Was the severity of HBK's back injury a work?

[triplealbert]

So, HBK is supposedly a bump away from being crippled and in ridiculous pain and all that.

And then he returns and he's okay.

What's changed in his life?

His back got better. Right?

Also, he got over several drinking/other stuff abuse problems, right?

I've always wondered if his back was an exaggerated excuse to cover the darker stuff.

[Bubble Lead]

Considering I watched the match live that f***ed up his back, no.

I think it was legit. I also think he could have came back sooner than he did but used the time to get his life back together.

So I am saying it was half and half. Either way it doesn't matter, WWE was much better for it and so was HBK.

[Big Daddy Bad Booking]

The drug addiction that followed didn't help HBK get back in the ring any quicker, but his back was that f'ed up, so yeah. People tend to overlook the fact HBK's back was bad before the bump, and the bump put the icing on the cake.

[Stotty]

I always thought of it as though if it had have happened ealrier in his career, he probably would have come back sooner. But given the way his life was going at the time, the injury was the final straw. It wasn't so much that the back injury stopped him from competing, I think he just didn't have the will to come back from it.

Thank god he turned his life around, came back, and proved himself to be one of the greatest of all time

[Tyfo]

From what I remember, his back was in really bad shape and he did not want to have the procedure done (it is a major surgery). When he came back as the commissioner later in 1998 and superkicked Vince McMahon on Raw, I remember hearing that he had to take some serious pain killers following just that one move.

On the other hand, it did obviously heal up somewhat on it's own, likely from not having to bump any longer. Because if you watch his guest ref appearance on the first SmackDown in 1999 in the Rock vs. HHH match, he was moving around really well. But even at that point, bumping probably would have just wrecked him physically.

When he did finally have the surgery (I think sometime in 2000) they didn't really have any hopes because there wasn't a real track record for someone coming back from that kind of surgery. I don't think Shawn or anyone else really knew what he would be able to do once he healed and rehabbed from that operation.

Do I think they worked the severity? No.

Do I think he could have come back earlier then he did? Yes.

But it was for the best that he held off as long as he did and got his life in order. Had he come back in 2001 as was the supposed plan, then who knows what would have happened to him.

[Bravo Echo November]

Agreed he could've come back sooner, but the severity of the injury was real or HBK will forever be declared as the best seller in my book (see WrestleMania 14).

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Oct 8, 2009 23:05:10 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

From what I remember, his back was in really bad shape and he did not want to have the procedure done (it is a major surgery). When he came back as the commissioner later in 1998 and superkicked Vince McMahon on Raw, I remember hearing that he had to take some serious pain killers following just that one move.

On the other hand, it did obviously heal up somewhat on it's own, likely from not having to bump any longer. Because if you watch his guest ref appearance on the first SmackDown in 1999 in the Rock vs. HHH match, he was moving around really well. But even at that point, bumping probably would have just wrecked him physically.

When he did finally have the surgery (I think sometime in 2000) they didn't really have any hopes because there wasn't a real track record for someone coming back from that kind of surgery. I don't think Shawn or anyone else really knew what he would be able to do once he healed and rehabbed from that operation.

Do I think they worked the severity? No.

Do I think he could have come back earlier then he did? Yes.

But it was for the best that he held off as long as he did and got his life in order. Had he come back in 2001 as was the supposed plan, then who knows what would have happened to him.

I don't know about that Painkiller stuff. If you recall his commissioner stuff. HBK was dancing around like his normal self for a while. He didn't wait for his back surgery. He had it in 98. It was I can't remember if it was his shoot interview he did or his book. Talked about the pain he was just after his Mania match. That he couldn't get out of bed and what not.

If you recall in 98 HBK came in before his comissioner days he did anounce work and ran off Mark Henry who was doing that deal with Chyna. He looked great that night. Then he did his dancing aorund stuff then as he did during his comissioner days. In late 98 into 99. HBK was at WM that year which was before the first Smackdown. Which there was never a time that HBK wasn't doing anything non wrestling that he didn't do before. He dancing and stuff. But yeah you can tell he was messed up at times because he eyes look like he didn't sleep in days.

Now I think why he didn't wrestle sooner was his life was out of wack and while he could move well taking bumps is different. Just remember HBK did wrestle a match for his brief training wrestler days in like 00 or 01. It was all covered in PWI magazine. But I do recall he wasn't all right because I recall a PPV appearnce where he was in WWE new york I think it was Armaggeddon 00. And he sounded like he was drunk and didn't look good. Nothing like a couple months before where he showed on up Raw over the whole who ran over the Rock deal.

I think 01 is where he got his life back together and was kicking the problems because that year we didn't see HBK on WWE TV.

