Ranking All 50 WWE World Heavyweight Champions - From Worst To Best

10. Shawn Michaels

WWE Champions
WWE.com

An utterly sublime performer with the WWE Championship in 1996, Shawn Michaels' wonderful matches were undone slightly by the knowledge that he was virtually impossible to deal with at the time.

A draining run robbed him of his already-fragile physical and emotional strength, whilst a locker room that already hated him almost welcomed the troubles brought on by WCW's ratings dominance. His controversial third reign at least ended with more class than his smile-losing second. Michaels - in crippling agony - couldn't have done more to put over Stone Cold Steve Austin as the star set to replace him.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett