Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
13. Shawn Michaels
As WWE Champion right as the company was about to glow white hot without him, Shawn Michaels was the man to hand the gold over to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV in one of the only times in his WWE career he’d actually lost a title in the ring. It was a result written in the stars from the moment Michaels controversially recaptured the belt from Bret Hart as result of the Montreal Screwjob the prior November then picked up a serious back injury just two months later, even if wrestling lore has it that Undertaker needed to menacingly tape up his fists backstage to ensure he did the right thing by the new top star.
He’d infamously lost his smile when his second run came to a premature conclusion in 1997. Despite two of his three runs dogged by injuries and politics, he ranks this high thanks to the unbelievable quality of that first one.
Perhaps you had to be there, and not enough people were thanks to a rampaging WCW now powered by the unstoppable force of the New World Order. Taking pride in his position and presumably looking to throw it back in the faces of those that doubted his ability due to middling box offices, Michaels tore it up bell-to-bell. Matches against Davey Boy Smith, Jerry Lawler, Owen Hart, Vader, Steve Austin and Goldust were stellar at a minimum, tags with and matches against Sycho Sid were an unmitigated success, and his defences against Diesel and Mankind at In Your House 7 and 10 respectively were easy Match Of The Year contenders and on a level almost nobody in North America was operating at.
There were countless stones to be thrown at Michaels by the time he actually achieved his “Boyhood Dream”, but none related to just how incredible he was when the bell rang. Like Bret Hart, gate receipts just didn’t support him being the company’s chosen one, but the matches easily, easily stood up for themselves.