411 Ranks Shawn Michaels’ WrestleMania Matches (11-9)

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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McMahon knows his limitations, and thankfully he always makes sure his matches at WrestleMania are either Street Fights or No Holds Barred. Jim Ross is absolutely gold on commentary during this match because of his hatred for McMahon. And that all stems from the Dr Hynie skit and the McMahon family firing of Ross on RAW the previous fall. Vince comes to the ring looking more orange than normal as he obviously slept in a tanning bed for about a month straight it seems. And people call Hogan the Orange Goblin. Vince poses on the floor next to a portrait of his Muscle and Fitness magazine cover. Shawn doesn’t wait for a bell, attacks McMahon on the floor, and sends him onto the RAW announce table. The crowd starts a massive “We want Bret” chant, but sadly, Bret really was gone. Once back in the ring, Shawn frames Vince with the Muscle and Fitness portrait. The Spirit Squad hit the ring and they destroy Shawn with their 5 man cheerleader toss. Kenny misses the jackknife top rope leg drop, and that gives Shawn an opening. He blasts every member of the SS with a megaphone, and sends Kenny flying over the top rope onto every other member. The Spirit Squad did their job though as Vince comes back with a clothesline. He works Shawn over in the corner as the crowd starts a “Steroids” chant. Heh! McMahon removes his belt and rips into the back of Shawn in rather impressive fashion. Vince chokes Shawn with the belt, but Michaels is able to battle back to his feet. He immediately gets grounded again as McMahon uses the belt to assist with a clothesline. In a funny moment Vince mocks Bret Hart before tuning up the band. That’s so wrong on many different levels. Shawn catches the boot though and gets his hands on the belt. JR is Michael’s #1 cheerleader as Shawn lays into Vince with some vicious belt shots. The flying elbow follows and now Shawn tunes up the band. No dice though as Shane comes out of nowhere to light up Shawn’s world with a kendo stick. Damn! Shane has a set of handcuffs, but Vince wants to induct Shawn back into the Kiss my Ass Club. That doesn’t work out so well as Shane ends up getting “his face buried in his daddy’s crack” (to quote JR). Shawn punches Vince in the balls and then handcuffs Shane to the middle rope. He mocks Shane’s dance and then wears him out with the kendo stick. He grabs a chair from under the ring and gives Vince one of the scariest chair shots you will ever see. Just an absolutely sickening sound and Vince is showing the results as he is bleeding from the top of his head. Shawn tunes up the band, but he stops because Vince hasn’t had enough yet. Shawn grabs a ladder from under the ring, and Vince takes it like a champ flush on his forehead. Sick! The band gets tuned again, but again, Shawn still doesn’t want to finish. He heads back to the floor and grabs a table and some garbage cans. Vince is wearing a crimson mask and stumbles into a shot from one of the garbage cans. Shawn sets the table up in the middle of the ring and lays Vince on it. Shawn climbs the ladder, but he still isn’t satisfied. He climbs back down, gets rids of the ladder, and heads back to the floor. Shane takes another right hand, and Shawn pulls out a 16 foot ladder. That really can’t be healthy. In his DVD Shawn mentioned this ladder was a little too big, but he really didn’t have a choice when he got up there. Shawn places a garbage can over Vince’s head and puts him back on the table. Now the crowd is buzzing and Shawn gets a sadistic grin on his face as he climbs the ladder. A DX crotch chop (first one seen in years) from Shawn right before he flies and destroys Vince, the garbage can, and the table with an elbow from the ladder. Holy Shit! Vince is a man for taking that spot considering he had no clue when it was coming. The doctors come down to check on Vince, but Shawn chases them off so he can get one last shot at Vince. He pulls Vince to his feet and tells him he is going to knock his teeth down this throat. Sweet Chin Music finally hits and that’s enough to end things at 18:28. Vince makes my day by flipping Shawn the middle finger while being carted out on the stretcher. Ever the showman, Vince! Ever the showman!

– Robert Leighty Jr.

