When Shawn Michaels won his third WWE Intercontinental Championship, he was forced to relinquish the title just days later due to injuries sustained in a brutal assault. This real-life incident, which occurred on October 13th, 1995, in Syracuse, New York, stands as one of wrestlingโs most infamous outside-the-ring altercations. This is the story of what happened that nearly fatal night.
The infamous tale of Shawn Michaels forfeiting his third WWF Intercontinental Championship after an infamous incident in Syracuse in ’95. Photo Credit: WWE. Artwork by Pro Wrestling Stories.
The Real-Life Assault on WWE Star Shawn Michaels in Syracuseโ
Shawn Michaels loses his smile on the February 13, 1997 episode of Thursday Night Raw. Photo Credit: WWE.
“WWF favorite took a real-life beating outside a North Syracuse club as the 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman) and British Bulldog looked on!”
โ Mike McAndrew, The Post-Standard.
A Night That Almost Ended Shawn Michaelsโ Career
WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels. Photo Credit: Tom Buchanan, WWE.
When Shawn Michaels won his third WWF Intercontinental Championship in 1995, he forfeited the belt, claiming he had been the victim of a Marine assault. This is the story of what happened that nearly fatal October 13th night in Syracuse.
Shawn Michaels and The Kliq: Behind the Scenes
The Kliq (‘123 Kid’ Sean Waltman, Shawn Michaels, ‘Diesel’ Kevin Nash, and ‘Razor Ramon’ Scott Hall). Photo Credit: WWE.
In the mid-โ90s, one of the highlights of the then-WWF was the tremendous in-ring work of Shawn Michaels. "The Heartbreak Kid" was a top performer in front of the camera, but behind it, he was pulling strings and acting unprofessionally as a member of the Kliq.
In 1995, The Kliq’s lineup was completed with company stalwarts Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and 1-2-3 Kid joining WWF upstart Hunter-Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) and unofficial leader Shawn Michaels.
At this point, Shawn Michaels was generally perceived as one of the finest blossoming talents in North America, with a fast and dynamic style.
Despite this, Michaels was starting to act unprofessionally.
The Kliqโs Influence on Shawn Michaelsโ Rise
WWF Champion Diesel and WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels celebrate their WWF Tag Team Championship victory of The British Bulldog (standing in for Owen Hart) and Yokozuna at WWF In Your House 3. Photo Credit: WWE.
Two Kliq members were positioned highly at WrestleMania XI as Michaels faced Diesel for the WWF championship. HBK tried to hinder Diesel in the match by deliberately landing on his feet from a Jackknife Powerbomb, the move that would end the match.
The book Titan Sinking: The Decline of the WWF in 1995 explains that Michael’s bump had the effect of “significantly lessening the impact of the move and making Nash look foolish to casual fans in the audience who didn’t understand the mechanics of the business or its cooperative nature.”
Although becoming increasingly unscrupulous, Michaels had the authority and popularity to ensure he would be the future of the WWF.
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Rising the Ranks
Shawn Michaels holding the WWF Intercontinental Championship (white leather version).Photo Credit: WWE.
By In Your House 4: Great White North, four of the five Kliq members were scheduled for title matches, with two walking in as titleholders.
Shawn Michaels was set to defend his belt against recent signee Dean Douglas.
“The Franchise” had made waves in ECW with a straight-talking, traditional, worked-shoot gimmick, memorably throwing down the NWA title in 1994. Signed with the WWF by 1995, he was now climbing the ladder of Vince McMahon’s company.
Yet all plans for In Your House were to be scrapped by real-life events.
A Brutal Real-Life Attack Leads to Shawn Michaels Vacating the Intercontinental Title
After the incident involving Shawn Michaels in Syracuse, Dean Douglas would become the WWF Intercontinental Champion. Photo Credit: WWE.
On October 22nd, 1995’s In Your House 4: Great White North pay-per-view intro, Gorilla Monsoon revealed to the audience that Shawn Michaels was being stripped of his title belt.
He remarked, “Due to the severity of Shawn Michaels’s concussion, I am not allowing him to compete. However, there will be an Intercontinental title defense.
“I have asked Shawn Michaels to publicly forfeit the belt tonight in the ring,” Monsoon continued, “at which time I will take it and present it to Dean Douglas, making him the new Intercontinental champion with all the rights and privileges of that title. This is one of the most difficult decisions I had to make in my entire life.”
A sullen Michaels plodded to the ring to silently present the belt.
Shawn Michael’s Bloodshot Eye: His Surprising State After the Attack
Shawn Michaels sporting a visible black eye in his first appearance after the Syracuse attack. Photo Credit: WWE.
