Heartbreak & Triumph - Sexy Shawn Michaels
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When i first picked this up i didnt think it would be much of a read, just a bit more info about my childhood hero and a pic or 2 to perv at! However, after the first page or 2 i was impressed and if your not a Shawn Michaels or wrestling fan its worth the read just to understand what these men put there bodies though, the emotion and hardwork that goes into the lives they have to adapt to with all the travelling, sleeping in cars as that the only chance for rest and also the strains on their relationships both family and marital. I am pretty impressed with the whole book and glad to say that once again HBK comes out on top!!!!
BUY this book - you will not be dissapointed
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Selective memory at its finest.
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Firstly I, like many others, admit that Shawn Micheals is one of the greatest and most talented wrestlers of all time. Infact I'd even go on to say that he is perhaps in the top 10 of all time in terms of greatest in ring performers along with Mr Perfect,Bret Hart and others. But Shawn the person is a strange piece of work.
What annoys me is how he goes on to bury Bret at every given opportunity. Fans have not forgotten the "I swear Bret I knew nothing about it" talk in 1997 but amazingy admits in this book that screwing Bret was mainly his i.e Shawns idea! he goes on to praise himself for thinking of such a plan. Much of the same self appraisal throughout this book but his accounts of his childhood and locker room stories are worth the read even though his "all against me" claims become tiring.
WWE now is awful and thats mainly due to Vince Mcmahon absurd ideas but what keeps it alive is Shawn Michaels the performer and one appreciates his hard work in this book.
Well worth the read for curiosity's sake if nothing else.
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Split personality
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I couldn't resist reading this in much the same way that a devout Christian wouldn't be able to resist reading the Satanist's Bible if he happened to come across a copy.
Shawn Michaels comes across as contradictory, dishonest, self-obsessed and with a severely selective memory. This shows up nowhere clearer than when he talks about Bret Hart, whom he never fails to slander, poke and snipe at whenever he gets a chance and quite frequently, even when he doesn't.
I'm quite frankly not surprised that Michaels has such a reputation for being a pain in the backside and a selfish little scrote: he very obviously is all of that and more! The degree to which he contradicts himself throughout the book raised many laughs. Only someone as truly self-deluded as he could believe that the world is set so unfairly against him. Personally I think the top billing in the world would be him against a fit Bret, in a UFC ring, because he'd last about sixty seconds.
Buy this book if you're a wrestling fan, or an HBK fan particularly. You will find it insightful, mainly into the almost schizophrenic/narcissistic state of mind of the author, but to other things as well. Shawn's finding of religion, reading between the lines, comes across as someone finding just yet another crutch to lean on to recover from his drug and mental problems, rather than a true spiritual awakening.
If he truly has "found God", let's hope he does some serious self-asessment and realises just what a selfish SOB he can sometimes be (although I have to give him points for selflessness as well - the above cited case of the WM 14 main event for one) and what he owes some people he's been truly cruel and ignorant to.
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Shining light on the legend that was HBK
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before i begin, I want the guy below me to know: Micheals did not keep down "The ROck" at all.
i was nevr a shawn micheals fan, until Summerslam 2005, when his main event was against Hulk Hogan, whom i cant stand. since then iv been a humongous fan, and came to buy this book.
its brilliantly written, and very funny some times. he tells about all the big thigns in his career (from the break-up of the Midnight Rockers, to meeting Hunter and climaxes at Wrestlemania 21, vs. Angle).
As you would have expected, there is a full chapter on the one night (and the various stipulations leading up to it) in Montreal Quebec, 1997. i think this was a bit of a gamble for Micheals to write about it, bcos its obviously gonna b a bit biased...micheals blames bret hart alot for what happened at the main event that night, whereas the blame comes down i think more heavily on Vince Mcmahons paranoia (he was accusing Bret Hart of somethign we now know he had no intention of doing). it covers his early retirment in alot of detail, and then the strange rivalry between him and Chris "Y2J" Jericho. i was dissapointed that he did not go into detail ovr his time as commisioner for WWF, because if you older fans recall, he cut his most hilarious promo to date at Wrestlemania 15.
this is an entertaining read for any wrestlign fan, let alone a HBK fan...even if its just to get a bit of background ovr the Bret "Hitman" Hart ordeal, its worth a read.
