Youll never forget the date. It was July 4: Independence Day. Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan had just teamed up to defeat the team of Carlito and Kurt Angle. After the win, the two posed, and suddenly Hogan turned around and ate Sweet Chin Music from Michaels. For the first time since leaving the WWF with a back injury in 1998, HBK was a heel. If that wasnt enough to send shockwaves through the WWE, the very next week, Matt Hardy (who was unceremoniously released earlier in the year after it was reported that Lita cheated on him with Edge) showed up unannounced, attacking Edge. He then grabbed a microphone, called Edge by his real name (Adam), and told the fans to come see him in Ring of Honor, only after saying that the WWE could kiss his ass. In two weeks, two sudden events turned the landscape of WWE upside down. Shawn as a heel was arguably much more entertaining that Shawn as a babyface, and Hardys appearance was art imitating life, as fans had chanted We Want Hardy! at Edge, and Slut! at Lita for months while Hardy was released. Plus, the fact that Hardy shouted out the name of Ring of Honor on live television was unprecedented. In the WWE universe, the WWE stands alone. No reference was ever made to the existence of any other wrestling company. The turnout for Hardys Ring of Honor match against Christopher Daniels in Woodbridge, CT was massive. The highlight of Shawns heel run was the Whos Your Daddy, Montreal? promo at the site of the Montreal screwjob. The promo was even punctuated with a tease of Bret Harts music, which every fan in the building fell for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUsdTWsHc2U Both storylines ended up amounting to nothing. After losing to Hulk Hogan at Summerslam, Michaels went back to being a babyface the very next night on Raw, even proclaiming, Back to your regularly scheduled programming. Hardy was hired back by Vince, which took a bit of luster away from his aura, and within two months, he was defeated by Edge in a Loser Leaves Raw match, and became just another guy on Smackdown. But for two months in the Summer of 2005, Raw was must-see television each week thanks to Shawn Michaels and Matt Hardy.
