10 Things You Need To Know About Past WWE Road To WrestleManias

3. Shawn Michaels Almost Didn't Make It To WrestleMania XIV

After Steve Austin caught lighting in a bottle with his Stone Cold character in 1996, the WWF were intent on pushing him to the moon. His matches against the likes of Bret Hart at Survivor Series 96 and WrestleMania 13 convinced them that he was the man to take the company forward. It was decided that Austin would beat Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV, cementing his status as 'the man'. Austin was already massively over but the WWF knew they had to put the belt on him to really legitimise him. Only problem was, Shawn wasn't exactly happy about losing to Austin. Michaels had been the top dog for a couple of years and had gotten away with backstage temper tantrums and refusing to do jobs because he was just so talented and one of the biggest stars the company had. When he was told that he would be putting Austin over, he didn't like it. To compound things, HBK suffered what was thought to be a career-ending back injury during his casket match with the Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. Suddenly, it wasn't known if Michaels would even be able able to wrestle, given his physical condition at the time. But Michaels did turn up and drop the belt as scheduled (even though there were one or two tantrums along the way). It was rumoured hat The Undertaker threatened Michaels with physical violence should he decided he didn't want to do business but Michaels has recently revealed that the rumours have been exaggerated.