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[overlapping chatter]

‐ That way he's standing,

I mean, it looks like
it's higher, right?

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

Because you do that
from the second rope.

Boom!

This job to me is the greatest
life that I could ever live.

For years people told me
I was too small,

that I couldn't do this
and I couldn't do that

and I wasn't going to make it.

And I've shoved it
in everybody's face.

No time‐outs in this, man.

I realize I can't be popular
with everybody all the time.

So in the meantime, I'm going
to be popular with me,

and I'm going to be the best.

‐ There are definitely
two lives of Shawn Michaels.

You know,
there's who he was before...

‐ You will not ever
in your lives

see a man more charismatic,

more flamboyant,
or more talented

than the Heartbreak Kid
Shawn Michaels.

‐ The greatest in‐ring
performer of all time.

Being a prick
comes natural to Shawn.

It did.
He was a dick.

‐ The showstopper,
the headliner, the main event.

‐ There was so much
bad blood between us,

and I was always like,
"If I see him, I'll kill him."

I had so much anger about it.

‐ Nobody steals my spotlight.
I want it all.

‐ Shawn Michaels
could do absolutely anything,

any style to perfection
with anyone.

When the bell rings,
no one is as good as Shawn.

‐ I will give you a show

like you have never ever
seen before.

Why?
Because I can.

‐ The only man
to win every major title.

‐ You can't say anybody
was better, but also tormented.

He was, like,
on self‐destruct mode.

‐ I just knew
that he didn't love himself.

There was something
in him that he despised.

‐ If you're taking pain pills
at 12 in the afternoon,

belligerent, falling down,
staggering,

everything that
you have in your life is this.

And it's all going away.

‐ On more than one occasion,

I really wanted to beat
the hell out of Shawn,

but I knew there was
a good man

behind all this other crap.

‐ The biggest thing
that he ever did

is turning
his life around

to where he is now.

‐ And so, yep,
there are two lives there.

But there's one Shawn Michaels.

‐ The very best sports
entertainer in the world.

[rock music plays]

[tense music]

‐ I love it. I say this.
I say we‐‐again‐‐

Vince used to always tell me
"You go all the way out there,

I'll reel you back in
if I want to,"

you know what I mean?

‐ NXT started out
as a developmental brand

that grooms WWE superstars.

‐ Any kind of count up, DQ,
or whatever ends the match.

‐ There's Shawn's fingerprints
in almost every talent in NXT.

Shawn is very hands on.

‐ Then he sits up behind him
and then whack!

‐ He sold out arenas
all around the world

when he was
the Heartbreak Kid.

He's in a different place
in his life now.

He's humble, he wants
to be behind the scenes.

It isn't about him.

He wants to help others
achieve their dreams.

You've got to say it
with passion and anger.

‐ Here we go, guys,
three, two, one.

‐ Seeing Shawn today,

it's sometimes hard
for people to believe

that's Shawn Michaels.

Certain levels of talent

command certain levels
of respect.

‐ Just attack
of Johnny Gargano.

‐ Oh, jeez.

‐ I added the plexiglass.

‐ His knowledge
and his wisdom of the business

and all that stuff,
it's so valuable.

So excellent job.
Yeah, go, you got this.

‐ Shawn Michaels' life
is a story

that a lot of people
could relate to.

He always wanted more.

It was a life of never enough.

And then,
his life totally changes.

A lot of us have that,
if we're lucky.

I think the Shawn Michaels
story is one that's really cool

and one that all of us
can stand to learn from.

[twangy guitar]

‐ I was born
into a military family.

My father was
in the Air Force.

It was
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom,

but everybody in my family
called me Shawn.

My father was a pilot,
so early on we moved a lot.

He was going to Vietnam.

We went to England,
then Maryland

and then we moved to Texas.

I was about eight‐ish.

From that point on,
I was in the state of Texas.

You don't have long‐lasting
friendships in the Air Force.

The hardest part
for making friends

was having the last name.

The roll call, Hickenbottom,
Michael Hickenbottom.

You could hear the snickers
all over the room.

Hickenbottom. And, of course...

It's like, "Son of a biscuit,

I wish I had
a different last name."

‐ Shawn was well‐loved.

He was always very quiet
and very shy growing up.

He wasn't an extrovert.

t a good, friendly,
nice little boy.

And people liked him.

He was involved in sports
all of his life.

He just enjoyed
doing everything.

‐ I was a big fan
of playing football,

because of the contact.

You know, contact and athletics
were appealing to me.

And then I'm 12 years old,

getting to stay up late
on a Saturday night,

and this wrestling show
starts.

Southwest
Championship Wrestling.

The beginning montage,

the guy is slow motion
jumping off the top rope.

I was enthralled in it.
It was just‐‐[laughs]

I don't know,
the neatest thing I ever saw.

‐ The best in professional
wrestling and I'm‐‐

‐ After the show,
I walked out

and my mom was in the kitchen.

I said, "I know what I'm
going to do when I grow up."

And she said, "What's that?"

I said, "I'm going to be
a professional wrestler."

She was like,
"Oh, that's nice, honey."

‐ He began to talk about
that's what he wanted to do,

and I was sure that ultimately
he would grow out of that,

but he never did.

‐ Down at the Freeman Coliseum,

Shawn would periodically
get to go,

and, oh,
he saw Tully Blanchard.

‐ Wahoo McDaniel,
Eddie Mansfield, Scott Casey.

‐ Of course, then later,
Ric Flair was a wrestling god,

and he would buy
wrestling magazines,

and he would look
at Ric Flair,

and then he would
stand in the mirror,

and try to talk like him
and look like him.

‐ Being a wrestling fan,

it was really a black sheep
source of mockery.

It's not something you say
with a great deal of pride.

It was just a relationship

between me and wrestling
for a while

and my dad
was an amateur wrestler

at the University of Iowa,
so he was a real wrestler.

And, of course, he just gave
some gruff like, "That's fake."

The kindest thing
I could say about it was

I considered it to be
an athletic soap opera,

which has always been
my description

of professional wrestling.

‐ Then a new kid
gets transferred.

His name is Kenny Kent.

I met Shawn the summer of 1980.

We were sophomores
in high school. Both 15.

He would want to wrestle
and throw around his friends,

and they didn't like it.

And so I instantly became
his little tag team partner

and we would just
bash each other

and throw each other around,

and that's really what
developed our friendship.

‐ They'd practice out
in the pool. Frightening.

[laughs]

Shawn would lift him
straight him, Kenny,

and then they'd fall
into the pool.

His way of practicing.

‐ Shawn dreamed
of wrestling.

He would call me and
tell me these matches

that he would lay out
and prepare.

He was really obsessed with it.

[crowd cheering]

‐ In that time,
you struggled back and forth

with people who are
telling you it's fake,

but I am there
watching the guy‐‐whap!

I mean, hitting the guy
and sweat's flying off.

There's something to it.

They've got me
hook, line, and sinker.

‐ We were a very small school.

We did not have
a wrestling team.

But our senior year,
we had a talent show

and it was Shawn's idea

that me and him were gonna
do a wrestling match.

Everything was going
quite well

until I threw Shawn
off the stage into the crowd,

and beat his head on the table
a couple of times.

There was just blood gushing
all over his head.

And people are going nuts.

‐ I think we came in second.
We didn't win.

‐ We got beat
by a group of cheerleaders

so, you know, two guys
in little tightie whities

versus cheerleaders,
they're gonna win every time.

‐ We graduate,

and then it's
"What are you gonna do?"

Well, have you decided
what you want?"

"I still want
to be a wrestler."

I recognized that I said it
when I was 12,

but it's just been
a big, big part of my life.

Okay, that's awesome.
That's not a possibility.

‐ But, you know, at 17,
you look at him and you think

you don't know
what you're talking about.

We said,
"You're going to college."

‐ There wasn't
a lot of open understanding

in what I was doing.

‐ We went off to Southwest
Texas State University.

When we lived together
at college,

there were many nights
I would hear him

and he's standing there
with his shirt off

and he'd be talking
and screaming at the mirror,

practicing.

At the end
of his second semester,

I think his GPA was 0.4.

School just wasn't for him,

and he was ready to make his
move into the wrestling world.

‐ Essentially, he said,

"I don't want to waste anymore
of my time or your money.

I am going to be
a professional wrestler."

‐ My dad played golf
with this guy,

and apparently he's the guy
that's a local promoter

here in San Antonio.

We go down there,
and Jose Lothario was there.

‐ From San Antonio, Texas,
superstar Jose Lothario.

‐ I understood
he was a legitimate name.

The gentleman stated
"Well, he has to be trained.

"Jose could do the training
if you wanted.

It's gonna cost $3,000."

‐ I thought
about facing him

when he was 35
or 40 years old,

and having him say

"Dad, if you'd have
just given me the chance,

I could have been
a professional wrestler."

And I couldn't face
that thought.

And so I said,
"What the hell."

[soft music]

‐ You know,
I wake up every day

never forgetting
what I did for a living.

