereas sean and marty were only getting two and a half grand each immediately following the photoshoot marty told sean he was phoning the office and putting in their notice marty also told sean before the whole photo shoot happened that he had been in touch with magnum ta over at wcw and a spot was available for the rockers paying more than their current wwf contracts by the way so the plan here was to phone vince mcmahon give notice and leave for world championship wrestling marty asked sean if he was definitely with him on this and sean said yes sean revealed in his book though that he didn't really mean it and in the back of sean's mind this was all a mistake by payroll he and marty would end up just getting paid the same amount of money as what the legion of doom did and everything would be okay well at least that's what sean thought marty phoned the wwf offices no counter offer was made by the world wrestling federation and now the robbers were free to join wcw realizing he just made a huge mistake shawn planned to call the offices and try to get his job back but before he could make the call vince mcmahon himself phoned sean vince said he was sorry that sean was leaving explaining that he didn't have the money to pay marty and sean the same amount as the road warriors but vince wanted to get the robbers some exposure by appearing on the cereal boxes vince said that once the tag team of sean michaels and marty jannetty fizzles out sean would be welcome to come back to the wwf to begin a singles run sean explained events that he didn't want to leave but he was upset about the photos should pay off sean said he would call vince back and then hbk immediately called marty sean asked marty what were the rockers going to do explaining that vince was on the phone sounding quite eager to at least keep sean marty said they could go to wcw it wouldn't be a problem sean questioned marty further and it turned out that marty had not been in touch with magnum ta at all but instead marty was in contact with joey mags better known as jumping joey mags to fans of wcw furious sean phoned magnum ta himself magnum offered the rockers substantially less money than what marty had told sean previously sean went back to marty and ripped him apart for putting his whole career in jeopardy telling marty he is going back to vince to take him up on his offer of becoming a single star hbk also said that marty was welcome to go back to vince so the rockers could officially break up on tv and the two could then begin a feud where sean would be the bad guy and marty could be the babyface marty didn't want to do it initially he didn't want the rockers to break up it was easy money for marty at the end of the day but sean wanted more he wanted to be a single star something that marty was totally oblivious to during the heyday of the rockers marty agreed to stay with the world wrestling federation sean went back the vince the split and the heel turn was agreed upon and both men remained employed by the wwf sean wrote in his book marty was not happy about this split he slandered the story of what happened so that i was the bad guy he told people that i said that we would stick together on this that was true but he never told me that he was going to give vince an ultimatum i believe anyone in my position would have done the same thing i did this was one of my first major decisions and i was made to feel bad for it everyone believed i had dumped marty and acted like a scumbag it wasn't true and it hurt to be labelled as the bad guy the rockers had traveled many miles together over the years and there's always a touch of sadness when relationships end however it was time to move on i was eager to start a whole new chapter in my career so before we get to the barbershop we need to look at sean and marty's journey towards the infamous segment that featured the official breakup of one of the wwf's most popular tag teams our first stop is at the 1991 survivor series the rockers teaming up with the bushwackers to take on the nasty boys and the beverly brothers if you want proof that the rockers were still adored by fans towards the end of their run just listen to the ovation they get at the survivor series here anyway the bushwhackers got eliminated leaving sean and marty taking on four guys in this traditional survivor series match and it seemed like the rockers maybe could have won the match when they eliminated bo beverly things went downhill though when marty gennady inadvertently hit sean while scooping up jerry sags for a slam causing sean to get eliminated sean threw a tantrum in the ring and the audience gasped when marty tried to console sean but michaels pushed his tag partner away sean left the ring the numbers were too much for marty and the healed survivor series team won the match just a quick note here because i know people will bring it up sean kicked out of the pinfall right at three gorilla monsoon and bobby keenan said on commentary that sean kicked out in time and he wasn't eliminated but that's debatable too i think the plan was always for sean to get pinned here but the timing of the kickout was just a little early moving on the 23rd of december episode of superstars featured the rockers in tag team action and sean was acting up during the entire match not only was he displaying a more arrogant attitude but he didn't even tag marty into the match easily winning by himself as marty looked on in disbelief the next week again on superstars the rockers faced the legion of doom what should have been a tag team match for the ages turned into the rockers final match together at least on tv keep in mind that this episode of superstars was taped on the 4th of december 1991 and it aired on the 28th of the same month so sean and marty continued working house shows together until this episode of superstars aired on tv sean did tag his partner into the match this time and it seemed like the two were maybe back on the same page as the rockers displayed the double team moves that they were known for but sean drop kicked animal which led to the road warrior falling on top of gennady and the legion of doom won the match the robbers argued after the bell sean slapped marty twice but marty wouldn't fight back ginetti left michael standing in the ring sean basked in the negative reaction from the audience and everything was going to plan the barbershop was an interview segment on wwf television shows hosted by brutus the barber beefcake these segments were in the same vein as piper's pit but of course they were not nearly as successful as roddy piper's well-revered interview show that being said when shawn michaels and marty jannetti appeared on the barber shop during the january 11th 1992 edition of wwf wrestling challenge fans would get treated to a moment that is still well remembered today brutus wanted to bring the rockers onto his show in hopes of getting both men to settle their differences but what would end up happening would legitimately shock wrestling fans marty wanted the rockers to stay together he told sean that he would turn his back and if sean michaels was still there when marty turned back around they would go on and rock the world as a tag team if sean was gone when marty turned back around then the rockers would go their separate ways sean grabbed marty and shook him by the hand it looked like all was forgiven and things would get back to normal just for a brief moment but then shawn michaels kicked marty in the face the audience booed michaels but sean wasn't done yet sean grabbed marty by the head and rammed marty through the barbershop window marty began to bleed as sean kicked gennady while he was down this whole segment by the way was planned by marty and sean the rockers were originally going to do the barbershop window gimmick with the nasty boys but sean felt this was the perfect way to break up the rockers for good and he was absolutely right after sean put marty through the window he ripped up a copy of the wwf magazine that contained a story regarding the possible breakup of the rockers i looked this magazine up and i read the article and there is nothing of substance there by the way the magazine article spoke about an informer who overheard sean and marty arguing backstage so there was nothing really juicy in this article but to give the wwf credit they advertised this section of the magazine during the whole rockers breakup angle and i'm sure they sold a few extra copies because of the exposure on tv nonetheless sean got what he wanted he was not a single star the initial plan was the most obvious plan sean michaels was the feud with marty gennady over the next few months and if the program was captivating enough the two could go at it at wrestlemania 8. unfortunately within days of breaking up with michael's marty found himself in trouble with the law hand with the wwf resulting in gennady getting fired this kind of put shawn in a bad spot also his whole heal turn was based around the breakup of the rockers so not being able to go straight into the marty janetti program was definitely a problem towards the end of the year marty came back in the barbershop storyline picked up right where it left off leading to a match between sean and marty at the 1993 royal rumble but it was too little too late by this point but anyway we need to go back to see how the rocker sean michaels changed his whole persona to become the heartbreak kid after the barbershop window incident and after marty got himself fired sean had to come up with a new gimmick that would set him apart from everyone else he needed to stand out as a single star in the land of the giants sean would become a vain narcissistic and self-indulgent character every girl's dream and every man's nightmare the first real glimpse we got of this new character was that the 1992 royal rumble sean was part of the rumble match held on january 19th and he even had a backstage interview before the match sean said during this interview that marty jannetty should be thanking him for what he'd done during the barbershop segment as marty noye didn't have to enter the royal rumble and take a baiting from 29 other guys sean also promised to win the royal rumble match itself he entered the match at number six and lasted around 15 minutes after the rumble match sean found himself working against guys like jim powers and jimmy snugger he had the look and he had the ability but something was still missing for sure sensational sherry would be the missing ingredient here when sherry was partnered up with sean michaels it added a whole bunch of new layers to the characters sean was trying to portray it was actually pat patterson's idea to put sherry with sean michaels sensational sherry had only really been associated with top guys in the world wrestling federation having just came from managing the likes of ted dibiase and randy savage putin sherry with sean michaels gave sean credibility through association if we as fans perceive sherry as someone who only managed the best bad guys in the world wrestling federation then anyone she would side with would instantly get elevated on the march 7th 1992 episode of superstars sean michaels debuted his new theme song as he and sensational sherry came to the ring a song called sexy boy written by jimmy hart and including vocals from sensational sherry herself and this song fit the character shawn michaels was trying to portray perfectly sexy boy is one of those timeless wrestling theme songs you know what to expect when you hear the first bait of the track and sherry landing her vocals for the original version went a long way in giving sean more identity mr perfect has been credited by sean michaels himself as the man who came up with the name heartbreak kid kurt hennig would do color commentary for television shows around this time period and sean says the heartbreak head name stuck after kurt said it on tv i should also note though that initially sean wasn't keen on the theme song nor the heartbreak kid name it took him a while to get used to these new elements of his gimmick but as we all know both the song and the name served him incredibly well hbk went on to have a string of how show matches with jim powers and virgil before making his singles wrestlemania debut a victory over tito santana here that actually wasn't a bad match at all sean got a lucky win in the end we didn't get to see mr wrestlemania pull out all the stops by any stretch of the imagination but what you should take away from this wrestlemania 8 match is that the heartbreak kid had officially arrived at this point sean may have been in the opening match here but there are two things that really get highlighted during this match the first thing you'll notice is that sean was now totally comfortable with his new character and he was comfortable working with sensational cherry the two complemented each other really well and when you consider that sean had a pretty vanilla look during his rocker deaths the heartbreak kid came out at wrestlemania looking like a total superstar the other noticeable aspect of this match is that sean proved that he could deliver the goods when it came to singles competition on a grand stage sean may have been working in the opening match here but this title santana bite was better than some of the key matches at wrestlemania 88 sean was already showing that he could and would work harder than those on the higher pay scale you have to remember too that for the longest time sean was working as a high flying rocker his moveset was all about double team moves high risk moves moves that were performed to get the audience to cheer and applaud if you look at the title santana match there's now a complete shift in moveset that makes it seem like sean was now a completely different wrestler he still worked fast for sure but he was also more grounded he took his time he now had an opportunity to tell the stories that he wanted to tell in the ring as opposed to simply making the crowd applaud for flashy moves and then you had sensational sherry there too there's nothing quite like the hate a good healing manager can bring to a match and sherry done her job here to perfection hbk to me truly arrived at wrestlemania 8 and the sky was the limit from this point forward as sean made his way back up the entranceway after his match bobby keenan said on commentary that we are looking at a star of the 90s if only the brand knew how accurate those words would end up becoming and so this ends our look at how sean michaels went from a rocker to becoming the heartbreak kid breaking up with marty i feel was the right thing to do in the end while it can be argued that the rockers were still hot as a tag team towards the end of 1991 there is evidence here that marty could have potentially held sean back had the team stayed together sean was no cent at all but when stories emerged of genetic getting arrested and of course getting fired multiple times by the wwf then you best believe that sean maybe dodged a bullet by letting go of his tag team partner sean's next goal then was the intercontinental title the workers title the championship that had proven to be a stepping stone that led to bigger and better things in the future you know we will pick this story back up and look at hbk's time as the intercontinental champion hopefully you enjoyed this video and thank you very much for watching immediately after the tito santana match at wrestlemania 8 sean michaels began challenging for singles titles within the wwf the wwf went on their annual european tour where shawn michaels would either wrestle intercontinental champion bret hart or world champion randy savage fortunately the cameras were rolling for a few of these matches hbk vs randy savage was part of the uk rampage 1992 presentation and another one of their matches in germany was also recorded so it's good to know that sean michaels versus randy savage is easily available should anyone want to see that particular match the bad news for sean though was that he couldn't defeat neither savage nor brett on this tour and this is a trend that would continue back in the united states while sean would defeat lesser superstars on tv hbk would lose consistently to brett on the house show loop the hard versus michael's matches of 1992 though were very very well received and they became a favorite on wwf vhs compilation releases in particular their ladder match that took place on the 21st of july 1992 would prove to be a landmark boat when we talk about the history of the wwf this match which was a bret hard idea would be the very first ladder match that took place inside the wwf ring sean would of course lose this match too but the character and the gimmick was getting over and you need to remember too that the losing streak the bread was happening away from tvs fans were seeing sean win against job guys when they tuned in to wwf programming it was only when fans