10 Wrestlers Who Were Notoriously Difficult To Work With
1. Shawn Michaels
It was thought for years, disproving tenets of several religions, that karma had put Shawn Michaels over, of all people.
Throughout the 1990s, the Heartbreak Kid was a paranoid, nasty, egotistical nightmare to share a locker room with - provided you weren't a part of his influential Kliq circle. A saboteur allergic to dropping titles cleanly, Michaels was the Stampy of the WWF: a jerk without a cause. Of Michaels' first 10 reigns with assorted Federation gold, he dropped no less than seven straps under dubious circumstances. "Unable to function as a team" with Diesel; a "forfeit"; a compound fracture of...a smile, Michaels' excuses were impressive in their gall.
When he did lose cleanly - to Sid at Survivor Series '96 - it was as pretext for an ego-rubbing hometown reclamation, and the Sexy Boy made certain to bury his temporary successor as the "most expensive piece of luggage" in WWF history. Michaels was such an irritant that even the performers nowhere near his orbit loathed him. The atmosphere he created was toxic.
Bret Hart must have managed a smile following Crown Jewel; he went over in the handsome battle, and Michaels tarnished his legacy somewhat by sacrificing his status as in-ring royalty for the riyal. Why was Michaels allowed to behave in the manner he did?
Because he was an absolutely sensational, dynamite in-ring performer who threw your heart into your mouth with every awe-inspiring bump and story beat.
Even Hart couldn't rate him 4/10. His professional brilliance was undeniable to the man who personally despised him the most.