6. He Got Beat Up By Marines In Syracuse In 1995
Shawn Michaels was known for having a big mouth in the wrestling business. He wasn't afraid to say anything to anybody. Outside the ring, due to his huge stature in the business, he was a guy that likely drew a lot of attention in public places. As we all know, when wrestlers go to a bars and restaurants they almost always get recognized by people. Sometimes they get bothered during the meal. Other times you might see people staring at them the whole time. Shawn was the Intercontinental Champion at the time and he was on his way to becoming the WWE Champion in early 1996. He went to a bar with the British Bulldog and the 1-2-3 Kid (later known as X-Pac). While at the bar, apparently Shawn was running his mouth at a bunch of marines. It's not known exactly what was said, but apparently Shawn was hitting on a girl that was with one of the guys. There are so many versions of the story so it's hard to know what one is true, but Shawn ended up getting beat up by the marines. Maybe it was one punch. Perhaps it was one of those situations where it was six guys against three and the wrestlers just couldn't do anything about it. It's definitely true that Michaels got his ass kicked to some degree. On screen, WWE used Shawn getting beat up in a story by saying he was injured. He gave up the IC Title to Dean Douglas (more on that later). Soon after that, they did a match with Shawn and Owen where Owen hit an enziguiri kick to the back of Shawn's head, Shawn collapsed and they said he was still suffering from his injuries. He did eventually come back to win the Royal Rumble in 1996 as well as the WWE Title although it was very odd for WWE acknowledge it. We don't know who did the attack, how many guys did it or what exactly happened, but maybe WWE should have thanked them for making Michaels more of a sympathetic babyface.