bought a ticket to a live event where they would see sean lose so it wasn't that big of a deal still sean and brett were getting seriously accustomed to each other during this time period and their matches always delivered heading into summerslam 1992 shawn michaels would begin a short rivalry with the model rick martell another superstar whose gimmick was centered around vanity sensational sherry was smitten with both men and martel was trying to steal sherry away from the heartbreak kid sherry announced on the august 15th episode of superstars that michaels and martel had come to an agreement in regards to their summerslam match neither man would hit each other in the face sensational sherry didn't want either guy ruining their good looks and so this unique stipulation was added to the summerslam match it was a nice little twist in my opinion and it was a great layer to add to this heel versus handboat it gave fans even more reason to dislike these guys in the end both men slapped each other across the face and sherry pretended to faint both guys tried to bring sherry backstage and this led to a fight on the entrance way the match ended and a count out martel then tried to throw water on sherry to wake her up but he hit michael's michael's dropped sherry and he gave chase leaving his valet screaming and crying on the entrance way it all sounds very ridiculous i know but this was still a fun med card match that comes recommended it's silly but it's loads of fun also at the 1992 summerslam event davey boy smith defeated brad hart to become the new intercontinental champion and shortly afterwards davey boy found himself in some trouble with the wwf the british bulldog would be getting released from the company and so there was an opportunity here to crown a new ic champion sean michaels got the chance and he deserved it too as mentioned earlier hbk had done nothing but lose the brad heart on the house show loop for the better part of 1992 and even more important was the fact that their matches always delivered brett had already won the world heavyweight championship so the heartbreak hit was the natural choice here as the wwf's new ic champion at saturday night's main event airing on november 14th 1992 hbk won his very first singles championship when he defeated divi boy smith in a very good match before sean won the ic title he was also booked the headline the 1992 survivor series and a match with bret hart for the wwf title so things were looking up for the heartbreak kid the survivor series match was billed as a champion versus champion boat but only the wwf title was put up for grabs and in the end hbk submitted to the sharpshooter in a criminally overlooked and underrated matchup i guess heart versus michael's at the 1992 survivor series just isn't as storied as their future pay-per-view matches and this is why it's pretty much all but forgotten but this is a great bout here that proved that smaller guys could headline big shows and still be extremely entertaining when the rockers broke up and sean went solo the initial plan was for marty gennady to feud with hbk marty ended up getting released and a potentially good rivalry had to get cancelled when marty came back to the wwf just before sean won the ic title plans were immediately made to resume the sean michaels and marty gennady feud on the october 31st episode of superstars marty made his comeback and he tried to hit sean with the mirror that sherry brings down the ringside but sean used cherry as a human shield sherry got hit with the mirror and she was written off tv for a while and this explains why sherry was not at ringside during sean's matches with davey boy and brad hart michaels versus ginetti was booked for the 1993 royal rumble and sensational sherry would be making her return she refused to say however if she would be in the corner of sean michaels or the corner of marty jannetty during the match cherie turned on michael's when she slapped him across the face and later on she tried to hit shawn with her shoe but michaels moved out of the way this allowed michaels to win the match with the super kick after the boat sean confronted sherry backstage and marty made the save the natural assumption then is that the hpk and gennady rivalry would continue on into wrestlemania 9 but no marty again managed to get himself fired and so once again the marty vs sean feud was cancelled sean and sherry's little rivalry continued under wrestlemania 9 though the pair had now broke up and sean replaced cherry with luna vashon hbk opened up wrestlemania 9 with a match against tatanga tatanka was in the middle of his undefeated streak and he had also pin-shon on television but at wrestlemania tatanka was unable to capture the intercontinental championship the match ended with sean getting counted out luna also attacked sherry after the boat and tatanga helped sherry back to the dressing room this all led to sherry becoming associated with tatanga and eventually luna would become associated with bambam big low a little later on sean michaels attacked mr perfect after his match with the narcissist lex luger so it looked like sean's next rivalry would be against kurt hanig once again plans were changed when the wwf re-hired marty gennady right in the middle of sean's rivalry with mr perfect on the 17th of may 1993 episode of raw marty made a surprise return when sean issued an open challenge for his intercontinental championship and marty ended up winning the icy title live on raw in my opinion this match was way better than their royal rumble encounter but still vince mcmahon seemed hell-bent on getting this rivalry properly started once and for all we'll come back to marty ginnetti in a moment during the cm time period sean requested that vince mcmahon send kevin nash to a wwf contract sean had seen kevin's vinnie vegas character on wcw programming and hpk thought the big guy was great he thought he was funny and he thought he had a good look sean wanted kevin to come in as his bodyguard and kevin was able to get his release from wcw in order to start work with the wwf kevin nash or vinnie vegas would become big daddy cool diesel and a real-life friendship began between kevin and sean that in a roundabout way would change the future of wwf programming sean wallman who would become known as the 123 kid also got his wwf tryout shortly after wrestlemania 9 and waltman michaels nash and scott hall who worked in the wwf as razor ramon would form a group friendship collectively known as the click triple h would join the wwf a little later on and he too would become associated with the group and yeah that's really how the click came to be to get back on track diesel made his wwf debut during a house show on the 6th of june 1993 when sean michaels battled marty jannetty and diesel helped sean win back the ic title thankfully the whole gennady vs michael's feud was put to rest and sean resumed his rivalry with mr perfect at summerslam 1993 shawn michaels defeated perfect via countdown thanks to interference from diesel this resulted in big daddy cool going on to work with mr perfect while sean would get suspended for failing a wellness test sean is still adamant that he wasn't taking anything but hbk ended up getting stripped of the ic title jerry the king lawler was supposed to lead his team of knights in the battle against the hart family at the 1993 survivor series when jerry had to take a leave of absence from the wwf due to legal reasons sean michaels made his return and he was made the leader of the king's survivor series team the king and his knight sure made a lot more sense than the heartbreak kid and his knights but still the match went ahead and the hart family got the win when sean decided to get himself counted out while all this was going on sean was still claiming to be the intercontinental champion while razer ramon was the true champion and so there were two ic championship belts in the wwf and two men were claiming to hold the title this all led to the wrestlemania 10 ladder match now i've went over this whole match and build up in depth previously so you should see a link on your screen right now if you want to do a deep dive under the bite but to summarise shawn and razer had an incredible match here that is still seen as an all-time classic it's been surpassed in terms of bumps and high-risk attacks but for a wrestlemania match hailed in 1994 it was and still is an excellent contest that would go on to inspire future generations of superstars razer won the match and sean could no longer call himself the intercontinental champion hbk worked a few days after wrestlemania but mounting injuries led to sean missing a ton of in-ring action to compensate sean would stand in diesel's corner during big daddy cool's matches and sean would also launch the heartbreak hotel interview segment the heartbreak hotel was mainly featured on wwf superstars and it was kinda like piper's pit or the king's court sean would interview different superstars and whatnot and it gave sean a reason to come to tv and still get involved hbk would make his in-ring return on the 1st of august 1994 having a near 20-minute match on raw against reza ramon a match that sean won like many raw matches of this era this match has been all but forgotten these days and even though there's a fair amount of interference from diesel and even though there's a few more rest holes than a typical sean michaels boat this one is still worth your time speaking of diesel kevin nash had won the intercontinental championship from razer ramon on superstars taping back in april and razer was getting a rematch against big daddy cool at the 1994 summerslam event before we get to summerslam sean michaels and diesel would begin wrestling in more tag team bouts and it didn't take long at all for diesel and sean to win the wwf tag team championships sean and diesel together known as the two dudes with attitudes defeated the head shrinkers and a house show held in indianapolis to win the tag titles this title change happened mere weeks after sean made his return in august and this also meant that sean and diesel controlled both the tag titles and the intercontinental championship and soon enough the click would also control the wwf championship summerslam 1994 was held the day after sean and diesel won the titles so fans tuned into summerslam a little confused to see big daddy cool and the heartbreak kid holding the tag team championships still diesel would lose his intercontinental championship to razor ramon during their match hbk got involved and he accidentally hit diesel with the super kick hbk had just caused diesel the ic title and a breakup between sean and diesel was teased in the weeks that followed in reality vince mcmahon had become quite enamored with big daddy co and diesel was getting prepared to not only turn baby face but diesel was also going to win the wwf championship sean and diesel officially broke up at the 1994 survivor series shawn michaels diesel owen heart jim nat hart and jeff jared collectively known as the teamsters would take on the bad guys a team featuring razor ramon fat who the one two three kid davey boy smith and sioni or the barbarian in a traditional five on five survivor series match diesel and sean seemed to be having some issues throughout the match but it all came tumbling down when sean once again had diesel with sweet chin music by accident when sean started mouthing off the diesel afterwards big daddy cool stood up and he began going after his tag team partner sean hightailed it up the ramp and the rest of the teamsters tried to bring diesel and sean back to the ring but it was no good the whole team got counted out and it looked like the sean and diesel partnership had officially ended sean told todd pettengall after the match that he didn't care about the tag team titles anymore and the belts were vacated before hbk left the arena later in the evening bob baglin defeated brad hart to become the wwf champion and three days after the survivor series pay-per-view big daddy cool diesel defeated bob bagland in a record it saggins to win the wwf belt there's a solid argument to be made that sean michaels 1995 was better than his 1996 sure sean won the wwf championship for the first time in 96 he had great title defenses against the likes of mankind and diesel and he got pushed to the very top of the wwf as their number one guy but sean's 1995 was equally as good in terms of match quality and his character progression it was also an important year for michaels where the company would set him up to be their number one superstar let's look at hbk in 1995 and highlight some of his best matches along with his greatest moments so to set the tone and figure out where we are with hbk in january of 95 we need to briefly talk about survivor series 94. the first match on the show featured a traditional survivor series match pitting the bad guys against the teamsters diesel and sean michaels were on the teamster side and their friendship had been getting a little rocky up to this point and things boiled over when sean accidentally super kicked diesel during this match hbk and diesel were the tag team champions here and after the super kick happened shawn decided to break the team up and vacate the tag titles beginning a long trend here of sean michael's vacating championship gold three days after survivor series diesel won the wwf championship in madison square garden and it appears that the wwf are going all the way with big daddy cool he is going to be the face of the company while sean would work as his nemesis sean would only work two matches before the royal rumble in january his first match of 1995 saw him defeat adam baum during a superstar's taping that would air a month later and his second match saw him defeat gary sabor in a match where sean didn't even bother taking off his entrance gear next up was the 1995 royal rumble and this rumble match has always been something of a curiosity it was decided that entrance would come into the match just 60 seconds apart meaning the rumble was indeed much more fast paced but at the same time a quicker royal rumble doesn't necessarily mean a better royal rumble there has never been a concrete reason given as to why this royal rumble would be quicker than others my best guess is that the 1995 wwf roster just wasn't deep enough to have a long and drawn out raw rumble match people have said it was due to the number one entrant going the distance for the very first time and therefore the match itself was made shorter but ric flair was entered number three in 1992 and he went the distance so i don't believe that theory at all anyway sean was entrant number one and he won the entire rumble match earning himself a wwf championship match at wrestlemania 11 in the process a few things here first you'll notice that sean had the letters tk on his gloves during this match which confused some fans at the time the tk stood for thamus clarides the initials of his girlfriend who worked as a raw ring girl and eventually she became the current republican minority leader in the connecticut house of representatives also pamela anderson was in attendance during this royal rumble and the winner of the rumble would have pamela escort him to the ring at wrestlemania 11. anyway the match came down to sean and davey boy smith the man who drew number two and even though most of the rumble match had been quite forgettable the crowd came alive when the match came down to the final two men in one of the most memorable royal rumble match endings davey boy thought he had eliminated sean with a clothesline and just as davey boy's music played on the arena shawn got back in the ring and eliminated the british bulldog both of sean's feet did not touch the floor and he managed to hang on and score the win even though the rumble itself may not have been that great the ending was done well here and hbk would be going to wrestlemania with pamela anderson at his side sean made history here by becoming the first man to win the royal rumble after entering the match at number one this was also sean's first shot at the wwf championship on pay-per-view since the 1992 survivor series and it was going to happen at wrestlemania so you can tell here that vince mcmahon was ready to give sean a much overdue main event push so before we get to wrestlemania let's take a look at what happened between the rumble and the mania main event the episode of raw after the royal rumble was taped before the rumble pay-per-view so in order to keep the royal rumble winner a secret from the live audience sean done some caller commentary here where he could talk freely about winning the royal rumble match to the viewers at home without the live audience getting a huge spoiler on the house shows sean was getting wins over davey boy smith and lex luger on the february 20th edition of raw sean michaels introduced his new bodyguard to the