April 14 – Rey Ca$h breaks down Shawn Michaels’s indelible legacy as a Legend of WrestleMania!

This month, you’ll read about all sorts of WrestleMania legends. You’ll read about legends like Stone Cold Steve Austin, who’s inarguably the biggest star in the history of the show. You’ll read about Roman Reigns, who unquestionably has the biggest main event run. And you’ll absolutely read about The Undertaker, who simply became the reason to watch WrestleMania. But none of these men are the best. None of these men have a legacy that’s so amazing, so showstopping, so iconic, that their nickname is Mr. WrestleMania.

That distinction belongs to only one man – “The Heart Break Kid,” Shawn Michaels.

I hope nobody reading these articles is expecting any form of objectivity as we write these. There’s a time for journalistic integrity and there’s a time for unrequited bias. And anytime I talk about Shawn Michaels, especially concerning his WrestleMania career, I can’t help but speak from a place of favoritism.

Shawn Michaels is my all time favorite wrestler. I don’t think there’s any superstar in the history of professional wrestling who has done the craft better, more prominently, or more passionately than HBK. This is a guy who never should’ve had a chance at his size given the time he came into the business, but ended up revolutionizing the business. As a performer, as a character, and most importantly as showman, Michaels re-defined the word “superstar.”

We all know of Michaels’s greatness throughout his career, with his epic rivalries, amazing matches, and memorable championship runs. But did you know that he’s won the Match of the Year award from the Wrestling Observer for a WrestleMania match 8 times? And of those 8, he won 6 out of 7 in a row? Look back at that accolade and remember that this is a publication that’s never given Kurt Angle a 5 star match, and then think about what an accomplishment that is.

See, with Michaels, it’s absolutely about the in-ring prowess and the matches, but it’s way bigger than that. Shawn is able to do something that wrestling is inherently about but so few wrestlers are able to do – he makes you care. And when I say care, I mean CARE. He has this ability to reach out to your soul, pull at your heart strings, and believe the unbelievable.

At WrestleMania 25, Michaels had his vaunted match with The Undertaker, rekindling their rivalry that helped define the Attitude Era. In this situation, however, both men were grizzled veterans who were respected and known as the standard bearers. This is also at the height of The Streak, where as much as people enjoyed an Undertaker match at Mania, we all knew what the outcome would be. Until Michaels made us believe. Even if it was for a second, he made us think that the unthinkable was possible. Taker’s face after HBK kicked out of his second Tombstone Piledriver is one of the greatest images in wrestling history.

That match is largely known as the greatest match in WrestleMania history, although I think that their rematch at WrestleMania 26 is better. One match that has a legitimate argument, however, is Michaels’s showdown with Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21. At this point, Shawn was a couple of years returned from a debilitating back injury, and was trying to find his way in the new era of the WWE. Angle was a different beast than HBK had ever faced, exuding an intensity and aggressiveness that is impossible to prepare for. Add to this the fact that Michaels had found a way to get under Angle’s skin deeper than anyone else had up to that point, and a classic was afoot.

Once again, Shawn just has a way to make you believe. The match was a masterclass in professional wrestling and storytelling, with the finishing sequence being built around Shawn trying to escape Angle’s vaunted Ankle Lock. Kurt attacked Shawn’s ankle with the voracity of a rabid dog. There were points in that match where you legitimately thought Kurt wanted to break his ankle. And for a painstaking two minutes plus, Michaels took as much as he could take and despite pulling energy from every single fan watching that night, finally tapped out in defeat.

We’ve gone this far and haven’t even mentioned the match that defined a rivalry and an era – Shawn Michaels VS Bret Hart: Iron Man Match. There aren’t enough words I could possibly write to explain the depth and importance of the feud between Michaels and Hart, but it is one of the most visibly and openly real beefs in wrestling history. This didn’t change how amazing they were together in the ring. In fact, they were wrestling soulmates. And as great as they were separately and together, their simultaneous rise helped pull the WWE out of the doldrums of the New Generation era, anchored by this match. In the main event of WrestleMania 12, these two legends wrestled to a 60 minute draw, and were forced to an overtime period. Perfectly encapsulating their mirrored greatness, neither men were able to reach a fall in an entire hour, until in overtime, Michaels finally was able to catch Hart with Sweet Chin Music to win his first ever WWF Championship. And as was claimed so unforgettably, “the boyhood dream” had finally come true.

Shawn Michaels has wrestled at 17 WrestleMania’s, having a win/loss record of 6 wins and 11 losses. I love this stat because it explains so clearly that for Shawn, the wins and losses didn’t matter. His storytelling and showmanship were so otherworldly that he was able to make you forget, even if it was for a moment, your own nature to care about the result. It didn’t matter if he lost. You remembered his performance and you were entertained. His losses at WrestleMania 14 against Stone Cold, at WrestleMania 20 against Triple H and Chris Benoit, his loss to John Cena at WrestleMania 23, and most notably his loss to Razor Ramon in the first ever WrestleMania ladder match at WrestleMania 10 show so distinctly that it’s not about the result. It’s about the performances.

That’s not to say that he doesn’t have epic and memorable wins. Michaels is the person who was given the distinct honor of retiring “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 (or so we thought.) In a match that few people had high expectations for, the aged legend Flair was able to turn the clocks back, giving a performance that led to one of those Match Of The Year distinctions. And with extreme respect to the “Naitch”, I think even he would give all of the credit to Michaels for carrying him in such a major and pressure filled situation. The final sequence of this match, with Shawn finally putting Ric out of his misery while whispering that he was sorry and loved him is one of the biggest and most memorable moments in a show that’s known for them.

In a series about the legacies of the Legends of WrestleMania, I argue that the best of them is Shawn Michaels. HBK has left an indelible mark on WrestleMania and wrestling history as a whole. And he’s not done! Shawn may not wrestle anymore, but he’s in charge of preparing the next generation of superstars down in NXT. So whether it’s then, now, or forever, Shawn Michaels and WrestleMania will forever be synonymous.

FIN

@itsreycash