@@Skibbitypappappa it's why he was able to go to WCW so hot. Diesel was being cheered on his way out, and by the time he faced Shawn going out he was Heel, but he was cool again.
untouchable as in pushed as the baby face of the company and ultimatly shit on by the fans when sid came back lol. most over rated wrestler in history, great worker no doubt but never was over as much as wwe likes to portray he was. go back and watch raw from 1994-1999 i have in full 3 times. michaels was a complete failure as a draw as the top dog in 1995 and 1996 especially 96, sid got WAY bigger pops and he was the heel in there matches, HBK even spat the dummy during there survivor series match in 96 at the garden lol. MOST OVER RATED WRESTLER In terms of drawing power in company HISTORY!!
untouchable as in pushed as the baby face of the company and ultimatly shit on by the fans when sid came back lol. most over rated wrestler in history, great worker no doubt but never was over as much as wwe likes to portray he was. go back and watch raw from 1994-1999 i have in full 3 times. michaels was a complete failure as a draw as the top dog in 1995 and 1996 especially 96, sid got WAY bigger pops and he was the heel in there matches, HBK even spat the dummy during there survivor series match in 96 at the garden lol. MOST OVER RATED WRESTLER In terms of drawing power in company HISTORY!!
1996...12yrs old and one of my favorite years of my life just in general, Shawn was on fire, it was difficult at first due to me being a HUGE hitman fan...but when Shawn came to Florence for the beware of dog ppv and faced the bulldog, to see him live stole the entire ppv away for me, not to mention his match with mankind at mind games later that year ...man it was a hell of a time to be alive and see all of this ..
I know Shawn as much as he loves the Outsiders, had to be a little pissed at them for leaving and making the competition the place to watch, when it became his time at the top. He finally got his shot and the timing couldn't have been worse. Unless you were Bret in '92 of course. No wonder those guys' careers were so intertwined. Bruce is lying about Shawn's chemistry with Nash. Their Match at WM 11 was good, their Match after WM 12 was their best.
@@kennethrawlings7265 Kevin knew that's what he was going to do, because that was his Boy and he knew how competitive he was. He knew Shawn wanted that Spot and was going to use the Match to show that he was ready for it. Kevin knew it and didn't care about it. As far as Shawn having to have been a little upset, I explained that in the comment. They've all acknowledged that Shawn was a little hot about it, but then they decided that they would just be the Top Guys in the Industry, by having a "Kliq Expansion". Outsiders down South, D-X up North.
When shawn lost his smile….thats when i tuned into the black & white nwo show. Clearly shawn was the top guy & he drops the belt? All you got left was Bret, Taker, stone cold, Sid, Vader, & Mankind?? Thats why WCW was white hot
Bruce is finally doing a Vince impression again. Ether he feels secure in his job now or he’s getting to the point where he doesn’t care if he gets fired again 😂
From a fan standpoint, Shawn was too bland after he became champion. In 95, Shawn had an edge. Fans we're behind Shawn over Diesel at Mania 11. Shawn and the boyhood dream angle worked going into Mania 12. Jose hanging around after, neutered Shawn. There was no reason for Jose to stick around after. The Jose and Jim Cornette angle was terrible. Survivor Series 96 basically exposed the Jose angle as being played out. Shawn's attitude at the Dec. 96 PPV was what fans loved pre-Mania 12.
Shawn Michaels by far is one of the greatest wrestlers. He had so much charisma. His matches were so amazing I could literally watch some of his best matches and never get bored. I can’t pick one because he has tons of great matches one that gets overlooked and it’s worth checking out is his wrestlemania 11 match against diesel that was actually a good match and it’s overshadowed by his many great matches over his career, but I recommend anybody who is a HBK fan or a wrestling fan in general to check out his match against diesel at WM11
I seen Shawn Michaels wrestle live multiple times. The first time was in 1996 in San Francisco against Vader at the cow Palace, then I seen him wrestle against Chris Jericho at wrestlemania 19 in Seattle 2003 and in 2005 I seen him in a tagteam match with Randy Orton in San Jose it was at a Monday night raw
Lmao Bruce doesn't understand why these guys take some of these overly sensitive programs personal, the answer is obvious, these guys are wrestlers, not trained actors. Which is in part why current wrestling is the shits.