11. WrestleMania 22 – Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. McMahon – 100 points

Nick Bazar: I might be looking back on this through rose-tinted sunglasses, but I enjoyed the hell out of the entire Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon saga. Yes, even the infamous urine test segment and all the shenanigans that followed after WrestleMania 22 with God. I mean let’s be real here, that skit with Mr. McMahon at the church was pure gold. The same holds true for their street fight at Mania. It was exactly what it needed to be: HBK putting Mr. McMahon through hell for 18 minutes. We all know Vince isn’t the most gifted athlete in the world, but he is a very good punching bag and glutton for punishment. He has been in quite a few similar matches against the likes of Steve Austin, Triple H, Ric Flair, The Undertaker, and Hulk Hogan, but his clash against the Heart Break Kid was likely his finest. It helps that HBK always adds a little extra to his Mania matches to make them that much more special, and I’m sure he saw a marquee match against Vince McMahon as a different kind of challenge. He took it head-on and delivered a typically brilliant performance. Mr. McMahon was in good hands here. While not your traditional wrestling classic, it’s definitely a worthy inclusion in Shawn Michaels’ WrestleMania playlist because it shows his diversity. Yes, his bread-and-butter was always his unique hybrid of catch-as-catch can wrestling mixed with his aerial assaults, but here we see that he was just as confident and entertaining in his storytelling in a straight-up street fight. Also, I’d be remiss in not specifically mentioning how nuts that diving elbow through the table spot was. Can you imagine being Vince- head and torso completely covered by a trash can- and not being able to anticipate that elbow? The man’s crazy I tell you.

Dylan Diot: Michaels said prior to the match that we shouldn’t expect a five star classic but rather a fight. The fact that Shawn was facing Mr. McMahon was a huge disappointment considering he was in the best match of the previous three WrestleManias. The match was clearly designed for Bret Hart, who was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame the night before, but he was still on bad terms with the company and wasn’t ready to return, so they slipped Shawn into the role instead. The match was pretty much a one sided ass kicking for Shawn, with Vince resorting to calling in reinforcements in order to try and regain control for himself. First, The Spirit Squad came out to attack but Shawn fought back and laid them all out with their own megaphone, ending with a big spot where Shawn dumped Kenny over the top into the remaining Squad members on the floor. McMahon took the opportunity to whip and choke Shawn with his belt but Shawn blocked a super kick attempt and returned the favor, attacking Vince with the belt. Shane McMahon was the next cog in Vince’s scheme, hitting Shawn with a kendo stick to save Vince from a super kick. Vince pulled his pants down to set up the “Kiss My Ass Club” spot but Shawn was able to grab Shane and shove him into Vince’s ass. Now with Shane out of the picture, Shawn hit Vince with the MOTHER of all chair shots, busting Vince open. Shawn refused to kill Vince off for good, culminating in a big flying elbow drop off a ladder through a table before finally drilling Vince with Sweet Chin Music for the victory. This was the usual fun Vince McMahon brawl. He was more than willing to take a beating in this match and I appreciate that booked Shawn so dominantly here. Vince’s backup plans for survival failed miserably and Shawn made him suffer for it, especially in the final few minutes. Unfortunately, the big ladder spot took way too long to set up, taking away from the cool visual and impact of the moment. Everything else was effective for what it was supposed to be, and the various smoke and mirrors made up for Vince’s limitations. From a storytelling standpoint, this was great but the action wasn’t all that much and this is easily the weakest match in the second Shawn run at WrestleMania. It lacked the emotional investment and drama we come to love about Shawn’s Mania matches but it’s another sign of his greatness that he made the most of what he was given here.

