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411 Ranks Shawn Michaels’ WrestleMania Matches (14-12)

March 27, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
WWE Diesel Shawn Michaels

Introduction: Welcome to the 2017 411 WrestleMania feature. This year’s countdown to WrestleMania will take a look back at the matches of the man they call Mr. WrestleMania, man that competed at the big show 17 times; the heartbreak kid, the showstopper, the Icon, Shawn Michaels. This year the 411 staff was presented with a list of Shawn Michaels’ WrestleMania matches, and were asked to rank them from best to worst. The rankings were then given a number value: #1 = 17 points, #2 = 16 points, and so on and so forth, all the way down to #17 = 1 point. The individual staff lists were then compiled into one master list. Today we begin looking at that master list, starting at #17. Each match will have a review by Robert Leighty Jr., a video of the match, and then two writers sharing their thoughts on the match, its place on the list and its place in HBK’s Mania history. Feel free to share your thoughts or even your personal rankings as the feature goes on to see how it lines up with ours.

Enjoy!


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The Rockers get the “Cena” reaction (ie: lots of high pitched squeals). Jannetty starts with Tanaka, and the Express double team early. Things break loose quickly as all 4 men get in the ring, and the Rockers clear house. The Express hit the floor and the Rockers chase with stereo planchas. Things settle down again as Janetty locks in a side headlock. Fuji cheats to win for his team as he uses his cane to low bridge Jannetty. Marty plays face in peril as the Express use quick tags and double team moves. I guess I was wrong as Marty gets a tag to Shawn, and they hit double sweet chin music (didn’t mean much back in 1990). Shawn hits a sweet neckbreaker on Saito, but he is kicked from behind by Tanaka to give the heels by advantage. Tanaka drops a knee from the top rope as the crowd tries to get Shawn motivated: Drugs, women, and/or alcohol generally worked around this time. The match slows down again as Tanaka uses the Vulcan nerve hold. Shawn hits a stiff clothesline where Tanaka does the Marty sell by doing a complete flip. Janetty gets the hot tag, and the Rockers unload with a double dropkick and a double backdrop. Each Rocker heads up top, but Fuji nails Jannetty with the cane. Jannetty chases down Fuji, but Saito throws salt into his eyes. Jannetty staggers blindly outside, and falls over the railing into the crowd. The ref’s count reaches ten, and we get a cheap ass ending. Jannetty’s sell of the salt was awesome, as he just had to reenact his night at the bar 2 days before the show.

– Robert Leighty Jr.

14. WrestleMania 6 – The Rockers vs. Orient Express – 55 points

Justin Watry: I don’t really like the cart entrances. I am not exactly an old school thinking kind of guy anyways; it is just too limiting and bland. Especially on a WrestleMania scale where things have to be over the top and special. My favorite part of The Rockers AND The Orient Express coming to the ring? A good looking girl in a white t-shirt was given a close up shot. Nothing else stood out. It is too bad grand entrances did not become popular until later on. Some of the 1980’s and early 1990’s starts could have done some amazing things. Truth be told, this match is not very entertaining. The WM 5 bout was much better. This clocked in at about seven minutes but felt like seven hours instead. Unlike the previous year, it was actually Marty who began the match. One cool note was that he and Shawn Michaels hit a double super kick, called “a beautiful move.” Years later, that beautiful move would be ranked as an all-time great finishing maneuver. Without skipping around too much, this bout never got going and ended about as flat as could be. Like a lot of HBK bouts at Mania, he ended up losing. On this occasion, it was because Marty got counted out after “salt” was thrown in his eyes, and he stumbled around like a goof – falling over the barricade into the front row to top off the ridiculous scene. This helped nobody and if there is one important moment to take from this waste of time, here’s the silver lining: Shawn was ready to move on. I remember feeling the same way about Eddie Guerrero in 2003. Teaming up with Chavo for a quick run was fine in late 2002 and early 2003. By spring/summer, he was well beyond a tag team act yet stayed in neutral for another full year. A solo career was calling, and then the fun would truly begin.

