Brian Damage
Back in 1996, all was not rosy in the WWF garden. Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling was dominating the ratings war and some of the WWF’s biggest names were now part of their success. On the home front, Vince McMahon tied down Bret Hart to a 20-year deal, prompting fury from Shawn Michaels. In this ‘A Moment in Time’, we look at when Shawn Michaels tried to jump ship to WCW
The year was 1997 and by this time, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was dominating the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in almost every single way. At the same time, however, professional wrestling as a whole, was the hottest it has probably ever been. Before this period of time, it was the bookers and promoters who held all the power over the wrestlers. In 1997, television ratings, house show attendance and pay per view buys were at an all-time high, Because of this, the wrestlers were gaining more and more power behind the scenes. Wrestlers were making more money and some were even granted creative control over their characters. All this while Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff were becoming more and more competitive against each other. The competitiveness brought out a sort of paranoia that some of their top stars would jump ship to the rival promotion. Vince McMahon especially was becoming somewhat desperate because all the stars he once helped create and build up were jumping ship to WCW for more money.
In the previous few years, McMahon lost two of his top stars in Diesel (Kevin Nash) and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) to WCW. Another one of McMahon’s top stars in Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart was getting offers from Bischoff and WCW and was teetering on which way he should go. Feeling like if he lost Bret Hart to his hated rival WCW, the Monday Night Wars would tip further in WCW’s favor. So in an act of pure fear and desperation, Vince offered Bret Hart an unprecedented 20-year contract to remain with the WWF. Hart eventually signed the immense contract just a day before Monday Night Raw went on the air. Bret Hart, then went on Raw to announce his lifetime allegiance to the WWF and was greeted by cheers and relief from many WWF fans and McMahon himself.
Everything on the surface looked rosy but behind the scenes there was at least one “superstar” who wasn’t happy at all. That wrestler was none other than ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ Shawn Michaels. You see, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were real life bitter enemies who both wanted to be the top star in the company. The two wrestlers were both egotistical and self-absorbed but Bret was the “family man” with high morals while HBK was the hotshot young talent who was an absolute tyrant behind the scenes.
HBK and Bret had several skirmishes behind the scenes in recent years but now that Hart was cemented by McMahon as being “The Guy” in the WWF, Michaels wanted out. Who could really blame Shawn Michaels at the time? I mean, his good buddies in Hall and Nash were working less and making millions in WCW. While in the WWF, he was making a great living but was the perennial workhorse. Michaels saw all the benefits of going to work for Bischoff and WCW who were now the #1 wrestling promotion in the nation.
Shawn Michaels took it upon himself to approach Vince McMahon and demand one of two things. Either McMahon restructures his contract and give him a better deal than Bret Hart or release him from his current deal and let him go to WCW. Michaels, who had 4 years left on his contract, knew McMahon wouldn’t match the deal he made with Bret. His hopes were relying on the supposed handshake deal the two made that said if he was ever at any point unhappy, McMahon would let him opt out of his contract. Vince had the same handshake deal with Ric Flair back in 1993 and actually allowed Flair to walk away from the WWF.
Michaels was banking on the same courtesy but, alas, it was not granted. Shawn then argued that McMahon also verbally agreed that no matter what, HBK would always be the highest paid wrestler on the roster. Again, it appeared that McMahon reneged on that too. With no other options, Shawn Michaels did what only Shawn Michaels could do and that was to make life in the WWF a living hell for everybody around him. Shawn Michaels cut a promo on Bret Hart from backstage while Hart was in the ring and made his infamous “Sunny Days” comment.
“Even though lately you’ve had some Sunny Days as of late my friend, you still can’t get the job done.” It was a shot at Bret basically accusing him of having an affair with WWF manager Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch. Hart who was married at the time became incensed over the comment and when he went backstage, he and HBK had a full blown fist fight. Hart got the best of HBK in that fight and Michaels got up and screamed that he was quitting and would never work for the WWF again. He then stormed out of the arena while the event was still on-going.
Michaels no-showed appearances and events and went as far as disconnecting his home phone so nobody from the WWF could talk to him. Shawn then did a wrestling magazine photo shoot with Michaels intentionally wearing a WCW Outsiders t-shirt. The hope was that Vince McMahon would be so outraged by it that he would fire him but McMahon held firm. Without being able to contact HBK, the WWF sent legal papers to Michaels home threatening him with legal action. He was in breach of his contract and would no longer be paid the money owed to him.
Shawn was screwed. Either he could return to work for the WWF or sit home for the next four years and not be paid a dime. Michaels had his father Richard Hickenbottom try to negotiate with Vince about an early contract release but to no avail. Finally, with no other options available to him, Shawn Michaels returned to the WWF begrudgingly. Of course, as time went on, McMahon came to realize his 20-year contract with Bret Hart was a huge mistake. We all know the rest of that story…
David Fullam
And they called the ladies Divas.