I sort of developed a habit
getting up in the morning,

stretching
and then the heat pad.

Over the years, you just
come up with a system

that your body responds
well to.

I do some form of training
every day, you know,

to be comfortable
for the rest of the day.

I plan on getting, you know,
new knees, knee replacements

and shoulder replacements.

Those things are gonna add
to my quality of life.

It's not like
I got into this stuff thinking

I want to be independently
wealthy and be 100% healthy.

That doesn't happen.

So I don't know,
I don't mind it.

I don't think that's some big,
crazy sacrifice.

♪

[upbeat music playing]

‐ I first came
across Shawn Michaels in 1983.

Shawn was training
with a gentleman

by the name of Jose Lothario.

Jose was a big star
in Houston, Texas,

Dallas, San Antonio.

‐ He was Hispanic,
so there was a Luchador style.

It was the aerial side
of things.

Thankfully,
in all of that process,

he saw that, "Oh, my goodness,
he's actually pretty good."

It was worth
the $3,000, period,

for him to get me
my first job in Louisiana,

and that could not
have happened

without Jose Lothario.

‐ The pride of Vero Beach,
Florida, Terry Taylor.

‐ The first time
I met Shawn Michaels

working for Mid‐South,

there was this young,
innocent, cheerful,

vibrant sort of

lost young man.

‐ I was scared
of everything.

It was a lot of confusion,
a lot of unknown.

How in God's name
is this supposed to go on?

[upbeat music]

I came walking
through the back,

and Terry Taylor was
standing there at the curtain.

‐ I said, "How long have you
been in the business?"

And he goes,
"That was my first match."

And I couldn't believe it,
because this isn't easy.

‐ Shawn Michaels.

A very young man,
and very inexperienced,

but he has a great deal
of natural athletic ability.

‐ We drove
3,000 miles a week.

That means there's
a lot of time

that you're in the car
doing this,

and he would ask questions.

‐ A young man
who is quite handsome.

‐ I was very well mannered,
I was quiet,

and I wanted to do
nothing but learn.

‐ Some young people
come in, "I know everything."

Nothing like that with Shawn.

Humble, passionate,
driven, hungry.

[crowd cheers]

‐ At about six months,
the owner, Bill Watts,

came to me and he got me
set up in Kansas City.

I was going to have
the opportunity to begin

to grow as a wrestler,
as a performer.

‐ We're hearing
all this, like,

this guy Shawn Michaels,
Shawn Michaels is coming in.

We're like,
"Damn, nobody has gotten

"any attention like this.

What's wrong with us?"

We walked in the dressing room

and this guy had
real short hair,

green tights pulled up
to under his chest.

Let me ask this nerd, like,

"Hey, do you know
who Shawn Michaels is?"

And he leaned back he goes,
"I'm Shawn Michaels."

[laughs]

I was like, "Oh, damn,
we got some work to do."

They threw us
together because

they needed
a match real quick.

We didn't have time to prepare
for it, but it clicked.

‐ Marty Jannetty.

‐ Marty just carried himself
with such confidence.

He was enjoying himself.
He was outgoing.

I was so sort of shy,
conservative.

‐ Shawn Michaels.

‐ Shawn came
from a military family.

Shawn was protected
from a lot of the evils

that lurk in the real world

and having some notoriety,
being on television,

you've got women, you've got
alcohol, you've got drugs.

And it's all readily
available to you.

‐ Yeah,
he liked it right away.

At first,
he wasn't old enough,

so he had to wait
in the parking lot.

We'd bring girls down to him
and beer down to him.

‐ Marty Jannetty
one day said,

"I see something in you
that's just dying to get out."

He said,
"You just need somebody

"to bring it out of you,

and I'm gonna bring it out."

‐ From the Showboat
Hotel and Casino

in Las Vegas, Nevada,

this is AWA Championship
Wrestling on ESPN.

‐ So, I was 20 years old.

TV tapings are in Las Vegas.

At that time,
Marty and I, you know,

I knew he was out there,

so we just started
looking around.

[upbeat music]

All of a sudden there he is,
he's down there playing.

And go down there,

and I went and just do‐do‐do,
pulled it down.

‐ I'm sitting there with him,

and all of the sudden
we hear this,

"Ding, ding, ding,
ding, ding, ding."

Red lights go flashing around,
and Shawn hit triple 7s.

Won 750 bucks
the first time.

The irony of it now, like,
oh, this place was‐‐

Vegas and the nightlife
of Vegas

and everything else
would be my down‐‐

[laughs]
Would be my downfall.

It started later that night.

It's the first line of yayo,
you know.

[laughs]
The first line of blow.

And it's, "Oh, my gosh, this
is the greatest thing ever."

And it's just this
whole world opens up.

I'd have never been able
to get that guy out of me,

and Marty is the guy
that helped tap into that.

I don't even know
how much I knew was there.

♪

‐ Me and Shawn partied
Monday night, Tuesday night,

Wednesday night,
Thursday night.

Come Friday,
we were burned out.

Big Van Vader,
he comes to hang out with us.

He looked at Curt Hennig
and he goes,

"I thought you said
these guys partied."

And Curt said, "They don't
start until midnight."

‐ The Midnight Rockers.

What a sensational pair
they are.

‐ It was like magic.
The Judas Priest song come on.

‐ They love to party.

‐ They've taken
the AWA by storm.

‐ The move
happening faster

than we can
even talk about it.

‐ They've got to put
a bigger roof on the arenas

to hold these two kids in it.

‐ These two
are indeed sensational,

to say the least.

‐ ♪ Living after midnight

♪ Rocking 'til the dawn

[crowd cheering]

‐ Midnight Rockers had
a hell of a run in the AWA.

They'd had TV on ESPN.

‐ The World
Tag Team Championship

is Marty Jannetty
and Shawn Michaels' goal.

‐ They were smaller guys,

but they could work
with the giants

and have a great match.

[crowd cheering]

‐ The Tag Team
Championship of the World

is what they are fighting for
here tonight.

‐ I think he cracked
his head on the cement

when he went out there.

‐ The blood match,
if you will,

was the first time that a
national audience got exposed

to the talent
of the Midnight Rockers.

‐ This is absolute mayhem.

‐ The match itself
was very bloody, very gory.

‐ One of the
toughest, roughest matches

that we have ever seen.

‐ That was kind of like

a defining moment
in their career,

that they were made
at that level.

‐ If we was on the road
300 days a year,

we partied 290 of them.

[laughs]

We used to do a lot of drugs.

There was a lot
of powder around.

‐ You look at rock stars
and you look at rock bands.

There was a tendency to want
to go wild and destroy things.

It's fun when you're young,

because you feel like a rebel.

We've made it, man.
Look at this.

And throw a beer bottle
up against the wall,

and it was, like,
oh, we'll pay for it later.

‐ We always did the job,

but it was just partying
all night.

Destroy your room
at the Showboat

and we got the entire, uh, AWA,

the entire company
got kicked out of there.

It wasn't very long
that we had a reputation.

And once you get it, everybody
else knows you got it.

WWE was starting
to really separate itself.

If that's where
you wanted to go,

that's where you
set your goals.

Finally, Marty got the call
to go into New York.

‐ In 1987, the Rockers
started in Buffalo, New York.

Marty and Shawn looked
at this as their big break.

That night in the bar,

the other talent
looked at Shawn and Marty

as these two young punks
with a chip on their shoulder.

They're gonna have to earn

the respect
of the WWE locker room.

‐ We were scared, man.
We were scared.

So that night, that's why
we kind of kept to ourselves,

and Terry Garvin come up
and he said,

"No, don't do that.

Don't do that.
Y'all have to mingle."

‐ And then all of a sudden
Jimmy Jack Funk, he came over.

He's hammering down these
drinks and he's like, "Hey!

You guys are big partiers!"

He starts eating his glass.
"Come on let's do it."

I at least
gotta be a little tough.

So then I break
a wine glass over my head.

And that was it,
I turn around, I leave.

I would never say
we didn't earn

our reputations,
any of that,

but the wrestling business

is one giant
fish story, all right?

So something happened once
in the wrestling business,

that gets magnified
to ten times.

‐ Some people say

that Shawn or Marty
threw a beer bottle,

which started a chain of events
that couldn't be stopped.

‐ "And then these two guys,

"I mean, they're in there
just getting crazy,

tearing up the bar, throwing
stuff all over the place."

And that's not at all
what happened.

‐ The next day,
Shawn and Marty were fired,

and it was over for them
after one day,

from just the story
and the hearsay and innuendo.

‐ I normally
give reasons as to, you know,

why I'm gonna do something
and I'm sure I did with them,

but that was one and done, out.

‐ He said,
"The guys don't like it."

He said, "They won't let you
make it here."

In my mind,
I'm 23 and it's over.

That was my one big shot.

It happened now and it's gone.

‐ Take a look at Takeover.

We'll watch it,
and I'll Skull you.

‐ Okay.

[laughs]

‐ Shawn Michaels
put his heart and soul

into being
the best pro wrestler

that he could possibly be,

and he does
the exact same thing

as a coach
and as producer.

