Brian Damage
After losing the WWF title to Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 14 in 1998, ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ Shawn Michaels was forced to walk away from the WWF due to a serious back injury. While his active wrestling career appeared over, Vince McMahon and company were hoping for an eventual return. This, despite all the childish, bratty ego trips that HBK pulled while an active member of the WWF’s roster. While Vince McMahon was holding out hope for a comeback….Michaels saw things a bit differently and prepared himself for a life outside the squared circle.
After Shawn Michaels went for back surgery, he stayed off the radar of everybody for a spell. The WWF was moving on without him and succeeding in their war against WCW. With the WWF creating new stars with packed arenas and ratings at all time highs…HBK was becoming just a memory from the past. The company brought back HBK as an authority figure, but his appearances started to become sporadic. Shawn started to focus his life in different directions, trying new ventures to keep himself busy. Some worked, some did not and others were one shot deals. One thing was for sure, Shawn was drifting farther and farther away from the bright spotlight of the World Wrestling Federation.
In 1999, Michaels would put aside his “sexy boy” persona both in and out of the ring and settle down with one woman. In March of that year, Michaels would marry former WCW Nitro Girl ‘Whisper’ aka Rebecca Curci. The couple had their ups and downs initially due to Michaels continuing bad drug habits. Michaels would credit Rebecca for eventually turning his life completely around. The marriage would produce two children.
That year saw Shawn Michaels dabble as a sports reporter for a local TV news program in the San Antonio, Texas area. While working as a reporter, Michaels focused on covering high school and college sports.
Through the suggestion of his lawyer and business manager, Michaels decided to return to pro wrestling in some form by starting his own wrestling school. It was co founded by fellow wrestler/trainer Rudy Boy Gonzalez and it would bear the name of Michaels known as the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy. With HBK at the helm, he helped teach and develop future, young stars like Brian Kendrick, Lance Cade and Bryan Danielson.
Shawn also dabbled with acting, as he guest starred on a 1999 episode of the bicycle cop drama called Pacific Blue. The show also aired on the WWF’s Monday Night Raw home of the USA network. Michaels played the character of ‘Michael Shane’ the leader of a drug smuggling ring.
In November of 1999, Michaels ventured further away from a WWF ring when he agreed to travel to Japan. Shawn Michaels was used by the Japanese wrestling promotion FMW aka Frontier Martial Arts as a special guest referee in a match between Mr. Gannosuke and H (Hayabusa) for their 10th anniversary show. Michaels even got physical in that match.
As 1999 came to a close, Shawn Michaels decided to return to the ring as a wrestler. He did that in a street fight match for his own wrestling school’s promotion called the Texas Wrestling Alliance in April of 2000. He wrestled a man named ‘Venom’ which was actually veteran wrestler Paul Diamond.
By 2001, the WWE came calling for Shawn Michaels for a return and sent Jim Ross to talk to HBK. According to Ross, at first it seemed that Michaels was satisfied being retired, but after talking at great length, JR said he saw the fire start to return to his eyes. It wouldn’t be until 2002, when Michaels would return to WWE…but his next stint would turn out to be a memorable one. He would feud with the likes of Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and the Undertaker and have another run as a world champion.
