HBK: 93-98 vs. 2002-2010

[asiatic7]

This thread is about the great career of one of, if not, the best in ring performer of all time... HBK Shawn Michaels. I know Shawn's career started before 1993, but 93' is the year Shawn started to come into his own as a singles competitor. This is why I started with 1993. Shawn's career can be split in two, kind of like Muhammad Ali's career, they both had to take a hiatus from their respected professions for different reasons.
Both came back older, wiser and were able to acheive more sucess.

If you were to split Shawn's singles career in two parts, part one being 93-98 and part two, 02-10, what would you say was the better part of his career?

Just to give you guys a quick recap of his rivals and accomplishments:

1993-1998:
Three time IC Champion
Two time Royal Rumble winner
Tag Team Champion w/ Diesel
Three time WWE Champion
European Champion
First ever Grand Slam Champion
Notable rivals include:
Bret Hart
British Bulldog
Diesel
Razor Ramon
Owen Hart
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Marty Janetty
Undertaker

2002-2010:
World Heavyweight Champion
World Tag Team Champion w/ John Cena
Unified Tag Team Champion w/ Triple H
Notable Rivals:
HHH
Randy Orton
John Cena
Undertaker
Ric Flair
Chris Jericho
Vince McMahon
Hulk Hogan
Kurt Angle

I probably missed a few titles and rivals, but I'm sure you get the picture and I'm sure you know the history behind each rivalry. So without going further in-depth about the above mentioned, which half of Shawn's career do you think was his best and why, (title reigns, quality of matches, storylines, feuds)?

 

[dtroppe]

I think the first half was the best. Shawn had great matches rivalries. Plus he was part of the Madison Squar Garden incident and the montreal screw job. Add that to the formation of DX and his very edgy material- and you have a large part of the how the Attitude era started. But aside from the that you have the ladder match and the Iron man match. Shawn was a lot of fun during this part of his career. He also had great people to feud against.

During the 2nd half- he feuded with Jericho, Orton, and Cena to name a few- and I think that it was all very bland stuff.

 

[willross]

2nd half Shawn Michaels was the best. It is what solidified him as probably the best ever.

He had the best match at WM 8 YEARS IN A ROW!!!!! 8!!!! Not even against the best opponents either. Yea Jericho, HHH, Benoit, Angle, and Undertaker were great hands....he got 5 star storytelling and excitement out of Vince, Cena, and Flair....2 of which were over 50 yrs old at the time of the match.

The first half was damn good no doubt. His matches with Tatanka and Nash were the best at the respective WM's but they were bad cards and on any other Mania's would not have been viewed as the best. His match with Hall at WM10 is ARGUABLY the best on the card (Bret vs Owen gets my vote). No doubting the Iron Man Match with Bret at WM12 and their impending feud in 1997, leading into his feud with Austin.

Its hard to say but man oh man 2002-2010, you knew HBK was gonna be 5 stars every night. His 2 feuds with Jericho were AMAZING. His matches with HHH were 5 stars ever night.

 

[IT Factor]

Both halves are very important to HBK's whole career. I don't think you can value one section over the other simply because his career is as a whole. Put it this way; if HBK had to retire and not return when he did in 2002, he still would've been a HOF'er. His most notable rivals and feuds were in the first section from 93-98. However, his 2002-2010 career is equally as impressive and he got alot accomplished in that time and had big matches with newer generation guys and proved he could still hang in with them and even more, outdo them.


The last half of his career from 2002-2010 solidified HBK as "Mr. Wrestlemania". His series of matches with The Undertaker will always stand out and cement him as the best of a generation, if not the best of all-time.

 

[dman1373]

The people that weren't around during shawn michaels first run probably dont understand how good of a worker he was. From 1995-1998 he he was so smooth and everything had a reason. And i think he was a great worker from 2002-2010, infact i thought he was the best in the world, but he hasn't ever gotten back to the level that he once was.

 

[HBsam31]

I followed HBK since the Rockers, and when Shawn went singles he instantly became my favorite. He had really great matches from 93 to 98 and really established his HOF career in that time period. When he came back he had equally great matches, and solidified himself as Mr. Wrestlemaina, and possibly the best of his era. Both halves are a part of his whole career and are equally important. I just can't pick a favorite of the two.

 

[lowandmighty]

The first half of his career was way better. Shawn Michaels was once one of the youngest and brightest talents of all time back in the 90's and pretty much held the WWF together with his charisma in the absence of all the guys who left the company. He was awesomely cool with his "heart break kid" character and had legions of fans even though because of his flamboyant character meant admitting he was your favourite wrestler for guys brought your sexuality into question.

