Shawn Michaels/YMMV

• And the Fandom Rejoiced: The first inductee into the 2011 class of the WWE Hall of Fame? Shawn Michaels.
  • Also, the 2006 reunion of DX.
  • Obviously, his original 2002 return, as we'd all been told four years prior he would never be medically cleared to wrestle again.
    • And it went to another level when he won the World Heavyweight Championship in his second match back, against five established main eventers.
  • His 2007 return, namely kicking the everloving crap out of Smug Snake Randy Orton, got a massive pop as well.
  • His burying of the hatchet with Bret Hart, the OTHER greatest star from the nineties, was a nice moment for all the fans who loved both but felt conflicted because of the Montreal Screwjob.
  • The only thing that could make HHH/Taker at Wrestlemania 28 inside Hell in a Cell better? A certain Showstopper as the special guest referee. The fan explosion went Up to Eleven.
• Badass Decay: He didn't win a solo title from 2003-2010, despite many opportunities. That said, he was still always presented as a credible threat and scored meaningful non title wins over folks like Randy Orton, John Cena, and Triple H.
  • On the other hand, the writers and Vince kept wanting to put the World Title on him, but Shawn turned them down flat, saying he wanted to give other wrestlers a chance.
  • Also subverted somewhat, as he DID cleanly beat Cena, HHH, Orton, Edge, and basically every other main-eventer of the era in non-title matches during that period. He even beat both HHH and Orton in a few title matches only to be screwed out of the title by technicality or intervening authority figure.
• Canadians Hate Shawn Michaels: Due to the Montreal Screwjob.
  • When he fought Chris Benoit and Triple H at Backlash 2004 in Canada, he was treated as the worst of the lot despite Triple H being the monster heel.
    • This does not apply when he's in DX. He even Lampshaded it one night in Montreal:

Shawn Michaels: And because for one night, Montreal forgave me.

