Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford was an authoritative reference book and style guide published in England by Oxford University Press (OUP). Hart's Rules originated as a compilation of rules and standards by Horace Hart over almost three decades during his employment at other printing establishments, but they were first printed as a single broadsheet page for in-house use by the OUP in 1893 while Hart was Controller of the University Press. They were originally intended as a concise style-guide for the staff of the OUP, but they developed continuously over the years, were published in 1904, and soon gained wider use as a source for authoritative instructions on typesetting style, grammar, punctuation, and usage.

Publishing history[link]

After their first appearance, Hart's rules were reissued in a second edition in 1894, and two further editions in 1895. They were continually revised, enlarged and reissued, and had reached their 15th edition by the time they were eventually published as a book in March 1904. New editions and reprints continued to appear over almost eight decades, until the 39th edition (1983) which was reprinted fifteen times (three - 1986, 1987, and 1989 - with corrections)—the last in 2000.

In February 2002, Oxford University Press published a new and much longer edition (the fortieth) of Hart's Rules under the title The Oxford Guide to Style, promoted as "Hart's Rules for the 21st Century", which is of more value to editors than to typesetters. From this version was adapted New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors, first published in September 2005.

The Oxford Style Manual (2003) combined in a single volume of 1033 pages The Oxford Guide to Style (2002) and The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (2000).^[1] It again provided considerably more information about editing style than Hart's Rules did, but also less about typography.

The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, compiled by Robert M. Ritter, was earlier published as a separate companion volume, in line with the eleven editions of its famous predecessor the Authors’ and Printers’ Dictionary by Frederick Howard Collins (first published in 1905 and renamed in 1983). A freshly compiled successor, published in 2005, returned to the "traditional small handbook form" and is titled The New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. It is intended for "people who work with words—authors, copy-editors, proofreaders, students writing essays and dissertations, journalists, people writing reports or other documents, and website editors."^[2]

See also[link]

• Style guides (for corresponding American and other usage guides)
• The King's English
• Fowler's Modern English Usage

References[link]

• The Oxford Manual of Style (OUP, 2002) Introduction
• The Meaning of Everything (OUP, 2003)

External links[link]

• New Hart's Rules sales specification at OUP
• New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors sales specification at OUP

David Nkrumah Liebe Unger Hart (born 19 April 1955; also credited as D.L. Hart) is an outsider musician, street performer, sign painter, artist, puppeteer and actor. He is best known for his role as a puppeteer on The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Program, a Los Angeles-based public-access television cable TV program, as well as his appearances on Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, performing bizarre puppetry and off-key singing.^[1]

Career[link]

During an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, David stated he first developed his passion for puppeteering upon attending church Sunday school in his youth. He claims to have gotten his start in Hollywood touring with comedian Robin Williams and from making an appearance on The Gong Show in 1977.^[2] In 1990, he made an appearance in Golden Girls and in 1993 in Wings.^[3]

Hart frequently appears on the television shows The Del Talk Show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as well as Tim and Eric Nite Live!. In 2004, David Hart was featured in the documentary Public Access Hollywood.^[4] He made an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2004 and again 2009, as well as on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2004. He also appeared in a commentary on Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season One DVD. Throughout late April and early May 2008 he performed live as part of Tim and Eric's Awesome Tour 2008.^[5]

He can often be seen performing with his puppet "Doug the Dog" just outside the Hollywood Bowl after shows, as well as at the La Brea Tar Pits and Los Angeles Music Center, and is known to many concert goers simply as the "puppet man". He has also been known at times as David Hart, David Unger Hart, David King Liebe Hart and DL Hart.^[2]

Music[link]

Hart writes his own music, mostly about religion, aliens, women, and his life. He has teamed up with his friend and fellow public-access television host Adam Papagan to create music together, with Hart writing lyrics and singing, and Papagan creating the music. They have four full albums and an EP released together. Hart's songs from Tim and Eric are also featured on Awesome Record, Great Songs!.

David Hart has been known to sell an album titled Christian Hymns And Songs Of Praise^[6] at shows during the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour 2008, as well as the 2009 tour. In Spring 2011, Hart and Papagan toured the East and West Coast with a newly-formed band that played punk music exclusively, including new interpretations of their older material. The Best of David and Adam, a compilation cassette tape/download featuring music from David and Adam's five albums, was released by Cellar Hits late-October ^[7].

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

• Christian Hymns and Songs of Praise (2004)
• Awesome Record, Great Songs! (2008)

With Adam Papagan[link]

• Public Access (April 2008)
• New Songs Improvised Live: 6-05-08 (January 2009)
• Trains of The Past and Present (December 2009)
• Monsters (March 2010) ^[8]
• Split EP (with Power Animal) (late-2010)^[9]
• The David Liebe Hart Hymn Book (May 2011)
• The Best of David and Adam (October 2011) ^[10]

Personal life[link]

David was born in Park Forest, Illinois and grew up in Chicago, where his father worked for the United States Postal Service and Chicago Public Schools. Having a deep impression at a very young age, the history of the railroad system has been a lifelong passion of David's.^{[citation needed]} He has written several songs discussing both his personal remembrances and history of mid-20th century railroad lines.

David claims that, when he was younger, he was abducted by Korendian aliens (from the Korendor system), who took skin and blood samples from him. He insists that aliens look like humans as opposed to the notion in pop culture that they're little green men. His most notable song, "Salame", refers to the salutation of the Korendian race. David has attended a weekly UFO meeting in Costa Mesa, California.^{[citation needed]}

He is vocal about his abstinence from smoking, alcohol, drugs and his dislike of rap music— but other parts of his life, especially since his arrival in Hollywood in 1976, are less clear. In interviews he revealed that he served as a cook in the Navy at one point in his life. Hart divorced his wife in 1993. In his song "Dicksboro," he revealed that he lives at the Dicksboro Apartments in Los Angeles, where Dr. Steve Brule from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule is also said to live.^{[citation needed]}

On his Caucasian side, David is related to The Wright Brothers, the creators of the airplane.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• David Hart at the Internet Movie Database
• Hart and Hartmänn Publishing Company

Owen Hart
Ring name(s)	The Blue Blazer[1] The King of Harts[1] Owen Hart[1] Owen James[1] The Rocket[1]
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Billed weight	227 lb (103 kg)[1]
Born	(1965-05-07)May 7, 1965[1] Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Died	May 23, 1999(1999-05-23) (aged 34) Kansas City, Missouri
Billed from	Calgary, Alberta, Canada Parts Unknown (as the Blue Blazer)
Trained by	Stu Hart [1]
Debut	May 30, 1986[1]

Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999)^[1] was a Canadian professional and amateur wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and most notably, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled under both his own name, and ring name The Blue Blazer. A member of the Hart wrestling family, Hart was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the youngest of 12 children to Stampede Wrestling promoter and WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart and Helen Hart.

