ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- On this episode of Something To Wrestle, Bruce and Conrad put a bow on the 25-year anniversary of 1996 by looking back at arguably the most important year in the career of "The Heartbreak Kid," Shawn Michaels! We'd see the anointment of Shawn as 'the guy' in the WWF, starting the year with another Royal Rumble win, the build to his Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII vs. Bret Hart, and so much more!
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95-98 was Shawn at his peak, most may say it started in 96 but I think he started his peak in 95 when he started to become a face in the WWF
Agreed, but all of 1995 was HBK time in the WWF!!
I totally agree
He was better as a heel especially his first heel run from 92-95
Spot on I’ve always said the same
You ever wanna see a wrestler at his peak? 1996-1998 Shawn Michaels. One of the greats.
I agree this was Shawn at his physical best
Agreed, I'd go 95-98...that four year period was better than anyone else's prime years and it's not close
Yeah I loved him during this time. Kinda wish we didn't have to find out everything about these guys. I say that as I'm listening to STWW
@@chicken31947 Not really, stone cold had better years. I just know wrestling and it seems like you don’t, you’re too influenced by smarks.
Lmao 96-98 was definitely not his peak
Been waiting on this episode since January 1st, 1997 💔
Hogan was the first back to back winner 1990 and 1991. Every big wrestling fan knows this, Conrad
Yeah!! How could Conrad not know that
@@matsong5134 ofcourse Conrad knows that, he just didnt think about it.
Yeah I heard him say first ever back to back winner... and was massively confused
That's why Brian Last and I can't stand Conrad
Yeah between this and Conrad asking Bruce "do you think a tag team match will ever main event Wrestlemania" makes me wonder if he is even a fan.
Bruce doing the 25 second long Vince yell was a great Christmas gift
Out of nowhere
Not gonna lie I LOL'd
He sounded JUST LIKE HIM 😂😂😂😂😂😂.
I like when he does Macho’s voice 😝😝😝
Good Friends Better enemies is Nash’s best match and his match with Shawn at Mania was unreal too. They had great chemistry
*Nash= lowest-drawing WWE champion ever.*
@@MattSingh1 Blame the time not Nash, also turning him face was dumb he was better with a chip on his shoulder
@@Skibbitypappappa Smiling Diesel wasn't the way to go
@@anthonyclark9441 I know right, ironically his best character was as he was leaving the WWF as that tweener character
@@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.
Shawn's best years were 1995 - 1997 hands down. He was untouchable during that time period.
Totally
People always fucking forget Bret's 1997. Bret 97 can stack up to anyone in 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!!
@@chemonro honestly nobody drew 1994-1996 early 97
1992-1998
Shawn is the greatest wrestler ever
That's a bold statement
@@greyjedi6430 not tho is it name one better
@@Josh_J91 Hulk Hogan will forever be the greatest.
@@deepblue8143 defo got a case there
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!!
I always preferred Shawn as a heel. His work in '97 was phenomenal.
facts
Vince and Shawn chased me away in 96 and made me tune into WCW.
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
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 ..
Amen
I’ve been waiting for this episode since the start of something to wrestle started.
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.
They worked well together and contrasted well together on screen as rivals.
@@Realest636 they knew exactly how to milk the size difference, while still allowing Shawn to shine when he needed to.
I dont seen how shawn was mad when he purposely blew kevin up at wm 11 even though thats his friend
@@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.
@@anthonyclark9441 that makes it right?
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.
Greatest in ring performer of all time
Shawn vs Taker cage mage is the best match ever
You mean the Hell in a Cell match?
@@freemind6954 That's the one, Mage in a Cage.
Whaddamatch.
@@TruckerJenkins82 coming to the ring the caaaaaagggggeeeee mmmmaaaagggggeeeee **in my Vince voice.
@@TruckerJenkins82 🤣👌👍
Hogan was the 1st to win the Rumble back to back. 90 and 91. Get your shit together Conrad
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 😂
Hopefully it's the latter. Can't see how he can possibly be satisfied with what they put out on Raw these days
@@daleharris3809 well, he certainly hasn't helped the quality since helping oversee.
Starts at 2:03
Hbk was by far the best there is, best there was, an best there ever will be
Facts
I second this
@Old Man it may not mean much to you...
*MINUS FIVE STARS COMMENT.* 👎🤮
@Old Man Exactly. The best at whining and being pretty selfish.
Dude.....Hogan was a back to back winner in 1990 and 1991 so Shawn wasn't the first
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
Royal Rumble 93' Next Year Please!!!!
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
The 1997 podcast for shawn Michaels better be longer then 1 hour. Feel like this 1996 version was lazy and rushed.
