WWE News: Former Tag Team Champion Talks About Famous Angle With Shawn Michaels That Could Have Killed Him


Twenty-five years ago, one of the most memorable moments in WWE history took place, and it launched the iconic career of a legend. In January of 1992, Brutus Beefcake had The Rockers as his special guests on “The Barber Shop,” and it was to talk about their recent problems. During that segment, Shawn Michaels turned heel by destroying Marty Jannetty and sending him through a glass window, but there was much more to the whole thing as it ended up being more dangerous than anyone thought.

When The Rockers broke up, it was a moment that will live on in the minds of wrestling fans for all time. Shawn Michaels delivering a superkick to Marty Jannetty may not have been totally unexpected as everyone kind of thought that the “Heartbreak Kid” was turning heel due to his recent attitude and behavior.

[Image by WWE]

Jannetty was a guest on “The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling” podcast where hosts John Poz and Chad brought up the split of The Rockers on The Barber Shop. It has been 25 years since that historic moment in WWE, and Jannetty remembers it well.

Knowing how things were set up with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Shawn Michaels for that segment, they asked Jannetty was going through his head as he went through the glass window.

“A lot of glass (laughs). As I’ve told before, in all honesty (Shawn Michaels) I’m pretty sure that a lot of it was on purpose because we had a little animosity at the time going on but that super-kick was in there. He did lay it in on everybody because I used to hear from the boys saying damn your partner can’t hold back on that kick can he? I’d say, well why do you say that? And then I’m looking at that damn bruise underneath my chin. He laid it in and caught me right underneath the chin and if you ever see it again, you’ll watch and see me raise right up off my toes before I went down and I was pretty groggy by the time I went through the window. The part I remember the most was hanging over the framework and thinking oh damn we did it and how did I get here (laughs). Pulling back out of it and trying to get my senses back together, Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake came over and checked on me and was trying to run Shawn off because we didn’t know if Shawn would keep going or what with it.”

Marty Jannetty talked about the possibility of having to do the segment again for the live crowd as the segment was actually filmed in December of 1991 and aired on TV a month later. The Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) wasn’t really a thing at that point, so, spoilers didn’t really make their way online for the split of The Rockers.

He was happy that things looked great the first time as Vince McMahon used to make wrestlers go out to the ring and to things a second time if they messed up. Yes, the live crowd may have known it, but when it made it onto TV, only the good stuff would be shown.

[Image by WWE]

While everyone involved in the segment knew how things were supposed to go with the break-up of the tag team, not everything went according to plan. The production crew kind of messed things up and that mistake had the chance of costing Jannetty serious injury or even his life as he described it.

“There was a production guy that had said we had three windows. Two of them were sugar glass and the other one was the regular window for all the time. I said that I knew about the sugar glass but didn’t think it was a real window. He said that’s the thing…that one was real. They didn’t mark the glasses and we didn’t know which was the sugar glass and which was real. He was shaking and was scared and asked that I didn’t say anything and I said, ‘Look, no harm no foul but…damn.’

“Luckily it worked out but now when I watch The Barber Shop knowing that and like I said if you watch it back you will see there is a piece that was coming down to a V-shape and was kind of shaking and I’m still laying through the framework and if that piece would have fallen down it would have severed most of my neck off, but it all worked out and that is the Barber Shop window deal and 25 years later it is still talked about.”

Back in 2013, Wrestling Inc. reported that Jannetty was giving interviews to discuss the break-up of The Rockers and the reasoning behind it. It had to do with how much they were being paid and the plans that Vince McMahon had for Shawn Michaels which ultimately set the split and HBK’s heel turn in motion.

Different mishaps in the ring led to the segment on The Barber Shop, and the rest is history, but things may have turned out very different due to a mistake.

The Rockers splitting up certainly wasn’t the first time that a tag team had called it quits. They also weren’t the biggest or most popular tag team, but their break-up is truly one of the most memorable as Shawn Michaels went one way and Marty Jannetty went another. While their careers may have taken different paths, both will always remember that day in “The Barber Shop” which one WWE superstar remembers as the moment that could have been much worse than it was.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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