10 Wrestling Gimmicks Based On LIES!
7. Shawn Michaels
1996 was a make-or-break year for Shawn Michaels. In irrepressibly similar fashion to his in-ring excellence, he managed to master the art of both.
For much of the year, he was a WWE Champion living out his "boyhood dream", but even he couldn't have foreseen the competition he'd have to face atop an organisation that was losing a war. WCW's New World Order had set the company on fire, transforming the industry from a one-note joke to a two-horse race that Vince McMahon's promotion was losing.
Later admitting in his autobiography that he mentally unravelled at the time, Michaels was cast as "The Leader Of The New Generation" despite having precisely one friend on the roster to prop him up. Even as he was subject to punishment booking on the show, Triple H remained loyal to 'HBK' as the sole remaining Clique member following the departures of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. Beyond that, Michaels was loathed for his personality but begrudgingly tolerated for his peerless professional wrestling.