When Virgil beat Shawn at Mania during that breadstick on a pole match, I felt that
Virgilmania was running wild
Virgilmania😂
Hulk Hogan won 1990 and 1991 Royal Rumbles.
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.
Yeah, Bruce doesn't understand something about wrestlers that you understand. 🙄
19:59
thats a really good question ive wondered about too
15:47 😂😂😂
Hey Conrad Shawn Michaels wasn't the first one to win the Royal Rumble back to back...Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble 1990 and 1991
Shawn Michaels versus Stonecold in Wrestlemania 14 was a great match……
Can’t wait for HBK 97-98 💔
Bruce saying Shawn Michaels As Vince McMahon sounded like a Chainsaw lmao.
Shawn Michaels was a great wrestler in the attitude era…….
Shawn missed most of that era. attitude era was from 97 - 2001. Shawn missed most of 98, all of 99, all of 2000, all of 2001
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!!
@@chemonro I disagree about Shawn Michaels of being overrated….
@@delbertprince5302 over rated as a draw not as a worker
@@chemonro ok
1996 Survivor Series was Sid's best entrance and match. Who's the man!?
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!
Conrad should have a podcast called on the other channel.
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.
Is Bruce really defending Shawn being in Playgirl? Don't think that is a demographic that was going to generate much revenue for a wrestling company.
Actually Hogan won the rumble back to back 1st. 1990 and 1991
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.
You forgot Steve Austin and creepy Goldust
It's funny that Shawn arguably didn't hit his peak until he returned in 2002.
The G O A T
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
Bret, is that you?
2nd ever back to back...*cough* Hogan *cough*
Absolutely no way you can cover HBK 96 in an hour & half smh! Piss poor half ass performance gentz!
Facts
This show is half arsed now
83 weeks has taken over for me! At least Eric cares about the show!
Chat me up
A couple years ago, this would've been a 4 hour episode
Anyone else find it wierd watching the entire attitude era get canceled while Shawn gets a pass for kissing kids on the lips 🤷
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.
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
Didn't hogan win the rumble back to back first in 90-91
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.
Didnt hogan win the rumble in 90 and 91?
I was gonna write the same thing
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.
Hulk hogan was the first ever back to back winner. 90 and 91. NOT SHAWN
Shawn Michaels is the best
The best of all time
37:58 lol
What is Conrad talking about Hulk Hogan won 2 back to back Royal rumbles
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.
@@ZakynthosDiamandis would you if shawn came out his mouth and said he wouldnt put you over after you put him over at mania
@@ZakynthosDiamandis shawn singlehandedly killed the main event of mania 13 and still came out better
@@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
HBK versus Bret Hart in November 1997
Hogan 90 91 back to back ?
what ever happen to you doing 2002 -2010
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
Hey bruhs
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
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.
Michaels having to go up against the nwo. Just think about how bad it would of been for wwe without him carrying everything
Thanks for the ads every 5 minutes TH-cam
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.
Why did Shawn do Playgirl?
He said he thought that Playgirl was to women what Playboy was to men, that he didn't know that Playgirls real demo was gay men
@@daleharris3809 sure he did. Must've been a favor to McMahon and Patterson.
@@tun-tunninc.6492 I mean this was around the same time he was banging Sunny, so I don't think he was having issues in that department
@@daleharris3809 everyone was having sunny days. Poor Candido...
Was a rib the guys talked him into it
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.
They didn't have any else to be champion at the time
Welcome to TH-cam ads, brought to you by something to wrestle with. Fucking ad every 2 minutes
Shawn Michaels Never Drew A Dime! 💵💰🤦👎...
Hated this push. He was not a Face.
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.
true but he was cheered like one
Part of being a great champion is putting other wrestlers over. Back then Shawn only cared about himself and his friend's careers.
Austin was a better worker
This isn’t a slight to Austin whatsoever, but I’ll take HBK’s body of work over his
@@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
Please put the crack pipe down, Austin, Jericho, Flair and many others have said forever hbk greatest worker of all time
@@richcoggeshall9944 in ring maybe
Shawn Michaels’ popularity was proof that a lot of men were in the closet 25 years ago.
Sigmund Freud here has got it all figured out. It's because everyone is gay.
I preferred Bret. Very hard to watch HBK and his conceited actions
Bret was bad too. Not sure why people ignore this.
@@ZakynthosDiamandis That's your opinion and not fact. People are not ignoring it and why, because it's not true.
@@kranix9166 it's also Bret's opinion - he admits he was guilty too. And that, my friend, is a fact.
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.
@@kranix9166 again, Bret himself said he was guilty too.