Did Michaels deserve his "Boyhood Dream"?

[Deleted]

It's pretty much no doubt that ol' HBShizzle is one of the greatest to ever step in the ring, but back in the 90s, and this may just be me personally, he didn't really seem like that big of a star. He had the ability, of course, but he was still fighting off injuries and his personal demons in less-than-stellar ways, and this was at a time when ratings were way down. Michaels honestly didn't seem like a huge draw, but in the same vain, there wasn't a whole lot of "stars" in the WWE at that time.

Years after the Ironman match, the WWE loves to recount this moment over and over again and have it as THE defining moment of HBK's career. To me, that honor would go to his 2002 return and the outstanding matches that followed. Do you all think that he got what he deserved at that moment in time or was it all just hype?

[Old Jack Burton]

To me, the art and the story is more important than the money. So my answer is: yes.

[Lila]

If they did back in '95, it would be too early, but he was heel at WM11. If he doesn't get "injured" before WM13, I think it would have overshadowed Bret/Austin assuming that match still happens instead of the Bret/HBK 2. They did it at the right time, but over the years, it's lost some aura to it because of how often it gets mentioned and knowing what happens next between those two in late '97.

[Tony Schiavontay]

Yes because he came out for the match on a zipline.

[The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM}]

HBK was my favorite since I could remember. I cried when was jumped by nine guys and when Owen hit that enzuigiri. I cheered when he won the Rumble and then hit that SCM in overtime and won the title. He absolutely deserved it. As a young mark, I bought it all hook line and sinker.

[Mid-Carder]

Did the best wrestler in the world deserve to be wrestling's top champion? Yes.

[fw91]

No because he was managed by that douche Jose Lothario.


Of course he did.............

[dav]

Not really. Guy wasn't even the most over person in the company at times. Sid got cheered over him on a number of occasions. Granted, there were few other options, but if they'd done other stuff differently (Give Nash much better booking and utilised their talent), they could have.

[The Ichi]

It's actually one of my favourite title win moments, up there with Mankind's first and Eddie at No Way Out 2004.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Yes he did and to say he wasn't a draw is a hard thing to judge and something a lot of people don't look at as a whole. They just look at the numbers and who was champion. What WCW had and what WWE had going on NOBODY in HBK's role as champion would out did the NWO. HBK dealt with Hall and Nash leaving and Bret Hart taking time off. 2 Hour live Nitro vs. One hour Raws. WCW had the Crusierweight and WWE had nothing to counter that. WCW had the NWO that was booked as an invasion and WWE had HBK facing camp Cornette and then Mankind and Sid.

The WCW Tag teams was must better then the gimmick heavy WWE at the time.It was just WCW was over all a stronger brand and HBK didn't have much under card help. I mean once you get passed HBK's match and Taker's match there wasn't much else there. If Bret was facing Vader, Bulldog,Mankind, and Sid. would that changed a whole lot? or if Taker was defending against the same guys would that over came the NWO? I doubt it. WWE didn't have the it angle or a good angle to counter against it.

[Eunös ✈]

Yes he did

and I say this as someone who doesn't even like the guy.

[Hit Girl]

Yes, of course.

[Deleted]

Yes and it felt good because HBK was in the company for nearly a decade and seeing him finally the big one was very special. Wish there was more moments like this with current long time employees. Like Zigglers WWE Championship win would feel so f***ing special

[Deleted]

I was fine with it and still am.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

No. He wasn't over as a face and his main rival on the roster wasn't Bret, it wasn't Diesel or Razor either, it was Vacant as he vacated nearly every title he had when asked to job to someone who wasn't his friend so couldn't be trusted with the main belt.

He could be the best worker of all time but that means squat when very few storylines he's involved in reach their intended conclusion because he suffers convenient injuries, gets himself suspended or some other excuse that no-one in the audience believes for a second because it's happened over and over again. Giving him the main belt was rewarding him for being unreliable, and surprise, surprise, when it came time to job to Bret, he lost his smile and he had to be chaperoned by Triple H and threatened by Taker to get him to do the right thing for Steve Austin.

[Deleted]

The way Vince would be all specific and call it "the dream of a 12 year old boy" made it seem like Shawn was the Day Man.

[Captain & Diet]

Two words: Bear-skin rug

[somsta]

Absolutely.

[jmule]

It should've been marty...

[somsta]

Feb 6, 2015 22:56:15 GMT -5 jmule said:

It should've been marty...

That coward gave up any dreams when he dove out that window.