Shawn Michaels’s appearance was disturbing, with a bloodshot right eye. The commentators noted the severity of his injuries, with Jim Ross revealing he “just got his stitches removed yesterday.”
However, after less than 15 minutes, in a clear powerplay, the title seamlessly transitioned from Kliq member to Kliq member as Intercontinental champion Razor Ramon dethroned Dean Douglas.
The match had an oddly muted finish when Ramon hit a back suplex. Douglas put his foot under the rope, although the referee missed this. The finish may have aimed to protect Douglas but instead had the opposite effect.
The finish had a rather apathetic feel to it. Douglas was soon persona non grata, remaining absent on a large scale on WWF television.
But off-screen was perhaps more interesting.
Uncovering the True Events of October 13th, 1995
Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith were present that night in Syracuse. Photo Credit: WWE.
So, depending on the one telling the story, the real reason for Shawn Michael’s eye injury was that the Marines allegedly beat him up outside a club.
Nine days before In Your House, Shawn Michaels, flanked by Davey Boy Smith (his opponent earlier that night in Binghamton, New York), and the 1-2-3 Kid decided to check into their motel room an hour and ten-minute drive away in Syracuse before going out on the town.
Shawn Michaels visibly showed injuries after the Syracuse attack. Photo Credit: WWE.
The aftermath speaks for itself.
The police report notes the state of Shawn Michaels’s injuries. Having had his face stomped on and shoved into the bumper, Shawn suffered a laceration on the right eyelid, nearly torn off in the beating, two black eyes, and blood coming out of his ears. The attack was nearly fatal.
At the time of the attack, 1-2-3 Kid was passed out, and Davey Boy Smith – according to Jim Cornette – was trapped in the car’s back seat after HBK’s seat had been pushed back.
Bulldog himself sustained injuries after freeing himself from the car and joining the brawl.
According to his daughter, Georgia Smith, who graciously reached out to share her memories after reading this article, the attack was more brutal than initially reported.
She vividly recalled seeing her father return home with scratches and bruises all over his body, emphasizing, “People were trying to take my dadโs eyes out, and he had scratches and bruises all over. Itโs something Iโve never forgotten.”
Despite his injuries, Smith managed to incapacitate two of the attackers before a third attempted to gouge his eye. Despite enduring such a violent altercation, Smith was able to, somehow, compete the following night.
The Partying Lifestyle That Led to the Syracuse Incident
Shawn Michaels, seen here enjoying drinks on the road with former WWF referee James Beard, “The Model” Rick Martel, and “The Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich. Photo Credit: WWE.
Booker Bill Watts, who briefly worked for the WWF in 1995, was amongst those irritated by the altercation. A traditional territorial booker at heart, he was one of those feeling a wrestler should never lose a fight in such a public manner.
Ross commented on his podcast Grilling JR, “Bill didn’t like the fact that that happened to a guy so highly on the card. If you don’t think you can win the fight, then somehow or another, don’t engage.”
He continued, “As I’ve always told the guys, pick your spots where you hang out. Going to a local bar and trying to become the alpha male in somebody else’s bar in another city you don’t live in is not really smart.”
Conflicting Accounts: How Many Attacked Michaels?
The incident in Syracuse affected had a detrimental effect on Shawn Michaels at the time. Photo Credit: WWE.
One of the biggest questions surrounding the Shawn Michaels incident in Syracuse is just how many men were truly involved and how many ambushed Michaels.
While the figure of nine or ten is often cited and appears in the initial police report, differing accounts create contradictions.
The Post-Standard’s Mike McAndrew notes it was “a gang of four or five men” who attacked the wrestler, but later suggests the number could be as high as nine or ten.
Triple H, however, claimed it was six men in the A&E documentary about Shawn Michaels.
Ex-Rockers tag team partner and fellow party animal Marty Jannetty commented, “I don’t want to be disrespectful because I love Shawn. Syracuse, where he got in a fight with all those Marines, it was actually just one guy.”
That “one guy” was reportedly 23-year-old Marine Douglas Griffith, whose ex-girlfriend Michaels had been flirting with.
A more recent theory claims the person involved wasn’t a Marine but rather a soldier stationed at Fort Drum, about 85 miles north of Syracuse.
According to Rob Mellon, who was stationed at Fort Drum at the time, “The story spread across the post. Everyone at Drum knew about it.” Mellon added that the soldier was suspended from active duty and banned from attending future wrestling events.
There are also disputes over the extent of Michaels’ injuries. Some reports suggest he could have competed, but WWE held him back.