[TheJaredAnderson]

I've always pondered this myself as well. I think it was played up more than it was but also from everything i've heard and read and seen in shoots Shawn was in a reallllly deep hole after he left and obviously was into a lot of substance abuse. Knowing this I just feel like Shawn was sitting around all day eating cookies (see Heartbreak and Triumph) and finally one day just started getting clean and made his comeback. Anyone whose been in deep substance abuse can tell you, you just wanna sit around not doing much of anything but your drug of choice.

[johnnyk9]

No it was legit

[ginohernandez]

See his WM 14 match with Austin. He cringed throughout the whole match. When they were up here in Boston leading up to match he spent 3 days before hand at Mass General Hospital with doctors constantly giving him therapy and cortisone injections just to be able to work the match. SO in short, Hell No!

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

They showed footage on the news here in SA that featured him talking after the surgery. You could tell he was in pain. He indicated that he just wanted to spend as much time as possible at home in SA without doing much physical work.

[Paul E. Funk]

He had his back fused something tells me it wasn't to cover up any drug problems.

He rested and rehabbed following Mania 14 and it just didn't work. He wasn't really improving, could he swing a chair and do his usual dancing? Apparently so but he couldn't work a match and spent most of his spare time in agony (hence the prescription pill problem). He was written out of storylines on December 28th 1998 (getting smashed into a windshield on a show that aired a week later) and had spinal fusion surgery in early January 1999.

The surgery pretty much meant the end of his active career according to doctors the surgery would simply enable him to live day to day without the pain (this should have seen the end of Shawn pill popping, but by then he was hooked and just taking pills around the house, convinced that he needed them; that's addiction).

Over the next few years he made sporadic appearances and was supposed to make an appearance on the 26/3/2001 Raw in an angle involving HHH but turned up wasted. He and HHH had a huge fallout and didn't speak for a year (that's one of the reasons he wasn't on TV at all in 2001). Finally the love of a good woman and the birth of a child turned his life around he found God and returned as an active wrestler. I can't explain how he does it. I guess it's just the power of positivity.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Was he really in serious pain? Yes.

Was the injury so severe that he required divine intervention to wrestle again? No.

So, both. It was certainly true that he couldn't keep going back then. But of course he exaggerated things to make this compelling narrative of his amazing miracle return.

[ginohernandez]

I remember when he returned for his promotion, HWA, down in Texas and wrestled a match sometime in 2001 that was basically a hardcore street fight type deal. He took chair shots to the back during that match. After the match he gave an interview that said he could take chairshots and punches and kicks to the back but nothing that would require his back absorbing impact, like a powerbomb or suplex. Regardless, if he never came back think of the trouble the WWE would really be in now

[tartsonawire]

I hope I'm not violating forum rules by saying this, but I don't doubt the severity of his injuries. God healed him. The man has said it himself.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Oct 9, 2009 11:52:19 GMT -5 Paul E. Funk said:

Over the next few years he made sporadic appearances and was supposed to make an appearance on the 26/3/2001 Raw in an angle involving HHH but turned up wasted. He and HHH had a huge fallout and didn't speak for a year (that's one of the reasons he wasn't on TV at all in 2001). Finally the love of a good woman and the birth of a child turned his life around he found God and returned as an active wrestler. I can't explain how he does it. I guess it's just the power of positivity.

I thought the fallout was more with Vince then Hunter. Didn't Vince actually fire him over this incident? Which is the straw that broke the camel's back with regards to Shawn cleaning up

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Oct 9, 2009 14:34:13 GMT -5 tartsonawire said:

I hope I'm not violating forum rules by saying this, but I don't doubt the severity of his injuries. God healed him. The man has said it himself.

God regrew my leg after it was blown off by a land mine. Do you believe me?

I'm not saying anything about the existence of God, the usefulness of prayer, or the effect of faith on anyone's life. My point is that it's a bit silly to take someone's word on something like that, especially when they have a history of being a bit self-aggrandizing.

[Crappler El 0 M]

The injury was very real and over a few years his back healed enough to where HBK could return to the ring.

[hbk4ever09]

The injury was definitely real. The major thing is he had injuries before the occassion with Taker. That just put it over the top. So he was already hooked on pain killers (And other stuff) and now he was just completely f***ed even if he wanted to quit. In his book it seems amazing he made it to WM both mentally and physically because his whole world was blowing up around him basically. I think he said he had to take like 4 pills right before the match with Austin just to get through it. Pretty crazy he did a kip-up and flying elbow and all that.

Though he doesn't go into detail in his book his surgery must have gone very very well. Combine that with a clearer mind which equals a probably 1000x healthier lifestyle in a phenomenal natural athlete and we have Shawn Michaels. I'm sure the religion helped him, if only in his mental state.

[ac89]

He did wrestle a match in 2000 when he was still running his training school, don't know how it went etc... but just thought I would chip that in.