Jim Ross Reveals Why WWE Chose Shawn Michaels As The Main Guy Over Bret Hart

[Dave24]

When Hulk Hogan left the WWE in 1993, Vince McMahon needed a new franchise superstar to build around.

The WWE chairman handpicked Lex Luger as his main guy, even giving "The Narcissist" his own bus called "The Lex Express." But McMahon gave up on the Luger project soon afterwards, and he eventually focused on two other premier superstars in Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

"The Showstopper" and "The Excellence of Execution" both proved the ability to carry the torch as the main guy. Michaels and Hart were two world-class in ring talents, and it didn't take either of them long to get over with the fans.

So, how did Vince decide on who should become "the guy"? On his Grilling JR podcast (h/t WrestlingInc.com), former WWE and current AEW play-by-play commentator Ross explained that Michaels' "charisma" is what set him apart from his longtime rival.

"At that time, the plans for major events like WrestleMania were made farther out than I feel like they are nowadays," Ross explained. "Shawn kept having great match after great match and he had the one thing Vince loved, sizzle, charisma. Shawn had an abundance of that, Vince has always been a fan of sizzle at times more than steak. Bret always delivered steak, I thought he had plenty of sizzle, but Shawn was the flavor of the week.''

Although they displayed remarkable in-ring chemistry together, Hart and Michaels also had a well-documented personal rivalry. This led to a long series of backstage politics and arguments between the two.

The whole rivalry reached its breaking point at the 1997 Survivor Series pay-per-view in Montreal, Quebec. Hart was about to leave the WWE for the rival WCW promotion (at the advice of Vince). The plan was for Hart to retain his title over HBK, before dropping it on his way out of the company.

Instead, Hart was a victim of the infamous Montreal Screwjob conducted by McMahon, Michaels, Triple H and referee Earl Hebner. 13 years later, Hart returned to WWE and officially "buried the hatchet" with Michaels and McMahon.

Everything Worked Out For Both Hart & Michaels
Hart was certainly a victim in backstage politics. He has claimed that both Hogan and Michaels refused to put him over. Otherwise, Hart could have wound up becoming "the guy" in WWE. At any rate, the Hall of Famer still crafted one of most successful and accomplished careers in the history of professional wrestling. Michaels turned out to be the perfect pick as the top face in WWE, too. For the most part, it worked out beautifully for everyone, despite the Montreal Screwjob incident.

Jim Ross Reveals Why WWE Chose Shawn Michaels As The Main Guy Over Bret Hart

 

[Dave24]

Jim Ross reveals details about the incident where Shawn Michaels legitimately hit his opponent at WrestleMania

Shawn Michaels is very different today than he was during the 90s. Shawn Michaels has become one of the most respected veterans of the locker room today but that wasn't always the case. The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels has raked up multiple controversies during his career.

Speaking of one such incident on his podcast Grilling JR, Jim Ross revealed that Shawn Michaels was legitimately hitting Bret Hart during their match at WrestleMania 12. It was Bret Hart's professionalism that didn't allow the situation to escalate as he refrained from breaking kayfabe on-screen.

Jim Ross further added that if Bret Hart wanted he could have beaten up Shawn Michaels in a real fight. Jim Ross gives more details regarding Shawn Michaels unruly behaviour during the match where he even talked rudely to the referee Earl Hebner and told him to get out of 'his ring'.

"No one was happy that Bret was so distressed. Certainly, Shawn saying what he said to Earl Hebner the referee was uncalled for. It was immature. It didn’t show the respect of the guy who just put the title on you. Unnecessary.It just showed Shawn was a very, again, we said earlier, 30 years old, top of the world, he’s got that attitude, and you can either love and embrace that attitude, that I’m the best ever, and I’m the right guy for this role, I want to bring sizzle which Bret Hart didn’t in Shawn’s view. So it doesn’t shock me to hear this, but it’s still disconcerting, it was very ill timed. And the sensitivities of Bret, Bret took great pride in being the top guy."

Shawn Michaels' legit punches to Bret Hart

Jim Ross also talked about how Shawn Michaels was lucky that Bret Hart didn't respond by hitting him back during their match. Ross believes that Bret Hart showed great character and integrity by maintaining his cool inside the ring.

"Shawn’s lucky that, if he’s throwing those potatoes as Bret wrote in his book, which I have no reason to doubt, he’s just very lucky that Bret didn’t retaliate, because Shawn could not handle Bret in that type of world. It showed great character and integrity by Bret Hart to not lose his cool when he’s getting stiffed."