‐ Stop there
and look at each other.

Can that stuff take
a little longer?

‐ He will find ways
to pick apart

every little thing
to make it better.

‐ Aim for the head.

You can't hold back on that,

because that's gonna cause you
not to get all the way around.

‐ Shawn has this
amazing ability

to instill a confidence in you.

This was a tremendous bout.

‐ I mean, someone
like Shawn Michaels

gives that to you, that's all
the motivation that you need.

[laughter]

[crowd cheering]

‐ The unfortunate byproduct

of Shawn and Marty being fired
after their first day in WWE

is Marty and Shawn had burned
their bridge in the AWA.

Where do you go?

And welcome once again

to Continental Championship
Wrestling and we have‐‐

‐ We ended up
in Birmingham, Alabama.

Continental Wrestling.

I was wrestling
in front of 25 people

at 300 bucks a week.

If you wanted to get $50
in cash,

you get your other $50 in blow,
you could do that.

Which is probably what I did
nine times out of ten.

‐ I heard him talk about
how depressed he was.

At that time, we was
doing a lot of cocaine.

And we would talk
about wrestling

and we would watch wrestling
videos and we would study.

I had to go home
to my girlfriend

like at two or three
or four in the morning.

Sometimes the next
morning sun was out.

And evidently,
the way he says it,

I let him down 'cause
I didn't stay with him more

and he was by himself.

When you're doing cocaine,
you don't want to be alone.

[laughs]

‐ When you're up
at 4:00 in the morning

coming down from the yayo,
that's like, it's very dreary.

Because the low
is just so really low.

I was like,
"Man, if I had a gun,

"this is one
of those times

that I was reckless enough
to have the balls to do it."

At that time, it would
have wrecked my parents.

You know, their suffering is
what pulled me back from that.

But the thing is
I never told them the truth.

So I'm not telling like,
"Jeez, Mama, I'm just partying,

getting hammered
and doing blow."

‐ Shawn and Marty,
they wanted to come back.

I remember Pat Patterson giving
them the advice

to continue to work

and continue to reverse
the reputation that you have,

and prove to us
that you belong.

And that's what
Marty and Shawn did.

‐ Pat was instrumental
in saying,

"Vince, he's a great talent."

and it is difficult for me
to make that decision,

because he was a jerk.

I mean, doing
some stupid things.

But Pat was right.

‐ I was there in '88
when they came back.

It had been a year

since the Rockers had kinda
screwed up on their first day.

‐ We're gonna bring you back,
but you're on probation.

You know,
keep your [bleep] together.

Yes, sir.

‐ Two newcomers, the Rockers.

These guys are excitement
personified.

They'll be high flying.

‐ I met Shawn in 1990.

They were pretty much,
you know, fun loving guys.

They even tested me
a little bit with their,

you know, their antics.

Actually, you know, they were
both pretty much peckerheads.

I mean, I've got to call
a spade a spade.

‐ The Rockers
have got a bag full of tricks

and you ain't
seen nothing yet,

so get ready,
because here we come.

Wow!

‐ They were definitely
innovators

doing tandem moves together.

You know, such a cohesive unit.

The fans went nuts for them,
especially the women.

You know,
the long hair and all that.

‐ There was a transitional
moment

happening in the business

where the athleticism
was picking up.

The ability to do things that
Shawn and Marty could do.

‐ Oh, what a backdrop!

‐ Tag team wrestling now

has been impacted a great deal
by what Marty and I did.

[camera shutter clicking]

‐ The first time you ever
make a magazine is huge,

and we would always go
to the stores,

stop and look
at the magazine racks.

I remember one time
I heard Shawn "Oh, my God!"

And there was a picture of us.

It said
"From Imitators To Innovators"

and he's holding it up
and he was so proud

and I was, like, "Oh, man!
Yeah, we did it!

‐ Shawn Michaels,

Marty Jannetty, the Rockers.

‐ That's a real
notch in the belt,

to be on Saturday night's
main event.

‐ Saturday night's
main event

was finally going
to be the Rockers

winning
the Tag Team Championship

against Bret Hart
and Jim the Anvil Neidhart.

‐ It was gonna be five stars.

It was gonna be as good
a match as we ever had.

[crowd cheering]

‐ We're in the process
of having that match,

and all of a sudden,
the rope breaks.

Bret, the consummate pro,

he understands it's not live,
it's taped.

We can fix all this.

‐ It's taped.
All you've got to do

is grab a hold
and then they'll fix it

and then you're still
in that hold,

then the match can carry on.

And I told them,
I said, "Just fix the rope."

"Fix the rope, fix the rope.
We'll take care of this."

And then we get word,
just to continue without it,

so that's what we do.

‐ It was a disaster,
and I was so sick about it.

‐ We get our
championship victory.

We are doing our best
to look excited

in what is this huge steaming
pile of crap in the ring.

‐ It just looked horrible.

So the match never aired.

‐ Vince calls me and said,

"We're not going to
acknowledge that you've won.

You're going to give
the belts back.

[scoffs]

‐ Like, okay.

Are we gonna have
another opportunity?

No, probably just gonna
go in other directions.

Unbelievably disappointed,

because that's not what you
imagine that moment being.

Done, it's over.

[crowd cheering]

‐ We were on the road
300 days a year for years.

The same hotels,
same rental car,

some of the same girls.

[crowd cheering]

‐ He kicked his own partner

right in the face.

‐ I remember we were
in Denver.

Roddy Piper came in our room
and we had a few girls there,

and Roddy kept
bragging on Shawn.

‐ He was stirring up the pot
as far as saying,

you know, I could be a singles
and, you know,

have great success
and things like that.

And he'd look at me and go
"We've got to work on you.

You're still rough
around the edges."

I was like,
"Roddy, shouldn't we talk

about that some other time?"

And Shawn shoved me
at that point.

[overlapping chatter]

‐ Everybody got in a fight

because everybody was not
in their best frame of mind,

like all the time.

‐ And he attacked me
in the hallway

and then I didn't want to hit
him once, let alone,

you know, over and over.
Had blood.

Like, it looked like you'd,
you know, gutted a deer

or something.

‐ There was speculation
that Marty Jannetty

and Shawn Michaels
are not getting along.

There was speculation
that Shawn Michaels

is kinda wanting to go
on his own.

‐ All of my success
at that point

was Tag Team, but there
was never a time in my career

where someone didn't
say to me,

like, "I think
you've got some talent."

It was eventually
gonna come down to me.

I remember
the first time he told me,

"I want to be
the World Champion one day.

I don't want to tag
the rest of our career."

"I just need you to let me know
when you're ready for that.

Don't spring it on me."

And then he sprung it
on me anyway.

Welcome to the Barbershop,
ladies and gentlemen.

Let's welcome them right now.
They're the Rockers.

[audience cheering]

Recently there's been
a lot of controversy,

a lot of rumors flying guys.

Maybe you guys are
gonna break up.

You've been having
some problems.

‐ I didn't become familiar
with Shawn

until he showed up in WWE with
Marty Jannetty as the Rockers.

That's my first introduction
to Shawn Michaels.

‐ See, one without
the other isn't any good.

Oh! Oh, I knew
he was gonna do that.

I just knew
he was gonna do that.

[overlapping chatter]

Oh, my God!

‐ I would argue
the Barbershop window

was the greatest tag team
breakup of all time.

It is the standard bearer
for turning on a friend.

‐ The super kick?
Oh, he laid it in.

[laughs]
Oh, he got me back for Denver.

[laughs]

Is there a problem
with the Rockers?

‐ It was so effective

that it makes Shawn one of the
most hated men in wrestling.

Shawn Michaels
changed forever that day.

‐ I had this
strange thing with Marty,

because without him,

so much of the good
doesn't happen for me.

But there's a ceiling
on being a tag team, period,

when it's called a leading man
as opposed to a leading duo.

It's just a natural evolution.

Now everybody is gonna find out

what Shawn Michaels
has known all along,

that he is, without a doubt,

the hottest thing in the WWE

has ever, ever laid eyes on.

[rock music playing]

♪

‐ The Heartbreak Kid,
Shawn Michaels, was something

that Shawn just pretty much
came up with.

I don't think that anybody
really mapped out

The Heartbreak Kid.

‐ It's sort of an Elvis
meets Freddie Mercury.

‐ Shawn Michaels
is leavin' the building!

‐ It was allowing me a vehicle
to let this other person out.

To get out there in front
of a bunch of people

and you can‐‐wow, you can just
be somebody you've never been.

‐ Has this guy got it all
or what?

No, I don't know where
all that came from,

I really don't.

He figured Shawn Michaels
could do whatever he wanted to.

What, an alter ego maybe.

The Kentucky waterfall
mullet alone,

probably one of the greatest
mullets of all time.

The dangling earrings,
the Village People outfit.

Your girlfriend wants him,

you're gonna go over
and kick his ass,

but maybe he's gonna kick
yours and take her anyway.

And that's where his heat was.

‐ I was a pretty kid.

