Friday, 18 January 2013

1. Shawn Michaels

The HeartBreak Kid is the first inductee into my Hall Of Fame simply because he's my favorite wrestler, he wasnt the biggest draw ever and from what i've read he was a prick pre christianity but i'll let that slide as this is based on his wrestling ability. (I mentioned the drawing power as I may induct Hogan due to that). I'll mention some of my favorite HBK matches soon but for now here's some info -
Name: Michael Shawn Hickenbottom
Born: July 22nd, 1965 in San Antonio, Texas.
Nicknames: HeartBreak Kid, Mr. WrestleMania, The Show Stopper.
Accomplishments: Michaels was a 4 time World Champion (3x WWF and 1x WHC),  3x Intercontinental Champion,  1x European Champion,  5x WWF/E World Tag Team Champion (2x w/ Diesel, 1x w/Stone Cold, 1x w/HHH, 1x w/John Cena),  1x WWE Tag Team Champion (w/ HHH), a Royal Rumble winner x2 (95 and 96), he also holds the record for most PWI Match Of The Year Awards (11).

In AWA The Midnight Rockers (HBK and Marty Jannety) won the AWA Tag Titles by defeating Doug Somers and Buddy Rose in 1987. They signed for WWF but were fired 2 week later and went back to AWA but a year later signed for WWF again. They did win WWF Tag Titles off Hart Foundation but it was never televised and WWF didn't acknowledge it.

Michaels was involved in probably the most famous Tag Team breakup on December 2nd 1991 when he Sweet Chin Musiced Marty Jannetty (his partner in The Rockers) then threw him through a window during The Barber Shop (a segment hosted by Brutus Beefcake). Michaels had good matches with Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) at WrestleMania X, the ladder match, they had another good ladder match at SummerSlam 95. Also Vs. Diesel (Kevin 'prick' Nash), yes HBK even dragged Nash to a good match, at IYH: Good Friends Better Enemies also a fantastic brawl with Undertaker at IYH: Ground Zero that had a non-finish and wanted fans to see a re-match, that would be the Hell In A Cell, more on Undertaker Vs. HBK later. Michaels supposedly had a bad attitude behind the scenes and had a well known feud off camera with Bret Hart but I seperate Michael Hickenbottom from Shawn Michaels due to his in-ring work.

I think the best feud over HBKs career, and one of the top feuds of all time, is Vs. Undertaker. They only had one prolonged feud but the 5 PPV matches are all quality. It started when he cost Undertaker the WWF Championship to Bret Hart at SummerSlam 97, so in September 97 at the first 3 hour In Your House PPV Ground Zero we got match 1. HBK Vs. Undertaker that had a non finish (also the debut of Takers no hands tope  I believe) so in October at IYH: Badd Blood the Hell In A Cell was debuted which HBK won thanks to a debuting Kane. Their next match was an important one in Michaels' career and took place at Royal Rumble 1998 it was a Casket Match and HBK again won thanks to Kane but right at the start of the match he is backdropped over the top and hits his lower back on the casket (herniating 2 discs and crushing 1 completely, according to Wikipedia) after RR he wrestled once more Vs. Stone Cold at WrestleMania 14, only to return at SummerSlam 2002. His next One-on-One with Deadman took place 11 years later at WrestleMania 25 and got 4 1/2 *s from me, their next match would turn out to be HBKs final one as he put his career on the line to get a WrestleMania re-match with Undertaker at 'Mania 26 which Taker won via a jumping Tombstone.

Notable Matches -
IYH 10: Mind Games - Vs. Mankind - Fantastic match which was that good that even the DQ ending doesn't annoy me too much. It showed HBK could fight with Mankind but also that Foley could hang with The HeartBreak Kid, I think this was their only big match. http://youtu.be/PG-l6Wxo6As

WrestleMania XXI - Vs. Kurt Angle - Awesome match, easily the best of WrestleMania 21. They had a re-match at Vengence 2005 which also kicked ass. http://youtu.be/t4G6xs3q8Xk

Survivor Series 1997 - Vs. Bret Hart - I've not seen the full match so dont know if it's any good but everybody knows the ending. Also regarding Montreal i'm on WWFs side.

SummerSlam 2002 - HBKs first match in 4 1/2 years which makes his performance even more impressive. I'm not sure if HBK wrestled between here and Survivor Series 2002, where he won the WHC Title.

IYH 2: Lumberjacks - Vs. Jeff Jarrett - Some people might not like this match, it's not bad hell it's on my list but it is slow for a Michaels match. Good clash of styles here as HBK wins his 3rd IC Title.

* I'll update this list when I've re-watched his DVDs so be back in a week.




No comments:

Post a Comment