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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Shawn Michaels – My Journey – Disc 3

October 31, 2015 | Posted by TJ Hawke
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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Shawn Michaels – My Journey – Disc 3  

 

WWE Raw/Tribute to the Troops
December 19, 2005

Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H [Boot Camp Match]

Tribute to the Troops shows are not really about the wrestling, and everyone (fairly) works at a “night off” pace. I do not especially like to write about matches from these shows since I feel odd criticizing matches for a lack of effort when the wrestlers fly halfway across the world into a war zone and work for free. If anything, I wish WWE did more shows like this for groups of people that could use a little bit more cheer in their life. The main thing of note from the actual match is that Shawn won completely clean with a superkick. You would hope that would happen on this show, but you really cannot put anything past Triple H.

 

Backlash
April 29, 2007

John Cena(c) vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels [WWE Heavyweight Championship]

This was a well-executed spot-fest from four WWE main-eventers who are not used to doing spot-fests in this kind of match. They probably could have stood to incorporate some more character stuff considering the trials these four had been going for in one form or another for the past year. They only briefly explored those avenues when a deeper examination of the issues could have made this much more interesting. As it stands now, it was a fun watch. It was also a satisfying match that did not really settle anything, which is always nice in the current era of wrestling. Cena won after Shawn accidentally superkicked Cena onto Orton (who had just been taken out by a spear). (***3/4)

 

Shawn said the rules of the match at Survivor Series 2007 made him more excited than wrestling for the title by this point in his career.

 

WWE Survivor Series
November 18, 2007

Randy Orton(c) vs. Shawn Michaels [WWE Heavyweight Championship]

If Shawn used the superkick, he would get disqualified. If Orton got disqualified, Shawn would win the title. It sounds convoluted, but they did a genuinely good job of building up. Shawn and Orton then delivered masterfully on the story.

Shawn worked a lot of his second run in a relatively casual manner unless it was some sort of blood feud. He would bump around, run through his moveset, and work as if he could always count on his superkick to win him any match. While we can argue until the end of time if this is an interesting way to work, it did at least make the matches where he worked differently even more interesting. Without his superkick, Shawn used a variety of strategies to win this match. First, he tried to ground Orton with a front chancery and knees to the dome. When Orton cut him off (and worked him over in an admittedly dull manner), Shawn changed it up and pulled out a number of submission maneuvers (including bringing back the Crippler Crossface for the first time since the Benoit murder/suicide) to put Orton away. Since Shawn did not normally work this way, it made sense that he did not have a set strategy and tried out a number of different ideas. Shawn even once faked a superkick to throw off Orton, and he nearly stole the title from him with a small package. In a great touch, Orton kicked Shawn away from an ankle lock hard and then sent Shawn into a ringpost. Shawn was a bit loopy after that, and he instinctively went for a superkick. He pulled up just in time only for Orton to catch him with an RKO. This was beautiful and one of the best WWE Championship matches ever. (****1/2)

 

WWE Unforgiven
September 7, 2008

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho [Unsanctioned Match]

The truly impressive part of this match for me is how they were able to consistently subvert expectations about the structure of the match and truly surprise people with a roller-coaster ride. It seemed like we were getting a standard plunder brawl only  there to be twists and turns with Shawn not wanting to simply finish him with the superkick, Jericho taking advantage of Shawn’s injured eye and arm, a great call back to the Good Friends/Better Enemies match with the fire extinguisher spot, Lance Cade popping up when Jericho was in trouble, a Chekhov’s table spot, and Shawn doing the top-rope elbow onto the SAT. These sequences and spots were all perfectly timed and told the story of a beautiful battle. It came to a close with Shawn whipping Jericho with his belt and then punching him in the eye to the point of unconsciousness. This is how you blow off a blood feud (without much blood) in this day and age. (****1/4)

 

WWE Wrestlemania
April 5, 2009

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

HBK was spot on here. The match was all about his ego. Sure, he and Taker did their usual big-man/little-man dynamic deal for a while, and it was a lot of fun. He was confidant and defiant enough to believe that he could defeat Undertaker like that. Hwowever, the moment where he reveals that he will take a countout win showed how desperate he was to feed his own ego. He wanted the win. He wanted to be the one to defeat the Undertaker, no matter how he did it. That would be important for the rematch. Overall, I’m struggling to think of a better match in WWE history than this one. The drama in this match is almost impossible to top, which was all the more impressive considering that everyone “knew” Taker was winning. This is as close to wrestling perfection as it gets. If there was ever a time for the finisher/kickout fest to take place, this was the time. Taker needed two tombstones to put Shawn away. (*****)

 

Watch free Shawn Michaels matches:

Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena vs. Kurt Angle [Great match]

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho [Last Man Standing]

Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs. John Cena & The Undertaker vs. The Big Show & Chris Jericho

Shawn Michaels vs. Vader

Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty vs. Los Conquistadors

Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs. Hawk & Animal

Shawn Michaels vs. Crush

9.0
The final score: review Amazing
The 411
This is probably the best Shawn Michaels DVD, and I highly recommend that everyone check it out. It has a ton of good and great matches, and you get Shawn's honest take on a number of things without the feeling that the WWE is trying to ram home some forced narrative. Shawn is not a completely likable person, and you get to witness that for yourself at several different points while also seeing the more likable sides of him.
legend