This was supposed to HHH/Cena II, but a torn quad back in January killed that plan. So, HHH’s tag partner gets the shot instead after beating Orton and Edge in a Triple Threat match. Cena and Michaels won the Tag Titles from Rated RKO and being Shawn has turned on every partner he’s ever had that was the story heading to Mania. Eventually he did drop Cena with the superkick and the crowd loved every second of it. Shawn and Cena are still the Tag Champs heading into this match. Shawn’s skin tone got an orange vibe going as he must have spent the last 2 days in Detroit in a tanning bed. Speaking of Hogan, Shawn seemingly took a shot at Hulk on his DVD that has always irritated me. He said to the camera “I drew 80,000 fans to Detroit, brother. Have you ever done that?” I really hope that wasn’t a shot at Hogan, because if it was, Shawn must have been on some good shit when Hogan drew 90,000 (yeah, yeah, I know it’s debated) at WrestleMania III. Ok, rant over, as Cena gets his super special WrestleMania entrance. This year he “drives” into the arena in a Ford Mustang, Fast and the Furious style. Cena has dominated the title picture as he’s held the WWE title for 20 of the last 24 months (with Edge and RVD holding the title between them the other 4 months). JR puts over Michael’s big match abilities. Michaels opens things up by slapping Cena and then avoiding the right hands. He drops Cena with some rights and gives him a DX crotch chop for good measure. Michaels goes with the game plan HHH had a previous year (geez that worked so well for him) and outwrestles Cena to start. Shawn looks great early on as he beats Cena to the punch at every turn. He talks some shit and Cena looks rattled. Shawn lets him know that his chest is a little red following the knife edge chops. Heh! More basic wrestling from Shawn as he takes Cena down with a side headlock. Cena fights to his feet, and after missing twice, finally hits a clothesline to send Michaels to the mat. The crowd didn’t like that one bit. Michaels hits a Thesz press and fires away with rights. He avoids getting sent to the floor though and fights off Cena from the apron. Cena ends up getting hip tossed over the top to the floor. On the floor Shawn fires off some chops and hits an enziguiri. Shawn hits the Asai moonsault, but it looked like Shawn took the worst of the move as his knees smacked off the announce table. Sweet! Back inside the ring, Shawn continues to dish out the chops, and they sound awesome. Cena tries to get a boot up to stop a charging Shawn, but Michaels catches the leg and targets that now. He isolates the leg and bounces it off the ring post. A few chop blocks continue the damage to the left leg. This gives something to Shawn to work with for the next few minutes as he systematically destroys the left knee. Lawler puts over the fact that so far Michaels has made Cena look bad in the match. The crowd starts the Boo/Yeah thing as Shawn fires off chops and Cena uses his right hand. Shawn goes right back to the knee once he starts losing the exchange. Michaels charges, but Cena moves out of the way and Shawn hits his head on the ring post. That draws blood and now Cena has an opening. The crowd roasts Cena as he goes to work on the cut. He runs through his patented offense and tells Shawn he can’t see him. The five knuckle shuffle follows and Cena readies for the FU. Shawn slides off though, but gets sent into the corner where he takes his trademark bump. Cena looks for the FU on the rebound, but again Shawn is out the back door. Shawn looks for the super kick, but Cena ducks and the ref eats the kick. Cena goes for the FU again, and Shawn counters this time with a DDT. Shawn resorts back to his old ways as he realizes there is no ref. He delivers a sick piledriver to Cena on the steps. Fucking Eh! That’s one good thing about the WWE limiting the use of the piledrive. When they do use the move it means a lot more. Cena got split open on the back of his head following the move. A new ref sprints to the ring, but it took too long and Cena is out at two. Michaels hits the flying forearm, and kips up to a huge pop. The flying elbow hits the mark, and Shawn starts to tune up the band. Cena doesn’t give him the chance though as he dives at Shawn with a clothesline. Well, that’s one way to stop it. They go back to exchanging blows and that gives the crowd another chance to boo and cheer when needed. Cena again wins the exchange and looks for the FU, but Shawn crawls down his back to get a roll up for two. Michaels gets caught trying a leap frog and Cena counters to the FU. Nice! He takes too long before covering though and Shawn is able to get the shoulder up at two. I love the fact that after Shawn countered every FU attempt, it took Cena countering a move from Michaels to finally hit the FU. Cena gets inspired and tries the FU from the top, but Shawn shoves him off and tries a crossbody. Cena rolls through though and sets off one of the craziest reversal sequences you will ever see. Cena tries the FU, but Shawn lands on his feet. He looks for Sweet Chin Music, but Cena ducks and goes for the STFU. Shawn counters that and gets a small package for two. Good shit there! Shawn tries another enziguiri, but Cena counters and finally gets the STFU, but Shawn gets to the bottom rope. Cena argues with the ref, and he pays for it as Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music. He can’t cover soon enough though and Cena is out at two. Both men are out and they stagger to their feet using each other to balance themselves. Cena gets a rush of adrenaline and tries another FU, but Shawn counters again, but Cena counters that to the STFU. Shawn suffers the same fate as HHH and taps at 27:48. Shawn won’t shakes hands after the match and looks quite pissed. Cool!

– Robert Leighty Jr.

10. WrestleMania 23 – Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena – 138 points

Writer OnePaul Leazar: Let me tell you folks, this match was something of a large disappointment at the time. A match that has become almost infamous for being the definition of an “under performance” at WrestleMania. At 10th on the list, Shawn Michaels ill-fated encounter with John Cena appears to remind us that his career on the big stage was all sunshine and roses. With Undertaker opting to challenge Batista over on Smackdown after winning the Royal Rumble, Shawn won the right to face Cena in a triple threat match. However, most of their feud involved them working against Rated RKO, who were the World Tag Team Champions at time. Cena and HBK would defeat them for the titles, and soon, people began talking to Cena about how HBK had turned his back on everybody who he had ever teamed with. HBK would tell Cena some sweet lies before superkick him during a tag team match against Batista and The Undertaker, and it was on. The match sees HBK come out all piss and vinegar, tossing Cena over the top rope, and hitting the a big springboard moonsault onto Cena that see them crash into the announce table. As time drags on though, the match loses its fire and becomes listless. A lack of chemistry becomes apparent, and a crowd who was already in Shawn’s corner could see Cena’s victory slowly donning. Needless to say, the match fell apart, and no godly performance for Shawn’s utility belt was going to save it. These two would end up redeeming their performance in an awesome match RAW some weeks later, but this stain still lingers on HBK’s WrestleMania resume. It finds itself in a well deserved spot here. Several matches surpassed this, or meant more, or had some other redeeming qualities. In all honesty, this match came at a time when making Cena the guy was more important, and to that degree, it succeeds in a fashion. However, on HBK’s stellar career, this was barely a blip on the radar.