I was a pretty man, I don't
mind telling you, at one time.

I could play
the part of Mr. Confident

and everything else,

and could do everything
under the sun.

Couldn't do a lick.

Elvis and Freddie Mercury
were onstage,

they were so frickin' positive,

but in their lives
they struggled.

There was something
there between me

and those individuals
that I could relate to.

You are not comfortable
with who you are,

you're not comfortable
with yourself.

Not knowing
who I was as a human being,

out there
you're playing this role,

but you can do it
with just unbridled confidence

and you absolutely cannot do it

by yourself
in your own hotel room.

I am a high‐performance,

state‐of‐the‐art
wrestling machine.

‐ I think any great character
will be confused

between the human being
and the character,

and Shawn Hickenbottom kinda
morphed into the Heartbreak Kid

at all times.

Shawn was becoming
a little bit more difficult.

And the Intercontinental title

is coming
to the sexiest man, hey.

‐ The WWE was still
the land of the giants,

and there were still
a lot of big guys,

and Shawn wanted
to break through

what he considered
a glass ceiling of,

"I'm not six‐foot‐eight,
I'm not 300 pounds.

I wanna be what I am,
and I wanna be the guy."

‐ When you are that talented

and that hell‐bent
on succeeding,

but you have the chip
on your shoulder

of being the little guy

to get to where
he needed to be,

he had to stand his ground,

he had to fight
for what he wanted.

‐ I was
at the very least as good

or better than, you know,
anybody else

that I was sharing
a locker room with.

I was getting an opportunity

that not many guys like me
were gonna get.

‐ We got a new
Intercontinental Champion!

‐ Shawn may
have been six‐one,

but his ego and the chip
on his shoulder

made him nine‐foot‐five.

‐ Shawn Michaels,

he's our
Intercontinental Champion!

‐ '92‐'93,

Intercontinental Champion
at the time,

looking for Shawn
to really step up

and become a huge star for us.

‐ One thing I did have

is I wasn't scared
of anything.

I was the most dangerous
person in the world

'cause I had nothing to lose.

And when you are like that
in a creative line of work,

you are frickin' unbeatable.

‐ Welcome to WrestleMania 10!

[cheers and applause]

‐ In the process of studying
Shawn Michael's matches,

the one that many people
go back to

is the infamous ladder match.

The match that Shawn Michaels
and Razor Ramone made famous

at WrestleMania 10.

‐ We are making history here.

‐ So right before
WrestleMania 10, leading up,

there was a suspension
with Shawn,

where Shawn had been out
of the company for a while.

Shawn left as
the Intercontinental Champion.

‐ Yeah, he failed
a drug test for 'roids.

At that time, brother,

pills were bein' passed around
in bars.

Like, guys go, "Here, man.

Canadian Valium,
here take this."

‐ Shawn did not feel

that he should have been
suspended, was pissed off.

Vince didn't wanna put up
with him,

thought he was an out
of control egomaniac.

‐ And they'd tell
Shawn to send the belt back

and he says,
"No, I'm not sending it back."

‐ Shawn decides
he wants to come back.

Well, Razor's the
Intercontinental Champion.

‐ So take both
championship belts,

hang 'em above the ring,

you fight to climb the ladder,

whoever gets the championships
above the ring,

that's your true champion.

‐ The two
Intercontinental Championship

belts hanging from above.

‐ For the following contest,

there are no rules!

‐ With the ladder up. Oh!

[cheers and applause]

‐ From high above!

Oh!
‐ Oh!

It's the most barbaric,
insane,

car crash excitement
you've ever seen.

‐ It's starting to shake!
Oh, no!

‐ Oh!

‐ I was able
to have a presence

that I don't
think they knew that I had.

It isn't about size,
it is about presence.

[cheers and applause]

‐ Oh! Oh!

‐ Shawn actually
lost the match,

but it put Shawn
at a different level

that people believed

this little bastard
could do anything.

[cheers and applause]

If you didn't before,
or you didn't want to believe,

Shawn made you believe.

[thuds]

‐ Should close it
and just drop it to the side.

Boom and then you say,
"Okay, mister, here we go."

You know, whatever.

I don't know,
just throwing it out there.

This weekend, we have
one of our bigger events.

Five‐man ladder match.

Is that gonna...

Someone will be holding
that right there.

Many, many years ago,
it was just two of us

and one ladder.

And now,
these young men and women

have taken it to a whole
nother level.

Got a lot of moving parts
around here.

‐ I always dreamed
of being in a ladder match

obviously because
of Shawn and Razor.

[thuds]

Ladder matches are about
crazy stunts, big falls,

it's a car crash come to life.

He is the face
of the ladder match

and to have him kind of
help us out,

have him kinda watch over us,
you can't dream it up.

It's perfect.

There you go.

[cheers and applause]

‐I met him
in the locker room, 1993,

and wanted to know

if I'd be interested
in becoming his bodyguard.

And the first thing out
of Shawn's mouth is,

"Just so you know,
everybody hates us."

The bodyguard position
was 24/7.

It wasn't just
on television persona,

a lot of people
didn't like him.

‐ Shawn Michaels
was misunderstood

all throughout his career.

There was a certain perception

that he was
an ass[bleep], frankly.

Shawn was selfish.

Shawn did have
an out of control ego,

and Shawn did
feel that he

was better
than everybody else.

To be successful and to take
it to the next level,

you have to start looking out
for yourself.

It's not a team sport.

‐ The one thing that was
the saving grace for Shawn

was he was so good
in the ring.

As a performer,
if you work with a guy

that makes you look
that good,

I don't care
what you think of him,

you want to work with him.

‐ Shawn Michaels,
Kevin Nash, Scott Hall,

1‐2‐3 Kid, and then
Paul LeVesque, Triple H.

these were guys that loved
hanging out together

and hence the Kliq
began to form.

‐ We all just hit it off,
and then it was‐‐you know, we‐‐

All we did was talk non‐stop
about the business and,

you know, we were all just
so passionate about it.

‐ The perception was
that the Kliq

was all‐knowing
and all‐powerful,

and that if you crossed
the Kliq,

they'll just go Vince
and you'll be blackballed.

‐ They couldn't call
any of the shots,

but I listened, and they had
some really good ideas.

Really smart, individually.

And Shawn's very smart
when he's sober.

Shawn had an attitude,

when he drank even more so
on top of pills

and Shawn would say,

you know, the wrong thing
at the wrong time.

And he was protected
in a WB environment.

You know,
but outside that environment‐‐

‐ Shawn Michaels,
British Bulldog,

1‐2‐3 Kid walk into a bar.

Me, Scott, and Kev
were in Europe.

It was where we find out
that this all happened.

Bunch of Marines
in a tough bar.

Every eye in that place turns
to the three wrestlers

that just walked
in the door,

of which Shawn
is the megastar.

Every girl in that place
starts to look at Shawn,

Shawn is very enamored
with that,

and Shawn is at
this point in his life,

like, "[bleep] you lookin' at?
Is there a problem, jarhead?"

They go to walk out,
six Marines walk out,

beat the [bleep] out of Shawn

and leave him in the side
of the car.

‐ And the last
thing I can remember is,

you know,
there being the coat check.

The next thing is waking up
in the hospital.

And everything
else is a complete blank.

That was four days

out of a seven day week,
situations like that.

Getting beat up by nine guys
in Syracuse,

to me, there's not
a whole lot of shame in.

You know, that kind of stuff
just sort of happens to me.

I've got two choices‐‐

sit home and cry,
or to come out and be a pain.

And I got news for you,
folks, I'm all cried out.

‐ This moment of existence

was the 20 minutes
in the ring every night.

He wouldn't be messed up.

He'd go in there
and he'd kill it every night,

and then the second
he was done‐‐

[clicks tongue]

"I'm in pain,
and I took some stuff,

"so I wouldn't be
in pain this morning,

but I'm messed up."

Why would you hang out
with this misery 24/7?

No, it's not.
It's again like your brother.

It's like a family member.

Shawn owes his life
to Triple H,

Paul Leveque,
owes his life to him.

‐ Shawn Michaels knows

that the greatest match
of his life

must come this Sunday night.

By the time
you get to the mid‐90s,

Bret Hart
has become a crowd favorite.

Bret is a very soft‐spoken,
quiet, Canadian gentleman.

Shawn is an outspoken,
loud, brash American.

Only one person can
be the absolute alpha dog.

The Iron Man match,
the boyhood dream realized,

it added another layer to the
Shawn Michaels character.

‐ The Iron Man match,

it's the opportunity
where I get to,

you know, get
my first world championship.

‐ There's only one
Heartbreak Kid!

Unbelievable, what a ride!

‐ An hour‐long match,

it's gonna be a long night at
the office, in wrestling terms.

‐ For the WWE Championship!

‐ We start to have our issues.

You know, I was never
big on the Kliq idea.

It was a testy match
in a lot of ways.

‐ Hart's in big trouble.

[cheers and applause]

‐ There was a famous part

where I jump off
the second rope.

