Why The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels is the Best Ever

At Wrestlemania XII, Shawn finally reached the top of the mountain, winning the WWF Championship from Bret Hart in a 60 minute Iron Man Match. The match is widely regarded as one of the best Wrestlemania main events ever. Shawn and ‘The Hitman” pulled out every move in their arsenal that night, and the match went into overtime before Shawn finally hit his Sweet Chin Music to claim victory. The “Boyhood Dream” had come true and Shawn had gone toe to toe with the top performer in the industry and come out the winner. McMahon had finally given him the keys to the kingdom, and Michaels was more than happy to replace Bret Hart as the top guy in WWF. Michaels had always possessed a level of influence on Vince McMahon, which he used to get his friends Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Triple H, and Sean Waltman (The Kilq) good spots on every card they were on, but when he became champion his influence backstage and with McMahon seemed to increase. Michaels wasn’t always responsible with his new found power, famously refusing to continue in a program with Vader, after a botched move in their first match, and refusing to return the favor to Bret Hart in a proposed rematch at Wrestlemania 13, choosing to forfeit the title rather than to lose it to Hart. Although Hart went on to have a classic match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13, he wasn’t happy that Michaels had refused to lose to him, and it led to growing animosity between McMahon’s two biggest stars. Shawn would go on to form D-Generation X (DX) with his friend Triple H, helping set the groundwork for what would be wrestling’s most controversially entertaining era ever, “The Attitude Era.” Hart would keep busy feuding with Stone Cold for a bit, but Shawn and Bret’s paths finally crossed again in the Fall of 1997. The pair entered a classic final feud with each other, which culminated at Survivor Series with the infamous “Montreal Screwjob,” where Micheals would defeat Hart for the WWF Championship by using his own “Sharpshooter” submission against him. Hart never submitted, but referee Earl Hebner called for the bell, following the orders of Vince McMahon, and Micheals was declared the winner.