Tony Acero: Remember when John Cena was the man that everyone loved to hate, instead of just hated? Well, there was a time when he was looked upon as the future of the company, and some could consider WrestleMania 23 just in the middle of said rise. On the same show that saw our future President of the United States of America knock Mr. McMahon on his ass, we saw Shawn Michaels go toe to toe with John Cena. Another long lost art form in wrestling would be that of blood, but not here. There are a few matches out there that I consider poetic, and it’s not really all that hard to be described as such. Just focus on a limb and create drama around it. Cena and Michaels did just that here, taking on the knee as its co-star, and not letting go of the action. This, coupled with the dramatic back and forth of a possible Michaels win (even if that likely wasn’t even considered as an option), made for a pretty stellar match emotional wise. On the technical side of things, Cena kept up with HBK more than most would have assumed he could up until this point. We all know by now that yes, Cena can actually wrestle, but this thought wasn’t really in consideration (nor was it challenged) as of this match. The expectations were that of a brute thug rather than a technical powerhouse, but we got the latter instead of the former. This would only be enhanced by the greatness that is Shawn Michaels, and you see it here in spades. He carries when he needs to carry but also allows Cena to move at his own pace, and it helped the drama unfold as well as created a pretty stellar main event.

Mike Tyson is your special enforcer, and is aligned with DX. They show us both men walking backstage to the entrance ramp much like you would get during Boxing Title bouts or UFC Title bouts. It definitely adds to the big match feel for this contest. Austin gets one of the most massive pops you will ever here outside of a stadium show. The crazy thing is that it more than just a single pop. It’s a sustained roar that just doesn’t die until Shawn is shown on screen. Shawn says this match is “for you Earl (Hebnar).” He also refers to him as his good luck charm. It’s funny how he became that after Montreal. Shawn is coming into this match with a severely fucked up back from a botched spot in the casket match with Taker at the Rumble. Depending on who you believe, some have said Shawn was making this show and dropping the title no matter what condition he was in, while others said Taker had to basically threaten Shawn’s life to get him to drop the strap. I’ll let you, the reader, decide what story to believe. Shawn tries to upstage Austin, so he responds with a double bird. Classic Austin! The early story is that Shawn is using some basic boxing skills taught to him by Tyson. That eventually fails when Austin kills Shawn with a clothesline. He tries to bail, but Austin grabs him by the pants and Michaels shows some ass. A backdrop over the top rope sends him onto HHH and Chyna. That’s kind of a crazy bump for someone with a screwed up back. HHH gets involved and sends Austin into the railing. The ref tosses HHH and Chyna from ringside. For some reason the announcement gets dubbed over by Howard Finkle. The brawl continues by the stage where the DX band performed. Shawn uses a drum cymbal to control, and fires Austin into the side of the dumpster used earlier in the night. The action returns to the ring where Shawn gets caught coming off the top rope. He takes an insane bump in the corner off an Irish whip. An inverted atomic drop from Austin continues the work on the back. For some reason he goes away from the back and tries to work the arm. Michaels gets a little momentum, but a stun gun stops that cold. They tease a Stunner, but Shawn bails to the apron. He didn’t get far enough away though as Austin sends him flying off the apron to the announce table. Can’t say Shawn isn’t gone full out even with an injured back. Things slow down as Austin controls in the center of the ring with a reverse chinlock. A jawbreaker gives Michaels some breathing room as he rolls to the floor. Shawn tries to wrap Austin’s knee around the post, but it backfires and it’s Shawn who eats the steel. Austin charges, but Shawn is able to backdrop him over the rail into the front row. A timely bell shot rattles some of Austin’s brain cells. Now Shawn controls with right hands, but you can see on his face that he is in some serious pain. He actually seems pissed off at times because the back is keeping him from doing all he wants to. The crowd starts a “Holyfield” chant to annoy Tyson. Nice! Shawn flips the crowd the double bird, and that only serves to piss off Austin. He unleashes a fury, but gets caught by the post, and the knee finally gets wrapped around the steel. Michaels works the injured knee for a few minutes. He attempts a spinning toe hold, but Austin kicks him off into the post. He falls back into a roll-up, but it only gets two for Austin. He can’t capitalize though due to the injured wheel, so Shawn remains firmly in control. Now Austin hits the floor to create distance, but Shawn drops him with a baseball slide. Tyson finally gets involved as he tosses Austin back into the ring. He tries to stand to confront Tyson, so Shawn casually clips the knee. That’s a classic Flair move, and naturally, Shawn follows that with the figure four. JR is absolutely creaming his pants over this match. Austin is able to roll over to reverse the pressure, and Michaels quickly reaches the ropes. Austin starts to fire away, and catapults Michaels into the top turnbuckle for a two count. Michaels locks in a sleeper to put the crowd back to sleep. That’s just an excuse for the ref to get bumped though as he gets squashed in the corner. Michaels gets caught in the corner, and we get some mud-hole stomping. Michaels ducks a clothesline and hits his patented forearm to leave both men down. We get a kip up from Shawn and you can clearly tell it hurt like hell to do it. The Randy Savage elbow follows, and it’s time to tune up the band. Austin ducks, and goes for the stunner, but Shawn pushes off to try sweet chin music again. Austin catches his boot and spins him around into the stunner. Tyson enters and makes the 3 count to kick off the Austin Era! Shawn is a little pissed to see Tyson sporting an Austin shirt, and confronts him about it. Big mistake there as a short right dims Michael’s lights.

