Once again, Ric Flair was right when he spoke on Monday night.
It is time for Shawn Michaels to be what he once was. I never thought that I would ever write this, but it’s time to bring back the Heartbreak Kid.
Not the ‘lost his smile’ HBK. Not the Jose Lothario managed baby face, and definitely not the mullet-clad HBK from WrestleMania Eight who defeated El Matador while his manager Sherri scared small children at ringside. No friends, I’m talking about do anything, authority despising, pompous HBK from 1996-97.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the Shawn Michaels of 2003 can’t add up to the old HBK as far as in-ring work goes, so I won’t try. I’ll also say that the days of DX are over, so I’m not here figuratively jumping up and down making crotch chops shouting for their return.
What I think there is room for though, and dare I say what RAW needs, is Shawn Michaels to be the same guy he was in the DX days on the microphone. Back then he would say and do anything to annoy the fans, and at the time Vince McMahon.
Like most long time fans, it was great seeing him and hunter wearing facemasks with wipers on them when talking to Slaughter. It was surprising when HBK came down to the ring dressed as the Undertaker, only to throw off the robes and dance around.
HBK back then had charisma, and more importantly, a really well developed character. He would do things that would make you laugh one minute, and then hate him the next. He was great for TV - Just the kind of guy that aside from Jericho, RAW is lacking.
When you compare that HBK to the current one, it’s easy to see the difference.
Aside from his initial return, the HBK character hasn’t developed at all. When the nostalgia return pop, and brief title run ended after four months, so did all his character development.
Aside from the brief role as mentor to Maven, and the ‘Don’t hunt what you can’t kill’ catch phrase that was popular for about as long as the pop band Hanson, I can’t really think of any new development.
Some could argue that it’s always harder for a wrestler to be a face then a heel, because you can always do something heinous that the fans will hate as a heel, while the face in wrestling is pretty much limited to making the save when someone is getting unfairly beat down, and sucking up to the fans.
While I would agree with the basic premise of that argument, other faces at least try new things to keep the fans with them, while Shawn has seemingly been dragged into the role of the old legend still kicking around to feud with the next up and coming guy.
It’s time for that to change, and the opportunity is here with the current Goldberg feud.
Despite his in-ring ability, ‘Da Man’ is over with the people. In fact, aside from Austin, he could very well be the second biggest face on RAW. What better way for fans to turn against Shawn than him aligning with the returning Kevin Nash, Evolution or both to not only roll Goldberg, but to collect the hated Triple H’s $100,000 bounty?
Shawn could then take the reigns of a heel faction, where his ability to cut some great heel promos could be used. He could also then continue to fight his limited schedule, and still be a solid contributor on TV by having his group – what ever they’re called – do his dirty work for him week in and week out.
Because of the changes that Shawn made in his personal life during his time away from the WWE, I wouldn’t expect the heel HBK to run around telling people to ‘suck it’.
Instead, like all good heels, I would expect Shawn to use the some elements of truth in his promos to get the fans irritated. He could remind fans that he was the reason why people watched to the product for years. He could say that he made the Heel in the Cell match famous. He could demand the credit for smaller guys like RVD being popular because he paved the way for the smaller man in the land of the giants. Stuff like that.
People hate it when someone tells them something they don’t want to hear. Just ask all of those fat, ugly, out of shape Tennessee hicks that Rick Rude would want to be quiet so all the women in the arena could see what a real man looked like. Rude was booed because deep down, the fans knew that Rude was in better shape.
The same type of logic can be updated and used successfully by HBK, and I hope it is. I want to boo him again because he’s entertaining me, not because I’m tired of him.