That Was Then 11.3.06: There Can Be Only One, Part 6 - Ironman
Posted by Sam Caplan on 11.03.2006
Shawn Michaels' arrogant determination to humiliate his former bodyguard Diesel by taking the WWF Title from him resulted in a loss and a change of attitude. Would a more humble Shawn Michaels be able to succeed where the arrogant Shawn Michaels had failed?
Although he had not wrestled in months, Shawn Michaels stepped back in the ring late in the summer and he and his bodyguard Diesel won the WWF Tag Team Title from the Headshrinkers. Unfortunately, Michaels' interference cost Diesel the IC title one night later at Summerslam. The dissension continued to build over the next several months and finally, at Survivor Series 1994, Diesel ate one mistimed superkick too many and the team completely melted down. They split up and vacated the Tag Team Title, but Diesel made good on the split, going on to beat Bob Backlund for the WWF Title just three nights later. Shawn Michaels now felt like he had something to prove, and made it his goal to defeat Diesel and take from his former bodyguard the one title that had always eluded him: the WWF Title.
Part I: Vindication...DENIED!
Stop number one on Shawn's road to the WWF Title was Royal Rumble 1995. If he could win the Rumble match, he would be guaranteed a shot at the WWF Title at Wrestlemania 11. Unfortunately for him, he drew #1, but was still, perhaps misguidedly, confident of victory regardless of his poor luck of the draw. He was soon hit with his second major obstacle when he discovered that the #2 entrant was Davey Boy Smith, the man who Shawn Michaels had taken the IC Title from several years earlier. Davey Boy had been looking forward to the opportunity to get back in the ring with Michaels for quite some time, and finally got his chance here. Davey Boy had raised his game since they last met in 1992, and overwhelmed Michaels with his power, but was unable to eliminate him. To the relief of Shawn Michaels, the ring soon started filling up with other entrants, but as everybody else came and went throughout the match, Michaels and Davey Boy were the two constants.
Whether by luck or some other factor, all the other favorites in the match, including Owen Hart, Bob Backlund, and Lex Luger, wound up being eliminated much sooner than expected and in the end, the Rumble came down to the two men who had started the match, Michaels and Davey Boy. Both men were absolutely exhausted, but the adrenaline kicked in and they went back at it. Davey Boy again overpowered him, tossing Michaels around and clotheslining him over the top for the win...or so he thought. As Davey Boy's music played and he climbed the corner, raising his hands in victory, Michaels ran up from behind and tossed him over the top rope to the floor, and the referee came in the ring and raised his hand instead. Davey Boy had thought he had eliminated Michaels, but only one of his feet had touched the floor, allowing Michaels to come back into the ring and eliminate Davey Boy.
By virtue of winning the Royal Rumble (and becoming the first man to do it after drawing #1), Michaels had now earned his shot at the WWF Title at Wrestlemania 11. Diesel had also competed at the Royal Rumble, defending the WWF Title against Bret Hart in a rematch of their first meeting at King Of The Ring the year before. This match also went to an inconclusive finish, as the match was thrown out due to copious amounts of outside interference, and chief among the interlopers was Shawn Michaels. Because of the outcome, Diesel retained the WWF Title and was now slated to defend against his former employer at Wrestlemania. Michaels, now short one bodyguard, decided he would do well to once again have some support in his corner and hired a replacement for Diesel. On an episode of Raw, Michaels revealed that his new bodyguard was Psycho Sid, last seen main eventing Wrestlemania 8 against Hulk Hogan in a match where even the mighty Hulk was unable to pin Sid. As formidable a presence as Diesel was in Michaels' corner, Sid would perhaps be even more so.