However just like a slew of 80's rock bands when he returned in 2002 the "heart break kid" moniker seemed to look a little sad. He seemed like a guy in his 40's stubbornly holding on to something that wasn't there as much as it used to be. He seemed to job much more than he did in the first half of his career and I thought it slightly tainted his legacy.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Gotta go with the 1st half. We saw extended runs of heel and face Shawn and even got 2 versions of heel Shawn that both worked well with some tweener stuff during parts of his DX run.

While the quality of his matches stayed the same in the 2nd half, his character got a little stale which was never the case with original Shawn.

 

[Waylon Mercy]

The first half, from 93-98 will probably be forever tainted by his "Sunny Days" farewell speech. He was too busy tripping over his own ego to really care about anyone but himself and his buddies in the Kliq. Having said that, he proved himself to be at the very top of the game (when he was inspired to be) during this time. He was at his peak in strength and conditioning, as evidenced by the Iron Man match at WM 12. I truly think had it not been for his very real rivalry with Bret Hart, Shawn's flame would have burned out very quickly. His intense dislike for Bret fueled him to strive to become better than him.
The latter years of his career were very different. He no longer had the enormous ego, and had discovered a new passion he thought was long dead inside of him for the business. There was a new crop of extremely talented wrestlers to work with, as well as his old buddy Triple H. There was also the added presence of Ric Flair, who was one of (if not the biggest) his idols. The possibilities were endless for Shawn Michaels to make his comeback. More than likely he was out to show the world just how changed a man he was, and it certainly reflected in his stellar matches throughout this period. He was a bit slower than the young Michaels, but he showed that he still had a lot of gas in the tank. It's a tough call, but I have to go with this half, his most recent, of his career. He couldn't have ended his in-ring career on higher note, and that to me is the highlight of his entire career. His two 5 star matches at Wrestlemania with Taker were stellar.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

This is a tough one, both era's of Shawn Michaels career are important to him. His second run from '02-'10 was great, he had an excellent feud with HHH and two great match's with Undertaker at WM. But I think '93-'98 was far better. He had classic's with Razor Ramon and Mr.Perfect. He had the match of the year in 1993 with Marty Jennetty. In 1996, was a great year for Shawn Michaels, one of the best years that anyone can have. HBK's IronMan match with the Hitman, is a classic. He had an awesome match with Diesel. Mick Foley stated, that his best match he had (before his match with Randy Orton in 2004) was with Shawn Michaels In Your House: Mind Games. Shawn also had two great match's with 'Taker in '97, including a 5 star Hell In A Cell match. Shawn also had an awesome match with Stone Cold, even with a bad back. Only bad came from '93-'98 was his giant ego, but in the ring, he was incredible.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think both runs were equally good, I actually think, he put on much beter performances from 93-98.. However, HBK wasn't the most likeable character, but in the 4 years he had off, he found God and when he returned, he showed us all, that he was still the best in-ring performer and a much better person.

 

[theHeadliner]

Shawn was my favorite wrestler since he first went to singles. I thought in 1993 his ringwork slowed up and he didn't really do that much in regards to offense, which I'm guessing was because he was trying to work like a methodical heel rather than a fast, high-flying rocker. I always thought from the ladder match on he established himself as the most entertaining and best wrestler in the company. He really expanded his offensive arsenal from 1994 on and started working fast and flying again. He had classic matches in both tine periods as well. I'd give the nod to his first run just because he was so engulfed with the business and was set on being the best, and he ate, drank, and slept wrestling.

 

[theHeadliner]

Also, Michaels got really fat and out of shape looking in 1993. I'm surprised Vince didn't tell him to hit the gym harder to lost that weight, since he was supposed to be the ladies man.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Michaels was a little more entertaining during the 90s, in part because he was mostly a heel (bad guys always get better promos, segments, etc). During his comeback he was mostly playing the "respected elder statesman" role which draws sympathy and creates emotional attachment with the audience. Its not always a great role purely from a creative entertaining standpoint.

Which one did I like better ? Actually I liked him more during his comeback, maybe because my personal feelings about his backstage behavior and his efforts to be a "team player". I was happy that HBK made the sincere effort to be more "Ric Flair" and less "Hulk Hogan" in how he worked with the company and other wrestlers. If anything, his "team player" attitude, far more than what his character did onscreen, is what made his comeback a success and elevated him from 90s star to All Time Legend Status.