The first pay-per-view match I ever watched was the opener of the 1991 Royal Rumble where The Rockers took on The Orient Express. The first WrestleMania match I ever watched was the opener of WrestleMania VII where The Rockers took on The Barbarian and Haku.

The Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, were my team.

Having watched World of Sport as a child I was always impressed with the skills of junior heavyweights such as Mark ‘Rollerball’ Rocco and Marty Jones. The Rockers, though, they took the high flying I knew to an entirely different level, and to top it off they had the most exciting entrance music.

I was desperate for them to reach the pinnacle of the tag division, having read about when they “won” the tag team titles from The Hart Foundation only to have the decision overturned due to the top rope breaking mid match. But as 1991 went on, it seemed less and less likely as teams such as The Nasty Boys and The Legion of Doom rose to prominence.

As we headed towards the end of 1991, tension was rife between Michaels and Jannetty over their failure to win the big matches. On multiple occasions it appeared they would come to blows, but to my relief, they always found themselves back on the same page.

Brutus Beefcake invited the duo onto his Barber Shop segment and after an uplifting embrace between The Rockers, Michaels tore the entire book up and shockingly hurled Jannetty through the plate glass window. To this day it remains one the most impactful heel turns in wrestling, referenced endlessly. The storyline left Jannetty with severe facial injuries forcing him to disappear for several months, but there were unfortunate real-world reasonings for his long absence.

With Jannetty gone from WWF, Michaels became a cocky and arrogant heel, further supplemented by the addition of the excellent Sensational Sherri as his manager and an annoying theme song. The braggadocious Michaels irritating fans simply by checking his reflection in a mirror more than was necessary.

In October 1992, Michaels was being his usual pompous self when from behind Jannetty made his long-awaited return and I immediately found myself jumping in the air. I was rooting for Jannetty to get his revenge and he was quick to try and get it, attempting to smash a mirror over Michaels head only for the cowardly traitor to throw Sherri in harm’s way instead. Jannetty was crestfallen.

The attack provided some success though, it was announced that Jannetty would face Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship at the 1993 Royal Rumble, more than one year after the Barber Shop attack.

At that point of my wrestling fandom, this was the most anticipated match ever. Not only did we have two of the most talented in-ring performers facing each other but it was a chance for Jannetty to get his rightful revenge. The match, for me, is very underrated but it ended in immense disappointment as Michaels successfully retained and Jannetty disappeared from the WWF, rumours rampant as the true reason why he was gone yet again.

Fast forward to the May 17 edition of RAW in 1993, widely regarded as one of the best episodes of RAW of all time.

The start of the show offered a recap of last week’s episode where Mr Perfect Curt Henning and Michaels had a wild brawl outside of The Manhattan Center. Vince McMahon then interviews Michaels to ask him about the brawl, and of course the ever-humble Michaels brags that he’s the best and says he will defend the title anywhere and at any time.

Appearing out of the crowd, a man wearing a hoodie and sunglasses appeared in the ring to call Michaels bluff. The ghost of Michaels past had once again returned, Jannetty was back, and Michaels’ reluctantly accepted the challenge.

This time there was to be no heartbreak for Jannetty coyly taking advantage of the distraction from Henning to catch Michaels in a small package; Marty Jennetty was the new Intercontinental Champion! The images of a jubilant Jannetty running around the outside of the ring celebrating remain etched in my mind.

The celebrations were short lived unfortunately, as three weeks later Michaels utilised his debuting bodyguard Diesel to interfere and help in regaining the Intercontinental title. Michaels started the feud by putting Jannetty through the Barber Shop window as Brutus Beefcake looked on, he ended the feud by hiring an almost seven foot bodyguard to reclaim the gold.

There were a few brief teases of the feud being rekindled, and my hopes were raised of a Rockers reunion when there was a moment on RAW over a decade later.

The Barber Shop heel turn was clearly what Michaels needed, the momentum launching his Hall of Fame singles career. The resulting feud was lengthy in terms of elapsed time but brief in terms of matches, it simply left me wanting more.

But it was never to be. Instead, the diverging career paths these two men went on ever since that Barber Shop window famously shattered set a new precedent in the wrestling world; perhaps an unjust one.

Often when a tag team now splits, one member is labelled as the “Jannetty” of the team.

This seems unfair to Jannetty’s résumé, as post the Barber Shop beef with Michaels he won both the Intercontinental title and the Tag Team titles. Along with two AWA World Tag Team title reigns prior to joining the WWF, these accolades are something most wrestlers can only dream of. Yet despite these achievements, he stands in the shadow of a man heralded as one of the best wrestlers in history, forever the Jannetty to Michaels.