Michaels did his best to prepare for his match with Diesel by taking on other big, powerful opponents in the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania. He won a singles match against Davey Boy Smith, and also picked up a couple of wins over Adam Bomb. With these victories, his deadly superkick, and Sid in his corner, Michaels actually seemed to be the favorite going into Wrestlemania. Michaels certainly felt he had the advantage, if not physically, then psychologically and also in terms of experience: Michaels had been wrestling much longer than Diesel had, and had taught his former bodyguard much of what he knew. Although Shawn was taken by surprise by Diesel's strength once the match actually began, he soon used his speed, smarts and daredevil tactics to take over. Michaels even hit a flying bodypress on Diesel while Diesel was outside the ring, and then followed that up with a big splash from the apron onto the floor on Diesel.
Michaels was in control of the match and had Diesel right where he wanted him, but in an unfortunate turn of events, the referee got bumped out of the ring, and when Michaels hit the knockout blow with his superkick a moment later and went for the cover, there was no referee to make the cover. Michaels had Diesel covered for about a fifteen count, but by the time Sid picked up the referee and hauled him back into the ring, it was only good for a two count. That one stroke of bad luck took Michaels out of his game just enough for Diesel to mount a comeback, pounding Michaels and slamming him around relentlessly before finishing him off with the Jackknife. Diesel had made it past Michaels, certainly his toughest challenge yet, with the title still around his waist.
Despite the loss, Michaels still felt he was the superior wrestler. He had dominated Diesel for most of the match, and had even knocked Diesel out with the superkick, and he was certain that if the referee were conscious, that he would have been the WWF Champion. He challenged to Diesel to get back in the ring with him with the title on the line one more time, but told Sid (who was responsible for the referee getting bumped out of the ring at Wrestlemania) that he could stay home this time. Sid took offense to this, but Michaels laid down the law: he was the boss, and after Wrestlemania was in no mood to argue with Sid, and told him straight to stay home when he got his rematch. Sid seemed to acquiesce, but sneak attacked Michaels from behind, then repeatedly powerbombed him until Diesel came to the rescue and chased Sid off.
Part II: Back In The Saddle
Michaels suffered back injuries from the powerbombs Sid inflicted upon him, and would need to take a month or so off to recover. During that time, Michaels, who was truly touched by Diesel coming to the rescue of his friend in spite of all that had gone down between the two of them in the months prior to the attack, reached out to the man that he now knew to be not just his former bodyguard, but in fact his best friend, and the two reconciled. When Michaels returned to action, he spent much of his time in the corner of Diesel, aiding him in his war with Sid, who had joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation after turning on Michaels.
Meanwhile, Michaels also concentrated on getting his own career back on track. He qualified for the King Of The Ring tournament, but was eliminated in the first round when he went to a time limit draw with Kama. He came back strong, challenging Jeff Jarrett for the IC Title in Jarrett's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. This was to be Jarrett's night, he had returned to his hometown as the IC Champion, and had even performed his hit single, "With My Baby Tonight", earlier in the show. A victory over a man with the reputation of Shawn Michaels would cap off the evening perfectly for Jarrett, who also had an added insurance policy in his Roadie, who had been interfering in his matches for months. Instead, Michaels easily controlled Jarrett through the entire match, and although Jarrett briefly took over towards the end, the interference of the Roadie backfired as, thinking he was grabbing Michaels, the Roadie tripped Jarrett, and as Jarrett got back to his feet and yelled at the Roadie, he turned around and walked right into a superkick from Michaels, who then covered him and won his third IC Title.
With the IC Title back around his waist, Michaels decided that his next step would be to get revenge on Sid, the man who had put him on the shelf to begin with. Michaels had supported his best friend while Sid faced Diesel in a series of matches in the months following Wrestlemania, all of which Diesel won decisively, but Michaels wanted to get his hands on Sid himself, and so a match was signed between Michaels and Sid for the IC Title at Summerslam 1995. Before Summerslam, however, longtime WWF President Jack Tunney retired, and his replacement, Gorilla Monsoon, decided that he would rather see Michaels defend the title against Razor Ramon in a rematch of their classic ladder match at Wrestlemania 10.
