Sportskeeda's 7 Sins series is back and this time we are here to take a look at one of the great professional wrestlers to have ever competed inside the squared circle – Shawn Michaels. While The Heartbreak Kid is universally loved by the WWE Universe for his glittering career, he hasn't always been the charming character he portrays on screen.
This was especially true during the first phase of his career. A time when he was on top of the wrestling world and enjoying every minute of it, there are numerous accounts of Shawn's terrible backstage behaviour.
While he did mellow down and improve himself upon his return to the WWE after years away due to injury, there have been instances of the old Shawn rearing his ugly head once in a while. Today, we are here to see that ugly side in all its glory.
So, without any further ado, let's get into our list of the 7 Sins of Shawn Michaels:
#1 Lust – The affair with Sunny
The first sin on our list is Lust and there was definitely plenty of that going around between Shawn Michaels and legendary WWE Diva, Sunny, in the 1990s. While they were paired together for an onscreen angle, the two took their working relationship to the next level personally as well.
While something like this between two single wrestlers would have been okay, what makes this quite terrible is that Sunny was in fact married at the time to another WWE wrestler by the name of Chris Candido.
Sunny recently revealed all the sordid details of the affair in her book, confirming the rumours which have circulated for years.
#2 Gluttony – A hoarder of success
Shawn Michaels was the single biggest star in the WWE in the mid-1990s before the rise of the Attitude Era. He was the Golden Boy with the WWE Championship and was pretty much untouchable as the biggest man in the company.
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for him. Shawn, Triple, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman – collectively known as The Kliq – all had the ear of Vince McMahon and used this position of power to help push their own agendas while keeping down superstars they did not like.
It's a sin of great gluttony that all of them – and HBK in particular – tried so very hard to hoard their success.
#3 Greed – Refusal to put over other superstars cleanly
Shawn Michaels’ sin of greed comes from his reluctance – and even outright refusal – to cleanly put over other superstars in the company. There were famous examples his backstage altercations with Bret Hart over this issue and his reputation became so bad that one time even The Undertaker got involved.
When Shawn was booked to put over Stone Cold Steve Austin as the new WWE Champion, there was a lot of fear backstage that HBK wouldn't do so because of his greed.
The Undertaker took matters into his own hands, threatening to knock Michaels out cold if he didn't do as he had been booked to do.
#4 Sloth – A very poor and lazy trainer
You know how the WWE loves to harp on about the fact that Daniel Bryan is a student of Shawn Michaels? Well, that's utter BS. He's actually the student of William Regal. Shawn Michaels just happened to be another instructor at the wrestling school where Bryan earned his stripes.
The Heart Break Kid is notorious for being a lazy trainer who doesn't impart lessons properly. It's not all his fault, of course, as he is a natural at professional wrestling and that doesn't give him the insight needed to be a great trainer.
But, the issue arises from the fact that Michaels doesn't even put in enough effort to be a decent one. The epitome of Sloth.
#5 Wrath – Destroying Chris Jericho in an unsanctioned match
We're sticking with kayfabe for this entry and this is one where I'm actually on Shawn Michaels' side for this one. When Chris Jericho attacked his wife as part of an angle, HBK went down the path of Wrath.
Facing off against Y2J in an Unsanctioned Match, Michaels took no prisoners and punished Jericho as he beat him from pillar to post. The whole thing got so bad that the referee actually stopped the match and awarded The Showstopper the win.
#6 Envy – Always jealous of other people's successes
Shawn Michaels apparently hated seeing other people succeed. It was quite apparent through his backstage politicking that he did not like to see people succeed when he felt they shouldn't and it shows an ugly Envious side of Michaels.
This is nowhere more true than in the feud against Bret Hart where the pair became such heated rivals that their hatred for each other spread out into the real world. Bad form, Mr HBK, bad form.
#7 Pride – Sabotaged his match against Hulk Hogan
Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan were scheduled to face off through 2005 in three contests where Hulk would win the first one, Shawn the second and the third to ultimately go over the legendary wrestler. Unfortunately, The Hulkster decided on a last minute change of plans.
He faked an injury and said he would only fight one match and that he would be winning it, thank you very much. Michaels – with his pride very much wounded – completely oversold every piece of offence that Hogan delivered during the match to make a mockery out of the whole thing.
I, for one, think this was a sin of Pride that should be appreciated instead of derided.
