Best Championship Reign: Shawn Michaels

[Ace Sleeper]

Hey guys, I had this idea for a series from a few other series I saw together. I thought it would be fun to break down each superstars greatest title reign.

It doesn't have to be a world championship reign, it can be any championship they've ever held. Just which of they're title reigns was there best.

First we'll start off with Shawn Michaels. One of the best of all time. He's held about every belt there is to hold. First grand slam champion of all time. Simple question, which one of his title runs has been the best. Again, doesn't matter what belt it was, just which run was the greatest.

Down below is a list of titles held in the WWE/F through out his career.

WWF Championship (3 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Intercontinental Championship (3 times)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Diesel (2), Steve Austin (1), John Cena (1), and Triple H (1)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Triple H (1)
World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Go.

 

[The_Gene_Genie]

This is actually harder than it seems!

I think it would be fair to say that you can discount the European Title. Although his reign and his victory against the British Bulldog brought him the heat that it intended, he did nothing noteworthy during this title reign. He didn't even defend it until he lost it to Triple H under 'dubious' circumstances

I hate it when a wrestler of HBK's stature is given a tag team title for the sake of it. It's usually to garner further heat, or to maintain a floating superstar's popularity as a championship contender. I don't count any such title reigns as anything but trivial.

That leaves the World Heavyweight Title, WWE Title and Intercontinental Titles. Trying to narrow it down, I'm going to discount his World Heavyweight win. That was more of a 'Thank You' to the man from the company in my opinion.

I think it would be fair to say that it was HBK's IC Title runs that helped propel him and his character. His feuds during that period with the likes of Razor Ramon were phenominal. However, I'm actually going to plump for his first WWE Championship run.

The 'boyhood dream' build up, the quality of opponent (Bret Hart), the manner and stage (60 minute Iron Man match at Wrestlemania). This run would prove to be his longest with the top strap in the company and in my opinion his greatest. It propelled him to superstardom. Period. His second reign ended in catastrophe after him having to surrender the title due to events outside the ring, and the 'win' in Montreal will forever be tainted in history.

However, having now looked into this I have to ask a sub question...was HBK actually a great champion at all, or just an amazing performer and talent in the right place at the right time?

 

[reed214]

and to answer that question that was asked..yes HBK was a great champion having great matches with guys who didnt have the best reputation with carrying a match (British Bulldog, Vader, Sid) and the rest of the big guys he faced and looked great against and esp. against the couch pillow mick foley!!

 

[shagonzalez]

I'm gonna have to say his first title reign as intercontinental champion.If you look back at the matches he had with Diesel,Razor Ramon,123 Kid,Marty Jannety and pretty much anyone he stepped into the ring with during that period it proved that he was worthy of being Heavyweight champ.Had it not been for the break up of the Rockers and his first Ic title reign Shawn Michaels may be one of those superstars that were great but never held the wwf title.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

This is actually harder than it seems!

I think it would be fair to say that you can discount the European Title. Although his reign and his victory against the British Bulldog brought him the heat that it intended, he did nothing noteworthy during this title reign. He didn't even defend it until he lost it to Triple H under 'dubious' circumstances

I hate it when a wrestler of HBK's stature is given a tag team title for the sake of it. It's usually to garner further heat, or to maintain a floating superstar's popularity as a championship contender. I don't count any such title reigns as anything but trivial.

That leaves the World Heavyweight Title, WWE Title and Intercontinental Titles. Trying to narrow it down, I'm going to discount his World Heavyweight win. That was more of a 'Thank You' to the man from the company in my opinion.

I think it would be fair to say that it was HBK's IC Title runs that helped propel him and his character. His feuds during that period with the likes of Razor Ramon were phenominal. However, I'm actually going to plump for his first WWE Championship run.

The 'boyhood dream' build up, the quality of opponent (Bret Hart), the manner and stage (60 minute Iron Man match at Wrestlemania). This run would prove to be his longest with the top strap in the company and in my opinion his greatest. It propelled him to superstardom. Period. His second reign ended in catastrophe after him having to surrender the title due to events outside the ring, and the 'win' in Montreal will forever be tainted in history.

However, having now looked into this I have to ask a sub question...was HBK actually a great champion at all, or just an amazing performer and talent in the right place at the right time?

I was thinking about that last question you posed more in depth because I was trying to think of an amazing title run that HBK had and I couldn't come up with anything. I will agree that his IC title reigns were greater than his WWF/E title reigns and I think that has a lot to do with the quality of his opponents for each.

I am not doubting for a second that HBK is one of the all time greatest performers ever but he just did not have any breath taking memorable title reigns. His chases for the title were always better than his defenses.

 

[DeathClutch]

Easily his 1996 World championship reign, he beat some good wrestlers and lost it in a pretty good match at MSG and his rematch was in his hometown it was done superbly.

Personally I liked his 1995 IC Title run, wasn't too long and had some decent matches.

 

[The Eighties]

It's a close call between his first Intercontinental title reigns and his first WWF title reign.

The first IC title reign is actually 2 separate reigns but bar a 2 week spell Shawn held the belt for 11 months, he had a great feud with former partner Mart Jannetty, a time limit draw at WMIX with the undefeated Tatanka and a great contrast of styles match with Crush at KOTR, then the big long awaited match with Mr Perfect at Summerslam 93, and I guess you could say the reign really ended with the epic WMX ladder match.

HBK's first WWF title win had a great build and he captured the belt in a classic match with a legend in Bret Hart, His first defense was Diesel in an awesome no holds barred match and then he had a solid feud with the Bulldog that delivered two stellar PPV matches, the KOTR one in particular was a minor classic. Then came the feud with Vader that should have been awesome, but Shawn acted the prick and they only had the one big PPV match at Summerslam 96, it was a good match but overbooked. Then came the one off defense against Mankind at Mind Games in September 96,a match that for many was MOTY.

Vader was then swapped out for Sid who had a decent feud with Shawn and Sid took the belt in dramatic fashion at Survivor Series in perhaps Sid's best ever match.

It was a shame Shawn lacked the big name opponents during his reign, but he did a great job as champion, I really regret his injury in 98 that kept him out for over 4 years, as imagine a HBK reign during 2000 or 2001!