What happened to Shawn Michaels' eye? How HBK's lazy eye defined his career

WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history. The Heartbreak Kid made his name for his immaculate technique inside the squared ring and his natural charisma. Despite Michaels being one of the best in WWE, spending almost three decades doing high-risk manoeuvres meant his body was put on the line way more than often. 'Mr WrestleMania' sustained several injuries in his career, but nothing compares to his horrifying eye injury, which changed his body and face forever. Now widely known as the Shawn Michaels' lazy eye, here's everything fans need to know about Shawn Michaels' eye injury and what happened to Shawn Michaels' eye.

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What happened to Shawn Michaels' eye? Shawn Michaels lazy eye

Shawn Michaels injured his eye in 2004 during a match against Kane, who is himself widely regarded as one of the safest wrestlers ever. One nasty bump during their no-disqualification match and the lazy eye stuck with HBK for the rest of his career. The immediate aftermath of the incident was not considered severe enough for Michaels to take time off from the company and it wasn't even that noticeable in the following years. However, as years progressed, the Shawn Michaels lazy eye became more and more noticeable which prompted 'what happened to Shawn Michaels' eye?' questions from fans.

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 What happened to Shawn Michaels' eye? WWE's kayfabe explanation

While hardcore WWE fans might know the real reason behind Shawn Michaels' eye injury, casual fans will remember his storyline with Chris Jericho in 2008 where Jericho claimed to have been the culprit behind the injury. Four years after the initial incident, WWE inserted the now-evident Shawn Michaels lazy eye into the rivalry to generate more heat for the heel, Chris Jericho. WWE's decision worked and HBK and Jericho worked on their program for months in a rivalry that was well-received by the fans.

WWE even hyped the feud using the ill-fated injury as a career-threatening injury and cast further doubts if HBK could compete inside the ring. "Michaels is known for persevering, but with a detached retina - an injury that has ended several professional athletes' careers and forever changed the performance of boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard - and cracked ribs, many have begun to speculate whether even HBK can bounce back this time," WWE said at the time.

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It is common knowledge that HBK did bounce back from the injury and went on to have one of the best feuds of his career with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 and 26 before eventually retiring. Now back with the company as a sporadic wrestler and mainly a backstage official, the Shawn Michaels lazy eye will always stay with the 'Showstopper'.

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