wwf the one and only psycho sid sid would play an important part of sean's 1995 but more on that later later this same night sean michaels defeated the british bulldog but the match was aired two weeks later on monday night raw throughout all of march sean michaels didn't have any matches on television with the exception of the taped davey boy smith match his house show schedule was interesting though mainly teaming up with jeff jarrett to do battle with his click buddies diesel and razor ramon next up then is hbk vs diesel at wrestlemania 11. a good match here that becomes even better when you have a little bit of the backstory to get it out of the way pamela anderson ended up coming to the ring with diesel and not hbk instead sean had jenny mccarthy escort him to the ring that's that done under the match here and yeah this was pretty good in my opinion it was the best match of the night kevin nash has said that even though he and michaels were good friends sean was doing everything he could here to tar diesel out during this match working at a much faster pace than normal in hopes of showing kevin up and proving that he didn't have what it took to go toe-to-toe with hbk this was shawn's competitive side coming out here friends or not he was trying to prove a point that he should be the wwf champion and not diesel even though big daddy cool was booked to win this match in sean's heartbreaking triumph autobiography it's revealed that both he and diesel were very much against a planned spot which was orchestrated by vince mcmahon shawn was the nail diesel with a super kick and diesel was the kick out strong diesel felt that kicking out of sean's finish would not help him look strong but instead the people would see through it and see that diesel was being pushed too hard in this match in his book sean argued that within the context of the match fans would expect the superkick to really hurt diesel and if diesel popped up after a count of one the fans would be taken completely out of the moment destroying their suspension of disbelief sean also said that the superkick kickout could even garner him some sympathy as the fans would feel that hbk was getting the shaft sean said the vince you want the fans to get behind him in reference to diesel i want the fans to get behind him it needs to be a one two barely up that will get him over if he powers out on one they are not going to like it with no other choice sean michaels and diesel went out there and the superkick spot did indeed happen they tried everything to protect sean's finish with sean delaying the actual pin after hitting the kick and diesel putting his shoulder up right at the two count but both hbk and diesel were absolutely right the fans began booing when diesel got a shoulder up diesel won the match and when sean and big daddy cool met with vince later in the evening vince admitted he had made the wrong call the whole super kick fiasco would end up completely changing sean's career direction as vince mcmahon decided to turn sean into a good guy the next section here is from sean's book the next day we had television and poughkeepsie when i arrived at the building vince told me he wanted to talk sean we're going to switch you baby face what it's because of the kick out isn't it it was a bad call on my part i admit sean said why is it affecting me i'm the only heel that you have they like you the people like you sean they like me but they like to hate me noy is not the time you make the mistake and it costs me my career i was not happy vince said we're going to have sid drop you injure you tonight and you'll go home for six weeks sean said i was frustrated so bummed we told him that the people were going to boo vince i said i would never tell you how to run your entire business but please leave the wrestling to me then i went and told kevin what was happening they're taking me off for six weeks kevin and i said what for and sean said they are turning me baby face it's because of the kick out isn't it said diesel what could we do sid turned on me that night he attacked me from behind and powerbombed me three times before kevin rushed to the ring and chased him off i was now injured and off on a six-week pad vacation and so sean was not seen again on tv until the may 22nd episode of raw where he took part in a king of the ring qualifying match against king kong bundy a match that he won and yeah he was not a full-blown babyface the crowd was receptive of sean they were led during his entrance and they cheered for him throughout the match so the babyface turn had worked well hbk qualified for the king of the ring and in the meantime he would win all of his household matches on his way to the king of the ring pay-per-view in order to protect sean without him winning the tournament his first round king of the ring match went to a time limit draw now if you have the wwe network go back and watch this match in particular watch sean's entrance you will notice that it's heavily edited for some reason sean even magically changes headwear while walking to the ring well on the original pay-per-view broadcast sean approached bruce pritchard who was standing beside the king of the ring thrown on crown sean tried on the crown but he noticed it was way too big for his head in a roundabout way this kind of gave the audience a spoiler the crown would need to fit a large man with presumably a large head of course mabel would win the king of the ring and the wwf edited this entrance up for their home video release and the wwe network release shawn's match with kami here isn't too bad but the draw finish didn't go down well with audiences i definitely don't think it's as bad as others say it is but i also understand why it isn't all that well received if you want to talk about a must-see match featuring sean michaels in 1995 though look no further than in your house 2 where sean got a shot at jeff jarrett's intercontinental title i bet not many people would have a must-see jeff jarrett match but honestly take the time to watch this intercontinental title contest and i guarantee you will enjoy it something that stands out in this match here is the timing even in the opening minutes you can see that both men took the time to lay out this match before the bell and it really pairs off their small comedy spots in the right places there's an extremely high amount of athleticism from sean michaels throughout the match and double j deserves credit for playing the sneaky hill that would take any given opportunity to gain the upper hand of all of sean's matches in 1995 i rank this up there as probably his best encounter hbk wins the ic title here as the crowd goes totally nuts for their newfound hero on the next episode of raw following in your house 2 sean michaels defeated jimmy del rey on tv while also working a dark match in this dark match sean teamed up with brad hart to take on jacob and eli blue a match that you can actually find right now on youtube sean would then have an intercontinental title defense against buddy landau over at smoky mountain wrestling's super bowl of wrestling event in knoxville tennessee on august 4th another match that you can find online this one is interesting as sean had worked against buddy landale in 1984 in mid-south when sean was trying to make a name for himself sean would then get a win on raw over jerry lawler before making his way to summerslam 1995. the plan then at summerslam was for raza ramon and sean michaels to have a babyface vs babyface ladder match a rematch of their timeless wrestlemania 10 encounter sean revealed in his book that both he and razer didn't like the idea of the latter rematch at summerslam feeling it was a no-win situation where there was no benefit in trying to live up to their 1994 classic but still the match went ahead right before the match vince mcmahon approached razer and sean and revealed that the latter could not be used as a weapon due to a new violence code that vince mcmahon introduced to the company the boss didn't want to see the ladder being used to cause physical harm sean said in his autobiography that while the restrictions made the match a whole lot tougher both he and raiser tried to make it up by performing more moves off the two ladders that were introduced in the match and also contrary to what everyone seems to think and say sean and razer still hit each other with the latter but it was played off as more accidental sean said in his book i have to say that even though i felt there was no way we could pull the match off it was a wonderful challenge we did as good a job as possible was it the first ladder match no but it couldn't have been the important thing was that we had stolen the show once again i agree with what sean says here there was no way this match could ever have lived up to the wrestlemania 10 match but they done their best here and it was still a very entertaining match that being said stealing the show at summerslam 1995 wouldn't have been a hard task anyway with bret hart being put against isaac yanking and given a per match finish and the main event featuring big daddy cool diesel taking on king mabel on the september 11th 1995 edition of raw sean defeated psycho said before moving into a storyline that would see him reunite with big daddy cool diesel in your house 3 would feature a unique tag team match pitting world champion diesel and ic champion sean michaels against the wwf tag team champion's own heart and yokozuna all the titles were on the line so if sean or diesel got pinned or submitted they would lose their respective title if shawn or diesel pinned or submitted owner yokozuna they would win the tag titles during a near house 3 owen heart in storyline had not arrived at the building by the time the show had started wwf president gorilla monsoon decided that jim cornett the manager of owen and yokozuna would have to find another partner to team up with yokozuna to defend the tag titles devi boy smith was selected as owen's replacement the match then went ahead and yeah it was okay nothing special though and considering that all the belts were on the line here you would have expected a bit more owen hart ran to the ring in the closing moments of the match diesel hit him with a jackknife owen got pinned and the dudes with attitudes won the tag titles or so it seemed it was later announced that sean and diesel did win the match but not the tag titles as own heart was not a legal man in the match the october 9th edition overall saw an excellent six-man tag match featuring camp cornett members yokozuna owen heart and davy boy smith taking on diesel the undertaker and sean michaels after the match dean douglas attacked hbk adding some fuel to their scheduled match at in your house 4. in the end though the match would not happen after working a house show match with davey boy smith on the 13th of october sean and a few other guys decided to stay overnight in syracuse before leaving for the next show among those staying in syracuse were sean davey boy smith and sean waldman the man went out that evening to a small club and according to sean he had a few too many drinks and decided to leave the club to sit in a rental car the plan here was to wait for davey and waltman to finish up at the bar and meet him at the rental car when leaving the club sean was jumped by a bunch of guys apparently they were marines sunny and chris candido found michaels outside their hotel room unconscious somehow and sean woke up in hospital with sunny beside him according to hbk that's all he knows about this story sean claimed to have felt groggy and a little sore afterwards but he was still willing to wrestle vince mcmahon however did not want sean to work and it was decided that the hbk would forfeit the ic title to dean douglas at a near house 4. sean was back to work on the house show loop around three weeks later his return tv match happened on pay-per-view when he was part of the wild card tag team match at survivor series 1995. his team won here in an odd match that mixed up baby faces and heels on each respective team hpk davy boy smith and wwf newcomer ahmed johnson were the survivors of the match the next night on raw the push for sean michael's world title reign officially began during his match with the one heart sean collapsed in the middle of the ring playing off his cafe head injuries suffered from the syracuse fight which caused sean to forfeit the icy title the wwf were trying to garner sympathy for sean michaels here and to their credit it worked it was decided that when sean collapsed the commentators would go silent and the cameras would continue to run while sean was being attended to by doctors giving the impression here that this could be legitimate it was done quite well this was shawn's final match of 1995 his return match would occur at the 1996 royal rumble where hbk won the rumble match and became the number one contender for the wwf championship much like diesel's wwf title run in 1995 sean michael's time with the wwf championship in 96 is seen by some people as a failure there's no doubt business was down in 1996 but it wasn't just sean michaels who was failing to draw audiences it was the wrestling business as a whole it's always baffled me how people based the success of a wrestling company based on how well the champion drew crowds if this was true you don't hear people praising hulk hogan for the success of wcw in 97 nor do we keep praise on batista or sheamus for their title wins in 2010 that became one of the most profitable years in wwe history make no mistake about it though the whole wrestling business was struggling as we went into 1996 but it would be wcw that would begin turning things around that summer with the introduction of the new world order sean michaels had turned babyface in 1995 and he would be getting his long-awaited first wwf title run in 96 while the general consensus nowadays is that sean's run was a failure taking the time to go back and look at the matches sean had will unearth some gems that deserve to get highlighted in this video we will look at sean's complete year of 1996 and the fulfillment of his boyhood dream we need to start off in november of 1995 sean michaels faced owen hart in a match on monday night raw that saw shawn michaels collapse in the ring after taking an insecurity this was done in kayfabe as shaw needed time away to nurse an unrelated injury the collapse on raw though done quite a bit to garner sympathy for hbk at the 1996 royal rumble sean won the rumble match stamping his ticket into the wrestlemania 12 man event the rumble match wasn't too bad not great either but sean's entrance gives an indication on just how over the guy was at the beginning of the year at this point in his career with maybe the exception of the undertaker no one was more over in the wwf than sean maggles the royal rumble match ended when sean super kicked his buddy diesel over the top rope in the final moments of the match the next night on raw sean michaels came out to the ring for an interview with vince mcmahon was totally gushing over sean michaels during this time period which maybe done sean more harmed than good in hindsight anyway sean michaels announced he wants to get some revenge on owen hart for knocking him out in november this prompted jim cornett to come to the ring who said hbk can have a match with one heart but only if sean puts his wrestlemania 12 title shot on the line and so it was booked jim cornett was awesome here by the way whatever you may think of the man he played his role brilliantly so at in your house 6 on february 18 96 sean worked against owen hart this match was set up with the sole purpose of making sean look as good as possible going into wrestlemania 12 the following month take away the pandering and you have a good match here there's some good athletic work along with some small comedy spots that aren't overdone of course it never felt like sean's title shot was in jeopardy but still a fun match nonetheless and one that's recommended the february 26 1996 episode of raw included an interview segment featuring sean michaels and his wrestlemania 12 opponent brad hart both men got a similar crowd reaction coming to the ring both men were over as hell sean and brad traded pleasantries with each other putting each other over more so than actually challenging each other go back and watch this though there's a moment where brad hart says to sean that he's gonna hit him with everything but the kitchen sink and for whatever reason this begins to crack vince mcmahon up which in turn cracks brad up a small thing but funny nonetheless acting wwf president roddy piper comes to the ring puts both men over and announces the wwf title match will be a one r iron man match the first of its kind at wrestlemania and to death the only iron man match to be contested on the ground stage roddy piper protects the future when he says you might as well shake hands