Shawn Michaels

Michaels at WrestleMania

**Michael Shawn Hickenbottom** (born July 22, 1965), is an American retired professional wrestler that is currently an active member of the WSC roster under the ring name *"The Heartbreak Kid"* **Shawn Michaels** and is 1/2 of D-Generation X. Michaels is a former WSC Hardcore Tag Team Champion with frenemy Triple H and a former WSC Hardcore Champion. Michaels is the oldest Hardcore Champion, winning the championship at age 55.

### D-Generation X (2020)

Michaels made his WSC debut in the Tag Team Ladder Match to crown the first WSC Tag Team Champions along with Triple H as D-Generation X, and faced against The Usos (Jimmy and Jey), The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff), and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). After a long and awesome battle, DX became the first Tag Team Champions.

DX then successfully retained the championships against Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), followed by retaining against The O.C. (Finn Balor and AJ Styles), The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods) before sadly losing the titles to The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane).

DX tried to get the titles back by facing against The Usos in a Gauntlet Match, but lost. After the match, Triple H betrayed Michaels and bashed his head in and even made him bleed, ending DX and Michaels became solo.

### Hardcore Champion (2021)

Michaels returned after Triple H's match against AJ Styles to confront him, which then became a big brawl that the referee's had to stop. This set up a match with the two, where they absolutely had one banger of a match, ending with Michaels finally winning the WSC Hardcore Championship.

Michaels then had to defend his championship in the first WarZone Match against Triple H, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston, Kevin Owens, Kenny Omega, and Keith Lee. Sadly, Michaels lost his championship to Triple H.

Michaels tried to get the title back in a Triple Threat Match with Triple H and then champion The Stage Creator, but lost to Nathan. Michaels' latest match came when he entered the 2021 Royal Rumble at #28. During the match, Michaels and Triple H reunited DX, but then both got RKO'd by RK-Bro and got eliminated by Riddle.

### Elimination Chamber (2022)

After a year from the breakup, DX officially returned when they made their entrance after The Usos retained their titles in the Tag Team 2022 Elimination Chamber. Then it was announced that DX would be facing against The Usos, RK-Bro, and Darby Allin and Willow the Wisp at WrestleMania.

### WrestleMania (2023-present)

On January 2, Nathan announced the date of the WrestleMania match on January 8, which was the first WSC match of 2023. The match begins with each team jumping each other. Not 20 seconds into the match and Randy Orton decides to attempt and break Michaels's back, as he lunges Michaels into the edge of the announcer's table. Matt Riddle then follows with a Floating Bro to D-X, followed by The Usos performing a Suicide Dive to the two teams, followed by Willow the Wisp performing a Whisper in the Wind to everybody below. Eventually, The Usos end up winning by performing a Double 1-D to Riddle and Darby Allin (with interference by Solo Sikoa).

### Personal Life

Hickenbottom's first marriage, to Theresa Wood, soon ended in an amicably settled divorce. He married Rebecca Curci, a former WCW Nitro Girl known as Whisper, on March 31, 1999, at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Only the couple and an Elvis impersonator were present. Their son, Cameron Kade, was born on January 15, 2000, and a daughter, Cheyenne, born on August 19, 2004, followed. His cousin Matt Bentley is also a professional wrestler, having wrestled in TNA and WWE.

In 1996, Hickenbottom posed for a non-nude layout in *Playgirl* magazine. Only after he posed did he discover *Playgirl* has a mostly homosexual readership, for which some of his fellow wrestlers teased him.

He is ambidextrous, and had trouble differentiating between right and left, which affected his football games as a boy. He uses his right hand to draw and color and his left hand to write. He typically kicks with his right leg in Sweet Chin Music, but uses either arm for his signature elbow drop, depending on the position.

In 1987, Hickenbottom developed a pattern of "heavy" substance abuse, which eventually alienated some of his closest friends. He contemplated suicide in the late 1980s, and suggested that psychological intervention was "probably sorely needed" by the late 1990s. His wife Rebecca observed: "There was something in him that he despised, and he was self-destructing." Hickenbottom's fear that he was going to negatively influence his young son, prompted him to abandon his previous lifestyle.

Hickenbottom became a born-again Christian on April 24, 2002. He was raised a Catholic, but became a non-denominational Christian because of his wife. His later ring attire often incorporated cross symbols and he made a praying gesture on his knees during ring entrances. Hickenbottom was in the audience for a televised service of John Hagee's Cornerstone Church in his hometown, San Antonio, where he is also a Bible teacher. In 2008, he appeared on a Trinity Broadcasting Network program with fellow professional wrestler Sting.

Cactus Jack •
Edge •
Jeff Hardy/Willow the Wisp •
The Fiend/Bray Wyatt •
Roman Reigns •
Braun Strowman •
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin •
The Stage Creator •
Kevin Owens •
Brock Lesnar •
Finn Bálor •
Aleister Black •
Matt Riddle •
Triple H •
**Shawn Michaels** •
Seth Rollins •
CM Punk •
Cody Rhodes

Brothers of Destruction; Kane and The Undertaker •
The Usos; Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso •
The Fiend and Aleister Black •
The Shield; Roman Reigns and Jon Moxley •
The Wyatt Family; Erick Rowan and Luke Harper •
The Drip Gods; The Stage Creator and Seth Rollins