10 Best 'Meet The REAL Villain' Moments In Wrestling History

4. Shawn Michaels Goes Corporate

Shawn Michaels It's Him
WWE

It wasn't built to last and it wasn't even really built, but Shawn Michaels' brief alliance with The Corporation was the spark that lit a fuse WWE needed to carry the company through 1998's winter months without such heavy reliance on Stone Cold Steve Austin.

With the McMahons on top of the world after Survivor Series 1998, Austin was moved into a programme with The Undertaker to distract him from battering The Rock. The Corporation had made a new enemy in the form of Mankind though, and he had unlikely allies in the form of D-Generation X after 'HBK' stepped across the divide in violent fashion.

Michaels looked like a foolish choice at first, but the McMahon's had spent big on the mind rather than the broken body of the former WWE Champion. Revealing him out of nowhere as an edgier replacement for Sgt Slaughter as the company's commissioner, he swerved his old pals by waffling X-Pac with a steel chair during a title match against The Rock.

The fix was in and so too was the 'Heartbreak Kid', even if he'd be out of the stable less than two months later.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett