10 Shining Lights In WWE’s Darkest Hours
2. Shawn Michaels (1995/96)
An unbelievable in-ring performer during a period in which the majority of the product was literally impossible to believe, Shawn Michaels matches were beyond anything the company had ever produced outside of moments of magic from his career rival Bret Hart. Though received wisdom has suggested inter-Clique relations robbed others outside of the high five of the spotlight during a fallow financial spell, Shawn's bell-to-bell brilliance regularly rubbed off on the more redundant members of the roster.
Looking beyond bonafide classics with elite talents such Razor Ramon, The 1-2-3 Kid, Diesel, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Mick Foley, Michaels also carried lugs like Kama, King Kong Bundy and Sid to efforts substantially beyond their regular skill set.
Magnetic and magnificent, Michaels' candescent state was soundtracked by Vince McMahon's orgasmic one. Watching the product, it was completely understandable why the Chairman put such stock in 'HBK' as he rose through the babyface ranks in 1995, and a crying shame he reverted to his white meat smile-and-wave safety net with the gimmick a year later. The character no longer tacitly projected the inconvenient truths about Michaels' real-life obnoxiousness, but the work still spoke the loudest until his complete physical and mental burnout in 1997.