How do you like your Shawn Michaels?

[Mugatunow]

Well, how do you like your Shawn? What I mean by that is, which era are you the biggest fan of him? Now, I'm no huge Micheals fan. In fact, I think he was overated in the 90's. However, he definetly is the showstopper to me now. He went from retiree to psycho old man with something to prove, I like that. I think he is more legitmate now than he was before, and every big spot he does feels more dramatic because his physical limitations are not storyline. He could potentially end his career again at any time if he bends his knee wrong in the slightest. So, how do you like your Shawn Michaels?

 

[HBK-aholic]

Shawn Michaels is arguably the best all round wrestler to ever step foot in the ring. His matches will forever be talked about, and he is a certain hall of famer, no matter what happens in the rest of his career, however long or short that may be. He's famous in the business for so much, and each time period he's been in the business something has been added to that.

I'll bypass his AWA days and the like, because I don't think they're relevant here, as most people don't know much about them, and it was no way close to the best of Shawn.

When he first started, out of the ring he was arrogant, and wasn't respected due to his disrespect for others. In the ring however, he was still good. Willing to learn off of anyone, and most could tell he had a special talent. The only thing holding him back, if you could call it that, is his lack of respect.

Moving on, he was soon in position for top of the company, and throughout 1997 he was the face of the WWF, and many watched the show for him. During the Monday Night Wars he was an important part in keeping the WWE above water, when without him and a few other stars, the WWE could have easily sunk.

Soon after, the dreaded match at Royal Rumble where he landed awkwardly on the casket and suffered during the next few months until he retired at Wrestlemania, dropping the title to Austin on the way out in a match which was, even in the circumstances one to remember.

During his absence, he still made an impact on the business, taking an active role in what happened backstage. This did nothing except further help him understand the business and furthered his career as well as helped him understand the cncept of respect.

When he returned as part of the NWO I was ecstatic, as were his fans all over the world. Soon after, we knew the Shawn Michaels we had always loved was back. This time with respect from the legends he'd before disrespected, as his time out taught him he had to show respect and definately learnt a lot about himself.

His matches since have been just as good as before, his promo ability is amazing, and he can still work a crowd and is highly entertaining. These last few years everything he has done is even more special due to his physical condition, in which he could be forced to retire if he made a wrong move.

Personally, I don't have a preference of Shawn Michaels, as he has always, and will always be a legend. His matches are always good, and you can't go better than watching a match of his at Wrestlemania. all the Shawns are good for different reasons, and show be recognised as such.

 

[klunderbunker]

I voted for pants. I don't remember him from the AWA, and in the WWF I was never a huge fan of his, although he was cool. I voted for the pants look as I think Shawn might be at his best now. This seems to be the closest thing to him just being Shawn Michaels ever. In the AWA he was a rocker, then in WWF he was HBK, now he's just Shawn. To me those kinds of wrestlers are the best, so pants get my vote.

Also, Becca, you've been talking to Will too much.

 

[HBKISLEGEND]

