5 WWE Legends with surprisingly short championship reigns

#2 Shawn Michaels (25 Days)

The Showstopper has multiple WWE championships to his name

When you hear the name Shawn Michaels, many would instantly consider him to be the very best wrestler to ever walk the face of the earth. His list of accomplishments is seemingly endless and many credit him with helping to establish the style of performer and pop-culture success the wrestling industry is still experiencing to this day.

But one of his reigns as WWE Champion was surprisingly short. Not because he was booked to lose the championship in a short space of time, but because he had no other choice.

After picking up the championship from Sycho Sid at the Royal Rumble (who was enjoying a very popular push of his own at the time) Michaels was on top of the world and seemingly on top of the wrestling industry. But this joyous time would not last very long.

On the February 13th 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw, the Heartbreak Kid would vacate the WWE Championship in a famous segment that widely became known as Michaels "losing his smile."

Given that at the time this looked like the end of Michaels' WWE career, it would mean he'd be leaving the company with a short 25-day run as WWE Champion. HBK cited a severe knee injury which may have prevented him from ever wrestling again (we now know he would recover and go on to have a stellar career) but back then it truly did look like the last call for the Showstopper.

There were backstage rumblings that elements of Michaels' personal life were what forced him to take a hiatus from the company, as well as a real-life feud with fellow Hall of Famer Bret 'Hitman' Hart whom Michaels reportedly was not in favour of feuding with at the time. But all of this remains speculation.