10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Marty Jannetty

7. He Thought Shawn Michaels Was “Nerdy”

Dark Side Of The Ring Shawn Michaels Marty Jannetty
WWE.com

Promoters in Kansas City lumped Marty with a young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Shawn Michaels in 1985, and told the relative veteran to show him the ropes. Marty's role? To help the rookie bed in, and they'd end up hitting it off as friends and tag-team partners pretty quickly.

That didn't change the fact that Jannetty found Michaels a little geeky.

This is something Marty discussed at length on VICE's doc. Michaels was totally new to the trappings of life on the road, and was just trying to get ahead by soaking in as much knowledge as he possibly could. Travelling night after night with Jannetty must've been an eye-opening experience for him then.

Together, The Rockers got into all sorts of scrapes and jams. Eventually, they earned a rep for being wild party boys who revelled in rebellion. That'd cost them their first gig with the WWF in 1987, but talent bagged them another shot with the promotion.

Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.