Among other accolades, Hart was a one-time world champion: a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion; a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion; one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion; one-time WWF European Champion and four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion. He was also the winner of the 1994 WWF King of the Ring. Hart has been cited by a number of peers as one of the WWF's greatest professional wrestlers.^[2][3][4]

Hart died on May 23, 1999 when an equipment malfunction occurred during his entrance from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., at the WWF's Over the Edge pay-per-view event.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Training and independent circuit (1986–1988)[link]

Hart first gained wrestling experience in the amateur wrestling division at high school, through which he met his wife, Martha.^[5] Wrestling was not Hart's first choice for a career; as Martha explained in her book Broken Harts, Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling.^[6] As those attempts were unsuccessful, Hart was trained in his father's Hart Dungeon and made his professional debut in 1986 for his father’s federation, Stampede Wrestling. He remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills. During 1986, Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship.^[7] The success of the team and Hart's in ring skills earned him Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year Award in 1987. After he and Bassarab lost the tag team title,^[7] he feuded with Johnny Smith and Dynamite Kid.

In 1987, Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on several tours. In NJPW, he wrestled Keiichi Yamada both unmasked^[8] and later under the Jushin Liger gimmick. On May 27, 1988, Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.^[7]

World Wrestling Federation (1988-1989)[link]

Hart's success in Japan and Stampede’s working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the fall of 1988. He debuted at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in August 1988 under a mask called the Blue Angel. Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Hart’s younger brother, the WWF decided to create a masked "superhero" type gimmick for him known as The Blue Blazer. The Blazer was eliminated at Survivor Series,^[9] lost to Ted DiBiase on the March 11, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event,^[10] and was defeated by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V.^[11]

Return to independent circuit (1989-1991)[link]

Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without the Blue Blazer gimmick. He also returned to Stampede, until it shut down in December 1989. In 1991, Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a mascara contra mascara match against Mexican wrestler El Canek, thus bidding farewell to the Blue Blazer gimmick.^[12]

World Championship Wrestling (1991)[link]

Owen debuted in World Championship Wrestling's self-titled TV show on March 16, 1991, the first of five TV matches he competed in, all of which were against preliminary talent. One of the bouts saw Owen team with Ricky Morton.^[13]

Return to World Wrestling Federation[link]

The New Foundation (1991–1992)[link]

Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company's headquarters in Atlanta.^[6] Instead, he signed with the WWF for a second time. In the WWF the popular Hart Foundation, composed of his brother Bret and real-life brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, had split up; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly. When Neidhart returned from a storyline injury, he joined Owen to form a team known as The New Foundation.

Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers. They then had their only pay-per-view match at the Royal Rumble in January 1992 where they beat The Orient Express.^[14] Neidhart left the WWF shortly afterward, and Hart set out on a very short run as a singles wrestler, including a match at WrestleMania VIII against Skinner.^[15] Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart was teamed up with Koko B. Ware to form the duo known as High Energy. They had only one pay-per-view match as a team, at the Survivor Series where they lost to The Headshrinkers.^[16] The team was quietly dropped at the start of 1993 with Hart starting a singles career.

Feud with Bret (1993–1995)[link]

Owen's feud with his brother Bret, won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Feud of the Year award and garnered praise from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for their steel cage match at SummerSlam.

In the middle of 1993, when Bret Hart’s feud with Jerry Lawler ignited, Owen stood by his brother’s side and fought against Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association where most of the WWF talent were considered the heels. Owen won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Papa Shango.^[7] Owen’s participation in the WWF vs. USWA feud was cut short when he suffered a knee injury in the summer of 1993 and was forced to take some time away from the ring.

Hart returned to the WWF ring in the fall of 1993, at a time when Bret’s feud with Lawler was temporarily sidetracked. Bret, along with Owen and their brothers Bruce and Keith, were scheduled to face Lawler and his team at Survivor Series. However, Lawler was unable to make it to the show, and as a result could not appear on WWF television. Lawler was replaced with Shawn Michaels. During the match Owen and Bret inadvertently crashed into each other, causing Owen to be eliminated from the team. Owen showed up after the match and had a heated confrontation with Bret, while Keith, Bruce and Stu tried to calm things down. This confrontation resulted in Owen leaving the ring to boos while his brothers and father watched in dismay and mother Helen cried at ringside. The following night Owen adopted the pink and black tights, sunglasses and Sharpshooter finisher to send a message to his brother. Owen, angry with being in Bret's shadow, challenged his brother which Bret declined. Instead the brothers seemed to reunite by the holidays.

Owen Hart adorned his attire with the nickname The King of Harts after winning the 1994 King of the Ring.

Bret tried to make amends with Owen, teaming with him on a regular basis. Bret even secured the two a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship. They faced the Quebecers for the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1994. Initially everything was fine between the brothers, but when Bret hurt his knee (kayfabe) and was unable to tag Owen in for a long period of time, the younger Hart got frustrated. When the referee stopped the match due to Bret's damaged knee, Owen snapped; he kicked his brother in the knee and then walked off, berating Bret on the Titantron shortly after as Bret was being helped backstage. This started his run as a heel.^[17] After the act an infuriated Owen accused his brother of being selfish and holding him down. Owen admitted that it felt good to take out his brother. The two brothers faced off for the first time at WrestleMania X, where Owen cleanly pinned his older brother. Later in the evening, Bret won the WWF Title while Owen stood by and watched in jealousy as Bret celebrated in the ring.^[18] Owen won the King of the Ring Tournament with Jim Neidhart’s help.^[19] After the victory, Owen took the nickname “The King of Harts."

Owen and Bret feuded throughout the summer of 1994, clashing many times both in singles and later in tag team matches (with Bret joined by the returning British Bulldog). Two matches stand out in this feud: first, their Steel Cage match at SummerSlam for Bret's WWF Championship, which Bret won.^[20] This match later recevied a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer. The second was a lumberjack match on August 17 that Owen initially won and was announced as WWF Champion; Bret won the match after it was ordered to continue due to interference.^[21] At the Survivor Series, Owen struck the most damaging blow against his brother as he conned his own mother Helen to throw in the towel for Bret. The ploy cost Bret the world title to Bob Backlund.^[22] Owen also prevented Bret from regaining the title at the Royal Rumble in 1995 when he interfered in the match between Bret and new champion Diesel.^[23] In the weeks after the Rumble, Bret and Owen clashed again with Bret soundly defeating his brother, thus putting an end to their feud for the time being.

Owen rebounded from the loss to Bret by winning the WWF Tag Team title from The Smoking Gunns at WrestleMania XI.^[7] Owen, who was joined by a "Mystery Partner", had challenged the Gunns to a title match; the partner turned out to be former world champion Yokozuna.^[24][25] After the victory Owen took Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji as his managers, who already managed Yokozuna. The team defended the title for 5 months until they lost them to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House 3. They would briefly hold the title a second time when the belts were handed back to them^[26] before the Smoking Gunns regained the title.^[7] Owen and Yokozuna would continue to team off and on until the end of the year.

Team with The British Bulldog (1996–1997)[link]

In 1995, Owen's brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith turned heel and joined the Camp Cornette stable. During the summer of 1996 the two brothers in law started to team up more and more, sometimes alongside Vader who was also a member of Camp Cornette.^[27] Owen was also a color commentator for the 1996 King of the Ring (exhibiting clear partisan support for Vader and Smith) and during this time wore a cast on his right forearm for several months, feigning a nagging injury to subsequently use his cast as a weapon during his matches.

