Alright, so I’ve been digging into this whole Shawn Michaels 1997 thing. You know, the Heartbreak Kid, Mr. WrestleMania himself. Back in the 90s, this guy was the bomb, but 1997 was a wild year for him.
I started by going through a bunch of old WWF stuff from that year, like every house show, TV taping, and pay-per-view. Turns out, Michaels was off the road a lot. I mean, the guy took a break and then came back in the summer. He teamed up with Stone Cold and they even won the Tag Team gold. How cool is that?
But here’s where it gets interesting. I watched this match where he was the ref for Undertaker vs. Bret Hart. Michaels, he tried to call it straight, even when Hart spit on him! After that, the fans started turning on him, thinking he screwed over Taker. I guess Michaels got pissed about the fans switching sides like that.
Injury
Then, on this special episode of Raw, called Thursday Raw Thursday, Michaels just dropped the WWF Championship. He told everyone the doctors said he had a knee injury. Man, that must have sucked.
- Started digging through old WWF stuff.
- Found out Michaels was off the road a lot in 1997.
- Watched the match where he reffed Undertaker vs. Bret Hart.
- Discovered he vacated the WWF Championship due to a knee injury.
Later, at the 1998 Royal Rumble, I saw that he actually hurt his back in a match against The Undertaker. At first, it looked like nothing, but that injury was the reason he had to take a break from wrestling for a while.
Running Circles
I also checked out some of his older matches. I watched this one match where he totally schooled Diesel, just running circles around him for like 10 minutes. It was insane how much better he was, at least at the start of the match.
One weird thing I noticed, there’s this clip where he’s saying he supported Bret Hart, but from what I saw, he was kind of a jerk to Bret for almost three years. It’s all so confusing!
Oh, and get this – I was watching “Home Alone,” and I swear I heard Macaulay Culkin’s character say “I don’t think so” a few times. Isn’t that one of Michaels’ catchphrases? I’m wondering if he got it from there, it’s kind of a funny thought.
Anyway, that’s my deep dive into Shawn Michaels’ 1997. It was a year full of ups and downs for him, with tag team wins, injuries, and all sorts of drama. The guy was a legend, no doubt, but man, did he go through a lot!