now because you're going to hit each other after this the wrestlemania 12 match between sean michaels and brad hart is quite polarizing for fans some loved it and some didn't at the time when i was younger i thought it was good and the wwf done a good job of building the match up to be a spectacle looking back now i can also see why people don't like it it is a slow match and both men are cautious of taking their time and stretching out rest holes the match definitely has its moments for sure and i wouldn't say it's a bad match because it isn't but i can see why some fans maybe don't like it as much as others the final 10 minutes though are still quite dramatic shawn michaels had a memorable entrance here where he ziplined from the rafters to the floor quick side note sean since revealed that he needed to have a toilet break while waiting up there for his entrance knowing he had to work for over an hour and having no further opportunities for a toilet break the heartbreak kid decided to take a whiz at the very top of the anaheim pond arena before zip landing down to win the wwf title the match went the full r without a single pin submission dq york handout gorilla monsoon came out and announced the match was to go into sudden death meaning whoever was awarded the next fall would be the winner sean nails the superkick and wins his first wwf championship as a pissed off brad hart walks away and so begins the sean michael's title run of 96 the next night on raw vince mcmahon introduces sean michaels as the leader of the new generation as the hbk makes his way to the ring for an interview sean michael says that wrestlemania 12 was the best night of his life he thanks the fans for their support and it's announced that jerry lawler will work against hbk the following week on raw it's also announced that diesel will be coming after sean's title which is odd seeing that the undertaker defeated diesel the previous night at wrestlemania anyway diesel was getting prepared to leave the wwf around this time and he was going to be doing the job on his way out it's announced that at the next in your house show sean will defend his title against diesel needless to say jerry lawler didn't win the title the next week on raw sean then worked a ton of house show matches defending his title against the likes of the british bulldog hunterhurst helmsley and steve austin at in your house good friends better enemies sean and diesel had a very good no disqualification match that sean ended up winning this deserves a look if you haven't already sought and even if you have it deserves a second look i think there were only two men who could get a great match out of diesel and the wwf and those two men were brad hart and sean michaels and sean makes a point here of making sure his friend looks good on his way out of the company after the match you can see sean takes shots at wcw during his celebration mocking hulk hogan's poses and sharing something about this is where the big boys play davey boy smith was up next to get a shot at sean's belt with the storyline being that sean had made advances towards davey's wife diana and davey was none too happy about this it was all obviously a big lie made up by jim cornett davie and diana to make sean look like a home wrecker i thought it was dumb and not really needed at all but hey it is what it is jim corn out here was brilliant though ripping into sean michaels and calling him a sexual deviant so stupid but cornet makes it all watchable sean would defend his title at the next in your house beware of dog against davey boy smith a pay-per-view that was plagued with problems the show had to be done twice over thanks to a power outage sean michaels versus davie boy at beware of dog was just okay it was possible but still the pair's previous matches for the ic title i felt were better sean looked legitimately pissed off during the match too likely due to the power outage the match ended when sean performed a pinning german superx but his shoulders were also down on the mat at the same time as davies bulldog was awarded the title but then a second ref says sean won the match gorilla monsoon comes to the ring and announces the match as a draw meaning sean holds on to the title this is contradictory the gorilla restarting the wrestlemania 12 title match but anyway sean leaves beware of dog as champion a rematch is set up for king of the ring and the pair do have a better match here but davey is still unable to capture the title when owen heart and vader attack after the match ahmed johnson and the ultimate warrior come in to assist hbk setting up the six-man international incident tag team match at the following in your house warrior ended up leaving and he was replaced by a returning psycho sid cam cornett ended up getting the win at international incident it was around this time that the cracks were beginning to show with sean maggles over on wcw sean's click buddies scott hall and kevin nash had just formed the new world order and fans were tuning into nitro to see what all the fuss was about sean meanwhile felt that he was responsible for wwf's failure to capture tv audiences and sell out shows he was also living a not so clean lifestyle and things were already beginning to get on top of him no further proof is needed than his performance against vader at summerslam 1996 where sean verbally abused vader during the match and legit kicked his head when vader missed a planned spot the match 2 was nothing to write home about as the match was restarted multiple times which in effect made sean look weak i've talked about this match before in my invader video look it up sean left summerslam 96 with the title but personally i wouldn't have been too mad if vader won the gold here sean's next pay-per-view title defense was probably his best of 1996 sean defended the gold against mankind who had just debuted in the wwf during 96 and was just coming off his boiler room brawl victory at summerslam the match was sorely needed to help sean michael show a more violent side to his character as by this point the constant pondering by vince mcmahon on the headset had been getting on fans nerves mankind vs michaels was everything it needed to be a hard-hitting and tough match for michaels to win mick foley calls this match one of his greatest ever and his first book sid who had returned to replace the ultimate warrior in the international incident sex man tag was getting good crowd reactions and the decision was made for psychos said to face sean maggles at survivor series 96 and madison square garden the right call was made here as sean dropped the title in this very match sean looked a bit rough going into the match but he still had a good showing giving sid his best match to date in the wwf the crowd was also firmly behind psycho said as the whole sean michael's pretty boy gimmick and that pandering i spoke about earlier had now became too much for the new york crowd it's a good match and michaels was kept protected as the match ended when jose lothario was hit with a camera causing sean to get distracted after this match shawn was pretty much kept away from matches on tv he did still work hard shows as a baby face working mainly against mankind and gold dust but sean was kept away to make his title rematch at the royal rumble in 97 that little bit more noteworthy he ended 1996 by unintentionally costing brad hart the wwf title and in your house it's time sean michael's well-documented boyhood dream came to an end at the survivor series in 1996. the story of hbk's title chase and title run had dominated wwf television during the majority of 96 and then a great example of how times were changing in the world of professional wrestling sean was booed during his title defense at the survivor series against psychosid hbk dropped the title in madison square garden as the new york audience cheered for the bad guy but the plan was for sean to win the title back in his hometown at the 1997 royal rumble it was really during this time period that we saw a more troubled side to hbk even on surface level the most casual of wrestling fans could compare 1996 sean michaels to 1997 sean michaels and immediately they would know that something wasn't quite right of course sean was living fast to put it in the most basic terms and sean freely admits that he was not the easiest person to deal with on tv we got a lot of excuses but none was more infamous than sean dropping the title because he quote lost his smile this is the topic for today's video when hbk's 1996 title run came to an end sean himself felt that he'd done a per job in raising wwf's viewership vince mcmahon said that since wrestlemania 12 sean had put an immense amount of pressure on himself to carry the company during the early days of the monday night war the nwo had formed right in the middle of sean's title run sean's old buddies kevin nash and scott hall had become the talk of the wrestling world and sean felt that it was on him to make the wwf more competitive it's a silly unnecessary and rather selfish way of thinking but that's pretty much who sean was during this time period when sean dropped the belt at the survivor series he really felt his run was a failure but vince wanted sean to rise to the top once again at the royal rumble and it's pretty much universally believed that sean would then go into wrestlemania 13 to lose to brad heart brett certainly believed that this was the angle the wwf were going for but we'll talk a bit more about this later on at the 1997 royal rumble vince mcmahon and the wwf went out of their way to tell fans that shawn michaels was sick apparently sean had the flu he wasn't himself but sean was still going to perform in the alamo dome and he was still going to challenge psycho sid for the wwf title it was reported that sean spent the previous day locked in a bathroom and on the day of the pay-per-view sean slept most of the day in vince mcmahon's makeshift office whatever the case you could tell that sean wasn't 100 at the royal rumble but a below average sean michaels is still a lot better than most of the wwe's main roster at the time so the match still wasn't bad at all hbk won the title back and if we're to believe what's been reported shawn michaels was scheduled to go into wrestlemania defeats brad hart also with the royal rumble the hitman had eliminated stone cold steve austin in the royal rumble match but austin came back into the ring and he won the whole thing upset brett threatened to quit the world wrestling federation the following night on raw but wwf president gorilla monsoon booked a special final four match for in your house featuring the last four men in the royal rumble brett austin vader and the undertaker whoever won the final four would then go on the wrestlemania defeat shawn michaels for the title with everything that's been reported we can only assume that brad hart would have won the final four and this would have given the hit man his wrestlemania rematch with michael's only things didn't quite work out that way one week after the final format was announced sean appeared on wwf raw to cut an in-ring promo vince mcmahon announced it on february 13th during a special thursday episode of monday night raw a rematch would take place sean would defend the wwf championship against psycho sid vince wanted to hear sean's thoughts on the final four match and his potential wrestlemania opponents sean said that the title brings out the very best and the very worst in wwf superstars a little foreshadowing there for sure and sean says he'll do whatever he needs to do in order to hold on to the championship no matter who he faces at wrestlemania vince then invited bret hart to the ring and man brad hart must have had a crystal ball judging by the things that he said here the hitman told sean to do whatever he needed to do in order to hold on to the wwf championship until wrestlemania he even tells sean to make sure he doesn't get himself injured because brad won sean at mania brett says he will win the final four and as long as sean is healthy the brad heart versus sean michael's wrestlemania rematch would be set in stone brett doesn't want any excuses he even says he'll watch sean's back during hbk's match with sid on raw to make sure michaels makes it to the grandest stage of all with the benefit of hindsight you'd 100 believe that brett knew sean was going to forfeit the title before wrestlemania judging by this promo watch it back and i'm sure you'll agree the other participants of the final four match make an appearance and the segment comes to an end with steve austin calling everyone a bunch of crybabies roe was taped the following week from the toronto sky dome airing on the 3rd of february 97 sean worked a dark match on this show he defeated brad hart and psycho sid in a triple threat match but during the television broadcast hbk had another in-ring promo with vince mcmahon the audience were split here being in canada there were fans in attendance who took great pleasure in booing the wwf champion sean once again said that the championship brings out the worst in people sean says that if being bad is what it takes then hbk will be the worst person the wwf has ever seen vince asked sean to address brad hart and sean said that brett can call himself the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be but right now at that very moment brett couldn't call himself the champion the hitman came to the ring and what we got here was a great piece of wwf television that i would say has become pretty much forgotten the hitman says that he's tried over and over again to like shawn michaels but hbk makes it impossible for brad to do so brett once again pulls out his crystal ball when he says that sean said it best himself hbk is a degenerate sean can be heard saying sue me as brett goes on to call sean a punk and a jackass and as sean began to interrupt brett stone called steve austin and psycho said hit the ring when we came back from commercial break sean and brett were still in the ring the man had a stare down with the wwf championship at their feet and when sean tries to lift the belt brad puts his foot on the tile brad then picks up the gold and we think brad is being a good sportsman by handing the championship back to michaels but brad instead drops the belt of the floor before flipping off the heartbreak head if the wrestlemania 13 match would have took place we would have seen this piece of footage played quite a lot during the build-up but it wasn't meant to be a quick side note too the dark match between sean brad and sid was later released on dvd people seem to think that this is the match where sean allegedly hurt his knee leading to sean forfeiting the title but this is incorrect sean had a further six matches after this triple threat bout now to be fair all of these matches were triple threat or tag team matches which does suggest that shawn was working hurt but sean was still working matches if the world wrestling federation believed that their champion would severely injured before wrestlemania then the champion would be put on the bench and given some time to hail for example sean michaels before wrestlemania in 1998 add in the fact that shawn runs and dances after the triple threat match and you just naturally come to the conclusion that sean was absolutely fine here in toronto the special thursday episode of raw on the 13th of february appropriately deemed thursday raw thursday kicked off with a huge announcement that would change the course of the world wrestling federation sean michaels was going to forfeit the wwf championship with gorilla monsoon and vince mcmahon in the ring sean came out holding the belt as jim ross told us that sean's doctor had recommended reconstructive surgery on the knee sean's knee was apparently so bad that he was unable to perform in the ring and sean would be forced into surrendering the championship the final four bout that was once a wrestlemania number one contendership match was now going to be a title match sean michaels got in the ring and he said well it seems like we've done this before this time unfortunately for me it's much more serious than what it was last time i've never had a doctor look at me in the face and say that i may never wrestle again i was told that the other day it's not something i believe but it's something i have to deal with time has taken its toll on my body i come here and people cheer sid's name and they chant brad's name one thing is for sure you're going to have all that in the future and that's what i want for the world wrestling federation fans despite what people may think of me what i've always wanted for all these people was for them to have a good time and to enjoy themselves i've always tried to be the one to provide it i know right now we're in a time when toughness is real big in the world wrestling federation but all i've got for you right now is a lot