In September 1996, Bulldog and Hart earned a pay-per-view shot at the tag team title at In Your House 10.^[28] Owen and Bulldog left with the gold after defeating the Smoking Gunns.^[7][29] They also left with a new manager as Clarence Mason had conned Jim Cornette into signing over the contracts of the new champions. Signs of dissension, however, slowly started to show. One occasion where this was evident was at the Royal Rumble when Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog.^[30] After the Rumble, Bulldog fired Mason, something which did not sit well with Hart. Another bone of contention between the two was the newly created WWF European Championship; both men had fought their way to the finals to crown the first champion with Bulldog coming out as the victor.^[7]

After retaining the tag team title against the Headbangers by disqualification on the March 24, 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw, the tension between the two bubbled over. An incensed Hart demanded a shot at Bulldog’s European title the next week.^[31] The match was booked for March 31; on the night, the two went at it with such intensity that many thought the tag team champions had finally gone their separate ways. Then in a shocking moment, the recently turned heel Bret Hart appeared at ringside and stopped the match. Bret appealed to both Owen and Bulldog, talking about the importance of family.^[32] They agreed to put their differences aside and join with Bret to form the new Hart Foundation, an anti-American stable that also included Hart in-law Jim Neidhart and Hart family friend Brian Pillman.

The Hart Foundation (1997)[link]

After forming the Hart Foundation, Owen quickly gained singles gold of his own as he pinned Rocky Maivia to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship.^[7][33] This meant that the Hart Foundation held every WWF title except the World title, cementing their dominance over the federation. It was not all success for Owen, though, as he and the British Bulldog lost their tag team title to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels on May 25, 1997.^[7] He began feuding with Austin shortly thereafter.

Owen and Bulldog got a second chance at regaining the tag team titles after Michaels vacated his half of the championship due to an injury. On the July 14, 1997 edition of Raw the two entered a tournament and won to face Austin and a partner of his choice that evening for the vacant titles. That partner turned out to be Dude Love, who declared himself to be Austin's partner and helped him defeat Hart and Bulldog for the tag team championship.

Hart in 1997

At SummerSlam in August, Hart was to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Austin in a "Kiss My Ass" match, where Hart put the title up against Austin having to kiss his buttocks if he lost. During the match, Hart botched a piledriver and dropped Austin on the top of his head, injuring his neck.^[34] Austin won the title from Hart that evening,^[7] but due to the injury was forced to vacate the title. Although the entire situation was an accident, the WWF decided to make it part of the storyline as Owen began wearing a t-shirt patterned after Austin's that read "Owen 3:16/I Just Broke Your Neck". Hart was then entered into a tournament to crown a new champion.

Hart fought his way to the finals of the tournament to crown the next Intercontinental champion and was set to face Faarooq at In Your House: Bad Blood. Owen beat Faarooq with Austin’s help.^[35] Afterward, Austin explained that he wanted to beat Hart for the title when he returned and would not allow Faarooq or anyone else to beat him. After Hart retained the title twice by disqualification between Bad Blood and Survivor Series in Montreal, Austin got his wish and defeated Hart for the Intercontinental Championship again.^[7][36] Later that night, the Montreal Screwjob took place. Bret left the Federation after the event and both the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were granted quick releases from their contracts to jump to WCW. This left Owen as the only Hart family member remaining in the WWF, due to his contractual obligations. Unlike Smith and Neidhart, Vince McMahon did not grant Owen a release from his contract and Owen remained with the company. He was skeptical about returning to WCW anyway, as he was not confident that the organization would use him correctly. Bret has said that the biggest reason Owen did not make the move was because WCW president Eric Bischoff was unwilling to match his WWF contract.^[37]

The Black Hart and Nation of Domination (1997–1998)[link]

Hart was not seen or mentioned on WWF programming until he made a surprise appearance after Shawn Michaels retained his title following a disqualification loss to Ken Shamrock at In Your House: D-Generation X where he attacked Michaels. Now a fan favorite, but with a new edgy, antisocial attitude, Hart became known as "The Lone Hart" and also "The Black Hart".^[38] Owen had a feud with DX and challenged Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship on the December 29, 1997 edition of Raw: Hart had Michaels locked in the sharpshooter when Triple H interfered in order to save Michaels' title, giving Hart the victory by disqualification.^[39] He later won the European title from Triple H, although not directly.^[40] Goldust dressed up as Triple H in an attempt to swerve Hart, but Commissioner Slaughter considered him to be a legitimate replacement.^[7][40] Hart later suffered a kayfabe ankle injury during a match involving Triple H. When Hart joined the commentary at ringside, Triple H managed to draw Owen into an impromptu title match and regained the title. Chyna interfered while the referee wasn't looking and while Triple H was distracting the referee, she struck Hart behind the left knee with a baseball bat, picked him up and threw him back into the ring where Triple H put Hart in a reverse ankle lock to his injured right ankle to win the Europeon Championship under referees discretion in controversial fashion. ^[7]

Owen Hart in the final years of his life.

Four weeks after WrestleMania, during a tag team match with Ken Shamrock against D'Lo Brown and Rocky Maivia (later known as The Rock), Hart turned on Shamrock, "snapping" his ankle and "biting his ear" in the process.^[41] After the attack on Shamrock, Hart became the co-leader, with The Rock, of the Nation of Domination, claiming that “Enough is enough and it’s time for a change". The Nation’s first big feud after Hart joined was against DX. It was during this feud that D-Generation X parodied the Nation of Domination. The imitation was complete with Jason Sensation dressing up as Hart and coining the phrase “I am not a nugget"; this was in response to Shawn Michaels referring to Owen as a nugget of feces sticking to the side of a toilet bowl, and no matter how many times Shawn Michaels flushed, it kept sticking around and he was unable to get rid of it. "Nugget" became a derisive term that followed Hart for the rest of his career. Hart’s participation in the DX feud was sidetracked when Shamrock returned from injuries dead set on getting revenge on Hart. The two split a pair of specialty matches on pay-per-view,^[42][43] but nothing was ever conclusively settled between them.

Teaming with Jeff Jarrett (1998–1999)[link]

Hart remained with the Nation throughout the year until the stable slowly dissolved. After SummerSlam, he teamed with Jeff Jarrett. Hart and Jarrett had Jarrett's manager Debra in their corner. During this time a storyline was proposed that Hart was supposed to have an on-screen affair with Debra, something which Owen turned down.^[6]

After a match in which Hart "accidentally injured" Dan Severn, Hart seemingly quit the WWF.^[44] Playing off the legitimate injury Hart had inflicted on Austin the year before, the angle blurred the lines between reality and "storyline". Yet as soon as Hart "quit", the Blue Blazer appeared in the WWF claiming to in no way be Hart despite it being very obvious who was under the mask. Unlike the first run of the character, the Blazer was now an overbearing, self-righteous heel who treated the edgy Attitude Era WWF with disdain. Hart and Jarrett ended up making the storyline comical. To prove that Hart was not the Blazer, he showed up beside the Blue Blazer, who was a masked Jarrett. In a later attempt to prove that neither Hart or Jarrett was the Blazer, they both appeared next to a man in the Blue Blazer mask; however, it was obvious that a black man was under the mask (Hart's former tag team partner Koko B. Ware).^[1] On January 25, 1999, in the midst of the Blue Blazer angle Hart and Jarrett defeated Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man for the tag team title.^[7][45] They continued to team together until Hart's death in May during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event.

