10 WWE Opponents That Shawn Michaels Refused To Do Business With

6. Steve Austin

We all know the story by now: Shawn Michaels was set to drop the WWF Title to Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIV before retiring due to injuries€ only HBK started playing up on the day of the show and had to be persuaded to do €˜the right thing€™ by a menacing-looking Undertaker. Let€™s hand it over to €˜Taker for his take on things, courtesy of an appearance on Off The Record: €œThere was a lot of problems going on around that time with Shawn and Wrestlemania that year. That was the year that Tyson was there and there was a lot of headaches being caused. It was questionable whether Shawn Michaels was gonna do the right thing or not. Who really knows, but I€™ll just put it this way: if it hadn€™t had been done the way it was done, it probably would€™ve been a very long night for Shawn Michaels.€ Numerous reports claim that Michaels was having second thoughts about doing the J-O-B on his way out of the door, and the Heartbreak Kid has even talked about how he was in a bad place at that time. As such, Undertaker was sat in Gorilla taping his fists and chewing on glass (not literally). Michaels reluctantly lost and the Austin Era was born.
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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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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.