Shawn Michaels: The Greatest American Wrestler of All Time? PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Steven Ransiear   
Monday, 08 February 2010 20:15

After spending a little time thinking about all Shawn Michaels has done in wrestling just in recent memory it got me to thinking: is he the best ever in America? Shawn has found himself relevant in wrestling in four decades now. From his beginnings with the Rockers to his rise to superstar status and now his legitimate claim to being a living legend.

Before I get started, this is just stating my case as to why you could consider Michaels the best of all time in America. It's something that really can't be decided, as it's all opinion.

If you look back and watch Shawn when he was part of The Rockers it would have been pretty hard to say "Yup, this guy is going to be on top for the next 20 years", but it's happened. Shawn has really defied the odds and made himself important through down periods in wrestling, as well as the booms.

When things were getting a bit stale with him as a singles star in the 90's he became part of a stable that shaped the biggest money making era for the WWF in history. Shawn has become a beloved part of wrestling whether he's a heel or face. The fans are attached to him as many of the WWE's current fans have grown up with him. He's very much the Hulk Hogan of the 90's as he was one of, if not, the most prominent figure in the WWF during that period.

While you can argue that, in the grand scheme of things, others are bigger stars, Shawn combined star power with the ability to put on fantastic wrestling matches. Sure, Hulk Hogan was massively popular but let's face it, he's not exactly a ring technician.

Even in the WWF/E you can say that men like The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock were bigger stars but HBK consistently put on better matches than them. Now, that's, of course, subject to the fact that perhaps Michaels was offered more talented opponents but I digress. Not to mention that he outlasted Austin and The Rock by a huge margin.

'Taker is the only man that could really give Shawn a run for his money for being the best the WWF has ever had. Taker though, as good as he is and as much as I prefer him over Michaels hasn't always put on great matches. It took a while for 'Taker to evolve past doing the same generic moves and get some personality into his matches. Believe me, you can't accuse any Shawn Michaels matches from lacking personality.

Michaels also has been one hell of a talker his entire career. Now that's when he runs into a juggernaut in this conversation of the best of all time, Ric Flair. Promo for promo it's hard to say who's better. Flair is a damn good promo master but over the years he's dissolved into nothing but catchphrases on a nightly basis. Shawn, you could say, has gotten better over the years as his character moved past being a young, pretty, cocky wrestler to a man with a life full of experiences and hardship.

Flair, as good as he was in the ring, never captured me the way Michaels has. It's certainly a contrasting style but I think Michaels might take it here. He might not have the universal praise that Flair does but I think at this point people might ignore Ric Flair's flaws in the ring because he's so popular and beloved by the wrestling world.

Flair wasn't able to keep up in his latter years whereas Michaels has stayed at an incredibly high level. Just look at his matches with Chris Jericho in 2008 and the match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV in 2009. Michaels was in his 40's during those matches. Name one 40 year old wrestler today in America who can do what Shawn can? Even Triple H (love him or hate him, he's a damn good wrestler) has started to break down.

If you want to look at it from a business standpoint with things like ticket sales and merchandise, Shawn is up there. How many HBK t-shirts have there been through the years? Not to mention the absolute merchandise monster that is D-Generation X. Michaels was a champion during the Attitude era, which as I said before was the biggest money making period in WWF's history.

Flair drew a lot in his time but that was during the territory days where you couldn't see him for free on television every week. Michaels has been in front of sold out TV crowds as well as massive Wrestlemania crowds with fans paying to see him no matter who he's facing. Flair might have an edge on ticket sales due to the longer career but Michales might beat him when you factor in PPV numbers, television ratings, and merchandise.

If you would like to look at his career from a fan's eye instead of business then you have a lot to look at. Shawn is a three-time WWF Champion, a three-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time WWF/E tag team champion, a former World Heavyweight Champion and European Champion, not to mention the first-ever WWF grand slam champion, and a two-time Royal Rumble Winner.

He's also garnered serious praise by the wrestling media as he's a ten-time recipient of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match of the Year Award, and was ranked No. 1 in the 1996 PWI 500. He also placed #10 on PWI's list of the best wrestling during all the years they did their 500 best wrestlers of the year lists.

Michaels has also received a lot of praise from The Wrestling Observer, which some fans consider the bible of pro wrestling. He's been in a legit five star match against the Undertaker. Some could argue he's been in others as well.
Michaels has been in a lot of memorable matches through the years. Whether it was any of his title wins or the two Royal Rumbles. He also won to the first ever Hell in a Cell match. If you were a wrestling fan at any point in the past 20 years, you no doubt have a Shawn Michaels moment or match that sticks out in your head.

So is Michaels the best ever? Who knows, it's not up to me to decide. He might be your favorite, he might not. But you can't say that if someone ever does come up with a definitive list of the best ever, Michaels wouldn't be in the conversation for number one.

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( 4 Votes )
Comments (5)
  • Craig
    Shawn Michaels or sissy michaels
    To me the biggest joke in wrestling. To small to believe thats why is back is shot Seems to be hooked on pain pills now. Blood shot eyes do not look good on anyone including him. Never liked him and never will . One match stands out that was against the best that would be the Undertaker three BOOS BOOS BOOS for Sissy Michaels

    Craig
  • squizz  - Agrees Craig is Indeed an Idiot
    Fair enough Craig - you don't like Michaels, but insulting him is just throwing yourself a just a bit too far into the deep waters. I mean can we rewrite the above article and replace your name with Michaels' name? No, I think not. Also don't lie - assuming you are a well rounded wrestling fan you should know Shawn's one hell of an excellent wrestler, as well as fantastic on the mic - heel or face; arguing otherwise just proves you ignorant.

    Yes it can be agreed that Shawn wasn't in the best of shape and taking pills 13 years ago -especially during the period in which he'd injured his back - but that's in the past now (13 years too far into the past) therefore continuing to prattle on about it makes you 'dear' Craig appear to be a fool who can't keep up with present day news and information.

    To be frank i don't know if you listen to the wrestlers at times, but they do mention that they just so happen to work 300 days out of the 360 day year we have (you should be able to find thi...
  • squizz  - continued
    (you should be able to find this kind of information in their books also), and I don't know about you, but that seems to be one bloody long amount of time to be constantly working for - without going home, considering wrestlers don't just appear in the ring on a Monday and Tuesday (SD taping) but they also have HOUSE SHOWS throughout the week so it isn't too surprising that Shawn has these blood shot eyes you speak of.

    After all Mr. Michaels is a fourty-four year old man - fourty-five this coming july, who spends most of his time either being thrown about in the ring or throwing himself about and out of the ring, spends a lot of time away from home, and experiances a lot of late nights.

    Need i say any more Craig?
  • Juan  - Cocky HBK was better
    I preferred the cocky arrogant heel HBK instead of the always angry faced-heel HBK. But he is still awesome.
  • Craig is an idiot
    Craig, you sir are an absolute idiot, and probably one of those retard Cena fanboys who has only been watching wrestling for two years.

    Seriously? HBK hooked on pain pills? Wow, are you still living in the 90s? Undertaker is in much worse shape physically than Michaels is...

    The fact of the matter is that HBK is definitely right up there in the discussion of GOAT. And if you honestly don't admit that then you sir have no idea what wrestling is.

    Anyway, I agree with Juan. HBK circa 1997/8 was the best HBK, and I can't watch enough of his promos on YouTube. It's a shame that he hurt his back otherwise we would have been in for some more awesome feuds in the Attitude era. But I'd say the four year hiatus worked out well for good old HBK.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 08:44
 

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