of sorrow a lot of tears and a lot of emotion i don't have any toughness for anybody so here's your belt i'm going to go back home and see what's left for me whether it be in this ring or at this ring i know over the last several months i've lost a lot of things and one of them has been my smile i know it doesn't mean a whole lot to everyone else but it means a lot to me so i have to go back and fix myself and take care of myself i have to go back and find my smile because somewhere along the line i lost it i don't care if it's unpopular i don't care if people want to make fun of me because i'm an emotional guy this is all i ever wanted to do and over the last year i got to do it whether you like me or not last year was the most wonderful year in my life and if i never get to do it again it's okay because i got to live one full year as being the number one guy in this business it was the single greatest year in my life i have you to thank i have everybody here to thank it means a lot to me and i'm going home now with tears flowing down his face shawn michaels left the ring and the world wrestling federation championship was vacated to say this was controversial would be an understatement shawn michaels famously losing his smile would become the subject of ridicule for years and people believe that shawn michaels used this knee injury as an excuse to dodge brad hart at wrestlemania 13. many believe that sean's emotional promo on thursday raw thursday was a complete fabrication and michaels was just simply refusing to lose the brett in the eyes of manny fans sean would rather cry in the ring and give up the championship than lose to the hitman on pay-per-view but let's take a look at why people would believe this first and maybe most importantly sean had forfeited and vacated championships before in september of 1993 sean was stripped of the intercontinental title allegedly due to his failure to defend the title in reality shawn failed a wellness test in 1994 he vacated the wwf tag team titles due to a storyline breakup with diesel in september of 95 he and diesel were stripped of the tag titles and then the following month he forfeited the ic title after getting beat up outside a bar in syracuse there's also shawn losing his smile right here that's another forfeit and later in the year his tag team belt was taken away when his future with the company became unclear after a backstage fight with brad hart sean's history with fake hitting championships is absolutely legendary there is enough evidence here to suggest that sean doesn't like losing championship belts inside the ring it can't be denied nor can it really be defended some may say that everyone deserves the benefit of doubt every once in a while but six occasions of the same thing happening goes a bit beyond the boy who cried wolf wwf producer bruce pritchard said that brad hart was livid after sean's promo not only was brad annoyed at sean dropping the belt but even the office felt that the whole i lost my smile thing just confused casual viewers sean saying that he lost his smile wasn't scripted and vince mcmahon didn't know he was going to say this prior to the in-ring promo pritchard also said that he himself believed sean had a bad knee but he also could have worked with sid and eventually brad hart if that was the original plan from all accounts there didn't seem to be many people who were sympathetic towards sean backstage there were more skeptics than anything else and this was due to sean's history of forfeiting and vacating championships pritchard also said that there were discussions around sean dropping the belt the sid on thursday raw thursday sid was reportedly going to win the title in a quick match because shawn was unable to have a 20 minute bite due to how hurt he was so sean was being booked here to apparently lose to sid and brett within a short time frame and this is why many believe sean decided to forfeit the title instead the next obvious question then that would clear some of this up would be did sean get the knee surgery and yes he did don't be filled into thinking sean wasn't actually hurt here he was but as explained earlier sean was working with the injury for quite some time albeit in tag team matches and triple threat matches there's also the holy thing about wrestlers working big shows regardless if they're hurt or not and whether you think this is the right or wrong thing to do is completely up to you but there was a sort of unwritten rule where a wrestler would be expected to work hard if their name was on the marquee get the match in the ring and deal with the injury after drawing the crowd that kind of thing even if sean was legitimately hurt manny would simply say that sean should have worked wrestlemania anyway in the weird world of professional wrestling this would be considered the right thing to do man up and get in the ring a theory that's been thrown out there and the one i'd probably lean towards the most is that sean was indeed hurt he did go to his doctor and he was told he needed surgery but sean maybe saw this as an opportunity rather than a problem it was the perfect excuse it avoided the proposed loss to sid and the wrestlemania rematch with brett the thing is though i can't tell you what happened and neither can anyone else with a youtube channel wwf producers at the time are still not 100 on the legitimacy of sean's knee injury there's one man who can give you the answers and that's sean michaels sean says that it was very much legitimate so that's what we've got to work with one thing is for sure though sean was going through more than just these alleged knee problems the guy had problems with addiction it's no secret that he was becoming extremely difficult to work with and in early 1997 i firmly believe that we were seeing the results of all that pressure hbk put on himself in 1996 along with the self medication of course it's almost like shawn michaels was breaking down on tv as the wakes went on bret hart is pretty ottoman that shawn faked the injury to get out of wrestlemania 13. what's interesting though is that brett revealed details about the planned wrestlemania 13 match brett shared his ideas for how he wanted the match to play out it's quite different but it is also very intriguing brett said it would have basically been a duplicate of the iron man match but we wouldn't go the full hour again i wanted to do a thing where sean was stomping his foot getting ready to give me the big kick sean goes to give me the kick as i stagger over to him just like the iron man match except this time i would take shawn's foot catch it in the air get him to the ground and put some kind of shoot hold on his foot and break his foot in the middle of the ring i wanted sean to top out like they do in ufc where it's like when they break somebody's arm they top out pretty fast and everyone jumps in and it's a very serious kind of thing i wanted to break sean's foot and they would hand me the belt and i would have gone over and stood over the top of him and go keep in mind that i don't think brad is saying he wanted to shoot on sean michaels in the wrestlemania main event that would be silly but brett wanted to do something that looked a little more legitimate and by the signs of things brett would turn halo also at wrestlemania brett would turn into a bad guy at mania 13 but of course it wasn't during a match with sean michaels brett would go on to work with steve austin in an iconic submission match while the wwf title was moved over to the undertaker versus psycho sid match hbk showed up at wrestlemania 2 but he stayed at the commentary table brett made sure to call sean out for his so-called injury and sean just laughed at brett it also didn't help when sean came out for interviews and he performed back flips from the top turnbuckle in the end the way sean tells it hbk's personal doctor who diagnosed the knee injury apparently had no experience in sports medicine and he told sean that he would never wrestle again after a second opinion and also after surgery sean apparently found out that the knee injury was much more minor than originally stated there could be some truth to this after all sean would continue to have knee problems during his second wwe ef run and he again had surgery so i do need the stress here that i really do believe sean had issues with his knee during early 1997. sean returned to the ring three months after forfeiting the belt and again he was put in tag team matches only although giving sean the tag team title along with steve austin was probably a mistake sean didn't have a singles match until june of 1997 working against stone cold at the king of the ring sean michaels and razor ramon were upper mid-carters in the wwf around the time of wrestlemania 9. sean was the intercontinental champion while razer had just debuted the previous year razer had pinned former wwf champ in bald backlink at wrestlemania while sean opened up the show getting a win over tatanga the day after wrestlemania 9 a newcomer came into the world wrestling federation this newcomer was sean waltman and he got a contract after his tryout along with his opponent on the night luis piccoli louis would go on to become rad radford in the wwf while sean would eventually become the one two three kid after getting an upset win over razor ramon on raw thanks to their feud here razer took a lagging desean waltman and the two became friends in june of 1993 sean was seeking a bodyguard character to go along with his gimmick sean also stated he didn't have many friends in the world wrestling federation at this time and he wasn't only looking for a work colleague but he also wanted a friend sean had seen a character on wcw named vinnie vegas who sean instantly thought was funny and entertaining sean managed to get vinnie vegas into the world wrestling federation and thus diesel was born sean michaels and diesel real name kevin nash became instant friends and to this day kevin nash crowded sean michaels for the success he would have in the wrestling business he was seriously flandering in wcw at the time so we have razor ramon and the one two three kid is friends on one side and shawn and diesel are buddies on the other the two pairs of friends would come together as a group known as the click in 1995 newcomer triple h came into the world wrestling federation and the clique took him in triple h didn't like the party whereas the remaining members of the clique very much enjoyed the party so hunter became the clique's designated driver the clique used their backstage pool to get themselves booked in matches that only benefited the click we know this for sure things would come to a halt though in 1996 as diesel and razor ramon had agreed to join wcw and eventually so did sean waltman after the curtain call incident occurred where four out of the five click members broke kfabe and madison square garden by presenting a public goodbye ceremony triple h was made the job in the mid card as a punishment sean the wwf champion at the time was completely immune from any such punishments he was vince mcmahon's golden boy after all diesel and razer debuted on wcw using their real names kevin nash and scott hall and they became the outsiders eventually they formed the new world order and changed the landscape of wcw forever over on the wwf side things were looking bleak sean michaels put a lot of pressure on himself as the wwf champion and the cracks began the show at the beginning of 97. sean no longer had his click friends surrounding him and eventually he ended up forfeiting the title and he worked a ladder schedule while triple h meanwhile was doing all he could to rise back up the ranks hunter won the king of the ring in 1997 which also kick-started a feud with tournament finalist mankind and it seemed like his punishment was now well and truly over with all this going on kevin nash and scott hall were making headlines on a weekly basis as the nwo became the hottest thing in professional wrestling wcw was gearing up for starkey at 97 their biggest ever pay-per-view and company history when sean forfeited the title it eventually ended up with the undertaker wrestlemania 13 saw the undertaker take the title away from psycho sid and at summerslam the undertaker was set to defend the championship against sean michael's eternal rival brad hart sean managed to get himself involved in this match as he was named the special guest referee for the showdown the night ended with sean accidentally smashing a steel chair in the undertaker's skull and counting the one two three allowing brett to win the wwf championship and the process had sean not counted the one two three in storyline he would have had to leave the world wrestling federation for not carrying out his referee responsibilities the next two episodes of raw following summerslam featured two very good sean michaels promos as he solidified his new hail status while sean has never been the most articulate promo guy these segments featuring maggles were done very well in the first interview conducted by vince mcmahon sean said so let me get this straight you referring to vince mcmahon the undertaker brad hart and the fans of the world wrestling federation are dumping this on my lap you know something it's just like you it's just like brad hart and it's just like all the fans of the wwf to not take responsibility for themselves and pass the book under the heartbreak kid let me tell everybody what the story is it's no secret that brad hart doesn't like me but there's one thing for sure brad hart needs me because i am the only man who has ever beat his ass in the wwf undertaker you and i for as long as we have been here have never crossed paths except for an eye undertaker sean michaels lays down for no one i don't do it for brett i don't do it for you i don't do it for the fans the next time you see sean michaels my super kick will be down your throat sean kicked off the following episode of raw with another interview this time conducted by jim ross sean announced that he was scheduled to face mankind that evening before taking shots at the new commissioner of the wwf sergeant slaughter slaughter made his way to the ring trying to make hbk fall in line but sean said that he was expecting to end up on the wwf hit list and so he got himself an insurance policy the commentators wondered for the rest of the evening what or who the insurance policy could be as we made our way to the main event sean and mankind had a short yet brutal match here and when it seemed mankind was getting the upper hand and about the insurance policy made his way to the ring none other than ravishing rick rude i jumped out of my seat when i saw this when i was younger it was great seeing rick rude back in wrestling along with rick rude coming the ringside triple h and china also surrounded the ring rude ended up hitting mankind with a steel chair and sean got the win after the match undertaker made his way down to the ring as raw went off the air had sean michaels just aligned himself with triple h on screen was this a new group and wrestling we didn't know we would have to wait until next week to find out rickroad kicked off the next episode of raw the elaborate on his new status and the wwf rude said he is an insurance salesman and if people can afford the book then rude can provide the bang rood said that he was paid a handsome sum of money to look after sean michaels and he will continue to provide a premium service to sean it was later announced that the undertaker would be teaming with mankind to take on triple h and sean michaels in the main event of raw and sean said here that he was annoyed that he had to tag with triple h as he doesn't wrestle tag matches but this was all obviously a ruse shawn and hunter did indeed team up here in the main event for the very first time to take on mankind and the undertaker with chyna and rickroot at ringside it seemed the numbers were very much against mankind and the undertaker the match ended with rickroot attempting to hit taker with a chair but undertaker was able to chase him into the ring sean then smashed a chair over undertaker's head twice in the middle of the ring before running off with chyna rood and triple h the faction was born right here on this night that sunday the wwf presented in your house ground zero which featured sean versus the undertaker in the main event the match ended in an old contest due to interference the next night on raw it was announced that undertaker versus sean michaels would happen once again but this time it would be in the very first hell in a cell match in the meantime sean said he would challenge davey boy smith for the european title in the uk reigniting his feud with bret hart and the heart foundation and the process davy boy smith was crowned the first ever european champion after winning a tournament held in germany the tournament finals took place on february 26 1997 but