[groans]

He comes up and kicks me
in the face

as hard as he could.

I mean, he almost
knocked me out.

‐ Oh, my goodness!

We stiff each other a lot
of times in that match.

[cheering and chatter]

‐ One, two, out!

[bell dings]

‐ The boyhood dream
has come true!

‐ The boyhood dream has
come true,

because that was Shawn's
boyhood dream, it was.

And that's exactly
what happened.

‐ It was a very
big moment for my career.

It's like, oh, it's the first
World Championship

and you go like, "Hmm,
I pictured it being different."

I wasn't at a good place
and all that kinda stuff.

Just a lot of responsibility
that goes with that.

Now every guy in that locker
room, their well‐being,

their life, you know,
their livelihood and all that

depends on the job
that you do.

You know, it all
falls on your shoulders.

The whole thing
was uncomfortable.

‐ As we got into 1996,
Ted Turner, who owned WCW,

our competitors,
was being very aggressive

in his quest for new talent.

Scott Hall and Kevin Nash,

they were going to leave
and go to Ted Turner's WCW.

The last matches being

in New York
in Madison Square Garden.

‐ On my 19th, 1996,

one of the greatest days
of wrestling,

and my life as well.

Me and my friend went
to a house show

which was not televised,

we would sneak in
a camera past security

and we would film the shows.

Shawn was my hero
and was my idol growing up.

[audience cheering]

The ending shows
Shawn Michaels

giving Diesel a super kick.

Match is over.

And then all of a sudden
Razor Ramon comes out.

I'm like, "Oh, cool."

They start hugging and I'm
screaming like a little girl.

Oh, my God!

Who's this?

And it turns out to be
Hunter Hurst Helmsley.

They all start hugging and, you
know, obviously saying goodbye.

It was insane.
That night was magical.

Yeah!

The business was
well protected

up until then, and our cameras
still kept going.

The only camera
that was there.

If we were not involved
in taping the curtain call,

it would not be talked
about as much today.

‐ Place is going insane.

Everybody knows everything
on the inside of the business.

There's no secrets.

‐ People in the business
didn't like it.

They thought it was
the worst thing that happened.

Here's this bad guy,
who we have no idea

is friends with all
these other guys.

‐ It's breaking
the fourth wall

and just telling people,

"Everything we just did
is bull [bleep]. "

Shawn Michaels is now hugging
and kissing the guy

that he's just spent 20 minutes
beating the hell out of.

We entertained you,
but now it's all over,

we're really good buddies.
Taboo in the wrestling business.

‐ The tape
was leaked out to a writer.

The tape blows up on its own.

‐ I had no idea
that was gonna happen.

It was something
that's never been done before.

I'm watching this and going,
"What the hell is going on?"

The Kliq was an insult
to our business.

If they had done that
in the '70s, early '80s,

they'd all four of them get
the [bleep] beat out of 'em.

They wrestle each other and
they all kiss and say goodbye.

‐ Somebody's gotta
go down for it.

Kev's gone, Scott's gone,
Shawn's the champ.

Stuff rolls downhill and,
yeah, it all rolled on me.

‐ Triple H is the one

that probably paid
the heaviest price

as far as his career

kind of hitting
a roadblock at that point.

Shawn didn't really
pay a price.

‐ I was inherently
selfish regardless,

so I'm sure I didn't feel
the compassion for him,

as maybe I should have.

‐ There was a bit
of a shutdown on Shawn.

Business is‐‐it's okay,
but it's not great.

You know,
there's a lot of banter

about Shawn's not
working as champion.

He's not drawing.

He's collapsing
under the pressure.

I can see him
falling apart.

Kevin and Scott are gone,
and I'm all he's got now.

He's a mess.

‐ I felt a lot of pressure
and I didn't handle it well.

For me, it was all about

running and escaping,
and honestly,

you know, there was running

and escaping from the dude
I'd become.

Better than having
to face that,

I might just take a few
of these and knock myself out.

Won't have to pay attention
to it till tomorrow.

‐ He'd be pilled up,
passed out,

put Shawn on a luggage cart
and roll him up to his room,

and get him undressed,
take the dip out of his mouth,

and put him on his side,
put a pillow behind him

so he wouldn't roll over and
choke to death in his sleep.

And set an alarm and get up
every two, three hours

to go check on him.

And that was every night.

Well, you know, every night?
Sad existence.

[cheers and applause]

‐ What everybody
has to understand

about Shawn Michaels
is this‐‐

If I wanna come out here

and look like a blithering
idiot on live TV,

believe me, I'm gonna do it.

Why?
Because I can.

‐ He had a drug problem
for a while,

a serious one,

and he kind of fell
in the hole even deeper.

But it wasn't until
he became champion

that I felt that Shawn, uh,

started to question himself.

‐ I called his dad,
the colonel,

and said,
"I'd like to visit."

So I flew down to meet him

and I'm saying, "You're probably
not aware of this,

Shawn really
has a drug problem."

The colonel got angry.

He just didn't want to hear it.

‐ I don't know that anybody
knew how to address it.

Even things like rehab,
my parents,

you know, God love 'em,

I don't that they knew
what it was that you did,

except just to be worried.

Not long after that
I tweaked my knee.

[cheers and applause]

I went to this dude
in San Antonio

who doesn't know anything
about wrestling,

and obviously sees
I've torn my ACL

and he's like,
"Dude, you're done."

You know, he said, "You're not
wrestling with a torn ACL."

I know that over
the last several months,

I've lost a lot of things,

and one of them
has been my smile.

‐ He went in the ring
to announce he was retiring

'cause he had a bad knee.

I didn't believe his knee
was the issue.

I always thought
the issue was

he didn't want to wrestle me
at WrestleMania 13

and drop the belt to me.

I doubted Shawn's integrity
as far as his injury went.

You phony little faker,

why don't you take your little
pussyfoot injury‐‐

‐ All right,
all right, knock it off.

No, no, no.
‐ It's all right.

I'm not going anywhere.

‐ And go back
and find your smile.

‐ I got accused
of faking it.

Bret told everybody
I was faking it.

My excuse is drug addicts
lie all the time.

Well, there's no doubt

that you found your smile
again as you stated...

‐ A year off
of the wrestling business

was a year of no pay.

That's just not‐‐
That isn't feasible.

And they said, "Well, look,
you can put a brace on it

and wrap it up."

They went and they got me
a brace and everything else.

I was like, "Okay,
I can do this."

And it is time
for the Heartbreak Kid,

Shawn Michaels
to return to action!

[suspenseful music]

‐This was a moment where
things needed to change.

Business was bad.

WCW was starting to kill us.

Put Shawn and I
together on TV.

We will multiply each other's
personalities on screen.

Put us together.
DX is born.

[hard rock music]

‐ ♪ Degenerate
into something fool ♪

♪ We just got tired of doing
what you told us to do ♪

‐ Degeneration X
consisted of Shawn,

Triple H, and Chyna.

Two goofs in Shawn and Hunter
that were immature,

and did everything that
you weren't supposed to do.

‐ Shawn Michaels,

you're a disgrace
to professional wrestling.

I saw it as inmates
had taken over the asylum.

I'm gonna
start with the degenerate

right beside
you in the green shirt.

‐ ♪ Degeneration X

‐ Suck it!
[laughs]

‐ Yeah, I can't say
I liked it.

That smut and
the crotch shots.

It did get pretty raunchy.

‐ I don't think
it was over the line.

You know, we were getting our
tails kicked in the ratings.

DX took it to the very,
very tipping point

of going too far.

But that's what we needed.

It was kind of a whole facelift
for the company.

They loved it.

Ratings are going up,
your segments are hot.

We are the Degeneration X,

you make the rules,
and we will break 'em!

‐ They were the anti‐authority.

They could do anything
they wanted.

‐ We were just trying
to make each other laugh,

say something so stupid
that people would go,

"Oh, my God,
I can't believe he said that."

Your old lady is not too
thrilled with your privates.

‐ You would think, like, okay,
so now everything's great

backstage with Shawn.
No.

We're still approaching this
from a place of anger.

We know we're
pissing people off

and we're trying
to be dicks.

‐ I got in trouble
for a lot of stuff

that we all thought was funny,

and clearly we might have been
the only ones.

I'm goin' out
in a blaze of glory!

[cheers and applause]

‐ At that point,
Shawn's DX personality

and his real personality
have kind of morphed,

so Shawn really
never turned it off.

‐ This is what
it's come down to,

they're looking at somebody

that's got no respect
for anything.

‐ There was a true animosity

between Bret and Shawn,

just spiraled
completely out of control.

‐ In the beginning,
Shawn and Bret were friends

and the antagonistic
relationship

that they had on camera,
that was all orchestrated.

But it became personal.

It became personal
between Bret and Shawn,

because one guy
would go too far.

‐ I never knew enough
to avoid the confrontation.

If something bothered Bret,
I made sure that I did it.

He stabbed the WWE in the back.

Why? For his financial gain.

‐ Instead of facing me
like a man,

but you were too busy posing
for girlie magazines.

