Icon? Showstopper? Main Event?

This one might be a bit interesting.

How would have HBK faired in today’s wrestling climate? It could have be in either WWE or in the indie scene. Would he have been huge or just been see as another face by the fans?

Now this is an interesting one, and not just because the wife is a huge Shawn fan and might kill me depending on how I answer.

We’ll start with the indy scene, which is where Shawn would thrive. At the end of the day, how many wrestlers were inspired by Shawn? He was one of the first showstopper style wrestlers, whose focus was more on stealing the show rather than…well anything else really. If you got a pop from the crowd, you were doing exactly what you were supposed to do.

Did anyone do that better than Shawn? He knew how to play to a crowd like no one else and could steal a show so perfectly. There’s one other major point in his favor though: at the end of the day, Shawn is one of the most talented in-ring performers in history, if not of all time. That kind of talent is going to rise to the top as people would see just how good he was. Shawn could steal the show against anyone and he would do it on any stage.

The same holds true for WWE, though maybe not to the same degree. The style that Shawn worked would get over, but at the same time it would be partially smothered by everything else going on. His time as a face wouldn’t work so well as faces tend to get destroyed anymore and his over the top heel antics wouldn’t be allowed anymore. The talent would get him wherever he needed to go and he would be a star, but I don’t think he would be able to get as far otherwise. He’d be a huge fan favorite, though not likely the kind who got pushed as a major star.

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