didn't air on american television until march 3rd on monday night raw the final match between davey and owen hart is definitely worth your time the overall broadcast quality leaves a lot to be desired but once you get past the presentation you're left with a good pure wrestling match davey would proudly wear the european championship for the months that followed the belt was featured heavily in the summer house show loop but quite a few european title matches also happened on tv in a way the european title initially just felt like davey boyd's belt in 1997 and during davey's run in the heart foundation the british bulldog became synonymous with the european title when sky television and the wwf agreed to broadcast a special uk exclusive pay-per-view in september of 97 it made sense for davey boy smith to headline the show five years prior the british bulldogs intercontinental title win at summerslam 92 had provided british wrestling fans with a genuine feel-good moment and even though times had changed smith was still loved by fans in the uk one night only was kind of a homecoming for the british bulldogs smith had of course worked plenty of uk shows after summerslam and wembley but what you need to understand here is that one night only was heavily promoted in the uk while fans in america may look at one not only and see the event as a glorified house show here in the uk the advertising and promotion for the event was quite extraordinary i specifically remember seeing newspaper advertisements for the event something that wasn't done here for typical shows and you couldn't watch any other program on sky sports without seeing advertisements for one night only as a quick side note while one night only was marketed as a uk exclusive show it was also available in canadian pay-per-view markets to explain this bret hart said he had blocked the united states from getting the show due to a clause and his contract good stuff the wwf also done a big promotional tour sending talent to british talk shows to tell potential viewers that they should order one night only on sky box office naturally the british bulldog appeared on radio shows and television broadcasts and davey boy promised the british public that he would defeat sean michaels at the special event while dedicating the upcoming victory to his sister tracy tracy was battling cancer at the time i don't think i need to talk about shawn michaels in 1997 too much here because you guys already know the story but to summarize sean had turned heal after summerslam 97 while aligning himself with hunterhurst helmsley china and ravishing rickroad this group was known as degeneration acts and their main rivals were bret hart and the heart foundation of which davie boy was a member sean's rivalry with brad hart had reached its boiling point during the summer of 97 political maneuvering and backstage fighting had completely tarnished hbk and the hitman's relationship both on a personal and professional level and there was a very real dislike between the two men to put it lightly something i want to point out though and something i find interesting is the fact that the sean michaels vs davey boy smith match at one night stand was announced before sean turned hill so for example if you watch summerslam 97 you'll hear vince and jim ross talk about the special uk pay-per-view while announcing the michaels vs smithman event so we have the heart foundation and degeneration acts at each other's throats as we go into one night only held in the birmingham nec arena brett would have his hands full with the undertaker in the semi-main spot while davy boy smith and sean michaels would close the show the crowd who showed up at one night only were excellent as they got traded to a quote proper wwf show one night only was very different when compared to other live events that the wwf brought to the uk during this time period many uk fans watched american pay-per-view events with envy wanting to be part of these big shows but never getting the chance to do so and again american audiences may look at one night only and think that it's nothing special but for fans in the united kingdom it was big the heavy promotion the tv advertising newspapers magazines the uk was finally getting something like a wwf pay-per-view event after waiting for five years so the audience that sold out the nec were excited and ready for action fans were treated to appearances from brad hart the undertaker vader mick foley and hunter hurst helmsley just to name a few before the main event and throughout the show the uk fans were very vocal and they were very loud they definitely had their favorite superstars and they let everyone know who they liked and who they didn't the story of the british bulldog versus shawn michaels was played out through the entire show the event opened up with a video showing us a young davey boy smith while vince mcmahon talked about the bulldog coming home to defend the european championship smith had a pre-taped interview that was also shown in the middle of the event where he once again dedicated his match to his sister tracy and davey talked about how he dropped weight in order to keep up with the much faster sean michaels sean had a backstage promo spot just before the match where hbk said he would win the european championship and he had become the very first grand slam winner in wwf history the audience response was of course very negative towards sean but what's so shocking about one night only and the european championship main event is the fact that sean michaels was absolutely right here hbk was going into the birmingham nec and he was booked to defeat the british bulldog in the middle of the ring i don't think anyone could have expected what was going to happen here let's first look at the match and then we'll talk about how and why this all happened i'll give you a small spoiler though it was all sean michael's idea sean comes to the ring and initially fans are excited to see the heartbreak hid in particular the female fans while kissing girls of a questionable age and sticking a british bulldog action figure down his tights hpk gets a decent crowd response but remember the uk were starved of big superstars and big shows at the time practically everyone got a decent ovation that won that only and it wasn't until the matches played out where you would hear the cheers and the booze don't worry though this audience would soon be turning very very cold towards sean michaels davey comes out with his sister tracy it does look like it's a little too much for her to be honest but davey had dedicated the match to her and we can only assume that davey wanted to give his sister a moment that she would remember i'll just mention here too that tracy passed away in 1999 at the age of 26. davey gets a thunderous ovation though a massive bulldog chant breaks out as davey holds up the union jack sean pretends to leave the arena only to check himself out on the titantron before returning sean must have been loving all of this hbk knew what was going to happen the more they chanted for the bulldog the more hate the finish was going to generate as unsavory as shawn michaels was during middle at 1997 his in-ring healer work was unrivalled sean's athletic ability mixed with his animated theatrics made for great television the man you love to hate he knows he's good and he's not afraid to show it and his defensive and selling abilities are just as entertaining as his offensive skills sean's backstage conduct would never win him any awards but his in-ring work definitely would with that being said davey boy is no slouch in this match either the bulldog is a bit of a strange case when it comes to main events sometimes he was average and sometimes he was really good and the dv we got this uk pay-per-view was really good especially in the first five minutes or so the bout starts with sean constantly getting overpowered a great spot sees davey and sean tang up and hbk trying to use the top turnbuckle to his advantage only for debbie to throw sean from one side of the ring to the other sean plays up and he pretends to leave the arena once again but davey unceremoniously dumps the hbk back into the ring the audience were getting what they wanted here as davey lifts sean up above his head teasing the crowd here by going from one side of the ring to the other so far so good a back body drops and shawn over the top rope and this gets a great pop davey then slows the match down by bringing shaun to the mat sean fights his way out and he gets things warmed up by poking davie in the eye but the bulldog answers with a big sit-down powerbomb not a typical british bulldog move but it looked pretty impressive davey flattens sean by reversing a crucifix pen attempt with a samoan drop but then the bulldog makes a costly mistake he applies a surfboard stretch while keeping his own shoulders to the mat referee erd hebner has no choice but to count a pen attempt forcing the bulldog to release the hold devi argues with the referee and sean takes advantage by blindsiding the bulldog davy tries to fight back and he delivers a vertical suplex but then we see rickrood making his way to the ring it's from this point onwards where the match begins falling apart as soon as rood comes to the ring he begins interfering in the match the evie boy gets rammed into the ring post on the outside and sean follows up with a double axe handle from the top rope fans begin looking to the entranceway waiting for a heart foundation member to come out and even the odds but it doesn't happen instead rude is allowed to deliver more punishment on the outside it's fine though right i mean this is only a little uk her show and davey boy will eventually overcome these odds giving fans a reason to go home hobby and all that stuff sean applies a sleeper hole in the middle of the ring but davey gets out with a sad suplex sean stays on the offense with a forceful irish whip under the corner and then we see the short arm scissors that sean applies on rare occasions davey is once again able to show off his power by lifting sean while the arm scissors is still applied drilling sean's back into the mat the two men then dash into each other and both competitors are on the mat the audience begins booing loudly as triple h and china make their way to the ring as the crowd chants we want brett davey begins mounting a comeback but it's not only a matter of time before triple h in china get involved the crowd wants the heart foundation to come out and even the odds but again it doesn't happen eventually sean gets the upper hand we see not one but two diving elbows from the heartbreak kid but when sean goes for the superkick davy is able to reverse it the bulldog scoops up sean for the running power slam but rick road takes hold of davy's leg davy is able to get away from rude and sean gets clotheslined over the top rope but things go from bad doors when the fight spills to the outside devi scoops up sean once again for a running power slam but he falls over catching his foot on the guardrail and this results in the bulldog taking sweet chin music the other members of dx try to force the guard rail further in the davies knee before triple h nails the pedigree still no sign of the heart foundation sean then takes davey's knee brace off and he throws it to the bulldogs wife diana and sister tracy and then shawn applies a figure four leg lock hunter and chyna help sean apply pressure while the bulldog screams in agony the bulldog makes his way to the ropes but rick rude punches davy behind the referee's back the figure 4 remains locked in and the fans are now on the edge of their seats just waiting for davy to power out allowed bulldog chant breaks out in the arena hunter and china continue to assist hbk and eventually the referee is forced to stop the match that's right sean michaels just beat the british bulldog in the middle of the ring in england and the fans didn't know how to take it immediately after the bell rings fans start throwing garbage into the ring sean grabs a microphone and he says all right all you lammies i want you to take a look at your champion and then take a look at the new grand slam winner heart family this is for you and diana smith my sweetheart this one is especially for you baby triple h tells davey boy to scream for his country as sean applies to the figure 4 once again diana gets in the ring and she tries to stop sean by using davey's knee brace but chyna grabs diana finally after all this time owen and brad show up but degeneration acts quickly get out of the ring the fans are now livid as sean celebrates his victory the heartbreak kid rubs it in everyone's face with an over-the-top celebration that gets him even more heat it really wasn't the outcome that people expected especially for a uk show like this davey boy smith and the rest of the hearts had been completely humiliated in the middle of the ring while sean laughed and danced all the way back to the united states if sean wanted to get the audience fired up well he done a stellar job at one night only the atmosphere after the final bell is extremely tense and if sean hung around for much longer well who knows what could have happened the show goes off the air with a defeated british bulldog trying to put himself back to his feet so what happened here practically everyone in the nec arena would have bet money that davy would win the match it was pretty much a given that if the wwf were coming back to the uk to put on a big show then it's natural that the audience would get sent home hobby but this didn't happen well as mentioned earlier it was shawn's idea to flip the finish davey was booked to win the match but on the day of the pay-per-view sean approached vince mcmahon in the creative team and he requested that the finish got changed this is what sean wrote in his book before we could get to my rematch with undertaker at bad blood in october we had to get through a special pay-per-view that was being held in birmingham england on september 20th davey boy smith was the european champion and he was from birmingham that isn't correct by the way but anyway i told the creative team if you want to get me some hate have me screw him for the title in his hometown they loved the idea davey was so over in england and he never lost there screwing him out of the title in front of his hometown fans was a good business decision because i would generate a ton of hate davey never once expressed to us that he was upset with our plans but he wasn't the kind of guy who would just say anything to your face he would do it in the back he wasn't mean that's just the way he was brought up in the business you bury guys behind their back it's my understanding that brett really got him wound up about losing in his hometown for brett the most important thing was not about what was right for business but about looking like the good guy in the eyes of the wrestling industry bret hart wrote about the match in his book too the hitman said before the show i talked to the little boy who'd been burned in a fire his ears were gone then i found time to say hello to davie's family davey had made the huge mistake of promising in interviews with the british tabloids that he'd win his title match for his sister tracy who was dying of cancer he'd been told he was going over but on the day of the show vince and sean changed the outcome davey was devastated sean had openly bragged about how he was not doing jobs for anyone but nobody wanted to believe he had such nerve this went against the code of all wrestlers usually vince or pat would give me my finishes but now sean hunter and briscoe were there to oversee something was going very wrong chyna grabbed diana from behind as one and i finally charged down the ramp with everyone wondering where the hell we'd been all this time as i pretended to help the wounded davey boy back to the dressing room we passed the burn little boy and davey's sister tracy who was terribly upset and crying i thought in wrestling never make a promise you can't deliver i saw the light die in davie's eyes that day darkness seeping into a heart that was giving out to give you a little more insight on how this all affected davey boy here's another quote from brad's book brad's talking about a house show here i believe where he was booked into a match with the undertaker that night during my match with taker i did my usual job of taking a severe beating so severe in fact that an overwatch mentally challenged kid hit the ring to protect me when i came back through the curtain still wearing my belt he broke away from the police in tears to hug me and tell me that he loved me for some reason this scene was too hard for davey to bear and he told lanza he was going home for how long no one knew this got me curious and i decided to look up davey boy's work schedule after one night only and right enough davey disappeared from wwf tv following