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Poor, poor HBK.
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I bought this book on the notion that it would be an entertaining read and a great look at a mans career, of which Shawn has had a great one. In all honesty I thought he realised it a little early, especially since he has fought Hogan and Vince since, and I would have loved to have heard his thoughts on this, especially on the backstage issues involving the Hogan work. Since Have a Nice Day is my favourite autobiography, Ive pretty much set it as the template of which a wrestling bio should be set so I'll probably be refering to it a few times in the review.
Firstly, I want to point out. Am I a Shawn Michaels fan? No! Do I respect his work? Yes, very much. Its impossible not too. The man goes out and puts on a show every times hes in the ring, heck, the guy wrestled with a broken back just to get Steve Austin over. That demands respect. The book itself, begins telling tales of Shawns youth, and provide some very funny and humours tales, about his mother, his brother, school friends and his temper. While he doesnt go into huge detail like Mick Foley did, he paints a very interesting picture and its enjoyable to read about how he got into wrestling and his training. Again though, he doesnt go into as deep as Mick did in his book which hurts a little because you dont learn about the emotional and physical pain he goes through. More like 'he was great and gifted and he would do well'.
Once he gets through his early years and into his times with Marty and being the Rockers, the book goes down hill a little for me. Instead of offering funny stories, of which there could be many, he spends to much time in the book making himself look like the innocent victum, how he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time, how everyone hated him and no one understood him. Shawn was a piece of work, he admits it, but to many people have said to much of the same thing over the years to allow him a get out of jail free card. He lied his face off for nearly 7 years about the screwing of Bret Hart, even lying to his face and 'swearing to God' that he knew nothing about it, so to read about how he was innocent in so many of the dealings of what went on stretches the imagination a bit.
Especially that when you consider, Shawn was the top dog, the champion and always seemed to be in the main event shuffle, despite all these things happening to poor HBK. He always takes pot shot after pot shot against Bret and buries him on more than one occasion, claming he was the carrier and Bret was just the load. If you've watched Brets DVD, and heard Bret put Shawn over, despite how he feels about him, it just makes Shawn like incredibly petty. A great instance of his disliking for Bret is when he calls Bret 'not a great wrestler'. Now, Bret is a man who made any man he worked with look like a killer. Bret and Shawn hate eachother, theres no doubting this, but its Shawns argument that makes the statement laughable. He claims Bret only wrestled his way and that caused problems for Kevin (Diesel) in their matches. For the record, Kevin Nash has had 5 good matches in his whole career and 3 of those matches were with Bret. Now, this should easily point out that Bret made these matches work, but Shawn refuses to acknowledge this and buries Bret further.
If you can look past the sob stories, of which there are many and the knocks at Bret, at which there are many more, you'll enjoy the book. He does get mixed up and contradicts himself on a few occasions, claming how he didnt mind loseing to Bret, only then saying he DID mind loseing to him. Another funny point is when he says two good wrestlers (himself and Mr Perfect "Curt Hening") just couldnt have a classic match, conveniently forgetting that two good wrestlers (Bret Hart and Mr Perfect "Curt Hening") had two classic wrestling matches. He also conveniently forgets how he 'well knowingly' tried to hold down The Rock (which has lead to heat that exsists to this day between them.)
Its like I said, I am not a Shawn Michaels fan and knowing how he has had drug problems and having watched his shoot interview where he looks out of his mind and completely contradicts everything he says, it makes his sob stories in this book a LOT harder to believe, and will to anyone who has actually seen the shoot interview. However, despites Shawns constant Bret bashing and sob stories, the book is a great read and any HBK fan should not go without it. It is really interesting to see how he met Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Triple H and how he howned his character and adjusted it with the times. It also helps to provide an interesting look on his character and how he has changed since finding God.
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