Author, his recent, Wrestling For My Life (2014)
World Wrestling Entertainment, 1988-1998 and 2002-2010
Inductee WWE Hall of Fame, 2011
4 time WWE World Champion
Former World Heavyweight Champion
2 time Royal Rumble winner; etc.
Performed in Wrestlemania 5 times
WWF’s first Grand Slam Champion
11-time winner of PWI Match of the Year Award
Served as WWE Commissioner 1998-2000
Married: Rebecca, since 1999
Children: Cameron and Cheyenne
Guest Bio
WWE’s “Heartbreak Kid” Wrestled for His Life
CBN.com
–PURSUIT OF A CHAMPION
When Shawn was 12, he saw his first wrestling match in San Antonio. He fell in love with the sport and knew he wanted to be a professional wrestler. Shawn went to college after high school to please his parents but realized that was not where he wanted to be. After a couple of semesters, he told his dad that he wanted to wrestle. So Shawn started wrestling and garnered attention in the process. Then in 1988, he signed with the World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly World Wrestling Federation/WWF) and began his professional career. Shawn partnered with Marty Janetty and the duo soon became known as the Midnight Rockers. Professionally they were getting notoriety and drew in money. At the same time, Marty and Shawn became known as partiers and troublemakers. After a fight in a bar with another wrestler, the WWE president fired them. Shawn started using drugs. Before long, it became an addiction.
“It was more than just the fame and money,” says Shawn. “I never knew I could have this life and it seduced me. I was one of those good drug addicts. I suppose I hid it better than anyone else,” he says. Shawn struck out on his own, ending his long-running partnership with Marty. His launched his career as “The Heartbreak Kid” and was on the rise, but his personal life got worse. His drug use accelerated. He started Degeneration X, a group of young rebels that broke every rule in the wrestling world. Shawn was back in the fast lane. Then in 1998, a back injury forced Shawn into retirement and he was told he would never wrestle again. Shawn immersed himself in drinking, taking pills and chasing women.
Then in 1999, Shawn met Rebecca who was raised in a Southern Baptist home. She was instrumental in helping Shawn get on the right path. After back surgery, Shawn came out of retirement in 2002 and wrestled for the last time in 2010. “When I returned to wrestling, I went back a changed man,” says Shawn. “I had adopted a new way of thinking.” Before getting in the ring, Shawn would kneel and pray out in the arena or stadium as a way of shining his light in the darkness. “All I wanted was for God to help me be a good witness on the platform He had brought me back to.”
CHANGED LIFE
After several weeks of meeting and dating, Shawn, then 34, and Rebecca were married in a Las Vegas chapel in 1999. Six weeks later, Rebecca was pregnant. At the time, Shawn was taking 30-35 pills a day for his bad knees, bad back and hurting shoulder. Rebecca prayed he would stop taking pills. “I’ll stop when our baby is born,” he promised. After Cameron was born in 2000, Shawn cut back on the pills but didn’t stop. Rebecca continued to pray and joined a Bible study. One day, Cameron was crawling all over Shawn. He said, “Daddy’s tired.” “It was in that moment that I realized he was beginning to notice how I was acting,” says Shawn. “It was the worst feeling I had ever had.”
Shawn and Rebecca started attending church. For the first time, Shawn says his life began to change. Shawn joined a Bible study and gave his heart to the Lord. “It was like burdens were falling off me and chains were being loosened,” says Shawn. A few weeks later, Shawn was water baptized.
Today Shawn works with various Christian ministries, churches, charities and organizations that allow him to spread the good news of the Gospel. He has turned his focus on spending more time with his wife and children since retirement. “Being called The Heartbreak Kid, Mr. Wrestlemania and all those other names doesn’t even begin to compare to what it feels like to know that the Almighty God who created the universe calls me His child,” says Shawn.
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
