The story of The Heartbreak Kid is a tale of two men: light and darkness inside one human being. While both versions of Shawn Michaels were the best performers in the business during their respective runs in WWE, the mid-to-late 1990s HBK was a much more difficult man to work with than the guy who came back in 2002 and spent the next decade having amazing matches in as selfless a manner as possible. Probably the most notorious example of Shawn's selfishness took place in September of 1997 at One Night Only in England. Michaels was taking on Davey Boy Smith for the European title in the main event. The finish was booked with Shawn losing to The British Bulldog in his hometown until the participants arrived at the arena. Davey Boy, having already been told he was winning, dedicated the match to his sister who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately for him, Shawn had the finish changed, which allowed him to win the European title, a belt that meant nothing to Shawn and was quite frankly beneath his status on the card at the time. There's also the famous stories of him "losing his smile" to allegedly avoid dropping the belt as well as apparently having to be physically threatened by The Undertaker to put over Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV. He's arguably the greatest in-ring wrestler of all-time and has undoubtedly become a changed man, but there was a time when Shawn Michaels was the most selfish guy in the business.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
