WWE History: What happened to Shawn Michaels' eye?
Shawn Michaels may well be one of the best wrestlers to have ever entered a WWE ring. HBK was known for his technical acumen and ability to control any crowd that he worked in front of.
Michaels is considered to be one of the safest wrestlers to work with inside the ring, but the superstar has suffered his share of injuries in the past.
Other than the debilitating back injury that nearly retired him, Michaels had issues with his knees, and also once injured his eye.
But what exactly happened to Shawn Michaels' eye? Fans have questioned how the superstar got his lazy eye, which stuck with him for the rest of his career.
What really happened to Shawn Michaels' eye in WWE?
Shawn Michaels originally injured his eye in 2004. During a No Disqualification match against Kane, he suffered a nasty bump. His retina was damaged in the match.
It was not considered severe enough to take time away from the ring, but he started to suffer from his lazy eye. Taking more bumps led to his lazy eye being noticeable over the years.
Naturally, WWE decided to incorporate it into a storyline. They decided to make it part of his feud with Chris Jericho to give a kayfabe explanation of Shawn Michaels' lazy eye.
What was WWE's kayfabe explanation for Shawn Michaels' lazy eye?
Shawn Michaels was in a feud with Chris Jericho when Y2J turned heel. He shoved HBK into a TV monitor, then pounded away at Michaels' head around the eye region.
WWE went on to make the storyline seem even more severe than it was. They made it seem like Michaels had suffered a career-threatening injury, and he even came to RAW to deliver a speech about possibly retiring from WWE.
However, Jericho accidentally punched Shawn's wife during the segment, which led to him staying on in the storyline.
In reality, the injury was the same one he had suffered in 2004 and it was not serious at all.
However, WWE used the injury in the best way they could to hype up the bad blood between the two superstars and made it seem that Jericho had nearly retired Michaels.
The two went on to have one of the best WWE feuds of all time as a result.
Is Shawn Michaels' eye injury serious?
Shawn Michaels suffered the eye injury in 2004, and it was not serious. While the injury did change his look, it was never a hindrance to his ability to wrestle.
Michaels went on to have some of the best matches of his career prior to his retirement. His feuds against Chris Jericho, The Legacy, and The Undertaker are all memorable ones that occurred after the injury.