Personal life[link]

He met Martha Joan Patterson in 1982.^{[citation needed]}They married on July 1, 1989, and they had two children. Oje Edward Hart was born on March 5, 1992 and Athena Christie Hart was born on September 23, 1995.^{[citation needed]}

On May 28, 2011- Owen was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, WV at their "LPW Hart & Soul Tour" event. The award was accepted by his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart who was also inducted that night.

Death[link]

On May 23, 1999, Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event.^[46] Hart was in the process of being lowered via harness and grapple line into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a booked Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather. In keeping with the Blazer's new "buffoonish superhero" character, he was to begin a dramatic entrance, being lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would act "entangled", then release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect—this necessitated the use of a quick release mechanism. It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the Sunday Night Heat before Survivor Series in 1998.^[44] Many suspected the harness was made for lowering small tools to carpenters, not for any human being. Hart fell 78 feet (24 m) into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, approximately a foot from the nearest turnbuckle, throwing him into the ring.^[47]

Hart had performed the stunt only a few times before and was worried about performing the stunt at Kemper due to the height involved. Hart's wife Martha has suggested that, by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on, Hart unintentionally triggered an early release. Television viewers at home did not see the incident or its aftermath—at the moment of the fall, a pre-taped vignette was being shown on the pay-per-view broadcast as well as on the monitors in the darkened arena. After, while Hart was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring, the live event's broadcast showed only the audience. Meanwhile, WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what had just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.^[48] Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where several attempts to revive him were made, until he died from his injuries; some believe he died in the ring.^[49] He was 34 years old. The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma. ^[50]

Controversy and lawsuit[link]

The WWF management controversially chose to continue the event.^[51] Later, Jim Ross announced the death of Hart to the home viewers during the pay-per-view, but not to the crowd in the arena.^[52] While the show did go on, it has never been released commercially by WWF Home Video. In the weeks that followed, much attention was focused on the harness Hart used that night, especially on the "quick release" trigger and safety latches. When someone is lowered from the rafters in a harness, there are backup latches that must be latched for safety purposes.

Three weeks after the event, the Hart family sued the WWF over how dangerous and poorly planned the stunt was, and that the harness system was defective.^[53] After over a year and a half into the case, a settlement was reached on November 2, 2000, which saw the WWF give the Hart family $18 million.^[54][55][56] The manufacturer of the harness system was also a defendant against the Hart family, but they were dismissed from the case after the settlement was reached.^[53][54] Martha used millions of the settlement to establish the Owen Hart Foundation.^[57] Martha wrote a book about Hart's life in 2002 called Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart.^[6]

In his DVD set Bret "Hit Man" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be, Bret said that he wishes he had been with the WWF the night Owen's accident happened, as he would have discouraged Owen from performing the stunt.^[58]

[edit] Raw is Owen

Raw is Owen is the name given to a special live episode of WWF Raw is War that aired on May 24, 1999, the night after Hart's death. It was broadcast live from the Kiel Center in St. Louis.^[4] It featured shoot interviews from his fellow wrestlers.^[4][59] According to Raw Exposed (a special that aired before the first Raw airing on its return to USA Network on October 3, 2005), WWF management gave all wrestlers on the roster the option of working or not. Nevertheless, ten matches were booked with no angles.

The show began with all the wrestlers, managers, referees and agents of the WWF (except WWF Champion The Undertaker and Kane) standing on the entrance ramp; Vince, Linda, and Stephanie McMahon were at the front of the ramp. Howard Finkel called for a ten-bell salute. Hart's former Nation of Domination comrades were emotional, most notably Mark Henry, who read a poem that he wrote in memory of Hart. A tribute video narrated by Vince then played on the Titan Tron.^[60] Throughout the broadcast, personal thoughts on Hart in the form of shoot interviews with various WWF Superstars were played. Before the first commercial break, such thoughts were aired from Mick Foley and Bradshaw. Foley noted that Hart was his son's favorite wrestler and had proudly gotten a haircut like Owen's, although he also said his son did not quite understand that "nugget" was not a term of endearment.^[61] Bradshaw talked about how Hart spent less money on the road than most wrestlers because he wanted to retire early and spend time with his family. Owen's friend and Nation of Domination partner The Rock also made a short speech before engaging in a short match against Val Venis. The broadcast ended with Steve Austin coming out for a special salute to Hart by climbing the turnbuckle and performing his famous beer guzzling routine, and leaving one beer in the ring 'for Owen'. The only notable absence from this show was The Undertaker as he decided to visit his real-life good friend, Bret Hart.

The tribute show scored a Nielsen ratings score of 7.2, making the highest rated show in Raw history. Shawn Michaels, in his Heartbreak and Triumph autobiography, notes that "Owen is the only guy you could have a 2-hour show for, and no-one would say a bad word about him." The next day, WWF taped the episode of Raw for May 31, 1999. During that show, Jeff Jarrett defeated The Godfather to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship,^[7] the title Hart was booked to win for a third time at Over the Edge. Jarrett screamed Hart's name as the belt was handed to him.

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • As Owen Hart
    • Bridging Northern Lights suplex – Early career;^[62] Used as a regular move from 1994–1999
    • Missile dropkick^[1] – Early career;^[62] Used as a regular move from 1994–1999
    • Reverse piledriver,^[1] sometimes while kneeling^[1] – 1997–1999
    • Sharpshooter^[1]
  • As The Blue Blazer
    • Diving splash^[63]
    • Moonsault^[63]

• Signature moves
  • Belly to belly suplex^[1]
  • Diving elbow drop^[1]
  • Diving headbutt^[1]
  • Dragon sleeper^[1]
  • Gutwrench suplex^[1]
  • Jackknife pin^[1]
  • Leg-feed enzuigiri^[1]
  • Leg grapevine^[1]
  • Spinning heel kick^[1]
  • Superkick^[1]

• With Jim Neidhart
  • Rocket launcher

• Managers
  • Jim Cornette^[64]
  • Clarence Mason
  • Debra
  • Bret Hart
  • Mr. Fuji

• Nicknames
  • "The Rocket"^[1]
  • "The King of Harts"^[1]
  • "The Black Hart"^[1]
  • "The Lone Hart"^[1]
  • "The Two-Time Slammy Award Winner"^[1]

• Entrance themes
  • World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
    • "Superhero (V1)" As Blue Blazer
    • "Rocket"
    • "Enough Is Enough"
    • "Enough Is Enough (Nation)" Used While Part Of The Nation Of Domination
    • "Blackhart (V1)"
    • "Blackhart (V2)"
    • "Country Rock Theme" Used While Teaming With Jeff Jarrett
    • "Superhero (V2)" As Blue Blazer

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Hart won every major championship in the WWF, except for the WWF Championship he is seen holding here.