You know, you don't
like me talking about you

posing for "Playgirl," but
you did pose for "Playgirl."

And we finally had a fisticuff
in the dressing room.

‐ Oh, my God, Bret and Shawn
just got into a fight

and pulled each other hair
in the locker room. What?

I run over there
and find Shawn,

he's got a big chunk
of hair missing

out of the side of his head.
"What are you doing?"

‐ I realize that
I hate your guts.

‐ We had a lot
of these resets and talks,

and we would always end up
offending each other quickly

right after that.
[laughs]

‐ We are live

in the sold‐out Molson Centre
in Montréal, Quebec,

where tonight,
it will finally be settled.

Who is the man?

‐ Bret is the champion,

but Bret's on his way to WCW,

and he doesn't wanna drop
the title to Shawn.

But they couldn't let Bret
leave with the title,

and then show up
on WCW TV the next night.

‐ Who's gonna win?

‐ I don't know.

‐ Bret thought the match
was going to go one way,

Shawn and Vince McMahon come
up with a different plan.

Bret doesn't know
about the plan.

‐ We're being told by Vince,

like, this goes to your grave.

This is high‐level
espionage, man.

Nobody ever knows this.

‐ It's kind of
what's best for business.

‐ Look out!

Shawn Michaels is not
gonna waste any time.

‐ The whole thing
was uncomfortable.

I was out there,
you know, being Judas.

[dramatic music]

[groans]

‐ They had created a spot

where Shawn was gonna put
Bret's move,

which is a submission hold,
the Sharpshooter, on Bret.

‐ Look at this!

‐ Oh, you're kidding me.

‐ It's definitely one
of the most fabled stories

in our industry.

The Montreal Screw Job.

‐ It's just minutes
into that match,

not one person on Planet Earth

thinks the match
is going to end.

‐ Are you kidding me?

[bell rings]

[rock music playing]

‐ So when, all of a sudden,
the bell rings,

there's complete confusion
as to why the match has ended.

‐ What happened?

Bret Hart gave up
in a Sharpshooter.

‐ He said, "Bret submitted,"
which didn't happen.

‐ Wow,
you talk about controversy.

‐ It was basically a hit

to make sure that they got
the title off of Bret.

‐ Ring the bell!
Ring the bell!

‐ I could see Vince
yell at him to ring the bell.

‐ Ring the bell!
[bell rings]

‐ Like, "They're trying
to screw me now."

‐ Michaels
with a Sharpshooter

has become the WWE Champion!

And Bret Hart is standing
in disbelief.

‐ He didn't know
Vince was coming out.

I think he just felt like
maybe if he was out there,

he might get some heat off me,

you know, thus making
my denial plausible.

Vince says, "I wanna
take the heat for this.

"I don't want
anyone to think

you had anything
to do with it."

‐ Maybe you could go?

‐ Okay, let's get outta here.

‐ I took the heat,
and should have.

I didn't want anyone
to know Shawn was involved.

And Bret comes over and knocks
the [bleep] outta me.

One punch,
and knocked him out cold.

He went straight
down on his back.

Out cold.

And after I knocked Vince out,

Shawn was crying.

Shawn was sat on the bench
and was crying.

‐ And even though
I didn't feel

like I did anything wrong
that night,

you're still carrying a burden
by not coming clean with that.

To say, "Yes, I knew."

‐ Vince asked Shawn
to do something

for everyone in this company.

Who else would have had
the balls,

the guts, right or wrong,

how many other people would
have done it?

‐ I remember going
to his house in San Antonio,

and I'm driving
my minivan down there.

I've got my wife
and three kids at home,

and I pull into his
gorgeous home.

I don't have 20 bucks
in my pocket.

And I'll never forget,

he put his arms out like this,
and he just looked up

and he goes,
"You could have had all this."

But I realize, you know,
somewhere along the way,

that I saw him lose so much.

He got into drugs

and there were some really bad
side effects to his fame.

‐ I looked at Kenny
a lot of times,

and having a wife
and a family,

and just being as happy
as can be.

And I've always looked
at and admired,

and thought it was pretty
enviable to have.

But in my line of work,
it was always wondering

can you have both,
or is that not possible?

They don't mix.

[cheers and applause]

‐ The following
contest is a casket match

for the WWE Championship!

[cheers and applause]

‐ This casket match

is the Undertaker's specialty.

‐ The object of a casket match

is to beat your opponent down
far enough

that you can throw them
into the casket or coffin

and shut the lid.

And if you do that,
you win the match.

Somewhere through the course
of that match,

I threw him over
this giant coffin...

[grunts]

‐ Michaels' back dropped

on that big old wooden casket.

I wanted to clear it
and go to the floor,

and I just didn't quite
get far enough,

and bam,
I just hit the corner.

But I didn't really
think much about it.

You know,
you still finish the match.

‐ Look at the look
on his face!

The Undertaker
dragging Michaels

right down into
the depths of Hell!

The next day, I just
remember getting up like,

ah, you know, waking up
and not being able to move.

First time I recall
being in that much pain.

We do all the X‐rays.

Apparently, I blew a disc,

and that's the kind of stuff
that needs to be fused.

Doctor says, "Oh,
you can't wrestle after that."

[explosion]
[cheers and applause]

He said I'm never gonna wrestle
again, yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I said,
"Nobody tells me what to do,

so we're going
to WrestleMania with Steve."

You have never,
ever had one of these!

So you give me enough drugs,
all right,

so let's do whatever we can
to get me to WrestleMania.

‐ Getting Shawn
to WrestleMania was a battle.

He had a bad back,
he was heavily medicated.

He is the WWE Champion

and the man who will
defend his title

against Stone Cold,

with Mike Tyson
as the Enforcer.

Here, ladies and gentlemen,
Shawn Michaels.

‐ I choose to make an ass

out of a toughest SOB.

I can do that anytime I want.

[overlapping chatter]

‐ I was gonna
have to dope myself up

and drop the belt to Steve,

and then I guess
I'll let my career be over.

[dramatic music]

‐ He was bitter.

It had nothing to do
with him losing,

it had to do with being
replaced.

He never had his moment.
He never had his run.

I'm still the greatest.
And then this‐‐

Now it's his run.

What do I do?
Now I'm the backup guy?

One of the most
messed‐up things

I ever heard Shawn say
in his life is,

"I should've taken
so many pills,

"I died after WrestleMania 10.

"I'd have been
the biggest star of all time.

I'd have been Elvis."

‐ It's hopelessness,

and certainly,
that's where I was.

I am not just, uh, you know,
a drug addict.

I'm an angry one,

and I mean angrier than ever.

At that time in my life,
that's all I had.

I identified who I was with
what I was doing in that ring.

And without it, I wouldn't have
known what to do with my life.

[cheers and applause]

‐ On the day
of WrestleMania 14,

we barely talked.

He didn't feel like doing
business with me.

Triple H was a conduit
between most of it.

‐ He was pissed.

He wasn't about to talk
to Steve about this match.

I helped him put it together
by going from room to room,

and it was just‐‐it was
so difficult to do.

‐ It was difficult.
I remember that day.

I'm thinking, I don't know
what Shawn's going to do.

‐ He's retiring,

you know, this could be
his final screw you.

‐ Nobody has ever,
ever outperformed

Shawn Michaels
in a big match situation.

‐ I'm not in great shape.

My back, pretty bad
being in that much pain.

Get the cortisone shots
and stuff like that.

‐ Oh, my God!

I feel like I'm putting him
over, that's good enough.

‐ Awesome, he got it!
The Stunner!

Mike Tyson in!

[cheers and applause]

‐ Shawn's always
been a troublemaker,

he always wants to get in your
face, talk [bleep].

Even when he's
on your team, he was talking.

He's an irritant,
that's what he is.

Shawn, um, has sour grapes.

[cheers and applause]

‐ Tyson! Tyson!

‐ It was kind of a close blow,

'cause Shawn was pretty much
out for a little while.

‐ Tyson takes
the Austin 3:16 shirt

and lays it
across Shawn's chest.

This was adding
insult to injury,

and this was rubbing salt
in the wound.

I would have been pissed too.

‐ Not exactly the screw job,

but it was them
getting the last laugh

as far as, you know,
"Good, little prick,

"you put us through hell
this week,

but we're at least gonna
get you going out the door."

‐ The new WWE Champion,

Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[applause]

He was going
to that press conference

to just let everybody
know I'm pissed off.

He walked in the door
and he yelled some stuff.

‐ Oh, yeah. It's [bleep] up.

It was just‐‐it's selfish
and it's stupid,

but, you know, that's
where he was at that time.

‐ Shawn is suffering
from ruptured disc

as we speak,
and will not participate

at this press conference.

Nonetheless, he participated,
uh, in the arena

in an extraordinary way,

and there is
no athlete in the world

that can say they can do
what Shawn Michaels does.

[dramatic music]

[soft music]

‐ I got on the plane
the next morning

and went home and began to,
I don't know,

let it all sort of sink in.