Shane Douglas questioned the severity of the injuries. On Wrestling Shoot Interviews, he claimed to have seen Michaels days before the event, looking completely fine. Later, Douglas alleged that Shawn emerged from the make-up room with prosthetic alterations to create the appearance of severe injuries.
Douglas quipped, “Those make-up girls must have done a number on you!”
Turning a Real-Life Beating Into a WWE Storyline
Jim Ross interviews Shawn Michaels after the Syracuse incident on Raw. Photo Credit: WWE.
Whether real or artificial โ the WWE (then WWF) decided to make the most of the situation.
In the words of Bruce Prichard, “You show the injuries to his face and make a story out of it. You’re dealt a set of cards, and you have to play them the best way you can at the time.”
The storyline started playing out on WWF screens in late 1995.
In an October 1995 interview, just days after the attack, Michaels spoke about his incident with the Marines.
A subdued Shawn detailed how nine marines had forced him to give up his Intercontinental champion to, in his words, an “extremely overrated and undeserving” Shane Douglas, a clear dig at the former ECW Champion.
Naturally, the WWF was keen to drop any of the less desirable details, such as substance abuse and the shattering of kayfabe in a world where babyface Michaels partied with a heel British Bulldog.
The Syracuse Incident: Fueling Shawn Michaelsโ Ascension
Shawn Michaels receiving oxygen before being stretched out of the arena. Photo Credit: WWE.
On the November 20th, 1995 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels was wrestling Owen Hart when, after sending “The Rocket” to the outside, Michaels started clutching his head, subsequently falling to the mat. An Owen Hart enziguri seemingly had reaggravated an injury from the assault, causing a concussion.
In a worked-shoot angle critically acclaimed for its realism, Michaels received oxygen and was stretched out of the arena.
WWE committed to medical personnel attending to Shawn, as did agents such as Rene Goulet and J.J. Dillon โ a rare on-screen appearance of front office executive and former Four Horsemen Dillon on WWE TV.
Even on-screen heel Jerry Lawler seemed concerned, coming off commentary to take a first-hand look at what had happened.
Shots were panned to crying and distraught audience members.
Shawn Michaels with Pamela Anderson at WrestleMania XI. Photo Credit: WWE.
Written off television for weeks, the angle helped build sympathy for Michaels.
On the wave of fan support, Michaels would become one of the top stars in the wrestling business.
Although HBK’s rise was inevitable and arguably apparent as far back as the break-up of The Rockers in 1992, this angle helped propel Michaels into superstardom as a top babyface main eventer.
One writes, “I have been a wrestling fan for nearly twenty years, and I have seen more tragic occurrences than I care to remember. Few incidents, however, shook me up as much as the brutal attack on Shawn Michaels outside a bar in Syracuse, New York, in October.”
He continued, “I am a 31-year-old man, and I am not ashamed to say I cried more than once after I heard about this incident.”
Then, at WrestleMania in March of 1996, he was crowned WWF World Heavyweight Champion as Vince McMahon made perhaps his most iconic commentary call, “The boyhood dream has come true for Shawn Michaels!”
The Fallout: What Happened With the Lawsuit?
Shawn Michaels after his boyhood dream of winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship came true at WrestleMania XII. Photo Credit: WWE.
The real-life lawsuit was dropped in 1996 over fears that it would reveal the involvement of substance abuse in wrestling. This needed to be avoided after the steroid trial that saw Vince McMahon staring at potential prison time.
The Syracuse incident was later brought up at a time of simmering tensions between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, when “The Hitman” called out Michaels and the “nine cheerleaders that beat you up in Syracuse!”
The Lasting Legacy of Shawn Michaels’ Syracuse Incident
We reflect on the infamous Syracuse incident, where Shawn Michaels faced a brutal real-life assault that would forever leave its mark on his WWE wrestling career. Photo Credit: WWE.
The adaptation of this real-life incident into WWE storylines exemplifies the old saying, "Art imitates life." However, the full truth of what transpired that night remains shrouded in uncertainty.
With Michaelsโ intoxication, the absence of The Kliq, the passing of Davey Boy Smith, and the reluctance of the Marines to come forward, the details of that infamous night are likely to remain a mystery.
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Griffin Kaye is a life-long pro wrestling fan and historian with a love for '80s and '90s WWF, the NWA, WCW, ECW, and AEW. His favorite wrestlers include Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart, William Regal, Tito Santana, Stan Hansen, Mr Perfect, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho. He can be reached on Twitter @GriffinKaye1, as well as on Instagram at @TheGriffinKaye and @WrestlingInTheYears.