The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels, has a complicated past. He's widely considered one of the greatest performers in the squared circle, but behind the scenes, he's been known as one of the worst people to work with. While he's had more chances with WWE than Scott Hall, he has at least tried making amends with those he's done wrong by.
With a career that has spanned decades and being involved in controversial moments such as The Curtain Call and Montreal Screwjob, there are plenty of stories about HBK that we can't believe. Here are 10 wild tales about Shawn Michaels.
10 Choked By The Harris Brothers
The Harris Brothers, who were known as The Blu Brothers in WWE and Bruise Brothers in ECW, finished their final day with the company by throttling Shawn Michaels by the throat. According to Sid Viscious, Michaels made some derogatory comments about the Harris Brothers leaving the company, which many agreed were uncalled for. What resulted was Ron Harris grabbing Michaels by the throat and slamming him against the wall. It took Kevin Nash to get involved to try and diffuse the situation.
9 Refused To Drop The Title To Shane Douglas
Shane Douglas is known around the wrestling industry as someone who's reliable in the ring. When he was in ECW, he had some classic matches with the likes of Sabu, Taz, Tommy Dreamer, and Raven. But when Douglas was scheduled to become Intercontinental Champion in 1995 by defeating Shawn Michaels, the Heartbreak Kid refused to drop the title because he didn't believe the two could put on a good match. The contest ended up being called off due to Michaels being attacked in real-life by marines, and Douglas ended up winning the belt by forfeit.
8 Issues With Shane Helms
On his Highway 2 Helms podcast, the man formerly known as The Hurricane had some choice words for The Heartbreak Kid. When asked on the show who his least favorite wrestler was, Helms responded almost instantly with Michaels. He recalled a story when he was close to walking up to Michaels and punching him in the face.
The Hurricane was angry with the way Michaels was verbally attacking Chris Jericho and was ready to step in and throw down without a care in the world about what the consequences would be.
7 Told Umaga To Change The Color Of His Tights
When the WWE was in Iraq doing a show for the troops, there was an alleged backstage incident involving Umaga, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels. A seamstress who was putting together Umaga's outfit told him that he couldn't have green and black on his tights as it was too similar to the color scheme for DX. Umaga insisted on the design, and the seamstress completed the work. When it came time to head out to the ring, Michaels started abusing the Samoan Bulldozer, and Randy Orton was forced to step in and calm HBK down.
6 Made Vader Cry
Vader is known for not pulling any punches in the ring. He worked a stiffer style and left his opponents with a bruise or two. When Vader made his way to WWE and ended up in a rivalry with Shawn Michaels, the two didn't hit it off. Before a match, Michaels told Vader that if he pulled his hair a certain way that HBK would have him fired, which led to the big man tearing up. The two also had an incident in the ring when Vader didn't move out of the way when he was supposed to, resulting in Michaels laying the boots into him and cursing him out.
5 Hooked Up With Sunny
Shawn famously made a comment to Bret Hart about his "Sunny days" in a promo. However, according to Tammy Sytch, Shawn was the one who had relations with the original diva. In her autobiography, Sunny goes into great detail of a time when she and Shawn were involved in an on-air segment that required them to share an intimate kiss. When they got backstage, one thing led to another, and the two hooked up in an empty locker room. The most controversial part of the story was that Sunny was still in a relationship with Chris Candido at the time.
4 Fought Marty Janetty For Real
Shawn driving Marty Jannetty headfirst into a glass pane is considered one of his most iconic moments. However, behind the scenes, the two had been in a fight before. Jannetty discussed the conflict in a shoot interview and laid the blame on Roddy Piper, who stirred the two up and then sat back and watched it play out. Randy Savage ended up intervening just as the police got involved and exchanged autographs to the boys in blue for their discretion. Michaels almost ended up quitting over the incident as he allegedly got beat up pretty bad.
3 Almost Got Beat Up By The Undertaker
WrestleMania XIV will always be remembered as the beginning of the Austin Era, as Stone Cold captured his first WWE Championship by defeating The Heartbreak Kid. But it almost didn't happen. There was talk behind-the-scenes that Michaels wasn't interested in dropping the belt, and when word got out about his stance, The Undertaker stepped in.
The Deadman allegedly taped his fists up and was ready to convince Shawn to do the right thing, but by the time he reached HBK, Michaels had come to his senses and agreed to do business.
2 Issues With The Rock
The Great One and The Heartbreak Kid never locked up in a WWE ring, but the two almost threw down behind-the-scenes. The story originates from the Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling event where The Rock's grandmother was working as the coordinator. Michaels was allegedly disrespectful to her, which almost led to The Rock laying the smackdown on Shawn's candy ass. The two have since patched things up, but it's unlikely we'll ever get to see the two go at it in a WWE ring.
1 HHH Stopped Speaking To Him
WrestleMania X-7 is widely regarded as one of WWE's greatest events. The show of shows saw Triple H and The Undertaker go head to head, and Stone Cold Steve Austin main evented 'Mania against The Rock for the second time. You might not think the event could have got any better, but allegedly it could have been as Shawn Michaels was scheduled to make a surprise appearance. However, HBK was not in a great place, and some of his addictions were in full effect resulting in him being pulled from the show at the last minute. Triple H was livid with Michaels, and the two didn't end up speaking for some time due to the incident.