• Legends Pro Wrestling
  • Inducted into the LPW Hall of Fame (5/28/11)

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[65]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Editor's Award^[66] (1999)
  • PWI Feud of the Year^[67] (1994) vs. Bret Hart
  • PWI Rookie of the Year^[68] (1987)
  • PWI ranked him #10 of the 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1994^[69]
  • PWI ranked him #84 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years with Davey Boy Smith in 2003^[70]
  • PWI ranked him #66 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003^[71]

• Stampede Wrestling
  • Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[72]
  • Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ben Bassarab^[73]
  • Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[74]
  • Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame^[75]

• United States Wrestling Association
  • USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[76]

• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF European Championship (1 time)^[40]
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)^[33][35]
  • WWF World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Yokozuna (2),^[25][26] The British Bulldog (1),^[29] and Jeff Jarrett (1)^[45]
  • King of the Ring (1994)
  • Slammy Award for Squared Circle Shocker (1996)¹
  • Slammy Award for Best Bow Tie (1997)^2[77]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • 5 Star Match (1994) vs. Bret Hart in a cage match at SummerSlam
  • Best Flying Wrestler (1987, 1988)
  • Feud of the Year (1997) with Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin

¹Awarded to Shawn Michaels for collapsing but Hart accepted the award for himself.
²After he presented the Award, Hart never awarded it to any of the possible candidates and instead stole it for himself.

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Professional wrestling portal

• Deaths in sports
• Hart wrestling family
• List of unusual deaths

References[link]

External links[link]

• Owen Hart's Funeral
• Owen Hart at Find a Grave
• Bret Hart column mentioning he and Owen holding dual citizenship
• Bret Hart and Hart family News

Carey Hart
Hart in May 2010
Born	Carey Jason Hart (1975-07-17) July 17, 1975 (age 36)[1] Las Vegas, Nevada, United States[1]
Occupation	Motorcycle racer, off-road racer, businessman
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Alecia Moore (m. 2006–present)
Children	Willow Sage (b. 2011)

Carey Jason Hart (born July 17, 1975) is an American freestyle motocross motorcycle racer and off-road racer. He and singer Pink have been married since 2006.

Early years[link]

Hart was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada^[1] and born in Seal Beach, California. He is of Irish, Italian, Swedish, and Polish ancestry.^[2] His parents divorced when he was very young and he and his younger brother Anthony "Tony" Hart were raised by their father, Tom Hart.^[3] Hart began competing in motocross races in 1981 at only 6 years old, turned professional in 1993 when he was 18 and began competing in super cross racing at that time. Hart then began competing in freestyle motocross (FMX) in 1996.^[3]

Career[link]

During the 2000 Gravity Games, Hart attempted a back flip in a motorcycle competition.^[4] He also invented a freestyle motocross trick known as the Hart Attack.^[5]

Hart has traveled around the world promoting freestyle Motocross. He jumped the trailer park in Kid Rock's video "Bawitdaba".^[6] On the 2000 Australian Warped Tour, he played bass with the band Pennywise.^[6] He also appeared in Pink's "Just Like A Pill", "So What", and "Raise Your Glass" videos.^{[citation needed]}

Hart has been featured in nationwide ad campaigns for Ford, Dunkin' Donuts, Fox, DVS and Mountain Dew as well as in such print publications as Paper Magazine, Teen People, ESPN The Magazine, Rolling Stone, Prick and, Skinnie, and has been on the covers of numerous Motocross & tattoo magazines.

Hart has also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Inked, MTVs Life Of Ryan, Rove Live (Australia), appeared on The Today Show, was a guest in Talkin' 'bout Your Generation and has starred in ESPN/Touchstone Pictures’ IMAX film, Ultimate X and has cameo appearances in xXx and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

Hart was a cast member on the fifth season of the VH1 reality show The Surreal Life.^[7]

Life after freestyle[link]

Hart competes in AMA Supermoto championship as a member of his Hart & Huntington Tattoo/Rockstar Supermoto Team.

In 2009, Hart teamed up with Premiere MotorSports Group (PMG) to launch the Hart and Huntington OffRoad which is a Short Course Truck Team lead by Ryan Busnardo and Scot Demmer. Carey became attracted to the sport previously from being a fan of CORR (ChampionShip OffRoad Racing Series) which unfortunely ended in 2008. Ryan and Scot operate Hart and Huntington OffRoad and are both veterans to the sport of Short Course Off Road Racing. In 2009, Hart and Huntington OffRoad secured over 40 poduim finishes from Carey's team mates Chris Brant (PRO Light), Chad Leising (SuperLite) and John Fitzgerald (Limited Buggy). Carey competed in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series driving the Team Hart and Huntington OffRoad/ Premiere Motor Sports Group/ General Tire's Unlimited 2 trophy truck (known in the past as a PRO 2).^[8]

Hart & Huntington[link]

In 2004, Hart and fellow entrepreneur, John Huntington, opened Hart & Huntington Tattoo Company in the Palms Casino. A&E network followed Hart and the workings of the shop on the reality show INKED.

Since the initial opening, four more Hart and Huntington Tattoo shops have opened: Honolulu, Cabo San Lucas, Orlando at Universal Citywalk, and Niagara Falls Canada. The Cabo store closed in early 2008. Hart also started a clothing line based on the designs of the artists that work at Hart and Huntington Tattoo Company.

In 2006, Promoter John Huntington filed a lawsuit against Hart, alleging he owed large amounts of money for his trademark and likeness. Huntington claimed he sold his 48 percent ownership back to Hart. Hart reportedly hired high-profile Las Vegas attorney Gene Porter to resolve the case through a mediation settlement, which was in turn successful.^[3] In 2009, the Las Vegas store was relocated to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Wasted Space[link]

Hart teamed up with Cory McCormack, Jason Giambi, Benji Madden and Joel Madden to create Wasted Space in July 2008. The club was designed by Hart, McCormack and Zeff Design. Hart hand-picked one of his favorite L.A. artists to create a 30-foot hand-made mural of vintage rock show posters and flyers with the signature Wasted Space winged microphone logo stenciled over them.

In August 2010, Wasted Space closed to make way for the Hard Rock's new race and sports book.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Marriage[link]

Hart began dating singer Pink after meeting her in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the 2001 X Games.^[10] After four years of dating, Pink proposed to Hart in June 2005 via a pit board during one of his races in Mammoth Lakes, California. She was holding a sign saying "Will you marry me?" Initially, Hart ignored her and completed another lap of the race. Only when Pink changed the sign and held it up again with it now saying, "I'm serious", did Hart pull out of the race to pick Pink up.^[11] They married at the Four Seasons resort in Costa Rica on January 7, 2006.^[12] After months of speculation, Pink announced in February 2008 that she and Hart had separated.^[13][14] Pink's 2008 song "So What" featured the fact that she and her husband were separated, and she included Hart in the music video for the song.

During their separation, Pink supported her estranged husband after Hart's brother died due to injuries sustained in a motocross competition in August 2008.^[15][16] In March 2009, Hart said he and Pink were "dating".^[17] He also said the couple was attempting to work things out, stating, "Sometimes you have to take a couple of steps back to move forward".^[18] In April 2009, Pink stated that the couple had gone to marriage counseling and were back together - they were never divorced.^[19]

The couple's daughter, Willow Sage Hart, was born on June 2, 2011.^[20][21]

References[link]

Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24 in March 2008.
Ring name(s)	Sean Michaels[1] Shawn Michaels
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2][3]
Billed weight	225 lb (102 kg)[2]
Born	(1965-07-22) July 22, 1965 (age 46) Chandler, Arizona[4]
Resides	San Antonio, Texas[5]
Billed from	San Antonio, Texas[2]
Trained by	Jose Lothario[6]
Debut	October 16, 1984[7]
Retired	March 28, 2010

Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is a retired professional wrestler, and an American television host. He is currently signed to WWE, where he has served as an ambassador for the company since December 2010. Hickenbottom consistently wrestled for WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1988 until his first retirement in 1998, due to injury. He appeared in non-wrestling roles from 1998 to 2000, and resumed his in-ring career in 2002, retiring in 2010. He also hosts the show MacMillan River Adventures, airing on the Outdoor Channel.