I seen Sean Michaels wrestle against Vader at a house show at the cow Palace in San Francisco in 1996 then I seen him in a tag team match with Randy Orton at Monday night raw San Jose in 2005, I seen him wrestle Chris Jericho at WM 19 in Seattle in 2003 him, Bret the hitman hart and Sting are by far the best wrestlers of my generation there won’t be any like them. They were the best
I was a Shawn mark 🤣 for real as a kid I loved the guys who could (work) Bret, Shawn, doink yes doink, also loved lucha . The cruiser weight division in wcw is what I tuned in for on the turner side. So I loved it when they put the belt on guys like Shawn and Bret. Stone cold also fantastic worker!
untouchable as in pushed as the baby face of the company and ultimatly shit on by the fans when sid came back lol. most over rated wrestler in history, great worker no doubt but never was over as much as wwe likes to portray he was. go back and watch raw from 1994-1999 i have in full 3 times. michaels was a complete failure as a draw as the top dog in 1995 and 1996 especially 96, sid got WAY bigger pops and he was the heel in there matches, HBK even spat the dummy during there survivor series match in 96 at the garden lol. MOST OVER RATED WRESTLER In terms of drawing power in company HISTORY!!
Bruce is right. NOBODY could touch him when it was showtime. He could make an 80 year old with one leg look good in the ring. When he was champion he had way way wayyyyy more pressure on him to keep the company a float. WWF then was facing bankruptcy and getting killed in the ratings battle. In my opinion nobody could’ve done that good as Shawn. I’m a Hogan guy from beginning to now. Forever my guy. I do think Hulk revolutionized professional wrestling. He put it on the map. But HBK perfected it. Shawn to me is the greatest ever. He could talk, wrestle, had incredible charisma, make you love or hate him, high flying, and draw money. There’s a reason he was involved in the first Ladder Match and the first Hell in a cell. It’s because he can perform in ANY situation. Shawn could wrestle ANY style. He could do high flying acrobatic matches, he could wrestle, hard core matches that included blood. He was the first ever grand slam champion and first Royal Rumble winner that drew #1. The list goes on and on. He did all these things until the end of his career. Never lost a step. When HHH wrestled him at Summerslam he said it was like Shawn had never stopped wrestling. Who else could do that coming off a brutal back injury?? He’s the whole package hands down.
Shawn Michaels was the only thing that was watchable in 96 for WWF. You can add in Undertaker and Mankind too. Outside of the main events, the rest of the card was straight up garbage. Shawn kept them afloat that year. I personally would have rather seen Shawn vs Diesel, Razor, and Kid instead of the terrible Bulldog angle wr got. Hall and Nash leaving was a huge blow. Shawn vs Diesel after Mania 12 was really good and that could have gone for a couple of PPVs. Shawn vs Razor but in the main event scene would have been epic.
I see why Bret is bitter at not only wwe but the business in general. Bret said shawn couldnt live up as champion, Bret was right, and still Bret got fucked over in the long run
I'm late for commenting, however regarding the "being a draw" dilemma - is this not a case of where it's not to rest the blame on who was the champion and instead the blame on the industry as a whole? I became a fan in 1994 and I knew very few wrestling fans. If you were, you were a huge fan - and the mid 90's sold PRO WRESTLING - not anything larger than life like its golden era of Hogan and Warrior. In 1994 to 1996, I couldn't find any merchandise on WWE until they came to town for a house show and merchants would sell shirts and stuff. There were no toys on the shelves in Canada at this time. Coming off the steroid scandal which deterred parents letting their children watch it (huge merchandise loss and gate loss) and wrestling no longer the 'must see' or part of pop culture like it was with MTV in the 80's and eventual Austin/Attitude era. People, including HOF wrestlers, want to judge Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, and Shawn Michaels for not being big draws - in a time when not a lot of people were watching wrestling. People got into it again with NWO and heel Hogan because it tapped in that rebellious/must stick it to the authorities that audiences at the time were craving. The attitude era then took off when things were crazy, chaotic, and anything goes. You have wrestling characters telling their boss off, ignoring the rules - and this jived with audiences at the time. The early to mid 90's was just not the best time for wrestling period - WCW had the "draws" but didn't draw much until mid 1996 because of the change. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels kept true fans glued. They sold wrestling/performing. They made people believe again that this was about competition, championships, who's the best. I don't know which "big draw" would have done differently in this time period. Then again I could be wrong. I would be curious who would draw in this time period when the names I know people would list are WCW names at the time that didn't draw overall more than WWE between 1993-1996.