It takes some time

before it goes from being
time off to the reality

of how exactly is the rest
of your life gonna go

when you're done at 33?

Okay, see if I can
get one done here.

All they knew at the time

was stuff like that,
you don't recover from,

people don't get back
in the ring and wrestle again.

The thing is,

I can't keep coming out here
week after week after week

going back and forth
with all this.

I get to get busy with my
rehab‐‐

My physical therapy.

My physical therapy
for my back.

[sighs]

Now I've got a legitimate
reason to have pain pills

and I've got a prescription
and everything else.

I just wanna be a pro wrestler.

That's what I was trying
to go back to.

So I began to start the Shawn
Michaels Wrestling Academy.

We had a couple of rings,
I had a little workout room.

There were a couple of guys
that came through my school

that went on to have
WWE success.

It was a great experience,
it really was.

I did it for about
two and a half, three years.

So I'm at home,
and I'm watching TV,

and then all of a sudden

the introduction
of this new Nitro Girl.

‐ Tampa Bay
girl herself, Whisper.

And she's out there
with this chair,

just doing this dance,
and it's captivating.

And she's absolutely the most
beautiful thing I've ever seen.

[soft music]

‐ We were at a rehearsal

and one
of the Nitro Girls, Spice,

had mentioned to me that
a man named Shawn Michaels,

a former wrestler,
wanted to meet me

and that was the first time
I'd ever heard of him.

I called her up.

We probably
talked for three hours

on the phone each night
for two weeks.

‐ Two weeks of talking
and emailing,

and then I flew out
to San Antonio to see him,

and we dated
for about two weeks.

After that he told me
he loved me,

and I told him I loved him.

Two weeks after that,
we got married.

‐ It was the Graceland
Wedding Chapel, yeah. Yeah.

You know,
an Elvis impersonator

walking down the aisle.

[humming]

It was fantastic.

It was just the greatest‐‐
the greatest thing ever.

There was one evening
where my pills have kicked in,

and I'm out of it.

‐ Shawn was in
tremendous pain.

When he would take
the muscle relaxers,

he would usually pass
out over his food.

The very first time
that Shawn ever did that

was when we were
first married,

so it was a bit of a shock
to me.

So I got him in the shower,

'cause he had spilled food
all over his chest,

and I would say it probably
happened a couple times a week.

‐ The worst time, again,

was when she was
eight months pregnant

and she's doing
everything she can,

at eight months pregnant
with her belly,

trying to hold me up.

‐ I took pity on him,

and I just prayed for him,
is all I could do.

But it didn't make me think,
you know,

"What in the world
have I gotten into?"

If I was fearful, I was fearful
for our unborn child.

And I hoped that it would end
whenever the baby was born,

and it didn't.

‐ Here in Cleveland,
Ohio, we will make history.

‐ I don't remember
why Shawn was there.

He must have been some doing
something in the show.

We all go, me, Taker,
Rock, Vince is in the ring.

"Now I own WCW."

Shawn is messed up, pilled up.

So this is
a celebratory moment.

He's belligerent, loud,
falling down, staggering,

Vince calls him in, tells him,
"Go home, I'm done with you."

Shawn goes ballistic.

Walks by me in the hallway,
just goes off.

‐ You know, I went

and browbeat Hunter
unfairly, obviously.

‐ And I just went off back,

you know, in his face,
screaming match back and forth,

and he storms out.

‐ Now that's another one
that makes me cry.

I went and said some
mean stuff to him

and walked out.

And, you know,

that sucks as well.

‐ And I don't talk to him
for a long time.

‐ We didn't speak,
I don't know,

I mean I would think at least
a year, two years.

It was, what do they call it,
the rock bottom.

[dramatic music]

[indistinct chatter]

‐ Our son was at the age
to where he was,

you know, walking around,
more aware of things,

and it was the night

when Shawn had fallen asleep
on the couch‐‐

a drug‐induced sleep‐‐

with our son
climbing all over him

and saying, "Daddy's asleep."

‐ To me,
the biggest thing again

was Cameron saying,
"Daddy's tired."

And it sort of dawning on me

that he was now being able
to recognize

clearly my state of mind.

I went into the bathroom
and closed the door.

Looking at yourself
in the mirror

and, you know,

I sat there and cried
like a baby and wept,

you know,
realizing that you are failing,

you know,
a two‐year‐old little boy.

And all of those things

sort of came crashing down
that night,

and I just‐‐it's the first
time I ever feel

like such a frickin' failure.

And I think that that was
the last straw for him,

and when he woke up
the next morning,

he told me he was never
taking pills or drinking again,

and from that point,
he didn't.

It was an instantaneous
letting go

of the drugs and alcohol.

‐ I just called him
up out of the clear blue,

I just asked him when the last
time he talked to Paul,

and, um, he just avoided
that situation.

I just said, "Man, you're wrong,
you got to call him."

I called Hunter
and let him know,

you know, how sorry I was
and how out of line I was.

And I said,
"I hope you can forgive me."

I needed that from Hunter.

For me, it was easy,
like, I didn't‐‐

as long as it
wasn't drugs talking to me.

‐ It's good to see you.

[patting]

‐ Group hug.

‐ Of course,
I do regret the pain

that it caused people
in my life,

but there is a part of that
that I don't think

that Michael Shawn Hickenbottom
can get

to where he got creatively

without a little bit of that
reckless, risky mindset.

I wouldn't have
had the guts to do it.

‐ It was our
first Christmas together,

and I gave Shawn a Bible
and some other books,

and he began reading them.

‐ I had never had anything
that I could grasp

that was bigger
than the wrestling business.

That's just not enough to base,
I don't know, a life on.

‐ I worked at Cornerstone
Church in San Antonio, Texas.

All of a sudden
I heard a deep voice said,

"I want to come
to a Bible study."

And then I got up from my desk

and stuck my head out the door,

and I said,
"Well, you can come to mine."

When he left,
everybody came out and said,

"Do you know who that was?"

I said, "No, I don't know
who that was, who was it?"

And they said,
"Shawn Michaels,"

and I said,
"Well, who's Shawn Michaels?"

He said, "Well, first, Keith,

I want you to pray
for my back."

He says,
"I've been out of wrestling

and I want to go back."

I said, "Well,
there's a simple prayer

that we can pray together."

And while he was saying
that prayer,

tears just come
out of his eyes.

‐ I got nobody
to blame but me,

and I don't have anything
in common with the other dude,

and I don't know
how I got that way.

It wasn't from family.
It wasn't from upbringing.

‐ He was so desperate

to get back in that close
relationship with Rebecca

and his son.

‐ I was now a dad,
I was a husband,

and I was really devoted
and thrilled about that.

‐ You're like a child,

you just want to tell
everybody, "I've been saved."

‐ Once Shawn got
his life together

and found Christ,
it was night and day.

When he looks back
at his life,

that's the biggest thing
that he ever did.

‐ You were
dealing with the grownup

when Shawn came back,

someone who was there
to do business.

Shawn was a lot calmer
and much easier to deal with.

‐ Shawn Michaels of old

is very different from Shawn
Hickenbottom,

the man I married.

The sexy boy
and all that kinda stuff,

and his cocky attitude

and the cocky little smile
that he does.

That's so far
from who he really is.

‐ I remember
somebody asking me,

they said, you know, "Hey,
I heard Shawn found religion."

Yeah. They laughed,

and I said, "I don't anybody
that died OD'ing on religion."

‐ He had called Triple H.

He thanked Hunter
for the time on the road

because before his marriage
to me,

the one who took
care of him was Hunter.

That night, after Shawn
had gone to bed,

he woke up in the morning and
the pain was gone in his back.

It was definitely a miracle.

So, he was physically ready
to go back in the ring,

and I knew that the Lord
would take care of him.

‐ We were kind of
having conversations

at the time, and then he said,

"I want my son to see me
do this one time,"

he said, "But I don't know
that I can do it,

I don't know physically
if I can or not,"

and he said, "If I'm going to,

I only trust one person,
that's you.

If you consider it,
I would love to do it.

What do you think?"

‐ Moments away
from the non‐sanctioned fight

between two men who were,
at one time, best friends,

Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

Shawn Michaels last wrestled
1,609 days ago,

if you can believe that.

‐ His whole family was there.

You know,
they were all scared to death.

Got in the ring,
did a couple of things.

[bell rings]

Never missed a beat,
not a moment, not an anything.

‐ I was on my chair
like a redneck,

just screaming
and yelling for him.

Of course, I cried at the end.

‐ Like,
how is this possible,

that he is this good still,
after all that time

and injury and everything else?
Unbelievable.

‐ It was just as easy
as the day is long,

it was poetic,
it was phenomenal,

it was everything that is right
and good about the world

in this line of work, and,
you know, my family there,

out there
with my best friend.

‐ The Heartbreak Kid,
Shawn Michaels!

‐ After the Summerslam,

that's when there was
a sense of peace and joy

in the midst of doing
your job and your family,

combining these two worlds
that I've never had together,

and I'm not even
the same person.

And now,
and it all feels so right.