Hickenbottom began his wrestling career with Mid-South Wrestling, now known as Universal Wrestling Federation, and American Wrestling Association (AWA). During his time with AWA, he performed in partnership with Marty Jannetty, as The Midnight Rockers; winning the AWA World Tag Team Championship twice. Hickenbottom and Jannetty briefly signed with World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1987, while in contract with AWA. They returned to AWA, only to go back to the WWF in 1988.

Hickenbottom later worked as a singles performer, taking on a new persona of "The Heartbreak Kid" and, first as a villain and later as a fan favorite, moved into the main event sphere. He wielded considerable influence on booking decisions as the leader of The Kliq, a backstage group, which however fell apart in 1996. The following year, he teamed up with Hunter Hearst Hemsley, who often was referred to as Triple H (HHH), Chyna, and Rick Rude to form D-Generation X (DX). This group of wrestlers was known for their sophomoric crude humor. That same year, Hickenbottom took part in one of the most controversial matches in wrestling history, dubbed as the "Montreal Screwjob." After a back injury forced him to retire following his WWF Championship loss at WrestleMania XIV, Hickenbottom opened a wrestling academy, called The Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy, in which he trained upcoming wrestlers. He made his in-ring return at SummerSlam in 2002. In 2006, Hickenbottom and Triple H briefly reformed DX, but after an injury that Triple H sustained, Hickenbottom returned to singles wrestling. Although as of 2009, the duo reunited as a tag team once more, with the two capturing the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. In the WWF/WWE, Michaels held championships, and headlined pay-per-view events, in each decade from the 1990s to the 2010s; at WrestleMania XXVI, he was forced to retire from in-ring competition when he lost a career-threatening match. In December 2010, he signed a long-term deal with WWE, making his first live appearance at a WWE show since WrestleMania later that month. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2011. Following his induction, WWE said of Michaels, "Ask any Superstar on the WWE roster who the most gifted sports-entertainer of all time is and nearly everyone will have the same answer — Shawn Michaels."^[2]

Among other accolades, Hickenbottom is a four-time world champion: a three-time WWF Champion and a former World Heavyweight Champion. He was also the winner of the 1995 and 1996 Royal Rumbles and was the company's first Grand Slam Champion. He has also won the PWI Match of the Year Award a record eleven times. Hickenbottom currently resides in San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Rebecca, and their two children.

Early life[link]

Hickenbottom was born on July 22, 1965 in Chandler, Arizona.^[4][8] The last of four children – Randy, Scott, and Shari are his older siblings – he was raised in a military family and spent a brief part of his early years in Reading, Berkshire, England,^[4] but grew up in San Antonio, Texas. As a child, Hickenbottom disliked the name Michael, so his family and friends just called him Shawn.^[9] Ever since, he has been referred to as Shawn. Additionally, Hickenbottom moved around frequently since his father was in the military.^[9]

He knew he wanted to become a professional wrestler at the age of twelve.^[8] Hickenbottom was already an athlete; his career began at the age of six when he started playing football.^[10] He was a stand-out linebacker at Randolph High School and eventually became captain of the football team.^[2][11] After graduating, Hickenbottom attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, but soon realized that college life was not for him.^[12] He then began pursuing a career in professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career[link]

AWA and WWF (1984–1988)[link]

Hickenbottom began to train under Mexican professional wrestler Jose Lothario.^[6][7] During his training, Hickenbottom adopted the ring name, Shawn Michaels.^[1] After his training with Lothario, he debuted as Shawn Michaels with Mid-South Wrestling and Texas All-Star Wrestling (TASW) promotions in October 1984 at the age of 19.^[1] During his time with TASW, Michaels replaced Nick Kiniski in the American Breed tag team, teaming with Paul Diamond. Michaels and Diamond were awarded the TASW Tag Team Championship by Chavo Guerrero, Sr.^[8] The team was later renamed American Force.^[13] He also worked for Central States Wrestling.^[14] There, he and tag team partner Marty Jannetty defeated The Batten Twins for the Central States Tag Team Championship, later losing it back to the Battens.^[8] Michaels also made several appearances in the Dallas, Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling throughout 1985.

Michaels made his national-level debut at the age of twenty in American Wrestling Association (AWA), once again teaming with Marty Jannetty.^[6] The pair were billed as The Midnight Rockers and held the AWA World Tag Team Championship, defeating Doug Somers and Buddy Rose.^[6] In 1987, The Rockers were signed by a competing promotion: the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).^[6] They were fired from WWF two weeks later, for a bar incident (a misunderstanding, according to Michaels' autobiography).^[6][15] They then returned to AWA, but were re-signed by WWF a year later.^[15]

World Wrestling Federation (1988–2000)[link]

The Rockers (1988–1991)[link]

Michaels (left) with Marty Jannetty during their time as The Rockers.

The Rockers redebuted at a WWF live event on July 7, 1988.^[16] Due to WWF chairman Vince McMahon's desire to have his performers carry WWF-exclusive ring names, Michaels and Jannetty were renamed, as simply "The Rockers."^[1] The team proved popular with both children and women.^[6] The team was a mid-card stalwart of television and pay-per-view shows for the next two years.^[17]

In October 1990, The Rockers were scheduled to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), as Neidhart, half of the championship team, was in the process of negotiating his release from the company.^[17] The match was taped with The Rockers winning the belts, but soon after, Neidhart came to an agreement with management and was rehired.^[17] The belts were returned to the Hart Foundation, while the title change was never broadcast or even acknowledged on television.^[17] When news spread, WWF explained that the original result was void due to a collapsed turnbuckle in the ring during the bout. A buckle had indeed broke, but not to a noticeable or dangerous extent during the match.^[1] The Rockers continued their partnership, eventually splitting on December 2, 1991 during an incident on Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's televised Barber Shop talk show promotional segment.^[18] Michaels superkicked Jannetty and threw him through a glass window on the set of Beefcake's talk show.^[6][19] Jannetty returned to the WWF the following year and enjoyed moderate success before leaving the company in 1994, while Michaels became a prominent villain of the early-to-mid 1990s as "The Boy Toy."^[18]

The Heartbreak Kid (1992–1995)[link]

At the suggestion of "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig, Michaels adopted the nickname "The Heartbreak Kid."^[6] Along with his new name came a new gimmick as a vain, cocky villain.^[20] He was put together with mirror-carrying manager, Sensational Sherri, who, according to the storyline, had become infatuated with him.^[18] Sherri even sang the first version of his new theme music, "Sexy Boy."^[1] During that period, after Michaels had wrestled his scheduled match at live events, his departure was announced with the words, "Shawn Michaels has left the building" (alluding to the phrase "Elvis has left the building").^[21]

Diesel acted as Michaels's on-air bodyguard and tag team partner for two championship reigns.

