WWE History Vol. 26: Vacated Titles

#4 Special Thursday Night Raw--Shawn Michaels 'loses his smile'

Shawn Michaels, AKA the Heart Break Kid, vacates his title in 1997.

Shawn Michaels is a no questions asked pro wrestling Icon, a main event talent who is one of the esteemed Grand Slam champions in WWE history.

However, something that not many people think of when you say Shawn Michaels is the word 'quitter.' Yet, that's exactly what happened in February of 1997 during a special edition of WWE RAW on a Thursday night.

Michaels entered the ring wearing a suit and seemed quite dejected. He declared that he was stepping away from wrestling for a while, in part to rehab a knee injury but also because he'd 'lost his smile.'

While depression is a serious matter and can make for a compelling wrestling angle, in this case many insiders believe that HBK was just trying to avoid dropping the title to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania XIII. Regardless of how it went down, one thing is for certain; it was an out of the blue surprise moment which led to the eventual rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin as the top marquee player in WWE.