In the mid 1990s, Shawn Michaels was one of the few entertaining acts left in the lumbering WWE. He was at his peak as a performer and seemingly every week he would go out and put on a match that people would remember for years. Michaels was also Vince McMahon's favorite wrestler and his preferred choice for champion. Despite all of this going for him, Michaels was a nightmare to work with, for both management and his co-workers.
Shawn Michaels Had Backstage Attitude Problems
Shawn Michaels himself has admitted that he was a jerk back in those days. He was quick to bury his fellow wrestlers backstage, and he had no problem throwing a fit, or some shade, on live television. This made Michaels extremely unpopular but due to his star-power he was almost always on the hunt for the world title. This presented another problem: Shawn Michaels absolutely hated losing the belt to someone else.
In 1997, his real-life feud with Bret Hart was at its apex, as the two men absolutely loathed one another. Shawn was the champion, but business was on a downward spiral and the company was not drawing enough fans. Sycho Sid, who was the champion at one point, had been consistently out-drawing Michaels at house shows. For Michaels, the writing was on the wall. He was set to lose the WWE Championship to Bret Hart, his nemesis. This obviously ruffled HBK. He didn't want to lose the title to Bret Hart of all people, especially at WrestleMania, so HBK went over to McMahon and told him that his knee was acting up.
A Supposed Knee Injury Forced Shawn Michaels To Drop The WWE Championship
Shawn Michaels definitely had issues with his knee. That is not up for debate. The point of contention here is the severity of the injury. A lot of people back then felt that Michaels was hamming it up just so he could avoid losing the title to Bret Hart.
Upon hearing of this, Vince McMahon sent Michaels to a doctor who was not accustomed to dealing with athletes. Said doctor told him to never wrestle again, and that was his ticket out of the inevitable job. Vince McMahon had no other option but to vacate the title, so on the February 13th episode of RAW, Vince McMahon came out and introduced Shawn Michaels as the most charismatic WWE champion of all time, who then came out to a chorus of boos.
Michaels then cut a long promo, declaring that he would be vacating the belt and stepping away from the ring, possibly forever as his knee was in bad shape and the doctor told him to never wrestle again. The highlight of this promo came when Michaels said that he had lost his smile somewhere along the way.
HBK hugged McMahon, handed the belt to on-screen president Gorilla Monsoon, hugged him as well, and then left the ring, with most of the crowd cheering him off. A couple of months later, Michaels returned to the squared circle as another doctor, one that was qualified in dealing with athletes, told him he was cleared to wrestle.
Shawn Michaels' Absence Led To The Rise Of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin
According to Jim Ross, the mood backstage was something unprecedented. There was a sense of restlessness as many wrestlers did not trust Michaels and thought he was faking it. They also had no idea what HBK was going to say when given a live microphone as he was known as a loose cannon. Ross gave his own opinion on the matter and said the issue with Michaels was substance abuse, and not his knee.
In hindsight, Michaels stepping away for a few months was the best thing to ever happen to WWE. The planned rematch between Michaels and Hart at WrestleMania 13 was replaced by Steve Austin versus Hart, and as we all know, the match ended up as one of the most iconic moments in WrestleMania history. This also led to the rise of Steve Austin, and along with him came the Attitude Era.
Shawn Michaels continued to battle his own demons for the next several years, but fortunately HBK turned his life around and became a better person. He has owned up to and apologized for a lot of stuff he did in the 1990s, but Michaels has never really commented on this particular issue. Regardless, Michaels got what he wanted. And fans got much more.