10 Things You Didn't Know About Shawn Michaels

6. The Rockers Phantom Tag Title Win

During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the WWF tag team scene was crammed full of talent like The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, Demolition, The Brainbusters and, of course, The Rockers. Officially The Rockers never won the Tag Team Championships, although they kinda did.

Having defeated The Hart Foundation on a taping of Saturday Night’s Main Event, The Rockers were the new Tag Champs. The actual reason for the title switch was that Jim Neidhart hadn’t signed a new contract and was leaving the WWF. During the match a rope broke, Anvil promptly re-signed soon after, and as such the title switch was declared void with the broken rope used as the perfect excuse, keeping the belts on The Hart Foundation.

Partner Marty Jannetty tells a different story, though, claiming that the titles were taken back off The Rockers after an incident on a flight. Supposedly one passenger was annoyed by the batch of wrestlers on said flight, and so Shawn Michaels randomly put faeces down the back of the guy’s shirt. Classy. It turned out that the guy in question was part of a gnarly gang and actually planned to shoot some of the wrestlers, leading to his arrest and much ho-ha for Vince McMahon. Well, that’s Marty’s story anyway.

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.