Looking back he didn't win that many world titles. He won the WWF Title a few times before he retired and he won the World Heavyweight Title once after his return.
Why did he not win the WWE Title after his return? I mean I understand that he was older and you needed to put younger guys over (obviously Cena being one of them,) but a title reign or two couldn't have hurt. What do you all think about this? Should he have won it? And when?
I feel like that Raw after Wrestlemania 23 when he beat Cena he should've won it for a bit.
I'm sure i read somewhere that he didn't want to win the world title when he came back he just wanted good feuds and to put people over like kane so often does
i think his heavyweight title reign in 02 should have been longer, he could have stayed heel after the hogan feud and won the belt, especially after seeing one of the best heel promos ive ever seen with shaun in Montreal
And in today's world. I guess you dont need Champion in house shows anymore. Hence HHH is the champ atleast till mania.
HBK could have easily have few short reigns more. But his career & accomplishments didn't need him to. He's better remembered from all those 4+ star matches he put on during his career.
I still remember the match between Michaels and Undertaker. In that match, the game spirit was the best thing which I found the most impressive output. Do you remember that historic moment of Shawn Vs Undertaker match? The bloodful match?
Because he wasn't good enough. He was the guy in a C+ era and when he returned in 2002 he got a nostalgia run. After that he just couldn't compete with greats like Triple H and John Cena. HBK was nothing more than an overselling vanilla midget and a junkie.
As others have said, it was his choice not to win it because he didn't want to work house shows and he felt that the champ should. IIRC he has about the same amount of world title reigns as Sheamus does so that goes to show you that it really doesn't make a damn how many he's got.
I've heard that Vince wanted to give him a few more runs during his return but HBK always declined. It is very gracious of him, but us die-hard fans would have loved to see another title run, he deserved it and so did we!
Shawn Michaels is a perfect example of a wrestler not needing a title to show their true greatness and stature within the industry, a fifteen year singles career spent mostly at the top of the card with the greatest collection of matches arguably ever seen and for the most part they never needed a world title involved in them.
When you consider that by the end of this year people like Roman Reigns, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus will have as many reigns as Shawn Michaels is really puts into context the phrase of "the wrestlers makes the title, not the title makes the wrestler" for me. It's well known Shawn turned the title down numerous times upon returning in 2002 as he believed the champion should work full time and he only worked Raw and PPV's and took months off at times, I think the most notable time he turned it down was late 2005 or early 2006 when SmackDown needed a champion but because of church commitments he couldn't work Tuesday's so Kurt Angle was drafted back only a few months after going to Raw.
HBK has plenty of accolades that many wrestlers would happily exchange for their numerous world titles, Michaels achieved so many ground-breaking firsts that historically hold more value to WWE & him than umpteen title regins.
He didn't want to, some people forget than being WWE champion is more than holding at fake strap around your waste, being WWE champion means:
+ work all the house shows.
+ promote the company overseas. (long trips)
+ interviews on morning shows. ( I bet you Shawn Michaels would not like to wake up early for an interview)
+etc
Shawn Michaels already had a legend status by the time he returned (2002) and was one of the highest paid wrestlers until his retirement, he simply didn't need the strap to maintain his main eventer status.
Kane also rejected the strap a few times because he considered it would take away time he use to do his other projects (lectures and books).
Like some others have said I read somewhere that he didn't want to win many titles as he just wanted to work great feuds and help put people over, just goes to show that you don't need many title wins to be regarded as one of the best ever like HBK is :hbk2:hbkshrug
There was an interview where Shawn mentioned that he did not want the stress that the world title would have caused, like performing overseas, interviews, promoting the company (commercials and other crap).
But who cares if he didn't hold that many titles? Shawn is clearly one of the top performers ever stepped into the WWE ring.
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