10 WWE Opponents That Shawn Michaels Refused To Do Business With

Because even finding God can't eradicate the memories of Shawn being Shawn.

by Andrew Pollard
Before his first retirement in 1998, Shawn Michaels was renowned for his antics, tantrums, and being hesitant to work with any talents that he deemed below him. And by hesitant, I mean that he flat out refused to lose to, or even work with, particular performers. There are so many examples of €˜Shawn being Shawn€™ over the years, and many victims of his ego hold a grudge against HBK to this day. Of course, Michaels found God and seemingly that made all of his previous d*ckish behaviour perfectly acceptable, right? Regardless, the religious redemption of Shawn Michaels, not to mention his status as one of the very best to ever lace up a pair of boots, cannot hide the times when HBK refused to do business or irked someone so much that they refused to do work with him. After all, at one point in time the mantra was "The Heartbreak Kid lays down for absolutely nobody!"
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.