Rating The Champ: Shawn Michaels

Welcome to a new series on the website, called Rating The Champ. This will follow my prior World Title Series, where I reviewed each and every WWE Heavyweight Champion in history from Hulk Hogan’s first title win in 1984 all the way to the current days. Money in the Bank cash-ins will not be included for obvious reasons, unless it was a proper match (ie: Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand 2006). Royal Rumble and battle royales won’t be included as well.

In this new series, I will rate all the PPV matches from each and every WWF/E Heavyweight Champion in history. To be fair, since this is the WWF/E title, I’ll only rate their PPV matches in the WWF/E. In this edition, we’ll be looking back at the PPV career of the one and only, former WWF & World Heavyweight Champion, Shawn Michaels.

1988

• Twenty Men Survivor Series Elimination Match (Survivor Series) ***1/2

1989

• W/ Marty Jannetty vs. The Twin Towers (WrestleMania V) **

• W/ Jannetty & Tito vs. Rick Martel & Rougeau Brothers (SummerSlam) ***

• W/ The Warriors vs. The Heenan Family (Survivor Series) ***

1990

• W/ Marty Jannetty vs. The Orient Express (WrestleMania VI) ***

• W/ Marty Jannetty vs. Power and Glory (SummerSlam) ***

• W/ The Vipers vs. The Visionaries (Survivor Series) ***1/4

1991

• W/ Marty Jannetty vs. The Orient Express (Royal Rumble) ***3/4

• W/ Marty Jannetty vs. Haku & The Barbarian (WrestleMania VII) ***1/2

• W/ Marty & Bushwhackers vs. Nasty Boys & Beverly Brothers (Survivor Series) ***1/4

1992

• Vs. ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana (WrestleMania VIII) **1/2

• “No Hitting In The Face”: Vs. Rick Martel (SummerSlam) 1/2*

• Vs. Bret Hart – WWF Championship (Survivor Series) ****1/2

1993

• Vs. Marty Jannetty – WWF Intercontinental Championship (Royal Rumble) ****

• Vs. Tatanka – WWF Intercontinental Championship (WrestleMania IX) ***

• Vs. Crush – WWF Intercontinental Championship (King of the Ring) *3/4

• Vs. Mr. Perfect – WWF Intercontinental Championship (SummerSlam) ***

• W/ The Knights vs. The Hart Family (Survivor Series) **1/2

1994

• Ladder: Vs. Razor Ramon – WWF Intercontinental Championship (WrestleMania X) ****3/4

• W/ The Teamsters vs. The Bad Guys (Survivor Series) **

1995

• Vs. Diesel – WWF Championship (WrestleMania XI) ***1/4

• Vs. Kama (King of the Ring) **1/4

• Vs. Jeff Jarrett – WWF Intercontinental Championship (IYH 2: The Lumberjacks) ****1/2

• Ladder: Vs. Razor Ramon – WWF Intercontinental Championship (SummerSlam) *****

• Winners Take All: W/ Diesel vs. Yokozuna & The British Bulldog – WWF Tag Team, WWF IC & WWF World Championships (IYH 3: Triple Header) **3/4

• W/ Bulldog, Sid & Ahmed vs. Razor, Owen, Yokozuna & Douglas (Survivor Series) ***

1996

• Vs. Owen Hart (IYH 6: Rage in the Cage) ****

• Iron Man: Vs. Bret Hart – WWF Championship (WrestleMania XII) ****1/2

• No Holds Barred: Vs. Diesel – WWF Championship (IYH 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies) ****3/4

• Vs. The British Bulldog – WWF Championship (IYH 8: Beware of Dog) **1/2

• Vs. The British Bulldog – WWF Championship (King of the Ring) ****

• W/ Sid & Ahmed vs. Vader, Bulldog & Owen (IYH 9: International Incident) ***1/4

• Vs. Vader – WWF Championship (SummerSlam) ***3/4

• Vs. Mankind – WWF Championship (IYH 10: Mind Games) ****3/4

• Vs. Sycho Sid – WWF Championship (Survivor Series) ***1/2

1997

• Vs. Sycho Sid – WWF Championship (Royal Rumble) **

• Vs. Steve Austin (King of the Ring) ****

• Vs. The Undertaker (Ground Zero) ***3/4

• Vs. The British Bulldog – WWF European Championship (One Night Only) ****

• HIAC: Vs. The Undertaker (Badd Blood) *****

• Vs. Bret Hart – WWF Championship (Survivor Series) ***3/4

• Vs. Ken Shamrock – WWF Championship (D-Generation X) **

1998

• Casket: Vs. The Undertaker – WWF Championship (Royal Rumble) ***1/2

• Vs. Steve Austin – WWF Championship (WrestleMania XIV) **3/4

2002

• Unsactioned: Vs. Triple H (SummerSlam) *****

• Elimination Chamber Match – World Heavyweight Championship (Survivor Series) ****

• Three Stages of Hell: Vs. Triple H – World Heavyweight Championship (Armageddon) **