a house show in toledo ohio for around two weeks i went back to brad's book and yes brad confirms the date and location i might get some negative feedback on this but honestly i think sean winning the match was the right thing to do now i don't agree about changing the match i'd come on the day of the show davey ended up looking really bad after telling anyone he would listen that he was going to win and of course because davey thought he was going over he dedicated the match to his sex sister it's pretty much guaranteed that if davey knew he was going to lose then he wouldn't have dedicated the match the way sean went about getting the finish changed is just plain wrong and someone politicking to get what they want is always a croppy thing to do no one is defending sean michaels here but consider this if davey won the match at one night only then no one would remember it it would have been another run-of-the-mill international show with a predictable outcome the reaction that sean got after the match may have been extremely hostile but it was also extremely different and that's what wrestling shows need to be or else we end up where we are today you also need to think of davey boy's position within the word wrestling federation at the time the wwf is an american product its main customer base is in america and the show's going to continue in the united states long after this one night only show davey may have been a hero in the uk for one night but back in the states he was straight under the mid card once again with sean's rivalry with the heart foundation hbk could go back to the states and brag about taking the european title away and the bulldogs backyard and the amount of hate shawn gathered would have been way more effective than davey returning to the states still the european champion again i have to stress the way the wwf and sean michaels went about things was truly awful and it was very underhanded to say the least but i do think sean winning at one night only had more upside than davey going over one night only is now remembered as the show where hbk won the european title while pissing off an entire country it helped to make one night only a show that fans wanted to see years later and it helped one night only stand out in a year that was filled with good pay-per-views it was even immortalized in a wwf 2k game that's something that doesn't happen for uk shows and i think it's safe to say that this wouldn't have happened if the evie boy won the match in a predictable manner the match outcome also didn't affect the wwf's positioning with sky tv it was actually a success that led to even more uk exclusive pay-per-views including capital carnage rebellion and the interaction shows it's been reported that the idea here was for the bulldog to return to england the following year and win the european title back but due to the montreal incident that of course didn't happen instead there was practically nothing set up for davey boy when he did return to the united states he became disheartened with wrestling and as brett says and as we proved with the dates davey boy went back home for a while to get his head straight one night only was probably davey's most prolific match of 1997 and it's kind of a shame that he left the company with such a bad taste in his mouth davey would return to the wwf after montreal and after his second wcw stint but we'll look at that another time the undertaker's rivalry with sean michaels began at summerslam 1997 bret hart was challenging the undertaker for the wwf championship and sean michaels got himself booked as the special guest referee sean hadn't been involved in the wwf title picture since losing his smile back in february of 97 but he did have a short tag team title run with stone cold steve austin hbk was in the middle of reigniting his feud with the hitman brad hart so brett was obviously concerned about how sean would referee this match at summerslam wwf higher-ups and storyline of course said that shawn had to call the summerslam main event right down the middle if hbk favored the undertaker during the match and if he refused to count a pinfall then sean would get fired from the wwf towards the end of the match brett spat on michael's and shone through a wild chair shot at the head man brad ducked out of the way and sean ended up smashing the undertaker's skull with the chair brad then pinned the undertaker and sean realized that he had to count the pinfall or else he was done for sean counted the undertaker's shoulders to the mat and brett became the wwf champion this was a superb match finish by the way it was very unique and i don't think the wwe has tried to recreate it thankfully so now the undertaker was coming after sean michaels for costing him the wwf championship and hbk felt that the fans were blaming him for standing up for himself during the summer slammian event sean said the wwf fans were dumping this whole thing on his lap but in the end sean really doesn't care what anyone thinks of him the plan here was to have sean turn hill and this led to the creation of degeneration x while all this was going on paul bear was also telling the undertaker that the phenom's little brother was coming for the dead man so the phenom was going through a pretty rough time during the summer of 1997. sean and hunter hurst helmsley teamed up to take on mankind and the undertaker on raw's war and the match ended with sean destroying taker again with a steel chair from this point onwards sean would become associated with triple h chyna and rickroad and sean's on-screen character would get more juvenile as the weeks went on the undertaker meanwhile was seeking revenge and at the ground zero pay-per-view held on september 7th 97 the phenom would get his hands on michael's in the main event sean versus taker would headline the show in a singles match the boat was riddled with referee bumps and interference and in the end there was no clear winner sean was saved due to outside interference and the match ended in an old contest meaning the feud would continue under the following month's pay-per-view the natural assumption then is that some sort of stipulation or match type would get incorporated to stop outside interference but the wwf went one step beyond the next night on raw the hell in a cell match was announced by vince mcmahon during an interview with the undertaker vince said that a giant cage would surround the perimeter of the ring and there's going to be a roof on the cage the undertaker said that shawn michaels had just opened the gates of hell and hell in a cell will be the beginning of the end for the heartbreak kid once locked inside the cell there's no way in for sean's friends and there's no way out for hbk sean interrupted the promo from the titantron hbk said he's a survivor and at hell in a cell he will survive once again what's notable here is that nothing else was really explained the hell in a cell announcement came out of nowhere the following week the undertaker interrupted a sean michael's promo and the phenom was talking behind chicken wire and we assumed this would be used for the bad blood cage match this type of cage was more associated with the nwa and wcw whereas the wwf were known for the big blue cage so this was going to be something different for sure as sean continued to take the low road and the wakes that followed we would see footage of the hell in a cell being constructed jim ross said that this will be the most dangerous cage in the history of the wrestling business while vince mcmahon put over the fact that sean won't have any help at bad blood this thing was being built so there would be no outside interference michael's was the european champion by the time bad blood came around on october 5th 1997 but the european title would not get defended inside hell in a sale instead the winner of this match would face the wwf champion at the 1997 survivor series sean cuts a promo before the bout and hbk says his god-given talent will be enough to make it through the hell in a cell hbk being as arrogant as ever here before the sale gets lowered commissioners slaughter an earl habner check under the ring to ensure there's nobody under there this is going to be one-on-one and sean will have no help once the bell rings hpk comes out first and he looks extremely confident the cell begins to lower while sean and dx are in the ring and when the undertaker's music begins to play the other members of the generation x get out of the ring to leave sean all on his own the undertaker makes his way to the ring and as soon as the undertaker makes the lights come on in the arena sean wants out his demeanor has completely changed he rushes to the door to try to get out but it's no use he's stuck inside hell with the undertaker the undertaker takes his time stalking sean around the ring the phenom looks like he's going to savor this and he's going to enjoy ripping sean to pieces hbk gets in the ring and he comes off the ropes only to get met with a big boot from the undertaker jim ross immediately says that this isn't going to be pretty as sean hits the mod hard the undertaker hits sean's head off the turnbuckle pads as michael still tries to get out of the ring it isn't until taker goes for an early choke slam when sean realizes he has no other alternative he has to fight back hbk thinks he's doing a pretty good job until taker launches sean into the corner sean takes the ric flair bump and taker hits a big clothesline the audience are kinda unsure what to make of it so far but as sean and taker begin turning up the hate the crowd in saint louis ends up going completely nuts the undertaker's movements are deliberately slow as sean continues to take punishment the dead man wants to take his time here and he wants to savor it taker hits old school and he begins choking sean with his booth body slams and leg drops follow from the dead man and sean's fate even hit the ceiling when he takes a back body drop the undertaker then tosses shawn out of the ring with force and now the cell is going to come into play in a much more physical manner the undertaker chokes sean while hbk's bag is against the cage sean breaks free for a brief moment and he again tries to get away this time he tries to climb the cell but there's nowhere to go sean gets thrown into the cell and he bounces into her right hand from the dead man not once but twice taker then goes to powerbomb sean but in an act of desperation sean grabs the cage and he's able to lay in a few punches but it's not enough to stop the undertaker sean gets his back drilled into the cell before the undertaker literally rams sean from pillar to post smashing shaun's back into the corner of the cell and the ring post again a glimmer of hope comes for sean when he manages the ram taker under the sale but the undertaker fires right back with a clothesline it seems like sean hasn't got a hope in hell of winning this match a misstep from the undertaker allows sean to once again try and gain some sort of control it became monster dead man and a series of punches gets delivered and then sean gets back inside the ring which strangely enough has become the safest place where sean can go after bumping taker off the ringing up and sean decides to try his luck with a suicide dive and it connects realizing his athleticism could maybe serve him well here because fist fighting with the undertaker has got him nowhere sean climbs up the cell and he delivers an elbow drop and he follows up with a diving clothesline from the ring abram sean then attacks the undertaker with distilled steps and afterwards sean hits a pile driver on the lower part of the steps one of the better spots of the match sean then gets frustrated with one of the cameramen inside the cage keep this in mind as it comes into play again very soon a double axe handle from the top rope to the outside gets delivered from hbk as the commentators say that this is slowly turning into hell for the undertaker sean then grabs a steel chair remember it was the steel chair at summerslam that started this whole rivalry and hpk hits the undertaker across the back sean sets the chair down but he then has second thoughts if he's going to win this match then he has to get vicious so hbk takes the chair one more time and the undertaker takes another hit across the back hbk goes for the pin and he only gets a two count he can't believe taker kicked out and he can't believe the match has to continue undertaker begins fighting back but sean drops his opponent's arms between the top and middle ropes hbk's master plan leads to nothing as the undertaker breaks free and sean gets sent over the top rope on his way down sean hits the cameraman again and hbk is now pissed off the cameraman gets attacked on the outside and there's a legitimate hush in the arena when this happens fans didn't know if sean was really upset with this poor guy it was all the work though sean hits the flying forearm he hits the elbow drop and he begins tuning up the band for sweet chin music the super kick finds its mark but the undertaker sits right back up after taking sean's finisher sean then realizes the commissioner's slaughter has ordered the cage door to be opened to allow the cameraman to get out of harm's way and sean takes this opportunity to escape the cage the undertaker follows and so begins the second part of this hell in a cell match this is when it went from great to excellent sean tries to fight the undertaker off on the outside of the cell but it's no use the undertaker is able to catapult sean into the cage face first and if you look closely you'll see sean blaring here michael's actually bullied right up until his face hits the cage and shawn gets instant color following the move taker then rammed sean into the cage two more times before shawn hits a low blow wanting some kind of escape sean begins climbing the cage and you think taker is about to pull sean down but no sean climbs onto the roof of the hell in a cell and the undertaker follows him the crowd goes nuts at this site it was something the wwf had never done before and it really felt like there was a high element of danger to all of this sean tries to hit a pile driver but the undertaker reverses with a backdrop as blood falls onto the camera inside the ring shawn tries to roll away but the undertaker gives chase and then the dead man hits a press slam on top of the cell and for a moment you really thought sean was going through the cage remember we obviously hadn't seen the mankind versus taker match no one knew how safe it was up there and when the support beam started bending and the chicken wire was getting stretched out you legitimately thought that it was going to give way at any minute the undertaker punches shawn and hbk goes to the edge of the sale he tries to get down but the undertaker stops him halfway taker then stomps on sean's hands and sean goes crashing through the spanish announce table set up at ringside again this is downplayed a little due to the mankind sale match but seeing it live was incredible and who can forget jerry lawler screaming the word incoming as sean crashed through the table the undertaker looks on as sean lays in a pool of his own blood but there's absolutely no ladding up here the undertaker threw sean on top of the french announce table before slamming him to the ground the match isn't over yet the undertaker brings shawn back into the cell and the door gets locked again the decimation of sean michaels continues at bad blood the undertaker said sean up and the phenom delivers a choke slam from the top rope jim ross says it's just a matter of time before the wwf's most arrogant superstar gets put out of commission for good blood drips from shawn's head and onto the ring mod as the undertaker grabs a steel chair the dead man maybe wanted to give sean a little poetic justice sean takes a vicious chair shot and the undertaker signals for the tombstone as the dead man approaches his victim the lights in the arena go out and we hear a haunting church organ the entranceway gets soaked in red lights as paul bear walks out with kane the undertaker's little brother cain's debut had been teased for months and all signs pointed to the debut happening at bad blood but when i watched this live i was so engrossed in the hell in a cell match that i completely forgot all about kim this was really the last thing i was expecting kane rips the cage door off the hinges and a stare down takes place in the ring between the undertaker and his little brother the undertaker shows a motion in his face something we really hadn't seen before and kane goes on to tombstone the dead man before leaving the ring sean crawls over he puts an arm on the undertaker and the referee slowly counts to three hbk wins the very first hell in a cell match but he doesn't look like a winner at all as china and triple h carry hbk out of the arena sean said of the finish and the