The Heartbreak Kid
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Citing frustration with their lack of championship success and a wish to break out on his own, Michaels and Jannetty split on an episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge, shown on January 12, 1992 (but taped on December 2, 1991) during a famous incident on Brutus Beefcake's "Barber Shop" segment, when Michaels superkicked Jannetty and threw him through a plate-glass window. However, behind the scenes of the incident, Shawn had been having personal issues with Marty. Vince agreed to break them up and continue them on as singles wrestlers. Shawn turned heel and became a singles wrestler, taking the nickname, "The Heartbreak Kid" (often referring to himself as "HBK"). In his new gimmick as a vain, cocky heel, he took on a manager, Sherri Martel, who was infatuated with him and even sang the first version of his theme music, "Sexy Boy." Martel was the catalyst for a then-rare "heel vs. heel" feud with "The Model" Rick Martel (unrelated to Sherri), which led to a match between the two at the 1992 SummerSlam PPV. Behind the scenes however, Sherri Martel and Michaels had a whirlwind romantic affair that would last for 3 months. Michaels enjoyed considerable success as a singles wrestler, winning his first WWF title, the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The British Bulldog during Saturday Night's Main Event, on October 27, 1992. Shortly thereafter, he faced Bret Hart for the WWF Championship in the main event of the 1992 Survivor Series. This would also lead into a memorable feud between the two, which would carry over to a real-life rivalry between the two. He also feuded with his former tag team partner Jannetty, who reappeared in the WWF in late 1992. In the storyline, Jannetty accidentally injured Sherri when he hit her with a large mirror, intended for Michaels, who pulled Martel in front of him. Martel abandoned Michaels, and the two former Rockers faced each other in a match at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Sherri eventually left the WWF for WCW. Michaels debuted a new version of his theme music, with vocals performed by himself, that Michaels continued to use throughout his career. Michaels held the Intercontinental Championship for most of the following year, losing it briefly to Jannetty on an episode of Monday Night RAW on May 17, 1993, but regaining it on June 6, with the help of his new bodyguard, Diesel. In September 1993, Michaels briefly left the WWF. On WWF TV, it was explained that WWF president Jack Tunney had suspended him and stripped him of the title. (In reality, as revealed by his 2005 autobiography Heartbreak and Triumph, he had been suspended by Vince McMahon for six weeks for testing positive for steroids, a charge Michaels denied and still does.) While he was off TV, he participated in a "Survivor Series"-type match in the United States Wrestling Association during a WWF/USWA cross-promotion. He returned to WWF airwaves by the 1993 Survivor Series, substituting for Jerry Lawler in a match pitting himself and three of Lawler's "knights" against Bret Hart, Owen Hart and two of their brothers. He soon entered a feud with Razor Ramon, who had won the Intercontinental Title during Michaels' absence. Since Michaels had never been defeated for the title, he claimed to be the rightful champion and carried around his old title belt. This feud culminated in a ladder match between the two at WrestleMania X. Michaels lost the match, which featured both his and Ramon's belts suspended above a ladder in the ring. This match won "Match of the Year" awards from Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and also earned Michaels a reputation of being the "Innovator of the Ladder Match". On an episode of Monday Night RAW after that WrestleMania taped on March 21, 1994, Michaels debuted a segment called "The Heartbreak Hotel", which was mainly shown on WWF Superstars throughout the year. The segment, which featured Michaels obnoxiously interviewing other wrestlers and managers, allowed him to showcase his microphone skills and appear on television, even when he was injured and unable to wrestle. The "Heartbreak Hotel" set was comprised of a heart-shaped bed and a flashing neon sign. He was still accompanied by Diesel, who, though he remained a heel, had become popular among fans in his own right. On August 28, 1994, Michaels and Diesel captured the WWF World Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers. During their brief tenure as a tag team, they used a variation of the Headshrinkers' finishing move, where Michaels would finish off their opponent by climbing on Diesel's shoulders and splashing their opponent. The next day, Diesel lost the Intercontinental Title to Ramon (who had lost the title to Diesel earlier in the year) at SummerSlam when Michaels accidentally superkicked his bodyguard. In October 1994, Michaels suffered a hand injury, when Diesel accidentally stepped on his hand after getting out of the ring. This would put him on the shelf as an active wrestler until January. Michaels and Diesel broke up their team on November 23, 1994, at the Survivor Series during their five-on-five elimination match, but continued to be very good friends behind the scenes. Diesel had done most of the work in eliminating four members of the opposing team when Michaels insisted upon entering the match to superkick Razor Ramon. Michaels accidentally kicked Diesel for a third time leading Diesel to begin attacking his whole team. Their tag team was dissolved and forfeited the titles as they no longer wished to associate with one another, along with the fact that Diesel defeated newly crowned WWF champion Bob Backlund in a squash match at a house show days later. At the Royal Rumble in January 1995, Michaels entered first, and the British Bulldog entered second. The two would outlast the other 28 opponents and remain as the final two competitors in the match. Bulldog had apparently won the match when he knocked Michaels over the top rope, and began to celebrate his victory. However, in one of the most famous moments in WWF history, Michaels held onto the top rope and only one of his feet touched the floor (the first time the rule that "both feet must touch the floor" came into play). Michaels re-entered the ring and knocked Bulldog off the turnbuckle and over the top rope to win the Rumble. Michaels thus became the first man ever to win the Royal Rumble after entering first (Chris Benoit did it in 2004). This would lead to a grudge match at Wrestlemania XI vs. former friend and WWF Champion Diesel. Michaels was originally going to bring Pamela Anderson as an escort for the match, but could not find her, and settled for Jenny McCarthy. Anderson then escorted Diesel to the match. Diesel beat Michaels, and after the match Michaels' new bodyguard Sid attacked Michaels, who was saved by Diesel. This began Michaels' face turn. Warning: fopen(http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=%22The+Heartbreak+Kid%22) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 999 Unable to process request at this time -- error 999 in /home/shawnmic/public_html/The_Heartbreak_Kid.php on line 249 could not open XML input | |