The “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels - Wrestling All Stars #83 [June 1996]

I think this is the greatest photo I’ve ever seen of Mr. Hickenbottom.

“Is Shawn nWo Bound?” - Wrestling All Stars: Heroes and Villains #93 [June 1997]

I don’t know much about this photo, but the timeframe of the written story reveals that this is just HBK trolling the fans by wearing a shirt featuring his buddies and other members of The Kliq, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. This was when Shawn Michaels was at his prickish best as he had just vacated the WWF Championship due to a knee injury (or due to his refusal to put Bret Hart over at WrestleMania 13), and took some time off to “find his smile again”.

Neat photo that was taken to just stir up controversy, but I’m sure that Hall and Nash were trying to convince Shawn to cross the line over to WCW. In fact, I vaguely remember both Shawn and Nash making references to each other during their walks to the ring with either a Kliq hand-gesture or just flat-out name dropping the other guy on camera.

If Shawn were to have jumped ship, the whole Montreal Screwjob incident wouldn’t have occurred, Bret Hart might have stayed in the WWF and would have been heavily involved in an Attitude Era period without a D-Generation X, WCW would have had another huge name to bring them ratings; we would all still be watching WCW Monday Nitro and speaking Russian!!

Shawn Michaels Puts “Bret Hart” into a Sharpshooter - WWF Monday Night RAW [11/24/1997]

Just in case you were wondering why I put Bret Hart in quotations, you’re actually looking at HBK putting a midget in a Hitman mask into the submission lock. Needless to say, Bret Hart himself wasn’t too impressed by this incident, especially since he was already at WCW at this point. Taken from Hart’s book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling:

“Vince was deep in damage-control mode. He gave a big talk to all the wrestlers at Cornwall TVs on November 11th, 1997, saying that he did what he did to me for the sake of the boys and the business. Owen [Hart] told me that nobody believed a word he said…”

“On November 24th, Vince broke his promise that he would never tarnish my character after I was gone, the way he’d done to [Hulk] Hogan and [Randy Savage]. First he teased the audience into thinking that I was going to appear on Raw, and then he had Shawn [Michaels] parade out a Mexican midget wrestler wearing a leather jacket and a Hitman Halloween mask. Hunter and Shawn quipped that they always knew The Hitman was short on talent, charisma, and stature.

I have to admit that I was hurt by such stunts. I was also worried about starting at WCW, though I kept a brave face for my family and friends. Harley [Race] had warned me that WCW was a den of wolves too.”

At the very least, it’s good to see that Shawn Michael’s found his smile for this photo. Good for him.

The Attack of The Kliq by Edwin Huang

Pretty fun illustration seemingly featuring The Kliq as the babyfaces…I’m not too sure about that decision, but the artwork is great.

GPOYW: DX Pose after a wedding reception edition

The fact that I’m doing the HHH pose all dressed up, and he’s all corporate now, makes this picture all the more better. Had to get one with the Best Man after he hit the HBK pose on the dance floor randomly earlier!