3. A New Champion, A New Generation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuGdLGoG3e4 At Wrestlemania 12, Shawn Michaels entered his second successive Wrestlemania Main Event as the contender for the WWE Championship. He would wrestle WWE Champion Bret Hart in a first ever Ironman match. This match was most memorable for the fact that Michaels and Hart were physically different to the older generation of Wrestlemania Main Eventers, the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna. It was a clear shift in WWE thinking to allow two light heavyweights to Main Event a Wrestlemania pay per view. For over an hour Michaels and Hart would display a wide variety of wrestling moves, culminating in a situation where the match had overrun its time limit and despite both men coming close to landing a fall over the other, the scoreboard remained tied at no falls apiece. It was only when Gorilla Monsoon ordered the match to continue under sudden death rules that Michaels was able to connect with Sweet Chin Music and secure the winning pinfall to defeat Bret Hart and win the WWE Championship. It was in that moment when Shawn Michaels hit his Sweet Chin Music that a new generation of wrestling and wrestlers was perhaps legitimised. Following his maiden WWE Championship Michaels would continue to defy the odds and cynicism by proving that you no longer had to possess '24 inch pythons' to make it in the world of Professional Wrestling.