Paul Leazar: On paper, this might be the best tag team match The Rockers would ever have on the big stage. The Orient Express weren’t the most flashy team, but they didn’t need to be. They were the very definition of a heel team that could hold matches together, which Pat Tanaka and Sato do beautifully here. We’re here to talk about Shawn Michaels though. Sadly, we don’t see a bunch of the Heartbreak Kid we’d come to know and love here, but you do get to see what made The Rockers so successful at the time. Their babyface good looks, their charisma, and their high flying double team moves made them incredibly easy to cheer for. Michaels gets his turn to play babyface in peril, but you won’t get to see much more after that because of the count-out finish they pull off here. Overall, this match probably isn’t the most fondly remembered of Shawn Michael’s WrestleMania career. However, it might be the best match of The Rocker’s WrestleMania career, and it’s spot on the list as voted on by my peers seems to confirm my suspensions. It’s energetic, it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome, and for the most part, the fans seemed to enjoy it all the way up to the finish (having Marty unnecessarily fall over the guard rail into the front row after getting blinded by some salt to the eyes still makes me chuckle though.) Granted, they would go on to have much better matches with The Orient Express, especially after Sato leaves the US and gets replaced by a masked Paul Diamond. However, what’s important here for Shawn Michaels is that you can easily see the differences between him and Marty. On the double moves, Marty’s botches are clear as day, while Shawn’s work is much, much cleaner. Plus, despite some help from Marty, the heat worked on Michaels gets the loudest reactions of the match outside of their double dives. As far the work goes, this painted a pretty clear picture of what was in store of good ol’ HBK.

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Shawn had dumped Sherri during his feud with Marty, and she is looking for payback as she joins Tatanka at ringside. Shawn brings the debuting Luna Vachon with him. Tatanka was still undefeated at the time I believe, and as a kid I had high hopes for this match for some reason. Shawn goes for a single leg on two occasions, but keeps getting kicked off. The story is that Tatanka beat Shawn in a 6 Man Tag and a non-title match leading to this match. Shawn works a wristlock, but Tatanka is able to bridge, and powers out of the hold. Shawn goes to a side headlock, but Tatanka breaks with a belly to back suplex. A blind charge by Tatanka eats buckle, but Shawn gets arm dragged coming off the top rope. Shawn starts bumping like a mad man when he is tossed into the buckle, and does a complete twist to the floor to sell a punch. Tatanka keeps Shawn from getting back in the ring with his Native American offense: chopping. A sunset flip gets a 2 count for Shawn. The criss cross the ropes a few times, and it ends with Shawn getting caught with a inverted atomic drop. Tatanka works the left shoulder which Heenan points out was injured in the earlier 6 man tag. He pounds the shoulder with chops, and gets the pressure with an armbar. Shawn tries for the hair, and has a cat and mouse game with the ref over it. In a nice move Shawn tries a clothesline, but it hurts him more than Tatanka. Very nice! Only took Heenan 7 minutes into the opening contest to start making Oklahoma jokes at Ross’ expense. Shawn charges, but Tatanka moves and the shoulder hits the post flush. Now Savage takes a chance to take a shot at Oklahoma. Shawn is just getting dominated at this point, and eats a nasty shoulder breaker. A chop from the top rope connects with Shawn’s shoulder, but Tatanka gets too cute and tries it again. In a great spot he eats what is now Sweet Chin Music on his was down. Not as impressive as when Shelton spring boarded into it, but still nice. Shawn dives off the apron to the floor with a clothesline, and starts taunting Sherri. The crowd seems more intrigued by that than this match so far. A swinging neckbreaker gets a two count for Shawn, and he follows that with a nice standing dropkick. Things slow down a bit when Shawn grabs a headlock. The crowd starts to rally behind Tatanka, but it does him no good. They blow a victory roll spot, but it still gets a 2 count for Shawn. He goes back to the victory roll, but gets dropped by Tatanka with the electric chair drop. That gets a hot near fall. An elbow drop misses, and Shawn comes off the middle rope with a double axe, but it is no sold. Tatanka hulks-up, throws some chops, and gets a top rope cross body for a two count. Shawn gets catapulted into the steel post, and gets rolled up on the rebound for another two count. Shawn goes up top and gets caught coming down with a swank powerslam. They head to the floor, and Shawn eats the stairs when he misses a cross body. Shawn has had enough and pulls the ref from the ring. Tatanka hits the fall away slam, but the ref pulls Tatanka off because Shawn was disqualified. Weak ass ending to a pretty good match there. Shawn bails with the title, and Luna takes this as her chance to beat the piss out of Sherri. Tatanka makes the save.

– Robert Leighty Jr.

13. WrestleMania 9 – Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka – 63 points

Jack Stevenson: I actually really like this one, and not just in a ‘well, it’s good for WrestleMania 9’ sort of way. This is in spite of it doing many of the things that usually turn me right off match- going needlessly long, wrestling needlessly slowly, doing a ton of rest holds, etc etc. I think what makes it so charming is that, for all its flaws, both Tatanka and Shawn are clearly putting a huge amount of effort into it, and they’re working a style that seems to have died out in most modern pro wrestling. It’s the sort of old fashioned undercard match where, instead of doing an even feeling out process which the heel eventually takes control of to trigger the heat segment, the face ends up dominating pretty much the entire opening stages, kicking ass at every turn. Shawn is absolutely incapable of getting any momentum going until Tatanka leaps off the top rope into a crescent kick, at which point the momentum swings decisively. There’s something really satisfying about watching the fan favorite just bounce the rule breaker around for a while, and when the heel takes over dramatically it feels like you’re seeing an epic battle, even when it’s just a harmless opener.