• Crowning Moment of Everything: Rey Mysterio's match vs. Shawn Michaels in the tribute to Eddie Guerrero (starting here) was one of the best matches many viewers had ever seen. On top of the perfect sells and counters, the match between Eddie's friends and prayer buddies started with a handshake, and ended with a help up and a hug.
• Holy Shit Quotient: Increases exponentially when you put him in a gimmick match. See above.
  • The dude main-evented Wrestlemania 14 with TWO CRUSHED VERTEBRAE. It's usually considered not only the match of the night, but one of the five best matches of Stone Cold Steve Austin's career.
• Iron Woobie: See Ricky Morton and How Much More Can He Take?. By the end of some of his matches, all you want to do is wrap the guy in a blanket and stop the bleeding.
• Magnificent Bastard: While his best friend Triple H is more well-known for this and Shawn was always more of a Jerkass-type heel, he firmly reached it in 2005 with his feud with Hulk Hogan and his legendary "Who's your Daddy, Montreal?" promo.
  • He was also all over this in his commissioner days, routinely getting the best of everyone on the roster with a smile and a wink, up to and including Vince McMahon.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The "bah-bah-bah-bah" drumbeat and "OOOOH OOOH" opening to "Sexy Boy".
  • "ARE YOU READY?" *cue crowd losing their collective minds*
  • The stomps (and accompanying sing-along from the fans) preceding Sweet Chin Music also counts.
• Never Live It Down: His part in the Montreal Screwjob, obviously.
  • There's also the thing about him posing for Playgirl only to later find out it has more of a gay readership than female.
• Tear Jerker: Shawn's (in)famous "I've lost my smile" speech after Survivor Series 1996 and him vacating the title on Thursday Raw Thursday in 1997 because of a knee injury are easily two of the most emotional moments in 90’s pro wrestling. Strangely the two are often combined in people’s minds despite happening month apart from each other.
  • • Interestingly, the "I've Lost My Smile" speech is only a Tear Jerker on a person by person basis. If you believe the story that this was Shawn attempting to get out while not getting his way and go work for WCW in Real Life, it may actually come across as a Kick the Dog moment.
  • His match against Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 also qualifies.
  • His Survivor Series 2003 effort to save the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the aftermath should probably count; Shawn all but kills himself to take down three main-event level stars (including both Randy Orton and Chris Jericho), while bleeding all over the ring, and is foiled at the last second by an intervening Batista. Then Austin helps the bloodied Michaels to the back, despite the entire arena expecting a Stunner.
  • The "Career vs Streak" match against The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 26.
  • His farewell on the following Raw. Unlike other people, Shawn kept his low-keyed, thanked his best friend Triple H, Bret Hart and Vince McMahon for putting up with him, and the fans for sharing his career.
    • The moment when Hunter hit the stage at the very last minute, embracing Shawn and saying goodbye in front of the crowd.
    • Not to mention The Undertaker coming out, tipping his hat to Shawn, and then leaving. Simple, effective, and Shawn seemed truly touched by the gesture. Willing Suspension of Disbelief was enough to put a smile on the faces of many fans.
  • His comments about Eddie Guerrero at the man's memorial show, mentioning they never wrestled each other, and only knew each other through their shared faith. He then assured the fans that, one day, the two of them would finally put on a wrestling match in Heaven before the Lord.
    • Which should, by all rights, be cheesy as hell, but somehow... isn't.
  • The absolute tornado of emotions Shawn went through as the guest referee for Triple H vs. Undertaker's Hell in a Cell. All of the history between the three men; the epic friendship between Shawn and Hunter, the inability of both men to beat Taker previously and their respective rivalries with Taker. After witnessing both Hunter and Taker beating the everloving hell out of each other with steel chairs & ring steps, completely unable to stop the match, Shawn was huddled in the corner having a Heroic BSOD of epic proportions. And at the end, Taker having continued the Streak to 20-0, the three men helped each other up, hugged, walked up the ramp together, and stood at the top arm-in-arm in a show of mutual respect and love.
• Unfortunate Implications: Going into his feud with Undertaker for Wrestlemania 25 Michaels did a promo in which he became a 'light' version of the Undertaker with a white Badass Longcoat and hat. He was accompanied to the ring by druids dressed in white robes too...which many fans agree looked disturbingly very much like a KKK convention, though that was clearly not the intention. They wisely didn't bring them in again.
  • Actually, most fans didn't find the druids' robes quite so troubling as the fact that Shawn had basically turned into a Kung Fu Jesus.
    • A stripping Kung Fu Jesus, no less.
• What Could Have Been: HBK never went toe-to-toe with The Rock, despite their primes largely overlapping and Michaels at once point costing the Rock the championship with a well-timed superkick. Rumor has it this is because Rock HATES Michaels for trying to bury him under Triple H in the 90s, but these rumors are unsubstantiated, and for whatever it's worth, Rock did mention Michaels as one of the only three wrestlers he never wrestled that he wished he could have (the others being Rey Mysterio, Jr. and John Cena, the latter of which Rocky will be facing at next year's Mania).
  • • Not really, though. The Rock's prime hit in the middle of 1998, while Michaels wound up suffering his career-ending injury at the very beginning of the year.
  • Similarly, Michaels superkicked Brock Lesnar at least once, but nothing ever came of it. And Michaels himself has mentioned regretting never getting a chance to go with Eddie Guerrero.
  • We also never got to see Michaels vs. CM Punk, but they teased it during Michaels' most recent visit to Raw... if he comes back, it'll probably be to go up against Punk, Rock, and/or Daniel Bryan (who Michaels trained and remains close with).
  • There were, allegedly, plans for him to team up with Bret Hart at two different points. Once was before the Montreal Screwjob as kind of a nuevo Mega Powers, and the second was during a 2005 feud with Vince McMahon.
  • Similar to the above, there was a planned Rockers reunited angle against McMahon, but Janetty missed a show and was released.
  • On the flip side, Shawn was (allegedly) responsible for aborting the pushes of Tatanka, Chris Candido, Bam Bam Bigelow, Shane Douglas, and others, as well as attempting (but failing) to bury Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock.