Shawn Michaels vs. British Bulldog (RAW 1996)

[agaytoremember]

loving King's little screech at 10:20

[crackmonster99]

HBK was a workhorse. During this period he fought everybody. I think he was a pretty good draw considering how few wrestlers the WWF had compared to WCW. HBK really had no legit competition at the time with the exception of Sid and Vader in terms of people who could lead the company and take the title from him. Compare that to WCW when it was just Hogan with the title for what seemed like 5 straight years.

[SuperCookiecupcake]

RIP Davey Boy and Owen x x

[batonrougetombo]

911-donuts. ROFL

[GrungeyRocker]

I keep seeing comments that talk about how HBK didn't draw as WWE Champion. The ratings for WWE programing were outstanding compared to the times before he became champion. In 1997 there's a 14:00 RAW promo where HBK mentions that among many other things, Vince McMahon was standing in the same ring and said "that's true" once HBK mentioned how well he drew.

[QuikDrawMcRaw]

slammy award winner owen and old heel king were a classic partnership

[maxpower789z]

A very underrated fued...Shawn and Davey had some great matches

[LONGLIFEHEARTBREAKID]

SAN ANTONIOWWWWWW YEAAAHHHH!!!!!

[MrLCLM]

The WWF couldn't have done more to get Michaels over, but they changed his character to be squeaky clean and it didn't work for him. If they had pushed him as a cocky heel-based babyface like they did with Stone Cold a couple of years later, he might have drawn better. Great in-ring performer but for whatever reason, just didn't draw as champion in the mid to late 90s.

[wonryan1]

R.I.P. Owen Hart and British Bulldog

[theShowStopper321]

This was when the nWo angle was fresh and really hot and the WWF was treading water. Michaels was very irritable and an asshole big time backstage cus of how business was going while he was champ.

[filthyralph]

@theShowStopper321 And as 1996 came to a close, his popularity as champ began to dip. His match against Sid at the 1996 Survivor Series the following month made that very apparent.

[theShowStopper321]

@filthyralph His character turned into a John Cena-type babface as opposed to keeping him cool and cocky like he was. I think they shoulda had Jose for WM12, and then have him leave after that but they kept Jose all thru 1996 into 1997.