We’re also treated to a really good set of near falls come the finishing stretch, although their effectiveness is somewhat blunted by the finish, in which Shawn attacks the referee to draw the disqualification and save his title. It fits in well with the story of HBK being outgunned by the bigger, stronger, in form Tatanka, but does make you wonder what the point of all those kick outs at 2.5 were.

It’s striking how normal this match is, amidst a show that, for me, is saved from being the worst WrestleMania by its sheer strangeness (well, that and an absolutely kick arse, criminally underrated Steiners-Headshrinkers war). Tatanka and Shawn go out there and tell a simple story in a thoroughly competent fashion, and it’s good for *** ¼ or so. It’s probably the second best match at WrestleMania IX; coincidentally, Shawn would also have the second best match at the following year’s WrestleMania, but that one was, um, a little different…

Sean Garmer: On what is considered by many to be the worst WrestleMania ever, Shawn Michaels opened the show and had the best in-ring performance of anyone on it. This is also the start of the Heartbreak Kid earning the title of “Mr. WrestleMania.” Especially, since Michaels does a lot of overselling and even pulls out some unique moves to try to make Tatanka look good in this match. Although, maybe he didn’t pick the best design on his pants. Let’s be honest, it kinda looks like he’s wearing a misshaped thong. It’s difficult not to keep seeing it, once you recognize it. There’s also a lot going on outside of the ring as well. This event marks the debut of Luna Vachon and also features HBK’s former manager, “Sensational” Sherri, as kinda Tatanka’s valet. Although, it felt like a little bit of trying to make sure Luna gave Shawn no advantage. Not only in winning the match, but just as a valet in general. The tension between HBK and Sherry is still palpable and further showcased by HBK taunting her at one point. In-ring, this match goes about 18 minutes with a nice story told with Tatanka’s work on HBK’s separated shoulder. Tatanka uses leg drops onto the arm, arm locks and even builds to a very impactful Shoulder Breaker mid-match. This was all pointed out extremely well by a debuting Jim Ross on commentary. One of Ross’ strengths was clearly on display, as he made a simple Armlock feel devastating. Many of HBK’s trademark selling habits truly show how understanding he is of the strength of his opponent. The tilt-a-whirl after a Chop by Tatanka. The patented flip over the rope and back, the extra flip onto the floor to sell a big move. Michaels went the extra mile here to help put over Tatanka. He even tries some lucha moves out of the corner, although both the Sunset Flip Pin and the Head scissors wind up botched. I thought he also did a good job of using the Flying Double Axe Handles to help Tatanka’s “hulk-up” feel different, especially since the “Immortal One” himself is booked on the show.

The match itself winds up very good, with Tatanka looking smart for working on the arm and also getting the crowd kind of involved. Even though they really didn’t seem to care too much about the match. However, the booking and finish failed it completely. Michaels misses an Apron Crossbody and hits his head against the apron. Honestly, this is another total HBK sell job, because really there’s no way he should be hitting the apron there. So, Tatanka rolls back into the ring and the referee starts counting out HBK. Michaels in desperation pulls out the Ref to the floor. Once the ref gets back into the ring, Tatanka hits his Samoan Drop, but instead of counting to 3, Joey Marella has some kind of vertigo and decides to call for the bell. I mean, maybe a disqualification when Marella gets back into the ring would have made a lot more sense. But to just randomly stop counting and call for the bell, which then is called a win by countout for Tatanka, is absolutely lame. Yes, they wanted to keep the Intercontinental Title belt on Shawn and also keep Tatanka undefeated. Since Shawn used heel tactics, a DQ would have been perfectly acceptable. Just a weird choice. On what would turn out to be a night of weird decisions booking wise. At least it got some heat on Shawn. While also getting heat on Luna for beating up Sherri afterwards. This is the perfect spot on the list for this match. Everything below it, is either bad, or a tag team effort. While everything else above it, is truly much better than it. However, you can absolutely see the makings here, of the total package Shawn Michaels would become, which certainly stands for something.

