10 Things You Didn't Know About Shawn Michaels

1. Vacated More WWE Titles Than Anybody Else In History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6nLomiEouw

Much has been said about how ‘90s Shawn Michaels was a total d*ck and would often refuse to even work with certain talents let alone lose to them. As such, many of HBK’s title reigns conveniently came to an end without him actually losing a match.

The first time that Michaels vacated a title was during his second reign as the Intercontinental Champion. Having been booted out of the company in 1993 for testing positive for steroids, Shawn was stripped of the gold.

Up next was the Tag Team Championships being vacated by Shawn and Diesel after the team split up, before Michaels would again give up the IC Title after being unable to compete after getting assaulted outside a bar.

Then there’s the “lost my smile” issue of Michaels giving up the WWF Championship. Supposedly down to knee problems, Shawn gave up the belt. To many, this was merely a way of HBK getting out of losing the belt to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13.

Similarly, Bret would factor in to another title stripping when a backstage fight between Michaels and Hart led to Shawn being sent home by Vince McMahon, meaning the Tag Team Titles that HBK held with Steve Austin were vacated.

This could all just be a coincidence, but it's certainly all mightily convenient.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.