11 Wrestlers Who Waited The Longest To Win A World Title

If Edge’s career trajectory followed a traditional path, then Shawn Michaels was one of the trailblazers who had initially trodden that trail to begin with.

Michaels debuted way back in June 1988, teaming with Marty Jannetty to form the flamboyant tag team The Rockers. Shockingly, the two never won the tag titles, and after tensions began to mount within the ranks—both on-screen and backstage—the two split in emphatic fashion when Michaels tossed Jannetty through the Barbershop window at the turn of 1992.

Now very much a singles guy, not only was Michaels branching out on his own, he was also at the fore of a new generation in the WWF, one in which the top talent didn’t have to be of hulking, mountainous shapes and sizes.

In the years that followed, Michaels' style established himself as one of the standout performers in the company, winning back-to-back Royal Rumbles in 1995 and 1996, and stealing the show with performances like the one in his epic ladder match with Razor Ramon in 1994.

His second Rumble win led to a showdown with Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII, where he famously realised what Vince McMahon dubbed "the boyhood dream" to conclude an epic 2843-day journey.