7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1993

5. Shawn Michaels Showed He Was A Heel Star On The Rise

The Rockers split up as a tag team in late 1991, but they didn't really have a proper feud after the breakup. Shawn Michaels spent much of 1992 as a cocky heel that won the Intercontinental Title and improved every time he was out there. He was paired with Sensational Sherri as his manager, but they ended up splitting up towards the end of 1992. Marty Jannetty had various issues in 1992, so they had their big match at the '93 Rumble with Sherri at ringside to try to decide who she might help. Their match went about 15 minutes with a lot of good action. Jannetty did a good job of selling a shoulder injury. I can remember watching this live and thinking that he was legit hurt. That's how well he sold it. There was a long ref bump so that Sherri could get involved in the finish. Jannetty held Michaels in the ring, Sherri went into the ring, grabbed her shoe and went to strike Michaels with it. He ducked, so Sherri ended up hitting Jannetty in the face. Michaels hit a superkick on Jannetty, which he sold by doing a flip. What a ridiculous sell job that was. Michaels covered for the win to retain the IC Title. This match was good, but they had other matches that were better including a classic on Raw in May of 1993 when Marty beat Shawn for the IC Title. What was most memorable about the match was the performance of Michaels. He really showed he had the potential to be a WWE Champion. It took three more years for him to get there, but it was obvious after this match that he had the talent to be a main event player.