At WrestleMania VIII, in his first pay-per-view singles match, Michaels defeated El Matador: both men had simultaneously eliminated each other from that year's Royal Rumble.^[22] He subsequently became a contender to the promotion's singles championships. Michaels competed in his first pay-per-view main event when he co-headlined UK Rampage on April 19 at the Sheffield Arena, in a losing effort against "Macho Man" Randy Savage for the WWF Championship.^[23][24] He failed to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Bret Hart in the WWF's first-ever ladder match at a Wrestling Challenge taping on July 21, which would subsequently be made available on multiple Coliseum/WWE Home Video releases.^[25][26] He, however, won the title from The British Bulldog on the October 27, 1992 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, which aired on November 14.^[27] Shortly thereafter, he faced Hart for the WWF Championship in the main event of the 1992 Survivor Series, but lost the match.^[28] Originally the secondary main event, Michaels and Hart became the primary main event after The Ultimate Warrior was unable to compete, and was replaced by Mr. Perfect in the tag team match that involved Randy Savage against the team of Ric Flair and Razor Ramon.^[29] During this time, Michaels and Sherri split and he engaged himself in a feud with former tag team partner Marty Jannetty.^[6] Michaels lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jannetty on Monday Night Raw on May 17, 1993.^[27] He then regained it on June 6 with the help of his debuting "bodyguard" (and off-air friend) Diesel,^[1][27] and co-headlined the King of the Ring in a title defense against Crush.^[30]

In September 1993, Michaels had quit the company, after it was announced that he had failed to defend his title enough times during a set period; in reality, he had been suspended for testing positive for steroids – a charge that Michaels denies to this day.^[31] After turning down World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s advances, Michaels returned to the WWF and made several appearances in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) during a WWF/USWA cross-promotion. He returned to WWF television in November at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, substituting for Jerry Lawler, who was dealing with legal issues, in a match pitting himself and three of Lawler's "Knights" against the Hart brothers, Bret, Bruce, Keith, and Owen.^[32]

He soon entered a staged rivalry with Razor Ramon, who had won the vacated Intercontinental Championship, during Michaels' absence.^[33] Since Michaels had never been defeated in the ring for the title, he claimed to be the rightful champion and even carried around his old title belt.^[33] This feud culminated in a ladder match between the two at WrestleMania X.^[33] Michaels lost the match, which featured both his and Ramon's belts suspended above a ladder in the ring.^[32][33] This match was voted by fans as "PWI Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.^[6] It also received a 5-star rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter member Dave Meltzer, one of five WWE matches to do so. Over the next few months, Michaels battled various injuries and launched the Heartbreak Hotel television talk show segment, mainly shown on WWF Superstars.^[34]

On August 28, 1994, Michaels and Diesel captured the Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu).^[35] The next day, at SummerSlam, Diesel lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ramon when Michaels accidentally superkicked Diesel.^[32] This triggered a split between Michaels and Diesel, a storyline that was drawn out until Survivor Series that November.^[36] Michaels went on to win the Royal Rumble in 1995,^[37] which set up a championship grudge match at WrestleMania XI against Diesel (who had gone on to win the WWF Championship from Bob Backlund).^[37] As part of the storyline, Michaels recruited Sycho Sid as his bodyguard for the build-up, lost the match,^[38] and was attacked by Sid the following night.^[39] After this, Michaels took time off,^[39] because Vince McMahon wanted Michaels to become a fan favorite.^[40]

Kliq, WWF Champion and D-Generation X (1995–1997)[link]

Michaels returned to the ring, as a fan favorite, in May 1995. He went on to defeat Jeff Jarrett in July at the In Your House pay-per-view event, to win his third Intercontinental Championship.^[6][41] This led to a title defense against Razor Ramon at SummerSlam, in a ladder match, which Michaels won.^[6] Around this time Michaels became the alleged leader of a backstage group known as The Kliq.^[6] Others perceived the group to have sufficient clout with WWF owner Vince McMahon, becoming dominant wrestling figures in the WWF for several years in the mid-1990s. Michaels disputes the perception, saying that McMahon pushed only deserving wrestlers.^[42] Michaels' fan base was later nicknamed "The Kliq" as an inside reference to the real "Kliq".^[43] In October 1995, he was legitimately attacked by several men outside a bar in Syracuse, New York.^[1] Shortly afterwards, at the In Your House: Great White North pay-per-view, Michaels forfeited the Intercontinental Championship to staged rival Dean Douglas because he was, according to WWF, unable to compete.^[44] Later in the night, Douglas lost the championship to Kliq member Razor Ramon.^[45] The next month, during a match with Owen Hart on an episode of Monday Night Raw, Owen performed an enzuigiri that struck the back of Michaels' head.^[46] They continued the match, but Michaels collapsed in the ring, supposedly because he had suffered a concussion.^[1][46] The concussion was scripted, which was kept from most fans at the time.^[1] A retirement angle was written so that Michaels could take some time off, after he came back from an injury too soon.^[1]

After teasing a retirement, Michaels returned to the WWF at the Royal Rumble match in 1996, which he wound up winning for a second year in a row, to receive a WWF Championship match in the main event at WrestleMania XII.^[47] Around this time, Jose Lothario became Michaels' on-screen manager.^[48] At WrestleMania XII, Michaels defeated WWF Champion Bret Hart in the overtime of their sixty minute Iron Man match, which had ended in a 0–0 tie.^[6] On May 19, 1996, Michaels and his fellow Kliq members were involved in the incident known as "Curtain Call". Diesel and Razor Ramon were about to leave WWF to company rival WCW. After Michaels won a match against Diesel, Ramon and Hunter Hearst Helmsley came to the ring and joined Michaels and Diesel in a group-hug.^[49] As Diesel and Helmsley were seen as villains at the time, in contrast to Michaels and Ramon, this constituted a breach of "kayfabe", as acting out of character, which was rare and controversial at the time.^[49] As WCW gained momentum due to the signings of Hall and Nash, Michaels held the championship for most of the year. Michaels' championship reign ended at the 1996 Survivor Series event, where he lost to Sycho Sid, his former bodyguard.^[50] Michaels recaptured the championship from Sid in January 1997 at the Royal Rumble.^[51]

On a special episode of Raw dubbed Thursday Raw Thursday, Michaels vacated the WWF Championship;^[1] he explained to fans that he was informed by doctors that he had conjured a knee injury, and that he had to retire.^[52] His speech was regarded as controversial, as Michaels was allegedly unwilling to lose to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 (since it was noted that he was going to have a rematch with Hart at WrestleMania).^[6] Michaels contemplated thoughts of retirement and stated that he "had to find his smile again," which he had "lost" somewhere down the line.^[6] After knee surgery by Dr. James Andrews, Michaels returned a few months later, briefly teaming with Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.^[53] In his autobiography, Michaels reveals about his real-life feud with Bret Hart, claiming that Bret did interviews on live television claiming that he [Michaels] was faking his whole injury.^[54]

Michaels portrayed his cocky, vain character with colourful outfits.

