- How it all begins
In 1988, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty left the AWA and re-signed for Vince McMahon's WWF. The Rockers made their pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series 1988 as part of the 10 team tag match. They eliminated The Bolsheviks from the match before being eliminated by a double-disqualifcation in a brawl with the Brain Busters. The Rockers had a high profile, high flying match against The Orient Express in the 1991 Royal Rumble.
- WWF tag team title controversy
By current WWE records, The Rockers never officially held the WWF World Tag Team Championship but on October 30, 1990 Jannetty and Michaels did actually defeat the reigning champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) in a 2 out of 3 falls match to seemingly win the titles.
During the match the top rope broke by accident making the match a disjointed affair that would require serious clean up before it could be shown on TV. The Rockers even defended the newly won WWF Tag Team title against Power and Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules) on November 3, 1990. Shortly after November 3rd it was decided to not air the title change and that the titles would revert back to the Hart Foundation.
Shawn Michaels claims that the Hart Foundation had politicked to keep the titles. Michaels claim is contradicted by other claims that the WWF had actually fired Jim Neidhart forcing the title change but after the match the two sides came to an agreement and Neidhart was brought back. Whatever the reason the Rockers were never officially credited with a title win.
- The Rockers breakup
After teaming together since 1985 the Rockers split up by the end of 1991 after backstage disputes. The exact nature of the dispute has not been confirmed by the WWF other than it was a monetary issue that lead to Marty Jannetty quitting the WWF on behalf of both Rockers. According to Michaels, Jannetty had claimed that Jim Crockett Promotions were willing to give them a very high guaranteed contract but when Michaels inquired about it turned out to be an exaggeration. Since Michaels needed to support his family he told Vince McMahon he was not interested in quitting the company.
After cooler heads prevailed it was decided that the Rockers should split with Shawn Michaels turning heel to feud with Marty Jannetty. Jannetty was not happy about the team splitting while Michaels couldn’t wait to work as a singles wrestler.
On screen there was no mention of what went on backstage, instead Michaels and Jannetty started to show signs of dissention. During a singles match between Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair, Marty Jannetty rolled Shawn into the ring to get pinned. Michaels took this as Jannetty costing him the match instead of helping out (this was of course scripted). At the 1991 Survivor Series Jannetty caused Shawn Michaels to be eliminated by accidentally slamming one of the Nasty Boys into him after which the Rockers argued. After the build up the Rockers wrestled one last match on television, a title shot at The Legion of Doom which the Rockers lost after which Jannetty and Michaels argued over who was to blame.
- The Barbershop incident
The final spilt came on Brutus Beefcake’s "Barbershop" (taped on December 2, 1991 shown on January 12, 1992) where Beefcake interviewed the Rockers about their recent problems. After seemingly working their problems out Shawn Michaels suddenly blasted Jannetty with a superkick and then threw him through the glass window on the set. Michaels also preceded to rip a full page picture of the group in half, signifying the separation. The turn had the desired effect of making Shawn a hated heel (bad guy) especially since the WWF agreed to let Marty Jannetty "blade" (make himself bleed) after being thrown through the window, something which wasn’t very prevalent in 1991.
Michaels and Jannetty were supposed to feud following the break up but Jannetty left the federation for personal reasons forcing the feud to be abandoned at least temporarily. While Jannetty was away, Shawn Michaels began developing his “Heartbreak Kid” heel persona including getting Sherri Martel as his manager. Michaels also won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The British Bulldog.
- The Rockers feud
On the October 31, 1992 edition of WWF Superstars, Michaels was in the ring posing before facing some jobber, admiring himself in a mirror that Sherri held up. To everyone’s surprise Marty Jannetty came down through the crowd and entered the ring. Jannetty attacked Michaels, grabbed the mirror and tried to hit Michaels with it. But instead the cowardly Michaels pulled Sherri in front of himself so that she got hit with the mirror instead. This led to Sherri being hospitalized from the glass shards (only in storyline terms) and when Sherri returned from her “recovery” she turned on Michaels and actually backed Jannetty in his unsuccessful attempt to take the Intercontinental title away from Michaels at the Royal Rumble 1993.
During an episode of Monday Night RAW on May 17, 1993, Jannetty defeated Shawn Michaels to win the title (with the help of Mr. Perfect). However 3 weeks later Jannetty lost the title back to Shawn Michaels in an untelevised house show thanks to the interference of Michaels’ new bodyguard Diesel.
- Rockers Reunion
On March 14, 2005 Jannetty made a surprise appearance on RAW and for one night only, the Rockers reunited to take on La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and Rob Conway). Jannetty got the win with the "Rocker Dropper" after Shawn Michaels hit ”Sweet Chin Music”on Grenier.
Links:
1) The Rockers vs. The Legion Of Doom (Rockers last match)
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/wwf%2Brockers/video/x19m46_rockers-vs-legion-of-doom-1991_extreme (Thanks to ttboy94)
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