It really is a shame that wrestling fans today have somewhat of a negative outlook on who Shawn Michaels is, its a shame that wrestling fans today talk a big game, trying to make it look like they know what they are talking about but really dont. Its a shame that anyone of our generation (Im 23 yrs old) cant honestly say that HBK is the reason for the direction WWE eventually went down pre-Austin era (Attitude Era). Shawn had the Attitude gimmick......let me rephrase that.......Attitude personality wayyy before Austin was a Hollywood Blonde. Anybody who has watched wrestling in the last 12-15 years can not say that HBK wasnt the man, weather you hated him during his '96 babyface run or you Loved him during his obnoxious DX phase, either way you were always eager to see what would happen. Now of course many will disagree with me and say Hulk Hogan, The Rock & Austin put wrestling where it is, but they were marketable, they had mic skills and a ton of Merch to get them accross to the fans, on the other hand they didnt have true wrestling ability and that seems to be the trend as of late, if you can work the Mic or you can sell merch (ie John Cena) then your WWE Champ within a year or so, guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam & Ricky Steamboat were the true Total Package. They could wrestle, they could cut a promo and hold a storyline, they won championships no more than 5 times in a 20 year career, meanwhile no offense to HHH but you have guys winning the wwe championship 12 times in a 13 yr career where Ric Flair had a 30-some odd year career and only won it 16 times, HHH is already 85 percent there to beat Ric and HHH hasnt even put half of the career Ric had. Back to Shawn.....he was a small guy with a big mans presence and through thick and thin the guy made you believe in him, yeah he made some choices in his career that arent the greatest, but he did them bc he is true to his company. My arguement as a whole is I dont ever wanna see a 16-18 yr old go and say that shawn sucks bc most likely they became a wrestling fan when they saw Austin 3:16 shirts at the mall and thought it was cool as well as the 1st post on this page saying that Shawn is better now then he was back in the day.......Buddy I couldnt diagree with you more, I have been to every major Moment of Shawn's comback When he returned at summerslam 02, when he won the title at Survivor Series 02, & when he beat Flair at Mania this past month (I was front Row for that) and yes they are all great ,matches but NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can compare to the old HBK. The one that walked around making everybody's heads turn and him screaming "BEAT THAT", thats what made shawn great, his ego, its what drove him to where he is today, yes he is a born again and he has cleaned his act up and is more of a business man then back in the 90's but Shawn Michaels without EGO & Attitude is like Peanutbutter without Jelly, it just doesnt work. Dont get me wrong once again Im glad shawn is back I remmeber the 4 years he was gone I was in my freshmen year of high school and I would fall for all the dirtsheets saying he was coming back but sadly never did, and I thank god hes back on a regular basis, but anywho this matter as far as HBK being the same as he once was is untrue, he is a totally different man in the ring and if you watch a match from recent years compared to the 90's you will see exactly what I mean. LONG LIVE THE HEARTBREAK KID!

~Guy

 

[maddawg]

I have the UPMOST respect for Shawn Michaels. He is a great athlete and an awesome entertainer. I believe Shawn is the poster child for WWE. Like someone said earlier, he kept them from drowning during the Monday Night War era. He never left for WCW like a lot of the other wrestlers did. I believe he has became better with his age. I also respect Shawn Michaels because he is a devot Christian.

 

[sniksag]

shawn!! shawn!! this guy is the total package. i dont really have a prefrence either but i must say hes like wine gets better with age.. he is one of the only (other than hogan, when he was gonna leave in 92 and owen,eddie,and benoit, for obvious reason) to make me cry. he made everyone believe. it was like you could never tell if he was going to win or lose. when he had the title in 96 i thought every match he had could be the end of hs reign. through all his trials ad tibulations he has revered and wil continue to do so. the stuff he will endure for the business is mindboggling( tabboo tuesday or cyber sunday ayear or two ago proves my point). he deserves... no its demanded that everyone take notice of who shawn michaels is. like there will always be a ric flair , there will always be a shawn michaels

 

[Upgrayedd]

He had the coolest look when he was a heel in DX in 1997/1998. The tights with the green DX logo was the best. That's also, IMO, the best he's been in the business. I'm really happy he's back now and wrestling but Shawn Michaels really was "the man" in wrestling back then.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I like my Shawn Michaels semi-retired.

The Work: Not many wrestlers were better than HBK in 1996. He was having quality matches wherever he went. The good thing is that most people were watching the n.W.o. having bad matches so a lot of his work could be considered lost classics.

The Talk: I've never been a fan of his mic work. He's not boring or anything, it's just never intrested me. He was #2 behind Sherri & Diesel for years. While he had the talk show with Diesel it was never his show. He only really got the oppertunity on his own in 1996. When he was a boring face. So for mic work it has to be with D-X in 1997. He loses points though for his D-X work in 1996.

The Look: He's possibly one of the uncoolest wrestlers of all time. So to pick when he looked best is pretty hard. Probably late 1997. Those D-X tights were coller than he ever was.

 

[Slam Master]

I like the Shawn Michaels in-ring persona and appearance of 1994-1997 with the tights and bad attitude, but I like the person HBK has become now. Does anyone know why he switched to those chaps? His in-ring performance was more high risk in those days, but he still pulls out his occasional eye-opening move. I wish he'd pull out a hurricanrana once in a while like he did so many times throughout 95-96.

