There are a lot of people in the wrestling business and fans watching at home that consider "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels to be the best in-ring performer in WWE history. There are plenty of reasons as to why because he started in WWE as a tag wrestler, broke out as a singles star that was the IC Champion and then he became the WWE Champion eight years after he started. It's not like Michaels was groomed to be WWE Champion in his first year. He took a long road to get there. The fact that he wrestled a Match of the Year in his last match at age 45 in 2010 showed he was consistently great for a very long time, even with that four year break. Shawn was a three time WWE Champion and one time World Champion. His first and last reigns were the most memorable. The first WWE Title reign happened at WrestleMania 12 when he beat Bret Hart in an Ironman match as Vince McMahon famously yelled that the "boyhood dream has come true for Shawn Michaels" because they did a great job of telling his story. By that time he was as good as any performer in the company in the ring, so he definitely deserved it. When he won his last major title, the World Title at 2002 Survivor Series, most of us didn't expect it. We thought he was retired in 1998. He came back four years later, then won the World Title in the first Elimination Chamber match in his second match back. It was a classic moment in Madison Square Garden. He wrestled eight years after his last World Title reign. He never won it again probably because he was a part timer that didn't work live events and felt like he could entertain without being the champion again. He was right to think that way because he cemented his legacy as one of the best wrestlers ever. If you watched Shawn's whole career then you now there were times in the mid-1990s when he definitely weighed more than his listed 225 pound weight (let's just say he had some help). However, as he got older in the late 2000s you could see he was probably 210 pounds or so.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
