The stellar career of Shawn Michaels sees him universally considered at least a top three all-time in-ring performer. A few names like Bret Hart and Ric Flair get mentioned, but even Michaels’ detractor must admit his greatness. WWE fell into a habit of trying to get talents over by working with HBK since he could lead flawed performers to their best performances.

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However, not everyone to work with Michaels got over in the way WWE expected. It is a risky play to hope one superior talent leads another to a high level of success. Michaels tried to complete WWE’s goal of enhancing the careers of certain names that just didn’t work out. The following wrestlers didn’t get over despite working with Michaels.

10 Vader

There is some debate that Shawn Michaels did not want to make Vader look good in their matches, but he always sold well for big men he worked with. Michaels and Vader each had a solid match at SummerSlam 1996 that ended up being the peak of Vader’s WWE career.

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Vince McMahon gave up on Vader for many reasons with rumors of him disliking various things about the performer. However, it turned into another project of Michaels trying to make a new big man look credible in the main event scene that didn’t work.

9 Lance Cade

Lance Cade often gets overlooked as one of Shawn Michaels’ students to make it to WWE like Bryan Danielson and Brian Kendrick. WWE placed Cade into a unique role joining HBK and Chris Jericho’s epic rivalry.

Jericho had Cade in his corner to get a mental advantage of having someone that had a personal attachment to Michaels attacking him. Cade unfortunately didn’t get over as well as anyone expected taking part in such a memorable angle.

8 Ted DiBiase Jr.

One of Shawn Michaels’ final feuds was in tag team action with Triple H against two young wrestlers. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. continued their leader Randy Orton’s vendetta against the D-Generation X members, leading into a tag team program.

WWE viewed DiBiase as a much bigger prospect than Rhodes for the long-term future. There was even talk about DiBiase being groomed to end The Undertaker’s undefeated streak. The future would see Cody becoming the bigger star and Ted never progressing despite the huge opportunities.

7 Rick Martel

Shawn Michaels was a rising star in the early 1990s after The Rockers tag team ended, but he was a relevant player from the start of that push. WWE tried to make Rick Martel a bigger deal when entering a feud with Michaels over Sherri Martel.

Both wrestlers were heels when facing off to create a disconnect with the audience. The story of Sherri making both arrogant heels promise to not hit each other in the face made it even harder to get into. Martel did not benefit much from working with Michaels like many others.

6 Crush

Another short-term feud for Shawn Michaels early into his singles push saw him facing fellow pushed talent Crush. WWE had high hopes for Crush at that time and hoped that he could move into the main event picture one day.

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King of the Ring 1993 featured their big match with Michaels putting his Intercontinental Championship on the line. Crush struggled to stand out and failed to get over in one of his best chances. WWE never saw Crush hit the potential they expected out of him.

5 Ahmed Johnson

WWE tried to use Shawn Michaels to help Ahmed Johnson get over in a different route than opponents. Johnson became a close on-screen friend and ally for Michaels in various tag team matches meant to help him branch into the main event scene.

The chemistry wasn’t as strong as Michaels working with Diesel or Triple H since he wasn’t a real-life friend of Ahmed. WWE slowed down on Johnson’s push when he didn’t improve with bigger opportunities, like teaming with the top face.

4 Dean Douglas

The WWE run of Shane Douglas was an all-time failure partially due to the awful gimmick of Dean Douglas. Another reason for his failure was the terrible backstage relationship with Shawn Michaels and the rest of the Kliq.

A feud between the two was meant to elevate Douglas, but Michaels backed out of the match due to an injury. Dean was awarded the Intercontinental Championship via forfeit and held it for just a few minutes before Shawn’s friend Razor Ramon squashed him for the worst-case scenario.

3 Mr. Kennedy

Few wrestlers started with as strong of a push as Mr. Kennedy when having a hot start to his WWE career. Kennedy worked with many top names in a short time before injuries and other variables started to hurt his momentum.

Shawn Michaels was tasked with trying to help Kennedy get over again for greater success. WWE didn’t see fans caring about Kennedy more despite working against a beloved legend. Kennedy continued to tread water after the HBK feud for the rest of his WWE time.

2 Tatanka

WWE had Tatanka debut with an undefeated streak lasting a long time due to the hopes of him becoming a bigger player. Shawn Michaels defending the Intercontinental Championship against Tatanka at WrestleMania 9 ended up being one of Tatanka’s biggest moments.

Unfortunately, the story was more about Michaels breaking away from Sherri Martel and her being in Tatanka’s corner. A DQ finish was a cop out to keep Tatanka undefeated without taking the title off Michaels. Fans started to view Tatanka as less of a threat after this program.

1 Chris Masters

One of the most overlooked feuds from Shawn Michaels career saw him feuding with a young Chris Masters. WWE wanted to turn Michaels back into a babyface after the one-feud heel turn against Hulk Hogan in the summer of 2005.

Masters challenging Michaels as a heel led to the audience rallying behind HBK again from the face side. The youth and lack of improvement of Masters that early in his career saw him struggling to keep up with the nearly flawless in-ring work of Michaels. WWE slowed down Masters’ push after he lost to Michaels in their big match.