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Pamela Anderson was supposed to walk Shawn to the ring due to winning the Rumble, but she opted to go with Diesel instead. Tough call as to who got the better end of the deal because both women look pretty damn hot (at this point in their careers). Shawn takes a man sized bump to the floor off a backdrop. That clears the ring and Diesel’s pyro goes off while he stands next to Pam. After the fireworks we get a proper start with Shawn trying to trade punches with Diesel. That goes as you would expect for Michaels. He gets a little smarter the next go round and works on the arm. He gets to close however, and Diesel makes him pay. Shawn takes a massive bump off a backdrop and takes a second one over the top rope to the floor. Shawn’s going to make the most of his first big time shot it seems. Sid and Shawn stall outside while we get more shots of the ladies. Shawn charges and Diesel drops him with a forearm. Nash was always smart about using forearms because they look a lot more impressive than any pulled punch would from him. Shawn gets elevated for a military press, but is able to rake the eyes (kind of) to break. He gets stupid and tries a suplex, but Diesel reverses to one of his own. Shawn takes another crazy bump to the floor. I should mention all the press around ringside as they are seemingly always in the way when Shawn takes a bump to the floor. Sid tries to distract Diesel, and it does buy time for Shawn. He tries a sunset flip, but Diesel is too strong and picks Shawn up by the throat. He drops him balls first on the top rope. Shawn is able to regain the advantage and clotheslines Diesel to the floor. He skins the cat back in, and comes off the top rope with a cross body to the floor. Diesel eats a baseball slide, but a second one from Shawn misses. They brawl on the floor and Diesel tries a back elbow, but it only hits ring post. The crowd starts a massive Sid chant, and that’s why promoters constantly threw money at the man. He may not be reliable all the time, and may be merely adequate in the ring, but the man had the look of a star. He just looks like a badass, and carried that aura about him. Diesel is selling a rib injury from the earlier post shot and Shawn takes advantage. He heads to the middle rope and delivers a pretty impressive bulldog for a two count. I know they are friends, but having your 7 foot monster champ get his asked kicked this much is…different. The Shawn show continues with a back elbow from the second rope, and now he does pound away on Diesel. The crowd starts a “Let’s Go Shawn” chant as he heads to the top rope. The Randy Savage elbow right to the ribs gets a close near fall. Shawn grabs a headlock on two occasions, but Diesel powers out each time. A sleeper gets looked in by Shawn as Diesel starts to fade. The crowd is trying to get behind Diesel, but overall I would say it’s 60% Diesel, 30% Shawn, and 10% Sid at this point in terms of crowd support. The arm doesn’t drop on the third try (as they continue to book Diesel as Hogan), and he even breaks the hold the same way Hogan broke the camel clutch. It gets even more surreal as Diesel uses the running corner clothesline that Hogan always used. Snake Eyes follow, and Shawn eats a forearm that sends him to the floor. Diesel gives chase, and Shawn tries to run, but he gets caught by the pants and Shawn shows some ass. Shawn gets him to chase again, and they exchange blows in the floor. Somewhere in the chaos Hebnar jumps to the floor and injures his ankle. Shawn gets sweet chin music in the ring, but there’s no ref. Shawn gets the visual pin, but by the time the ref gets in the ring Diesel is able to kick out at two. Sid tears the cover off the top turnbuckle with a screwdriver. It would have been tremendous if he tried to use a squeegee. Diesel gets a desperation belly to back suplex to put both men down. Shawn heads back to the middle rope and tries the bulldog again, but Diesel catches him with a sidewalk slam. Again both men are out, but Shawn gets to his feet first. Diesel scoops the legs and slingshots Shawn into the exposed buckle. Well kind of, as they were too far away and Shawn heads the middle buckle instead. It looked pretty damn impressive though. Diesel hulks-up, I mean, revs the engines, and gets 2 punches and a big boot (where have I seen that?). A fucked up Jackknife (Shawn took the bump on his ass) finishes things at 20:36. Diesel poses with all the celebrities after the match.

– Robert Leighty Jr.