That's as good as it gets,
you know,

it's heaven on Earth here
in this room.

‐ Shawn Michaels
changed completely

as a human being.

And somehow, as a character,

he managed to keep a lot
of the aura that he always had.

I could argue that Shawn was
at his best after he came back.

[cheers and applause]

‐ To me,

the greatest in‐ring performer

of all time.

[soft music]

‐ It gets more difficult

to find a new mountain,
a new challenge.

Sometimes that mountain
or that new challenge

just isn't there.

And so later on in my career,
I learned that

when I disconnect from it,
something will usually happen,

and, you know,
the one with Flair

is the one I honestly
always speak of.

Remember the story
of Old Yeller?

The Showstopper's gonna
take you, Old Yeller,

behind the woodshed
and put you out of your misery.

I lost myself in that drama.
[laughs]

I get a call from my buddy,
Kenny,

who's now been
made aware of the match.

It's like, oh my goodness,
he said, "Can you believe it?"

‐ It was overwhelming to think
that the guy that we idolized

that we would watch a little TV
box in San Antonio, Texas,

somehow their lives were going
to interconnect.

Ric was his guy.
He absolutely loved Ric Flair.

‐ Kenny took me back
to that time.

‐ This was why I went
from New York to Orlando,

was to see this moment.

[bell rings]

‐ Now in this match,

should Ric Flair lose,
he must retire.

‐ I remember feeling

like the way Ric Flair
started this match,

that he had a chance.

[grunts]

‐ There's no other way
to put it‐‐he carried me.

He gave everything
that anybody could ever give

to a match that night.

‐ Oh, wait a minute,
wait a minute, look out.

Good grief!

Oh, not again!

‐ It becomes clear

that Ric Flair
just doesn't have enough.

I love this part, I could
tear up talking about it.

Flair, like an old dog,
still fighting,

he thinks he still has it.

And that's when Shawn sort
of has to have that moment

where he says,
"I'm sorry, I love you."

‐ Flair wants to fight.

‐ And just turns
the lights out.

It was as beautiful and perfect
an ending to a wrestling match

as you will ever have.

‐ He knew I didn't
want to go,

and he said,
"I love you."

It's a great moment
in wrestling.

I don't care what anyone says,

you can't replace something
like that.

‐ Unashamed

that it was my love letter to,
you know,

the wrestling business
and to Ric Flair.

‐ It is show day,
and we're off to the shi‐zow.

I've been doing this
for 35 years,

and days like today,

it's a different kind
of anxiety that I have now.

I have anxiety
for the performers

for the entire show as a whole.

For me it's just
all fantastic,

especially when it goes well
for them,

and they come back
and they're jacked.

It's ten times better than‐‐

than when I had
that opportunity.

This is where
I'm supposed to be.

I absolutely love it.

[soft music]

‐ What moment would you say

you're most proud of,
and then by the same token,

what moment would you say
you are least proud of?

‐ Most proud I guess would be

winning the world title.

And least proud would probably
be the Montreal incident.

One is everything
you aspire to do,

and the other
is the complete opposite.

Something you really
don't want to be a part of.

It's the long‐term guilt,
it's the shame,

it's the loathing that you know
this person has for you.

‐ There was so much
bad blood between us,

and I was always like,
if I see him, I'll kill him.

I've always believed
that I had so much anger,

that I think it
led to my stroke

and lot of things
that I went through.

And I remember
thinking about Shawn

and how we were good friends
once upon a time,

and, you know,
that it wasn't just Shawn.

I was guilty too.

And I remember thinking
it'd be good to put it to bed.

‐ And I've certainly
talked about my regret

and the hope
for reconciliation.

It took him some time
to get there.

Vince had suggested
there's gotta be a way

we can do this live,
in front of the world.

‐ I've got 12 years
of things

that I've wanted
to get off my chest.

I want to call back there

and ask Shawn Michaels
to come out here.

I call for a truce,

and I call for you
to shake my hand.

The fact that we did that
in the ring

and we shook hands
and all that was very honest

and very sincere.

‐ You know
that everybody's watching

when you are trying to have
this very real moment

with one another.

Art does imitate life.

‐ He's matured,
and he's a different guy,

[cheers and applause]

and I thought he finally,
you know,

he's got his priorities
all in order.

[cheers and applause]

‐ Welcome

to the 25th anniversary

of WrestleMania!

70,000 WWE fans.

‐ By the time Shawn
Michaels and Undertaker

meet at WrestleMania 25,
they're veterans,

they've been around forever.

And somehow,

they're actually
both in their absolute prime.

[ethereal music playing]

‐ One of my
favorite entrances,

Shawn as The Undertaker,

but in all white,
ascending from the clouds.

Such a stark contrast
to what I'm about to do.

It was the battle between
heaven and hell.

‐ Prior to 2002,

we did not have a great
relationship.

We did not like each other
outside the ring.

‐ This guy,
I genuinely liked now.

And it had been years
and years and years

since we had worked together,

since the time
that he had injured himself

in the casket match.

‐ Unknown to us
at the time,

we're about to create one of
the most epic things ever done

in the wrestling business.

‐ There's that
brash arrogance.

70,000 chanting HBK
the other half, Undertaker.

[audience screaming]

‐ Ooh!
‐ Whoa!

[cheers and applause]

[triumphant music]

‐ You know
when you're in the middle

of something really special,
and we did.

‐ Incoming!

Tombstone piledriver.

♪

[bell rings]

‐ I just remember
getting to Shawn,

and we just embraced,
and hugged,

and thanked each other.

It was an awesome moment.

‐ It was on the ride home
the next day,

just settling into me
that I just don't know

that I'm ever going
to encounter,

from a performance standpoint,

anything greater
than that thing

that I experienced last night.

‐ There's only one match

that can be considered
Match of the Year,

Shawn Michaels
and the Undertaker.

[rock music playing]

‐ Undertaker, I can beat you.

You and me, WrestleMania,
one more time.

[cheers and applause]

‐ So, I remember
tuning into WrestleMania 26.

I had a knot in my stomach

knowing that if Shawn Michaels
wasn't able to win this one

that he would retire.

But it was a beautiful,
artistic way

to end the career
of Shawn Michaels.

[cheers and applause]

‐ One, two, three!
[bell dings]

‐ Shawn Michaels'
career is over.

‐ My heart was broken.
My heart was broken.

but I'm glad also that he got
to leave on his own terms.

‐ It was important
that I get out of there

to let the fans show him
the appreciation he deserved.

[cheers and applause]

‐ I have to imagine
that Tom Brady

and Michael Jordan, as much
as they appreciate the fans,

I think more than anything
it's about their teammates

and the people that they played
that means the most to them.

[clapping]

[dramatic music]

A lot of time,
there's still a chasing

of that last perfect one,

and that's why
I'm so appreciative

that I can define
some form of finish line.

There's two things
that I thrive on,

it's two things
that I'm in love with,

which is, you know,
Rebecca and the kids,

and the wrestling business.

Oh, yeah, my team.

They're the two greatest
loves of my life.

That's never changed.

[applause]

You've probably been
to more ladder matches

than half the people
in the ring, I would imagine.

[soft music]

And then stops,
loads up the‐‐

Whoa, he goes down.

‐ It's awesome for me
to have Shawn there.

I can tell you
what he's thinking,

he can tell you
what I'm thinking,

and there's a chemistry there.

We have this uncanny
with each other.

‐ There's just a little
something in there

to do, just a small little‐‐

‐ Shawn's, you know, a legend

and for a legend to walk
into an environment

full of performers.

‐ Go get them, boys.
[laughs]

‐ They revere him so much.

‐ Welcome to NXT Takeover.

There is the North American
Championship.

Who will climb the ladder?

‐ Shawn has been a role model

both in and out of the ring.

‐ Ding, ding, ding.

‐ I have so much
respect for that man,

for not just what he's done
for professional wrestling,

but for the type
of person he is.

‐ [laughs]

‐ To me and so many others,
he's the greatest.

[all exclaiming]

And it's insane
how kind, generous,

and humble the guy is.

‐ That is good stuff.

‐ Sometimes
I think he doesn't realize

that he's Shawn Michaels.

Step carefully.
Whoa! Gee.

Oh, my God!

That was frickin' great!

When you said
a tale of two lives,

that's what it's been.

Believe it or not,
the same business

that might have
almost killed me,

I think, is the same business
that saved me.

No, you did a great job,
phenomenal.

Thank you very much.

‐ These guys are easy
to work with, so‐‐

‐ I know I accomplished
more than what I wanted.

I never lost touch
with the 19‐year‐old dude

that was hoping to have
a car and an apartment,

and be the Southwest
Heavy weight champion.

A lot more has happened
since then.

[applause]

Whoa!

Jiminy Cricket.

Holy Toledo.
[laughs]

‐ That's like the Shawn thing.
That's like the Shawn dance.

‐ Golly!

Frickin' awesome.

‐ ♪ I'm just a sexy boy

♪ Sexy boy

Oh, goodness gracious!
That is good stuff.