Now Michaels was finally going to get the chance to avenge the loss in that famous match, a loss which he had had to live with and had eaten at him for a year and a half. In fact, in a prematch interview, Michaels even said that he didn't have to defend the title in a ladder match, because it's a lot harder to pin somebody or make them submit than to run up a ladder, but he had something to prove when he got in the ring with Razor Ramon. Although it was generally agreed that this second ladder match wasn't as good as the original, it was still a very good match with some of the same spots from last time, but both men had counters for some of the moves they had fallen prey to the first time around, and also pulled out some new innovative moves, including bringing out a second ladder and using it to perform even more creative moves. Razor had history on his side having won the first match, but this time Michaels pulled out the victory, and now could finally put the ghost of the Wrestlemania 10 match to rest.
Michaels had even more success over the next month. The match with Sid ended up happening after all a few weeks later on Raw. Since he had been taken out of Summerslam, Sid was guaranteed a shot at whoever was the IC Champion following the ladder match. That turned out to be Shawn Michaels, and Michaels also went on to defeat Sid on Raw in the infamous "He beats the big guy with three superkicks" match. He followed that up by teaming up with Diesel to face Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna in the first ever Triple Header match, in which all three titles were on the line, and the winner of the match would win the title of whomever he had pinned. They were thrown a swerve when Owen Hart didn't arrive at the building and had to be replaced by Davey Boy Smith, who had recently turned heel and joined Jim Cornette's stable. Owen Hart finally arrived at the end of the match, and was immediately given the Jackknife and pinned by Diesel. They had won the title that night, but due to Owen not being a legal participant in the match, the win was voided and the title returned to Owen and Yokozuna.
Life went on, and Michaels was set to defend the IC Title on the following month's PPV against a newcomer to the WWF, Dean Douglas. Unfortunately, misfortune struck Michaels when, a couple of days before the match, Michaels was attacked, severely beaten, and concussed by a group of men (whose number has never been conclusively agreed upon) outside a bar in upstate New York and, being unable to compete at the PPV as a result, Michaels was forced to hand the IC Title over to Dean Douglas. Michaels being the competitor he was, he was back in the ring again as soon as he was allowed, competing in the first ever Wild Card match at Survivor Series 1995, in which both teams in the elimination match were drawn at random, and Michaels led his team to victory.
The next night, Michaels was wrestling Owen Hart in what appeared to be another routine match, and everything was going normally, but suddenly Michaels just collapsed in the middle of the ring. Owen looked confused, and even the announcers were silent as Michaels shockingly lay prone in the middle of the ring. As Michaels was carried out of the ring and into an ambulance, nobody was quite sure what exactly had just happened, but many people suspected that Shawn had come back from his concussion a little too soon.
Part III: The Boyhood Dream
Those suspicions were soon confirmed, as following Shawn's collapse, it was announced that he was suffering from Post-Concussion Syndrome. Michaels apparently was in much worse shape following the attack outside the bar than he had originally thought, but it was the string of shots to the head afterward, including a Razor's Edge at Survivor Series and an enziguiri against Owen, that had made the injury even worse and caused him to pass out. At this point, it was unclear if Shawn Michaels would ever be able to wrestle again, and the WWF even went as far as to begin running tribute videos to Shawn in the event that his career was indeed over.
To the surprise of many, and to the dismay of the doctors who told him to stay out of the ring, Michaels went on WWF TV weeks after his collapse and announced that he was going to return to the WWF after all, and his first match back would be the Royal Rumble. He told a story about how, as a boy, he always dreamed of one day becoming WWF Champion and he felt that now was his make or break time, that he had to win the Rumble and go on to win the title at Wrestlemania. Shawn had much better luckof the draw this year, entering about midway through the match instead of starting it at the beginning. In the end, the Rumble came down to Michaels and Diesel, but before Diesel had a chance to do anything, Michaels hit him with a superkick and sent him over the top to win the match for the second year in a row. Diesel, who had lost the WWF Title several months earlier, was clearly frustrated and climbed back in the ring, but rather than fight Michaels he instead put up his hand for their trademark salute, and Michaels showed that there were no hard feelings by jogging over and high fiving him.