At SummerSlam, Michaels officiated the WWF Championship match between WWF Champion The Undertaker and Bret Hart.^[55] The match ended in controversial fashion, with Michaels hitting Undertaker with a chair (unintentionally, as he was aiming for Bret after he spat in his face).^[55] Michaels was then forced to award the championship to his nemesis, Bret Hart.^[55] The next night on Raw, signs of a heel turn started to show as Michaels told the WWF fans what happened at SummerSlam was an accident and that he would deal with the Undertaker when the time came. At WWF One Night Only, held in Birmingham, England in September, Michaels defeated The British Bulldog to capture the WWF European Championship.^[55][56] The fans at the event were so appalled at the result of the match they booed Michaels out of the building, to the extent that they littered the ring with garbage, cementing his second heel turn.^[55][57] With this win, Michaels became the first Grand Slam Champion.^[2] At the October pay-per-view event, In Your House: Badd Blood, Michaels and Undertaker participated in the first Hell in a Cell match. During the match, it saw Michaels fall off the side of the 15-foot (5 m) high structure through a table and saw him as the winner in the match.^[58] The match received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.

In the summer, Michaels joined forces with real-life friend, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Hunter's then-girlfriend, Chyna, and Rick Rude to form the stable, D-Generation X (DX).^[59] Moving away from the family-oriented product, this marked the beginning of the WWF Attitude Era.^[60] Michaels continued his rivalry with Bret Hart and his reformed Hart Foundation, which was now a pro-Canada stable. Michaels taunted the group and Canada by engaging in acts, such as blowing his nose with and humping the Canadian Flag. Michaels later claimed the flag desecration was Bret's idea.^[61] Michaels' feud with the Hart Foundation culminated in a championship match at Survivor Series in 1997 against Bret Hart. Michaels came out of this match, dubbed by fans the "Montreal Screwjob", as the WWF Champion.^[62] Michaels now held both the WWF and European championship at the same time. Michaels, however, lost the European Championship to D-Generation X member, Hunter Hearst Hemsley, who often was referred to as Triple H (HHH), when he pinned him during a farcical match, making Triple H the European Champion.^[63]

First retirement (1998–2002)[link]

Michaels was the WWF Commissioner in 1998.

At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Michaels received a legitimate back injury in a Casket match against The Undertaker.^[6] Michaels took a back body drop to the outside of the ring and smashed his lower back on the casket, causing him to herniate two discs and crush one completely.^[6][64] This rendered Michaels unable to compete in the main event of the following month's No Way Out of Texas: In Your House as advertised, and forced him into retirement after losing the WWF Championship to Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV.^[65]

Michaels would continue to make non-wrestling appearances on WWF programming, and on November 23, 1998, replaced Sgt. Slaughter as the WWF Commissioner, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, eventually joining Vince McMahon's group of wrestlers called the Corporation as a villain.^[66] Throughout late 1998 and early 1999, Michaels made regular television appearances on Raw, in which he scheduled matches, throwing around his authority, and sometimes even deciding the outcome of matches.^[67][68][69] On January 4, 1999 on Raw, Michaels re-joined DX as a fan favorite, but disappeared from WWF television for a few months to have back surgery,^[70] and by the time he had returned, DX had broken up.

Michaels made occasional appearances as the WWF Commissioner during the spring and summer of 1999, but remained absent from television until May 15, 2000, upon which he returned on Raw to announce himself as the special guest referee for the Iron Man match between The Rock and Triple H at Judgment Day.^[71] One month later, Michaels briefly reappeared on Raw to hand over the role of Commissioner to Mick Foley and afterwards did not make any in-ring appearances until mid-2002,^[72] appearing only once on WWF television to make a speech at WWF New York during Armageddon 2000.^[73] During this time, believing that his wrestling career was over, Michaels was interested in training individuals who wanted to become professional wrestlers.^[74] He saw potential in using his name and opened the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy in 1999, after his lawyer, Skip McCormick, suggested the idea.^[74] Michaels left the academy in 2002,^[74] giving co-founder Rudy Boy Gonzalez sole responsibility due to Michaels' new contract with WWE.^[6] Michaels was also a sportscaster for San Antonio's local news for a short period during his retirement.^[74]

Return to World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–present)[link]

nWo, World Heavyweight Champion & Feud with Evolution (2002–2005)[link]

In 2002, Michaels returned to WWE television after 18 months of absence. On the June 3 episode of Raw, he was announced as a new member of the recently-reformed New World Order (nWo) stable by Kevin Nash.^[75] After the nWo had disbanded, Triple H appeared to make amends with Michaels. This was solidified when Michaels pleaded Triple H to return to Raw.^[76] Later on, they came down to the ring sporting their DX music and attire. When the pair was about to perform their trademark "Suck It" taunt, Triple H turned on Michaels by performing a Pedigree on him.^[76] Continuing the angle, a week later, Triple H attacked Michaels from behind in a parking lot and put his head through a car window, in storyline.^[77] In response, Michaels challenged Triple H to "a fight" (a non-sanctioned match) at SummerSlam,^[78] which Triple H accepted, laying the foundation for a rivalry that would last for several years. In his first official wrestling match since WrestleMania XIV, Michaels won at SummerSlam, but was attacked by Triple H with a sledgehammer after the match.^[79] At Survivor Series, Michaels won the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H in the first-ever Elimination Chamber match.^[80] Michaels' reign as champion came to an end a month later when he lost the championship to Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match, a series of three matches in which wrestlers attempt to win the majority of matches, at Armageddon.^[81]

Michaels' match with Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XIX in March 2003 was his first match at a WrestleMania since WrestleMania XIV in March 1998.

Michaels then began a rivalry with Chris Jericho, after Jericho claimed that he was the next Shawn Michaels.^[82] On January 13, 2003, after Jericho won a battle royal to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble, choosing number two in order to start the match with Michaels,^[83] who had already been named number one. At the Royal Rumble, Jericho, with the help of Christian, eliminated Michaels.^[84] Michaels defeated Jericho at WrestleMania XIX.^[85]

As a part of an ongoing feud with Triple H, the two competed alongside Chris Benoit in the main event match at WrestleMania XX for the World Heavyweight Championship. The former DX partners both came up short in the match, however, as Benoit won the championship.^[86] At Bad Blood in June, Michaels lost to Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match.^[86] Four months later, he lost a World Heavyweight championship match against Triple H, after Edge interfered at Taboo Tuesday, when the fans voted for him ahead of Edge and Chris Benoit to face Triple H one more time.^[87] Following this, Michaels was out of action for a few months with a legitimate torn meniscus.^[2][88]

At the Royal Rumble in 2005, Michaels competed in the Rumble match and eliminated Kurt Angle. In seeking revenge, Angle re-entered the ring and eliminated Michaels, and thus placed him in an ankle lock submission hold, outside of the ring.^[89] Michaels issued a challenge to Angle for a match at WrestleMania 21, which Angle accepted when he appeared on Raw to attack Michaels.^[90] The following week on Raw, Marty Jannetty and Michaels had a one time reunion as The Rockers and defeated La Résistance (Robért Conway and Sylvain Grenier).^[91] Three days later on SmackDown!, Angle defeated Jannetty, after Angle made Jannetty submit to the ankle lock.^[92] To send a "message" to Michaels, Angle also humiliated Michaels' former manager, Sensational Sherri, when he applied the ankle lock hold on her.^[93] At WrestleMania 21 in April, Angle defeated Michaels by submission, again with an ankle lock.^[89] Two months later, at a WrestleMania 21 rematch, Michaels defeated Angle at the Vengeance pay-per-view event.^[94]