On August 28, 1994, Michaels and his ever more popular sidekick, Diesel, captured the WWF World Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers. During their brief time as a tag team, they used a variation of the Headshrinkers' finishing move, where Michaels would finish off their opponent by climbing on Diesel's shoulders and splashing on their opponents. The next day, at SummerSlam 1994, Diesel lost the Intercontinental Title to Ramon when Michaels accidentally Superkicked his bodyguard.
This triggered a Michaels-Diesel split, drawn out until the Survivor Series 1994 that November due to Michaels' hand injury at the time. Michaels went on to win the 1995 Royal Rumble, setting up a championship/grudge match at WrestleMania XI against Diesel. Michaels recruited Sid as his bodyguard for the build-up, lost the match, and then was turned on by Sid the following night.
As Sid challenged Diesel for the gold, Michaels took time off. He returned to the ring, as a 'babyface', in June 1995, and toppled Jeff Jarrett in July 1995 for his third Intercontinental Title. This would lead to a title defense against Razor Ramon at SummerSlam 1995, in a Ladder Match, which Michaels won.
Around this time, Michaels became the alleged leader of a backstage group known as The Clique/Kliq, which others perceived had sufficient clout with WWF owner Vince McMahon, to become the dominant wrestling figures in the promotion for several years in the mid-1990s. Michaels disputes the perception, saying that McMahon pushed only deserving wrestlers. Shawn's fanbase was later nicknamed "The Kliq" as an inside reference to the real "Clique."
In October 1995, he was attacked by several men outside a Syracuse, New York, bar. Shortly afterwards, at the In Your House: Great White North PPV Michaels forfeited the Intercontinental Title to real-life enemy Dean Douglas as he was, according to the WWF, unable to compete. However, Douglas lost the title immediately to Clique member Razor Ramon. Douglas maintained that Michaels could have wrestled that night and simply didn't want to put him over.
The next month, during a match with Owen Hart on Monday Night RAW, Owen nailed Michaels with an Enzuigiri kick to the back of Michaels' head. They continued to wrestle, but Michaels then collapsed in the ring, supposedly because he had suffered a concussion in the Syracuse incident. The concussion was a work, skillfully kept from most fans at the time.
After teasing a retirement, Michaels announced that he would be returning to the WWF at the 1996 Royal Rumble match, which he won for the second year in a row. Around this time, Jose Lothario, Michaels' original trainer, became his on-screen manager.
Michaels won his first WWF Championship at WrestleMania XII in March 1996, pinning Bret Hart in the 'sudden death' overtime of their a sixty minute Iron Man match, which had ended in a 0-0 tie. As WCW gained momentum due to the signings of Michaels' friends Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, Michaels soldiered on as champion for most of the year, notably overcoming Mankind, Vader and The British Bulldog in pay-per-view battles.
At SummerSlam 1996 in his main event WWF championship match with Vader, Shawn notoriously became agitated during the match when Vader misheard Shawn and didnt move out of the way on his subsequent elbow drop. Shawn changed direction in mid air upon realising Vader wasnt going to move and then shouts loudly "move!" whilst stamping legitimately on Vader's head. Shawn admitted in a later recorded shoot interview that Mankind, suggested that during their match at In Your House: Mind Games, Shawn should re-enact his genuine heat with Vader during match against Mankind and perform the same stamp sequence seen at SummerSlam 2 months earlier.
This triggered a Michaels-Diesel split, drawn out until the Survivor Series 1994 that November due to Michaels' hand injury at the time. Michaels went on to win the 1995 Royal Rumble, setting up a championship/grudge match at WrestleMania XI against Diesel. Michaels recruited Sid as his bodyguard for the build-up, lost the match, and then was turned on by Sid the following night.
As Sid challenged Diesel for the gold, Michaels took time off. He returned to the ring, as a 'babyface', in June 1995, and toppled Jeff Jarrett in July 1995 for his third Intercontinental Title. This would lead to a title defense against Razor Ramon at SummerSlam 1995, in a Ladder Match, which Michaels won.
Around this time, Michaels became the alleged leader of a backstage group known as The Clique/Kliq, which others perceived had sufficient clout with WWF owner Vince McMahon, to become the dominant wrestling figures in the promotion for several years in the mid-1990s. Michaels disputes the perception, saying that McMahon pushed only deserving wrestlers. Shawn's fanbase was later nicknamed "The Kliq" as an inside reference to the real "Clique."
In October 1995, he was attacked by several men outside a Syracuse, New York, bar. Shortly afterwards, at the In Your House: Great White North PPV Michaels forfeited the Intercontinental Title to real-life enemy Dean Douglas as he was, according to the WWF, unable to compete. However, Douglas lost the title immediately to Clique member Razor Ramon. Douglas maintained that Michaels could have wrestled that night and simply didn't want to put him over.
The next month, during a match with Owen Hart on Monday Night RAW, Owen nailed Michaels with an Enzuigiri kick to the back of Michaels' head. They continued to wrestle, but Michaels then collapsed in the ring, supposedly because he had suffered a concussion in the Syracuse incident. The concussion was a work, skillfully kept from most fans at the time.
After teasing a retirement, Michaels announced that he would be returning to the WWF at the 1996 Royal Rumble match, which he won for the second year in a row. Around this time, Jose Lothario, Michaels' original trainer, became his on-screen manager.
Michaels won his first WWF Championship at WrestleMania XII in March 1996, pinning Bret Hart in the 'sudden death' overtime of their a sixty minute Iron Man match, which had ended in a 0-0 tie. As WCW gained momentum due to the signings of Michaels' friends Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, Michaels soldiered on as champion for most of the year, notably overcoming Mankind, Vader and The British Bulldog in pay-per-view battles.
At SummerSlam 1996 in his main event WWF championship match with Vader, Shawn notoriously became agitated during the match when Vader misheard Shawn and didnt move out of the way on his subsequent elbow drop. Shawn changed direction in mid air upon realising Vader wasnt going to move and then shouts loudly "move!" whilst stamping legitimately on Vader's head. Shawn admitted in a later recorded shoot interview that Mankind, suggested that during their match at In Your House: Mind Games, Shawn should re-enact his genuine heat with Vader during match against Mankind and perform the same stamp sequence seen at SummerSlam 2 months earlier.
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