2003

• Vs. Chris Jericho (WrestleMania XIX) ****1/2

• W/ Booker & Nash vs. HHH, Flair & Jericho (Backlash) **3/4

• Vs. Ric Flair (Bad Blood) ***1/4

• Elimination Chamber Match – World Heavyweight Championship (SummerSlam) ***1/4

• Vs. Randy Orton (Unforgiven) ***1/4

• W/ Team Ausin vs. Team Bischoff (Survivor Series) ****1/4

• Vs. Batista (Armageddon) **3/4

2004

• Last Man Standing: Vs. Triple H – World Heavyweight Championship (Royal Rumble) ***1/2

• Vs. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit – World Heavyweight Championship (WrestleMania XX) *****

• Vs. Chris Benoit vs. Triple H – World Heavyweight Championship (Backlash) ****3/4

• HIAC: Vs. Triple H (Bad Blood) ***1/4

• No DQ: Vs. Kane (Unforgiven) ***1/2

• Vs. Triple H – World Heavyweight Championship (Taboo Tuesday) ***1/4

2005

• Vs. Edge (Royal Rumble) ***1/4

• Vs. Kurt Angle (WrestleMania 21) *****

• W/ Hulk Hogan vs. Muhammad Hassan & Daivari (Backlash) **

• Vs. Kurt Angle (Vengeance) ****1/2

• Vs. Hulk Hogan (SummerSlam) **1/2

• Vs. Chris Masters (Unforgiven) **3/4

• Vs. John Cena vs. Kurt Angle – WWE Championship (Taboo Tuesday) ***1/4

• W/ Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown (Survivor Series) ***1/4

2006

• Elimination Chamber Match – WWE Championship (New Year’s Revolution) ***

• No Holds Barred: Vs. Vince McMahon (WrestleMania 22) ***1/4

• W/ “God” Vs. Vince & Shane McMahon (Backlash) **3/4

• W/ Triple H vs. The Spirit Squad (Vengeance) **1/2

• W/ Triple H vs. Vince & Shane McMahon (SummerSlam) ***

• Handicap HIAC: W/ HHH vs. Big Show, Vince & Shane (Unforgiven) **3/4

• W/ Triple H vs. Rated-RKO (Cyber Sunday) ***

• W/ Team DX vs. Team Rated-RKO (Survivor Series) ***1/4

2007

• W/ Triple H vs. Rated-RKO – World Tag Team Championship (New Year’s Revolution) ***1/2

• W/ John Cena vs. Batista & The Undertaker (No Way Out) ***1/2

• Vs. John Cena – WWE Championship (WrestleMania 23) ****1/4

• Vs. John Cena vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton – WWE Championship (Backlash) ****1/4

• Vs. Randy Orton (Judgment Day) **

• Vs. Randy Orton – WWE Championship (Cyber Sunday) ***

• Vs. Randy Orton – WWE Championship (Survivor Series) ****1/2

• Vs. Mr. Kennedy (Armageddon) ***1/2

2008

• RAW’s Elimination Chamber Match (No Way Out) ***1/2

• Career Threatening: Vs. Ric Flair (WrestleMania XXIV) ****1/2

• Vs. Batista (Backlash) ***1/4

• Vs. Chris Jericho (Judgment Day) ****1/4

• Stretcher: Vs. Batista (One Night Stand) ***1/2

• Vs. Chris Jericho (The Great American Bash) ***3/4

• Unsactioned: Vs. Chris Jericho (Unfogiven) ****

• Ladder: Vs. Chris Jericho – World Heavyweight Championship (No Mercy) *****

• W/ Team HBK vs. Team JBL (Survivor Series) ***

2009

• Vs. JBL (No Way Out) **

• Vs. The Undertaker (WrestleMania XXV) *****

• W/ Triple H vs. The Legacy (SummerSlam) ****

• Submissions Count Anywhere: W/ Triple H vs. The Legacy (Breaking Point) ***

• HIAC: W/ Triple H vs. The Legacy (Hell in a Cell) ***1/2

• W/ Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown (Bragging Rights) ***1/4

• Vs. John Cena vs. Triple H – WWE Championship (Survivor Series) ***3/4

• TLC: W/ Triple H vs. JeriShow – Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (TLC) ***1/4

2010

• Career vs. Streak: Vs. The Undertaker (WrestleMania XXVI) *****

2018

• W/ Triple H vs. The Undertaker & Kane (Crown Jewel) **3/4

TOP FIVE

5. Triple H (SummerSlam 2002)

4. Kurt Angle (WrestleMania 21)

3. The Undertaker (WrestleMania XXV)

2. The Undertaker (WrestleMania XXVI)

1. The Undertaker (Badd Blood 1997)

Average rating per year

• 1988 – 3.5

• 1989 – 2.67

• 1990 – 3.08

• 1991 – 3.5

• 1992 – 2.5

• 1993 – 2.85

• 1994 – 3.38

• 1995 – 3.46

• 1996 – 3.89

• 1997 – 3.5

• 1998 – 3.13

• 2002 – 3.67

• 2003 – 3.43

• 2004 – 3.88

• 2005 – 3.31

• 2006 – 2.94

• 2007 – 3.56

• 2008 – 3.86

• 2009 – 3.47

• 2010 – 5

• 2018 – 2.75

Overall average rating

3.40/5

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Don’t miss the next article here on Rating The Champ, looking back at former WWF/E Undisputed Champion, Hulk Hogan.