| The Heart Break Kid Has Left the Building...
On March 28th 2010, at Wrestlemania 26, Michael Shawn Hickenbottom retired from the sports entertainment world. I have had a week to reflect on things and to really let it sink in. I have re-watched the Wrestlemania match with the Undertaker and re-watched the RAW from last week, where Shawn gave his farewell speech. I STILL can’t get through the speech without tearing up.
Shawn Michaels first burst onto the scene as one half of the WWF tag team, The Rockers along side Marty Jannetty. The tag team would go on to be hugely successful and eventually lead to Michaels being the breakout star. Then, on December 1st, 1991, Shawn would do the unthinkable and super-kick his own partner and throw him through the window of Brutus the Barber Beefcake’s “Barbershop”.
It was after this that Michael Hickenbottom’s character of Shawn Michaels took another turn and became the “Heart Break Kid” and took on the cocky persona and fit it out to the tee. With the guidance of Sensational Sherri, he would go on to become Intercontinental Champion on several occasions. It was this pivotal time that Shawn’s career would really take off. It was also over the course of the heel persona that Michaels had bodyguards in Diesel (Kevin Nash) and Sycho Sid (Vicious); leading to them eventually getting fed up with protecting him and having feuds with him. Who could forget Wrestlemania 12, when Michaels defeated Bret Hart in Sudden Death Overtime of the Iron Man Match, grasping the title as Vince McMahon proclaimed “The boyhood dream has come true”.
The first time his career came to an end was in 1998 after a career-ending back injury. Shawn dropped the title to Stone Cold Steve Austin and seemingly passed the torch to him in the process. After this initial retirement from the ring, HBK would make numerous appearances and stay under contract with the WWF. He would appear on television from time to time as a special referee here, or a commissioner there. He would be off television long enough every time to make it special when he would return.
It was also in this time that Shawn found Jesus and brought God into his life. This was largely in part due to marrying Rebecca (WCW’s Whisper) and her influence. This would be a mainstay for the rest of his career as he brought the cross into his symbol and even made prayer part of his in-ring entrance.
It wasn’t until Summerslam, 2002 that Shawn felt that he wanted to test the waters and wrestle an actual match again. He would then pick his best friend Triple H to have that match with. With critics saying he was past his prime and others scared for his health, HBK faced Triple H. Going into the match, Michaels stated that he would know the next morning after the match, if he was sore and how things would go for a possible full time return. Shawn would win the match, only to have Triple H beat him down with a sledgehammer, seemingly trying to end the career of the Heart Break Kid one final time.
The feud with Triple H would spill through the fall of 2002 and into the Survivor Series PPV in November. It was then that the WWE had their very first Elimination Chamber match and the World Heavyweight Championship would be on the line. The last two people in the match ended up being Shawn Michaels and Triple H, with HBK winning the title with his patented Sweet Chin Music. It would be a short-lived title reign, though, as Michaels would drop the title back to Triple H at the Armageddon PPV in December of that year.
From that time on, HBK was back with the WWE full time and he fans couldn’t be happier. Over the course of the years, he would have many notable feuds and high profile matches. Top names that he faced over the coming years were Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. It would be one feud in 2008 that would culminate in the retirement of a legend, Ric Flair. Mr. McMahon gave Flair the stipulation that the next match he lost, would be his last. One the eve of Wrestlemania, Flair was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and was retired by Shawn Michaels the next night. Who will ever forget Shawn whispering before super-kicking Flair “Thank You, I Love You”.
What would be next for Shawn? An old nemesis, The Undertaker would occupy Michael’s time in 2009, heading into Wrestlemania 25. Shawn said that he was going to put the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania winning streak to and end. It would be the Undertaker that would get the upper hand that night and defeat Shawn after two tombstone piledrivers. This loss would consume Shawn over the next year as he would want to seek revenge and finally defeat Undtertaker on the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania 26.
Shawn would challenge the Undertaker to their Wrestlemania rematch, only to be declined by Undertaker. It would finally take weeks of persuasion, along with Shawn causing Undertaker his World Heavyweight Title at he Elimination Chamber PPV in February of 2010. There was just one catch, though. If Undertaker was putting his streak on the line, then Shawn would need to put his career on the line.
And this brings up back to last week and this week-long bottle of emotions that I have been. As I sit here and reflect over Shawn’s illustrious career and remember each of his milestones, it makes me smile. I do have a tear in my eye as I remember each and every moment and I am content that he had a great career and that he went out on top.
I also have the pleasure in knowing that I was there, live, for Shawn’s very last RAW match. It was March 1st, 2010 at Raw in Oklahoma City. Shawn and Triple H would reform DX for one night and one night only to take on the team of Big Show and The Miz. I will always hold this match dearly. And, also, I would be amiss to not mention my friend, Heather, that is in love with Shawn Michaels. She cried when Shawn lost at Wrestlemania 25. I asked her over for what would be Shawn’s last match and she seemed like she was ready. She was mentally ready for it to end and had cried it all out the night before, but as soon as the ref’s hand hit the 3 on Shawn’s career, we both began to cry. It is moments like that that define Shawn’s career and will keep him in our hearts forever.
Like he said on RAW on March 29th, 2010. “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Heart Break Kid has left the building”. And he has, with me knowing that he went out when he wanted to and it was the cap to an awesome career. Only one thing left to say… THANK YOU SHAWN!
Bruce “Wrestling Scholar” Hively
www.twitter.com/Bruce412
www.twitter.com/WrestlingScholar
|
