The career of Shawn Michaels featured a hit list of classic matches. Many of the memorable bouts came against fellow capable wrestlers like Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker. However, Michaels was special in the ability to carry wrestlers with less talent to better matches. The performers with lower ceilings and many more limitations would love seeing their names next to Michaels when looking at the night’s planned matches.
Michaels gave so many wrestlers the best matches of their careers. We will look at the names that Michaels had to lead to great matches. These performers ranged from poor workers to new talents early in their careers to older wrestlers needing help to succeed. Find out just how superb of a performer the Heartbreak Kid actually was. Here are ten wrestlers that were led to great matches by Shawn Michaels.
10 Diesel
Kevin Nash joined WWE thanks to the request of Shawn Michaels in the role of his bodyguard as Diesel. Both men had incredible chemistry together and eventually became best friends outside of the ring. The run of Diesel featured his only standout matches coming against Michaels and Bret Hart.
Michaels led Nash to one of the best performances of his career at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies. The street fight was the first major WWE Championship defense of Michaels with both men leaving it all in the ring. Diesel had a classic in his last WWE PPV match before leaving for WCW.
9 John Cena
John Cena was still struggling to prove his skills as a wrestler in early 2007. The WWE Champion was coming off one of his better matches against Umaga in a Last Man Standing match, but fans and peers were still skeptical about his work rate.
Cena having a series of matches with Shawn Michaels is what helped people see his ability to work in the ring. Michaels and Cena had a few classics at WrestleMania 23 and during a UK episode of Raw. The leadership skills of Michaels got the best out of Cena and gave him more confidence moving forward.
8 Marty Jannetty
The label of being carried by Shawn Michaels may be too far, but Marty Jannetty struggled on his own once The Rockers tag team ended. People still use both of their names to reference the most extreme scenario of one partner thriving and the other flopping when a tag team breaks up.
Michaels went on to become an icon in WWE while Jannetty did almost nothing of note. The matches against Michaels in singles action provided the best moments of Jannetty’s career after The Rockers ended. Michaels helped make fans care about Marty for a short time before his momentum ended.
7 Goldberg
The singles match between Shawn Michaels and Goldberg is often forgotten since it took place on Raw instead of PPV. Michaels, however, delivered a great performance leading Goldberg to arguably his best match during the first stint in WWE.
Goldberg clearly struggled having to wrestle matches longer than five minutes against top heels like Triple H and Chris Jericho. Michaels helped make a great story as he bumped around the ring for Goldberg. The match, unfortunately, ended in DQ as Batista attacked them both to injure Goldberg and join Evolution.
6 Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr.
The young tag team of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. found success in the Legacy faction with Randy Orton as their leader. WWE gave Rhodes and DiBiase Jr. their biggest opportunities to that point entering a tag team feud with Shawn Michaels and Triple H of D-Generation X.
The teams had tag matches at Summerslam, Breaking Ground and Hell in a Cell all in 2009. All three matches went well with the veterans Michaels and Triple H doing their best to make the youngsters look credible. DiBiase Jr. and Rhodes never fulfilled their potential in WWE, but the DX matches gave them their best chance.
5 Ric Flair
The idea of Ric Flair being carried by another wrestler seems ridiculous, but he was 59 years old when having his final WWE match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24. It was already an emotional weekend as Flair was inducted into the Hall of Fame one night earlier.
Michaels delivered one of the best matches of his career giving Flair one more classic even though his body had hit the aging process. The moment of Michaels saying “I love you” to Flair before hitting the Superkick for the win will be remembered forever by any wrestling fan to watch the match live.
4 Chris Masters
WWE had high hopes for Chris Masters to become a future main eventer when joining the main roster in 2005. Masters spent months defeating enhancement talents and humiliating fans by placing them in the Masterlock Challenge.
Shawn Michaels turned back to the face character after losing to Hulk Hogan at Summerslam 2005 to enter a program with Masters. The idea worked as Michaels made Masters look strong and have the best match of his career. WWE never went all the way with Masters as this was the peak for him.
3 Jeff Jarrett
No one would accuse Jeff Jarrett of being a terrible worker, but he clearly was nowhere near the level of Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart in the mid-90s. WWE placed Jarrett and Michaels in a feud together over the Intercontinental Championship.
The two delivered one of the best matches in WWE history at the time of 1995 at In Your House 2. Michaels defeated Jarrett in an instant classic to become the Intercontinental Champion. The match is a forgotten classic for Michaels while likely still the top match in Jarrett’s career to show the difference in their legacies.
2 Vince McMahon
Many fans were disappointed when Vince McMahon was revealed as the opponent of Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 22. McMahon clearly was not a great worker, but he wanted to tell the story of both men having differing viewpoints over the Montreal Screwjob.
Michaels made peace with Bret Hart to earn the anger of McMahon. The two faced off in a highly entertaining Street Fight that was among the better matches on that WrestleMania event. Michaels proved that he could carry anyone to a good match at that point in his career, including the boss.
1 Sycho Sid
The career of Sycho Sid saw him achieve main event success in WWE and WCW due to his look and size. Sid had a more entertaining run in WWE due to the better opponents. Shawn Michaels was the main wrestler to lead Sid to great matches in 1996 and 1997.
They main evented the Survivor Series 1996 event in Madison Square Garden with a fun match that saw Sid win the WWE Championship. Michaels won it back in his home area of San Antonio at the Royal Rumble 1997 event. Sid’s two best matches came at the main event level thanks to the genius of Michaels.