The 94-97 era HBK brings me that nostalgic feeling, I remember watching every single PPV from that era (cus there was only 5 a year until 1995), and using the Shawn Michaels character on the video games Royal Rumble and RAW for SNES. His personality and drug problems caused major issues with other wrestlers and made him the most hated guy in the business, so I'm glad he's born again and found the light.

 

[gd]

When read the title of this thread my initial thoughts were "hot and spicy", but I guess I should talk about him in wrestling terms.

I think he best time as a wrestler has been in the WWE, specifically the last few years. He's had the definite match of the night at the last two Wrestlemanias, and good to great matches at nearly every Wrestlemania preceding those. His last 3 programs with Jericho, JBL, and Undertaker were superb. Even though he can't wrestle as often as he used to, HBK is still arguably the best wrestler in the WWE today.

 

[Doomsday Device]

I have always liked/respected Shawn since he was in the Rockers and up to this day. He has never failed to deliver, and has a geniune love for the business.

But if I have to choose, I have to go with the 1993-1994 Shawn.

In my opinion he was perhaps at his best here, mostly physically. Because it was around 1996 and from there on that he started have serious back and knee problems.

In 93 and 94 he looked and was so damn cool.

Guys wanted to be him and girls wanted to fuck him.

Sure him coming back in 2002 and on was fantastic, but around 2004 he started to wrestle in pain again. And by 2008 you can tell his body was not functioning how he wanted it to.

I remember when he debuted those "pants" he's been wearing since Wrestlemania 21. I think thats to hide those knee braces.

They'll never be another Shawn. He should go before he gets a severe injury that will affect his life.

 

[Real Lucha Guy]

HBK has been really average too me since his comeback. He only bring his best in Mania matches. HBK and Angle might be the two most overrated wrestlers of all time.

 

[RVDgurl]

I vote tights. I like my Shawn dirty, raunchy and playing the role of Sexy Boy to the extreme. I wanna see Shawn screwing people out of world titles, making tasteless jokes, wearing earrings that dangle to his shoulders and having a full head of long blonde locks. I'm not loving the bible beating, play it straight, follow the rules Shawn. It just isn't natural.

Shawn is indeed a very talented guy no matter his ring attire or persona, but I simply prefer him as the bad guy.

 

[Chill]

HBK has been really average too me since his comeback. He only bring his best in Mania matches. HBK and Angle might be the two most overrated wrestlers of all time.

Shawn Michaels overrated? I don't see how that is so, yes his Wrestlemania matches are nearly always the show stealer but that's not to say his other matches are just 'average'. In my opinion this man puts on top quality matches all of the time and is easily a candidate for WWE's best worker...even now at the twighlight of his career. I suggest getting his DVD and you will see that there are plenty of stellar perfromances from HBK other than his 'Mania matches.

As for how I like Shawn Michaels, I would probably have to say I've preferred him more ever since he made his comeback from his back injury. I always did like HBK but I've liked him more since his return as he constantly seems to raise the bar higher...I think arguably he has had some of his best and most competitive matches since his comeback (e.g. with Angle, HHH, 'Taker, Cena, Jericho) and I think it's fair to say he will be sorely missed by WWE when he does retire because they will be losing a super worker.

I first saw Shawn when he was in the WWF and I am only aware of his AWA days from his DVD and while I think he was great back then, I just prefer him today ever since his return as he keeps defying the odds for a man with two bad knees and a broken back.

 

[Paradox100]

Now I see how old this post is, but, why not? Even though he was a better wrestler in the 90's, I enjoy current day Shawn more. Part of it, is politics. He isn't doing drugs, he isn't abusing behind the scene guys. And he isn't using his popularity to hold other wrestlers back. (See the new Rockers) Now, his character is much more inspirational. You've got one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, who's career ended in a flash, with a back injury, that needed surgery. He was out for four years, within those four years, his life changed. His wife got him off drugs, and he became a born again christian. Where to this day, he helps out a lot of people in his city. He came back for one more match, but got hooked back into it. Now, he plays the underdog, where people think of him as an old man, who should have retired when he got injured. He can still wrestle better than 95 percent of the roster, and he has some of the funniest promos. Current day Heartbreak Kid is the best we've had.