– Robert Leighty Jr.

9. WrestleMania 14 – Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold – 151 points

Jack Stevenson: You may have heard the rumors that, in the mid to late nineties, Shawn Michaels was a bit of a vile human being. As a performer he’s always been worth watching, but certainly there is very little good you can say about him as a person from that time. Here are two positives I am prepared to say about mid nineties Shawn Michaels. The first is that he did not, to the best of my knowledge, attempt to develop a weather machine that would allow him to hold world governments to ransom and eventually become supreme leader of the entire planet. The second is that his performance against Steve Austin in the main event of WrestleMania 14 might be the gutsiest, most courageous damn thing I have ever seen in professional wrestling.

Shawn Michaels back was of course, to use a technical term, comprehensively fucked going into that match, to the extent that when he left the ring at its conclusion, he wouldn’t return again for four years. The other day I lifted a heavy box at work kind of awkwardly and for the next few hours I’d get this infrequent tingly spasms of pain, and I thought that was basically the worst thing that had happened to anyone ever and definitely cause for early retirement and heavy compensation. So for Shawn Michaels to walk into that match with Austin, a match he would have been entirely entitled to half arse, and instead put in an absolutely Herculean effort, hurl himself about the ring with reckless abandon, and put Stone Cold over as the biggest pro wrestling star of the nineties… it’s genuinely remarkable. You can practically see Shawn’s stubborn streak running through him during the bout as he guts out the agony and flings himself into back bumps, practically daring his battered body to do its worst.

Given the circumstances, the match really is very good. It starts at an electrifying pace, and soon descends into the sort of brawling around ringside and up the ramp onto the stage and into the front row that would become clichéd in Attitude main events, but here feels wild and spontaneous. Michaels’ extended period of leg work on Austin isn’t super thrilling, but I think it’s carried along OK by the big match atmosphere and the tension that comes with it. And the finishing sequence is concise, exciting, and hugely memorable, with Jim Ross’ call of the finishing sequence etched into wrestling lore. This is one of the most important matches in wrestling history, and is curiously under-appreciated on that level. It deserves to be held up as one of Shawn Michaels’ finest hours- redemption, almost, sort of, for his attitude over the previous two years.

Tony Acero: This match was one where the drama laid more in the story than the action, and it showed. Surrounded by the Mike Tyson “Whose side is he on” stuff took away from the match upon repeat viewings, even if it was hugely entertaining at the time. This, plus the very real fact that Michaels was on his way out just made every bump he took look all the more painful. I mean, when you consider just how much pain he was in, and how much pain he took during the match, it’s amazing really. Of course, much credit goes to Austin as well. Simply put, there’s a reason why this match is in the top ten, and it has a lot to do with HBK being HBK. I’m sure his ego had something to do with not allowing himself to have a crappy match, but that means all the more for us fans. This 20 minute match is one that is highlighted in the history books, and with good reason. It was Austin’s first title, and a somewhat symbolic passing of the torch. As a small aside, just listen to the crowd here. I miss that type of excitement.

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
#11. WrestleMania 22 – Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. McMahon – 100 points
#10. WrestleMania 23 – Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena – 138 points
#9. WrestleMania 14 – Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold – 151 points