Having won the Royal Rumble for a second time, Michaels had once again earned the right to challengefor the WWF Title at Wrestlemania, which was now held by Bret Hart, who had beaten Diesel for the title back at the Survivor Series. But it was still two months before Michaels got his shot, and since he had some time to kill, he decided to even the score with Bret's younger brother, Owen. Ever since Michaels had collapsed on Raw, Owen had been taking credit for putting Michaels out of action with his enziguiri, and was so proud of what he had done that he even began using the enziguiri as his finishing move. Owen accepted Shawn's challenge on one condition: he would only get in the ring with Michaels if he put his Wrestlemania title shot on the line.
Michaels agreed and Owen did end up hitting Michaels with the enziguiri, but wasn't able to pin Michaels after delivering the move. Instead, Michaels rallied and scored the win and now, having beaten Owen and buried their issue, it was time to get in the ring with Bret. Commissioner Roddy Piper knew that Bret and Shawn were very closely matched, so much so that a single fall might not be decisive, so in order to determine a clear winner, the match was made into a one hour Ironman match where the man who scored the most falls over his opponent would win the match.
Over the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania, Bret and Shawn were shown on TV training for the match in their own unique ways. Shawn was working mostly on his conditioning and techniques that relied on his speed and agility. Bret, on the other hand, had returned to his home of Calgary, Alberta, Canada where he trained with his father, legendary wrestler Stu Hart, only his training was more geared towards building up his toughness. Although Shawn and Bret approached their training in completely different ways, they both did it knowing that they would each have to stay in the ring with the other for a full hour, and couldn't afford to be in any worse condition than their opponent.
Match time finally came and, rather than seeing a lot of high flying from Shawn, or takedowns and stretches from Bret, the match was mostly wrestled on the mat with a series of wear down holds designed to weaken their opponent enough to score a series of falls. Some people really liked the match, others really hated it, but it was unlike anything seen in the WWF in quite some time, probably since the days of Bob Backlund's original run with the WWF Title in the late 70s and early 80s. However, neither man was able to score a fall as the final minutes approached, but when Shawn attempted a dropkick off the top rope, Bret caught his legs and trapped him in the Sharpshooter. Shawn was stuck and couldn't escape, but wouldn't give up either, and somehow toughed it out for the final two minutes of the match. The bell rang as the clock expired and the match ended tied at zero falls apiece.
Upon hearing the announcement of a draw, Bret took the title belt and started walking toward the back, thinking that he had accomplished his job by going to the time limit, which usually meant a successful title defense. However, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon came into the ring and announced that the match was designed so that there must be a winner, and he was going to authorize a sudden death period where the first person to catch a fall would win the match. Bret was furious, but was determined to finish the job. He relentlessly hammered the back of Michaels, which had taken so much punishment from being locked in the Sharpshooter, but as he was whipped into the corner, Michaels leapfrogged over Bret as he charged in and hit him with the superkick. Unfortunately, Michaels was also spent and went down after the move. Both men struggled to their feet, but Michaels got up first, and he nailed Bret full on with a second superkick and covered him to win his first WWF Title.
Conclusion
As Vince McMahon proudly stated in the final moments of Wrestlemania 12, "The boyhood dream has come true for Shawn Michaels", and indeed it had. After eight years with the company, career-threatening injuries, numerous setback, and his many prior, failed attempts at winning the title, Shawn Michaels was finally the WWF Champion. Bret Hart decided to take a sabbatical from the WWF following Wrestlemania 12 and wouldn't be back for months, leaving Michaels as the star of the show. But now, after years of chasing the title, he was on the other side of the fence and would have to deal with the biggest, toughest, baddest monsters in the WWF gunning for him to try and take what was now, finally, his title.