Regarding Shawn in Playgirl - I am like SHOCKED that neither Bruce nor Conrad seems to really be “getting” it. Playgirl - for the record - had about as much of a female audience as Playboy. My understanding was that, like 95% of the pornography out there featuring exclusively men today, the target audience is lonely gay men, rather than lonely straight men. Women just don’t really consume pornography. I can totally imagine Shawn misunderstanding this *completely* and thinking that he was doing a photo spread that women were going to be looking at, though. But then it’s sort of in keeping with his HBK gimmick which was always intensely ambiguously gay.
Listening to Bruce talk about Shawn Michaels would lead you to believe he was the most easy going, easy to deal with wrestler ever. Then of course there's everyone else's stories about Shawn Michaels, lol. You could tell even Conrad was rolling his eyes by the end of this podcast. That's one of the reasons why Conrad is the best
Shawn is probably the greatest worker of all time, and his 1996 matches were great. But I couldn't stand any of it that year. The storylines were bland and predictable and he had such a better personality as a heel before the stupid "boyhood dream" storyline.
Vince really missed the boat with Shawn in 1996. They should've made him the Ric Flair of the '90s. The stylin, profilin' limousine ridin' leer jet flyin' SOB with the designer suits and 2 women on each arm. He was doing all that behind the scenes any way. But Vince would never go for that. He wanted a white meat baby face. SMH. If Shawn would've been Flair 2.0 and had him feud with Steve Austin WWF would've wiped the floor with WCW.
That would not have been good. Basically your copying someone else is gimmick. Shawn dancing around in Chap sticks didn't help him get over with the adults.But his in ring work was fantastic.
I honestly just cannot understand how people can hear all the shit that shawn and to a later degree hunter have done to people over the years and everytime someone brings them up its a fucking excuse or they justify it. Both shawn and hunter stalled/killed people's careers
I agree although people ignore that Bret tried to stall Michaels too and didn't want to play ball after passing the torch. He was unprofessional and derogatory in promos and his article. Bret kind of lost his smile too but no one views it this way. Austin, Kurt and probably more have lost their smile when Vince finds his new toy. Triple H is on another level when it comes to burying people and holding them down. He pretty much killed the business in my opinion.
@@kennethrawlings7265 Bret and Michaels were both paranoid, jealous of each other and both used underhand tactics of manipulation. I just don't think you can really pinpoint a "who started it" scenario. It wasn't good vs evil.
@@ZakynthosDiamandis how was bret wrong in any situation that involved shawn. You can go back to tha ladder match with razor. Bret brought the idea of the ladder match to vince and begged vince to not let anyone do it before him....and vince gave it to shawn and his buddy at mania 10
i wish conrad would learn wrestling history first it was the rock n roll express manged by jim cornette now michaels is a first 2 time royal rumble winner i guess hogan never did 1990-1991 didnt happen well it did happen cant rewrite history
Ads every 2 mins hard to fall asleep listening to this podcast with opening my eyes every 2 mins to skip an ad, understand the podcast needs to make money but every 2 mins cmon
Michaels' first loss in 1996 was in July. Was he pinned in the whole of 1995 outside of 'Mania 11? I do not recall. Of course he didn't like to do jobs.
I don't mind Conrad plugging his mortgage company, but Jesus, can't he get a new intro. The Batista joke wasn't funny the first time, and it's certainly not funny the 100th.
And it was soooo predictable. "Come watch Shawn Michaels live his boyhood dream at Royal Rumble and then win the title at Wrestlemania." And the worst part was that while HBK was doing all of that nonsense, Bret was having a great program with Taker and Diesel.
@@pgee4342 keep in mind, I’m not talking about strictly in ring work. As an all around worker Austin was better, my older brother was a pro wrestler on the independent scene, and I was told by him that a professional wrestlers #1 job was to sell tickets…so if that goes into the definition of a worker Austin was much better
That’s your perception of the optics of it. Bret had creative control and went to Michael’s and said he had no problems putting him over and Michael’s shit all over it. Bret didn’t have to do any of that. Bret has also said that if he had to do it all over again, he would not change a thing, and that “my friend” is a fact.