12. WrestleMania 11 – Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel – 91 points

Scott Rutherford: I wrote about Shawn’s match at WM7 and made mention that a match around the ***1/2 has had no legs historically. Well here’s a match that’s around the same rating in terms of match quality but gets talked about at length for a wide variety of reasons. Perhaps the biggest take away point of this whole match is that the Shawn Michaels that became the scourge of the locker room came into full bloom and from this point not only did he become a better worker but a master manipulator, egotist and all round douche bag until he found God. In terms of the match itself, this match ranks the lowest of all Shawn’s matches once he ascended to the main event and for good reason. It didn’t have that special, emotional element that Michaels can put into a match and while it was entertaining, it didn’t get its claws into you. The actual work by Michaels himself is fucking fascinating. He comes in as a heel and works the match to become the company’s biggest babyface by the next night. He just swallowed Kevin Nash up and spat him out. Nash for his part had been barely wrestling for 5 years and even though he was sitting on top, his was not a ring general and would have probably been happy to be lead by his best friend Shawn in his highest profile match to date. Within months of this, Nash’s reign had officially tanked on his way to becoming the worst drawing champion in WWE history. This match is perfectly placed on this countdown. The dynamic was all wrong for starters as the small guy was the heel and the monster was the babyface which is what Michaels seized on to turn the match into a celebration of him. Historically it has merit because this was the moment Shawn moved to the main event permanently and rode the next year right to the WWE title. Even with those historical moments sprinkled in, the match itself is OK and not that great. When all the roles were moved around and Shawn was seen as a legit main event, babyface and Nash as the unstoppable monster heel just over a year later, they had a match for the ages.

Sean Garmer: This Wrestlemania was all about the star power. Mainly, celebrity star power. While also being a vehicle to build around one of the greatest Football players ever in Lawrence Taylor. However, Shawn Michaels was not going to let a non-wrestler outshine him on the company’s biggest stage. If you didn’t know how great Shawn Michaels is at this thing called Pro-Wrestling, you certainly find out after this match.

I mean I’m sure not only did he have the motivation from LT, but also from knowing he was wrestling his Kliq buddy Diesel, for the major championship. This is classic big man versus little man action. Although, it was all Shawn Michaels, pretty much from bell to bell.

Diesel may have won the match and won in getting the better looking valet, but I mean HBK put on a show for wrestling fans to remember. Let’s be honest though, it did seem like Jenny McCarthy actually cared a little more to be there. To be fair to all those celebrities, it is pretty awkward to be watching some performance you don’t care about and then act interested on camera.

HBK was flying everywhere and selling like crazy to make Diesel look like a monster. He pulled out all the trademark diving moves to the outside and the big elbow drop too. He tried to cover for Diesel launching him too far away and at least made sure he still hit a turnbuckle.

The story going in, was that Diesel knew Sid would try to get involved. Although, what’s funny is that referee Earl Hebner had that on his mind instead. Eventually injuring himself and it screwed HBK after he hit the Superkick. I didn’t mind this, not what you want at Wrestlemania, but it allowed them to do the turn for Shawn the next night.

For me, this is on the border of great territory, only because the comeback by Diesel was all one sided. I just kinda ends on a flat note for me. Before that though, HBK worked on the ribs, as much as he could, but really Diesel wasn’t the one exerting a lot of energy. Once again, I can’t state how much Shawn worked his ass off here. The promo he cuts backstage after the match is absolutely the truth. HBK proved that he deserved that championship. I also think once again, the voters got this one right. This is HBK’s second Wrestlemania performance where he just shows how great he is. WM X was a true epic match between two real life friends. This one was more Shawn doing his friend a favor, but it makes WM 11 worth watching for two matches at the end, and not just about LT and Bam Bam.

Nick Bazar: The Kliq Collides! Kevin Nash tells a pretty funny story about this match during one of his RF Shoot Interviews from a few years back. Apparently both he and Shawn Michaels took a couple of somas just before the match was set to start and they called for the finish when they felt them starting to kick in. Ah, what a bunch of crazy kids. Either way, Mr. WrestleMania goes from a classic ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship the previous year to a co-main event slot challenging for the WWF Championship against his former bodyguard, Diesel this year. The match is your typically great big man vs. little man showdown, a formula HBK and Diesel had down to a science and would only get better in the year that followed. Diesel gets a lot of crap for his ring-work in general, but I always saw him as one of the better big men in the business. He knew how to work simple and effective matches against other guys his size, and really shined as the powerhouse opposite a smaller guy like a Bret Hart, Rey Mysterio, and Michaels. This particular match is a little slower and even a little sloppier than the classic these two would put on the following year at In Your House, but it is still a worthy WrestleMania championship match. The feud between the two was slated to continue, but Michaels would go down with an injury and was stuck back into the mid-card following his return. Michaels was already clearly ready for the main event scene, but he’d have to wait another year before his official coronation.

The list so far
#17. WrestleMania 8 – Shawn Michaels vs. Tito Santana – 40 points
#16. WrestleMania 5 – The Rockers vs. The Twin Towers – 43 points
#15. WrestleMania 7 – The Rockers vs. Haku & Barbarian – 52 points
#14. WrestleMania 6 – The Rockers vs. Orient Express – 55 points
#13. WrestleMania 9 – Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka – 63 points
#12. WrestleMania 11 – Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel – 91 points