debut of keon the costume the endurance it was all so awe-inspiring it was really the only way we could end that match because we've done so many amazing things and you have to top it off with something equally or more impressive the debut the flames and his presence are what carried that out kane goes and i drape an arm over the undertaker you could hear the gasp in the building when it goes like that and you know you've headed out of the park it's a grand slam home run when they're like oh my god he's going to win talk about the stars aligning and everything falling into place the booking of this match was simply impeccable and there were so many things that made this all work first there's the sale itself and what it meant for sean michaels to get locked inside this structure with the undertaker sean's character was cocky and brash and this was the character that walked down the ramp at bad blood when sean got locked inside the cell however his cockiness and confidence started slipping away as the hbk began to panic and looking for a way out it's like a wave of anxiety came over sean as soon as he got inside the cell and it freaked him out sean's character lent itself to this match type the insufferable little show-off was not going to have to face some harsh consequences for his actions and it's going to happen in the very worst way possible and then you have the undertaker and the undertaker was like a lion locked inside a cage with its prey the dead man stalked shawn around the ring in such a cold and methodical way that it almost felt like he was playing with his opponent letting that fear rise and rise until sean had no other choice but to fight back the undertaker said that's what was so good about sean yeah sean was ahead of his time with all the things he could do physically and he took advantage of that at the right time but when it came down to it when it came down to nooks you believed him whether he was a little [ __ ] or a babyface when it came down to a fight you believed him there are only a few guys you can identify with that had that sean michaels could have a great match with a broomstick to me when you really think about it there's no other two men that could have pulled us off in 1997 their gimmicks and personas lent themselves to this cat and mouse chase that happened inside the cage and it was pulled off incredibly well when it was time to fight and when there was no other choice sean put his hands up and he went for it but the dead man stayed on sean's tail until kane showed up it took an outside force to stop the undertaker destroying michaels and even this finish played under the characters of not only kane and the undertaker but sean too hpk didn't beat the undertaker keen did that for him but that won't stop the cocky sean michaels from going to raw and taking credit and going on to the 1997 survivor series to face the wwf champion so many variables at work here and everything worked from the undertaker's brooding character sean's arrogant nature the story told in the ring the debut of kane and the cell structure itself the very first hell in a cell really was a perfect storm that hasn't been replicated since the cell was more than just a cage here it had a profound effect on the competitors while the hell in a cell played man games with the heartbreak kid and it caused his fighter flight response to kick in it became a killing ground for the undertaker there's been a little confusion as to who came up with the hell in a sale idea shawn michaels initially took credit for the match when he was interviewed for his from the vault dvd collection sean said he remembered seeing buzz sawyer versus tommy rich at the omni the last battle of atlanta and this match featured a cage with a roof sean said he suggested this steel structure to vince mcmahon and the next thing he knows the hell in a cell is being built well jim cornett has completely shot this down on a few occasions while saying it was actually his idea and i believe jim here because cornett can also recall the inspiration of the kane debut which in turn was the main reason for the creation of hell in a cell in regards to how kane debuted jim cornett said it was a combination of kevin sullivan ideas and things i had already seen the hell in a cell cage was the old memphis cage where it encompassed the entire ringside area and it was the war games cage because it had the top on it and how did kevin sullivan introduce doug furness as a babyface on christmas night of 87 in knoxville when the hills were beating up the baby face here comes doug furnas and he rips the door off the cage it had never been done since and right enough here's the footage of doug furness ripping off the cage door to save an official from a kevin sullivan beat down in knoxville coronet said in a separate interview i hated the old-fashioned wwf cage with the blue bars chain link fence looks rough blue bars look gaga to me i love war games because the cage has a top you can't climb over the top jj dillon got hurt in the war games the road warriors were trying to do their finish but hawk hadn't modified because the top was too low so hawk came off at a different angle and he separated jj's shoulder sid powerbombed bran pillman on his head because his feet hit the top of the cage so i said make it bigger make it like the one in memphis where it surrounds the ringside area too so guys can come off the top nobody can get in or out which is all the more reason why it gets hate when the hague gets in we were able to say that this was going to be the big climactic match between the undertaker and sean michaels two men were going to enter but there was no escape no way in and no way out somebody had to win somebody had to lose and there was absolutely no way for sean michaels to escape the ass kicking that the undertaker was going to give him and he didn't sean wasn't the one who breached the cage at the worst possible moment for the undertaker his brother appears also the undertaker said on his second broken skull sessions that the sale was indeed built with kane's debut in mind taker said we were killing two birds with one stone here sean and i had been working with continual interference from triple h in china they kept interjecting themselves that's kind of the setup as to why there's going to be a hell in a cell but the main reason for the hell in the sale is for kane it's all about cane it's all designed for kane's debut you're going to keep all outside interference out and boom here comes kane sean would go on to defeat both davey boy smith and the undertaker in the weeks that followed and he was rewarded with a wwf championship match against brad hart at survivor series 97 while sean was working against the bulldog and undertaker triple h feuded with mankind and sergeant slaughter it was bret hart who inadvertently named the group brad had called triple h china rickroad and sean maggles a bunch of degenerates on the october 13th 1991 episode of raw sean then said that their group would fittingly be known as generation x the group's antics would be turned up a notch in the run up to survivor series sean and hunter have said in interviews that at first the wwf brass were not very pleased with their actions and interviews fearing that the network would take raw off the air due to their actions being not so family friendly however the opposite was actually true as the network loved what they were seeing on tv vince mcmahon caved and allowed degeneration axe to run rampant on the mic understanding here that times were changing and if the wwf were to compete with wcw who were destroying raw in the wiggly tv railings then updating the content of his weekly tv shows would be a wise move it didn't pay off right away but degeneration x along with stone cold steve austin definitely set the wheels in motion for the wwf attitude era and the weekly tv victories over wcw that followed sean and hunter real-life friends from back in the clique played the roles of immature and spoiled brats who knew just how good they were in the ring in reality sean and hunter were not too far removed from the outsiders in wcw if triple h and hbk went to the nwo they would have fit in perfectly and if scott hall and kevin knight came back to the wwf and joined dx again they would have fell in perfectly also explaining the events of survivor series 1997 on youtube is the equivalent of not only flogging a dead horse but flogging the dead horse burying it digging it up flogging it again and burying it again only to repeat the process twice sean defeated brad after vince mcmahon ordered for the bail to be wrong and brett went to wcw before the match we learned that the next pay-per-view would be named in your house d generation x and during the commercial for this next pay-per-view we heard the famous dxt music for the very first time and the next night on raw sean hunter chyna and rick rude made their way to the ring with the dx music playing and so the group now had its full identity the following week rick rude made his final appearance on raw leaving the wwf and dx to join wcw and the nwo wreck rood appeared on both raw and nitro on the same night here as raw was pre-tipped and nitro was live so let's start the day after survivor series 97 which will also give us a chance to talk about other key moments that were only glossed over at the end of the previous dx video raw after survivor series opened up with dx making their way to the ring with the noise famous dx music playing for the very first time as sean hunter chyna and rick rude walked into the arena in ottawa naturally dx got a harsh welcome from the fans in attendance sean talked about how he just ran brad hart out of the wwf and now his friends in wcw referring to kevin nice and scott hall are going to make life difficult for the hitman down in world championship wrestling sean also took shots at what he called the dinosaurs of wcw when he said i ran brad hart down south with the rest of those dinosaurs you see the heartbreak kid is the only man in this business that will ever be on top that will ever be number one that will ever be the icon it's this simple not brad hart not hulk hogan not randy savage none have the will to be the best i have something that the rest of you will never have and that is god-given natural pure talent ken shamrock interrupted sean's promo calling the group a disgrace as he challenged sean michaels to a match sean tried to get out of this showdown but sergeant slaughter made his way to the ring and announced that sean would defend his newly won wwf title against ken shamrock at the next in your house pay-per-view slaughter also announced that the main event of raw that night would see ken shamrock taking on triple h the match of course ended due to the axe interference the next night on raw sergeant slaughter announced that he himself will battle triple h also at the next in your house pay-per-view appropriately named degeneration x this episode of raw also featured the classic brat screwed brad vince mcmahon promo and also this was rick road's final appearance in the world wrestling federation the november 24th raw kicked off with rick rude's theme music playing in the arena handsome harvey whibleman came out acting here as rick rude he introduced the acts as they made their way to the ring for a promo shawn looked at harvey wibbleman and said well lord knows that was a tough spot to fill before shoving him to the ground taking shots at rick rude here just one week after he had left sean said that since the montreal match he has been having trouble sleeping and the events have played over in his mind so much that he needs to get some closure sean announced that brad hart is in the arena and diax would call him out later in the show when it was time for the segment and sean was in the ring out walked a mini brad heart dx laughed as they reenacted the events of survivor series in the middle of the ring the jobs would keep coming the next week on raw as triple h made quick work of jim nether in the main event before spray painting wcw on his back on to december's in your house pay-per-view then degeneration x jim ross opens up the show saying that the event is sold out with hundreds being turned away at the door which is simply not true there are plenty of empty seats during this show with a number of around 6 300 in attendance in your house dx isn't one of my favorite pay-per-views of 1997 i think the novelty of dx's own pay-per-view is what makes it memorable and not necessarily the matches that took place triple h defeated sergeant slaughter in their boot camp match which was just a no dq match really and shamrock versus michaels ended in a disqualification when triple h and chyna interfered after the match owen hart made his return to the wwf beating down sean michaels and setting up the next feud here for degeneration x it's a shame that the wwf didn't go the full distance with owen versus sean there was a natural rivalry here the storyline wrote itself but owen was never given a lengthy feud with sean instead sean and owen had a title match on raw that also ended in a dq and owen moved into a feud with triple h before this happened though sergeant slaughter tried to be smart by booking sean michaels versus triple h on the december 22nd episode of raw hoping this would cause tensions within the group in a match for sean's european title hbk lay down for hunter letting triple h become the new european champion while sticking it to commissioner slaughter in the process something you should take note of here though is jim cornett's excellent commentary work here he was so good that it needs brought up when the pinfall happened listen to what cornet said here on the headset it was a ruse a toy a plot a plan a charade a conspiracy a sham so good [Music] on the 1990 yet then and the next big pay-per-view was the royal rumble triple h around this time was feuding with one heart but triple h was injured while sean reignited his feud with the undertaker who also had his hands full at the time with kane undertaker vs hbk was booked for the 1998 royal rumble a casket match and in the lead up dx would tease that keon had joined the faction but this was a lie intended to provoke the undertaker the royal rumble in 1998 was an important event in the history of dx during sean's casket match with the undertaker hbk's back clipped the edge of the casket as he took a back body drop from the ring onto the floor sean said he didn't notice any significant damage at first but the next morning he couldn't get out of bed sean was injured badly but he was still the wwf champion after the royal rumble stone cold steve austin had won the rumble match and austin vs maggles had been pencilled in for wrestlemania 14 knowing he had to get the wrestlemania the decision was made for sean michaels to not work another match until his encounter with austin shawn was originally scheduled to be in the tag main event at no way out of texas in february but savio vega took his place triple h was also injured around this time and he wouldn't be ring ready until february of 1998 however he did indeed make it in the way out of texas mike tyson was brought under the world wrestling federation to act as the special enforcer for the wrestlemania 14 title match and along the way tyson joined dx at wrestlemania 14 shaw michaels dropped the title to steve austin in a decent match by no means was it a wrestlemania classic but given the pain that sean michaels was in during this encounter it's more than possible in the end mike tyson turned on the axe and counted the one two three albeit his count was super fast it's been reported that everyone was on eggshells around the hbk during this time worried that he might just give up and forfeit the title before getting to wrestlemania and it's also been reported that the undertaker was standing at the curtain during wrestlemania 14 to ensure sean did indeed drop the title to austin this is one of these stories that's been reported for years and sean michael said himself recently that there was absolutely no truth to this story i'll put a link in the video description for you to check out courtesy of the inside the ropes youtube channel in this video sean said that he didn't even see the undertaker that day [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Wrestling Bios

Views: 1,718,635

Keywords: Wrestling lists, wwe lists, wrestling bios, shawn michaels, shawn micheals, hbk shawn michaels, shawn michaels career, heartbreak kid shawn michaels, shawn michaels 1996, shawn michaels 1997, shawn michaels complete career, shawn michaels dx, shawn michaels 90s, shawn michaels documentary, shawn michaels wrestler, hbk 1996, hbk 1997, wrestling documentary, wwe documentary, wrestler documentary, wwe stories, wwe facts, shawn michaels bret hart

Id: fCyl9a5BnuA

Length: 151min 10sec (9070 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 01 2021