ONCE, THEY WERE INSEPARABLE, BEST FRIENDS, WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS, THE CELEBRATED "DUDES WITH ATTITUDES."
Even as they feuded, their careers seemed eternally intertwined. When fans saw Shawn Michaels, it was widely assumed Diesel would be close by. Those days are over. Like childhood pals torn apart by the choices and respon- sibilities of adulthood, the Heartbreak Kid and Big Daddy Cool have seen their lives go in drastically different directions.
Today, Shawn Michaels is the most popular man in the sport of kings, holder of the Federation Title, the competitor most likely to set the tone for the mat wars in the 21 st century.
And Diesel? By the time this magazine hits the newsstands, he will have departed from the World Wrestling Federation, leaving behind a legacy that - despite it's many high points - never reached it's full potential. How did this happpen? One year ago, Diesel was the man to beat in the World Wrestling Federation. After competing under a variety of names in lesser territories, he'd been rescued from obscurity, finding his identity as the leather-clad bad boy who hit with the intensity of an 18-wheeler.
In the Federation, Diesel played by his own rules and forced even his hated enemies to respect him. Then, in a very short time, it all slipped away - the championship, the glory, his own sense of infallibility. Diesel pointed fingers, blaming the "suits" at Federation headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and fair-weather fans.
Part of what he said was justified. In their ardor to market Diesel to the shopping mall crowd, various corporate executives over-looked the untamed energy that boiled inside Big Daddy Cool's massive frame, the very qualities that propelled him to the World Wrestling Federation Championship. And spectators who bought his merchandise and shouted his name whenever he lumbered down the aisle with the gold around hiss waist quickly changed allegiances when Bret "Hit Man" Hart dethroned hire. But - hey - that's wrestling.
The late Buddy Rogers, Pedro Morales and the Ultimate Warrior all lost championships. However, somehow each managed to keep the fire burning inside. Diesel felt the flames flickering out. And he never stopped to realize that his greatest fuel source was himself.
"That's the problem with the blame game," observes an anonymous former contender for the World Wrestling Federation Title who experienced many of the same frustrations as Big Daddy Cool. "It's easy to say, 'It's Vince McMahon's fault. The fans are idiots.' But what about looking yourself in the mirror and seeing what you've done to cause your predicament? It takes a special kind of wrestler to do that. Shawn Michaels is one. Bret Hart is another. But when push came to shove, Diesel couldn't endure the rigorous self-criticism that a man needs to stay champion."
Some fans have said that Shawn is more talented than his old mate, but Michaels himself disagrees with that. "Even on his worst day, Big Daddy Cool can make the best of men question their decision to enter this great sport of ours," the champion admits. In-deed, in their classic battle at April's In Your House, Diesel came within a hair of recapturing the championship belt he once wore. Yet, when the final bell rang, Shawn managed to outclass him - not so much because he was the superior athlete of the two but because he was a much more focused wrestler.
"Every wrestler has a lot of things to get out of his system," says a longtime trainer. "And it's best if you do it before you're in the championship picture. Michaels has been in the World Wrestling Federation for seven years. He started out not as a singles competitor who was going to fight his way to the championship right away but as a tag team wrestler. He found a partner, learned from him and made his early mistakes as part of a team. By the time that he entered into singles competition, a lot of the kinks in his arsenal were already gone."
Diesel, on the other hand, had very little experience before he rocketed to the position of World Wrestling Federation kingpin. His Intercontinental Title win, Tag Team Championship triumph and conquest of the Federation crown came in rapid succession soon after he was brought into the World Wrestling Federation - as Shawn Michaels' bodyguard.
"No one can question Diesel's ability," says the trainer. "But in some ways he was a clumsy amateur. He never took the time to go to class-to learn what it really means to be a champion. Now, take Shawn Michaels. Michaels studies his opponent, educates himself on every weakness, acknowledges his own shortcomings and then he finds a way to compensate for them. Diesel relied too much on his strength and size to get by. Those are great characteristics to have - look how they helped Diesel - but not enough to dominate the game on a long-term basis."
Diesel is not fully at fault for his naivete. Many of the most profound lessons in the mat wars come from experience. In his tenure in the World Wrestling Federation, Michaels has had the luxury of watching - and analyzing - the finest champions: Hulk Hogan in his prime, the Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Bret Hart and Yokozuna. Shortly before ex-titlist Ric Flair left the World Wrestling Federation, Shawn made a special request to the Federation board of directors: He wanted the opportunity to step into the ring with the legend. Michaels got his wish, fought an exacting battle with the former champion and came away a wiser gladiator.
The Heartbreak Kid's incredible WrestleMania X11 championship win over Bret "Hit Man" Hart came because Michaels had met his adversary before in the ring. Several years earlier, during Hart's first World Wrestling Federation Title reign, he put up the belt against Shawn at the 1992 Survivor Series. Hit Man was a more accomplished athlete at the time, and the Heartbreak Kid went down in defeat. But he never for-got the errors that Bret made during the match and used that knowledge to finally snare the gold in March.
The varying routes taken by Shawn and his former partner shed light on a frequently ignored topic: the importance of seasoning in retaining onp's luster in the squared circle. When all is said and done, Shawn groomed him-self to lead the World Wrestling Federation. Diesel did not. And that's why the Heartbreak Kid is where he is today and Diesel is someplace else.