Jim Ross reveals details about the incident where Shawn Michaels legitimately hit his opponent at WrestleMania

 

[Silkk]

shyt was no a brainer, Not to mention HBK is 8 years younger than Bret

 

[Dave24]

 

[GOAT]

Shawn's title reign was boring as fukk. For as much shyt as people give Bret for his charisma/character work, the product INSTANTLY got better when he returned from his hiatus in '96 and started feuding with Austin.

 

[CM_Burns]

Like Jake said, the business was in a bad place when those are the guys

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Looking back, not only was Shawn younger than Bret but also far easier to Market it seems. I didn't know Dude was an a$$hole to Hebner like that after the Ironman Match.

Coked Up
Probably couldn't Fight in Real Life, lemme find out HBK was Food to Bret if they really had to throw hands.

He had No Choice but to go Religious when he became more and more Washed

 

[Dave24]

@Bruce Wayne

 

[Francis White]

@Bruce Wayne

I believe Shawn 100%.

 

[TrueEpic08]

Michaels turned out to be the perfect pick as the top face in WWE, too.

What idiot wrote this?

Bret may have been around an above-average draw at his best when he was on top between 1993-1996, and Shawn's inability to draw is slightly overblown (house shows were fine during his run even if ratings and buys weren't), but it can't really be denied that by the time Fall 1996 came around, people were not tuning in to watch his title run, not that they were doing so in droves beforehand. Oh, and he was a massive dikk around that time as well. Add to this the fact that Bret was such a draw internationally that they asked him to come off his 96 sabbatical twice to bolster international tours, and I'm not sure why anyone would make this statement.

A major part of the reason why Vince chose Shawn isn't written in this article, but is referred to by JR constantly when he discusses Shawn's pre-back injury career: Vince saw a LOT of himself in Michaels (ironically, this is also why he made for such a shytty top babyface). That, combined with the charisma and work rate (though again, Shawn was a much, much better bumper than seller, which is why he was such a tremendous top heel from mid-97 to WM XIV), as well as the fact that he never truly wanted to give Bret the ball (put the belt on him in 92, took it off him in 93 and pushed to make Lex Luger the guy before going back to Bret in 94, tried to make Diesel the guy in late 94-95 only to have to go back to Bret in late Fall 95, then gave it to Shawn in 96 only to eventually have to go back to...Bret yet again in 97) probably made it a relatively easy decision for Vince to make in his eyes.

Oh, and this notion that Bret had no sizzle/charisma/whatever is ridiculous when you look at his drawing power as a babyface (again, especially overseas, but even domestically he was the best guy they had until Austin got the ball) and his overall character work in 1997 (great promos, and great and unique babyface/heel dynamic I wish more companies would have the courage to exploit). But Vince isn't a wrestling guy in the same way that JR is a wrestling guy, so we got what we got.

 

[TL15]

Both classic members of NWO

 

[Homer Simpson]

Shawn Michaels is the most overrated wrestler of all time. His run was trash and people credit him with starting the attitude era when his whole gimmick was a cartoon.

 

[showtime]

What idiot wrote this?

Bret may have been around an above-average draw at his best when he was on top between 1993-1996, and Shawn's inability to draw is slightly overblown (house shows were fine during his run even if ratings and buys weren't), but it can't really be denied that by the time Fall 1996 came around, people were not tuning in to watch his title run, not that they were doing so in droves beforehand. Oh, and he was a massive dikk around that time as well. Add to this the fact that Bret was such a draw internationally that they asked him to come off his 96 sabbatical twice to bolster international tours, and I'm not sure why anyone would make this statement.

Oh, and this notion that Bret had no sizzle/charisma/whatever is ridiculous when you look at his drawing power as a babyface (again, especially overseas, but even domestically he was the best guy they had until Austin got the ball) and his overall character work in 1997 (great promos, and great and unique babyface/heel dynamic I wish more companies would have the courage to exploit). But Vince isn't a wrestling guy in the same way that JR is a wrestling guy, so we got what we got.

This is 100% lies HBK outdrew Bret in everything and it wasn't even close. PPV buyrates, TV show ratings, House show attendance, Merch and all of this is supported by actual numbers and facts and not the opinion of some shytman fan.

Outside of Diesel Bret is arguably the worst draw of all-time

 

[Silkk]

Both classic members of NWO

Thats crazy to think about lol

 

[Metal Face]

Diesel WWF Champ from May 1, 1995 - Nov 19, 1995 & WWF made $3.19 million PROFIT that fiscal yr

HBK WWF Champ from May 1, 1996 - Nov 17, 1996 & WWF made $6.50 million LOSS that fiscal yr

Source: WON

We all know who the real main guy was