The Night Shawn Michaels Found His Smile

Shawn Michaels Bret Hart
WWE.com

A second Two Dudes With Attitudes reign was cut short on September 25, 1995 under an empty carny promise of a guaranteed title switch. Michaels, for once, was blameless. He lost the WWF Title to Sycho Sid at Survivor Series purely to engineer a comeback triumph in a last-ditch bid to get him over as the tippy-top babyface, basking in the celebrations of tens of thousands of fans who had purchased discounted $5 coupons with their meals at participating Taco Bell restaurants.

He wasn't so quick to drop it to Bret Hart. He didn't fancy returning the favour. He didn't fancy performing the job as requested of him, he exaggerated the effects of a knee injury as pretext to f*cking off, and had the nerve to babyface himself on the way home. WrestleMania 13 was saved artistically by a deft booking team working inspiredly, but was ruined commercially. The clear and sudden pivot in direction - backwards in the case of one double main event nobody knew was going to be as seismically incredible as it was - developed a more In Your House quality than a big show built as a monster with an epic build.

Shawn Michaels ruined a WrestleMania in the heat of the Monday Night Wars, and the WWF strapped him within months of his suspiciously early return. Vince McMahon placated him and ran Bret Hart - who literally told Shawn that he would do a job for him, were there any doubts over the grey morality of 1997 - out of Stamford. Michaels was dejected backstage in Montreal, despite orchestrating the ugly scene for a year with his callous, sh*t-disturbing bullsh*t.

This contrition showed a glimmer of humanity underneath the ugly, careerist husk, but it would take some time to surface.

CONT'D...(2 of 6)

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!