Csonka’s Best of WWE Shawn Michaels’ Best WrestleMania Matches Review

Csonka’s Best of WWE: Shawn Michaels’ Best WrestleMania Matches Review

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– Matt Camp from the Bump hosts, and welcomes us to the show.

From WrestleMania X-9: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: Shawn controls early and Jericho gets sent to the floor. Shawn feigns coming over the top, but fakes and then drops Jericho with a baseball slide. Back in the ring, and a cross body from the top gets rolled through and Jericho gets 2. Jericho fires off some chops, and sends Shawn back first into the opposite corner. He tries a running bulldog, but Shawn shoves off and Jericho goes groin first into the middle turnbuckle. Shawn goes to the leg with a figure four. Jericho is able to turn it over to break, so Shawn tries again. This time he gets kicked off and goes shoulder first into the post. Jericho sends Shawn over the top, but he skins the cat as Jericho gets flipped to the floor. Shawn follows with a slingshot plancha. He tries a dropkick, but Jericho casually catches him and locks in the Walls of Jericho. Jericho has to break though so he can sprint back to the ring to break the count. He heads back to the floor and continues to work over the back by sending him into the post twice. Jericho celebrates in the ring to a chorus of boos. Shawn gets to the apron, but gets killed with the springboard dropkick. Once back in the ring Jericho continues the assault on the back with a belly to back suplex. Jericho lets Shawn know he is better than him, and then delivers a delayed vertical suplex. A backbreaker follows, and the cover only gets two. Some in the crowd sure loved it though. Jericho locks in a chinlock, burying a knee in the back as an added touch. The crowd rallies for Shawn and he fight back, but an eye rake stops that. Jericho sets to early for a backdrop, and ends up taking a DDT. Both men get to their feet, and Jericho hits the Michaels flying forearm before kipping up to mock Michaels. Shawn kips up behind him though and starts taking control. Jericho hits a moonsault press for a two count. We get a great Flair/Steamboat like pinning sequence that ends with Jericho looking for the Walls. Shawn kicks off, but Jericho ends up getting a northern lights suplex. They fight over a backslide, so Jericho says to hell with that and drops Shawn. A modified bulldog sets up the lionsault, but Shawn is out at two. Jericho starts throwing a tantrum as he doesn’t know what else to do. Again, he sets too early and eats a boot from Shawn. He goes for a RANA, but Jericho counters to the Walls of Jericho dead center in the ring. Shawn crawls to the ropes, but Jericho makes sure to hold until the ref counts to four before breaking. Jericho breaks out a double under hook backbreaker in a nasty spot, and heads up top. A beautiful reverse elbow and Jericho starts tuning up the band. Jericho delivers Sweet Chin Music, and it only gets 2. Shawn gets sent to the corner, but comes off the middle rope with a cross body. Now Shawn tries to get fancy and goes for the Walls, but opts to slingshot Jericho into the corner. He falls back into a pin attempt, but it only gets two. Jericho throws a shot to Michael’s back, and that quickly turns the tide. They head up top and Jericho goes for a belly to back, but Shawn turns it into a cross body for a two count. Now Shawn heads up top, and looks for the elbow, but Jericho kicks the ref into the ropes to throw Shawn off balance. Jericho looks for the superplex, but Shawn dumps him and finally gets the flying elbow. The band gets tuned, but Jericho ducks and is able to lock in the Walls of Jericho. He crawls for the ropes again, but Jericho pulls him back to the center of the ring to a massive pop. A second attempt finally gets Shawn to the bottom ropes. Jericho pleads with the ref and he ends up walking right into Sweet Chin Music. Shawn crawls for the cover, but Jericho is able to kick out. Jericho fires Michaels into the corner, he staggers back into Jericho who looks for a belly to back suplex again, but Shawn hits the prawn hold for the win. Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Jericho @ 22:35 via pin [****½] This was an excellent match, one for years I thought we wouldn’t see and was not only glad we got it, but that it lived up to expectations. In many ways, Jericho needed this performance as many higher ups in the company blamed him for the lackluster Mania X8 match with Triple H.

From WrestleMania 26: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels: The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels stole the show at WrestleMania 25, and the decision was made to do it again. Now, you had me at Taker vs. HBK II (as far as Mania matches goes), but the build to the match was such a well-crafted story. Shawn Michaels, Mr. WrestleMania, was haunted by the loss, something that came to light when he accepted the 2009 Slammy Award for Match of the Year. He challenged Taker (the World Champion) to a rematch, which was refused. Michaels became obsessed with the rematch, and turned to the Rumble to earn his title shot. The run for him in the match was well done, and the elimination worked so well as it came off like he had actually been accidentally eliminated. Shawn was devastated, and with Taker still refusing his rematch and Michaels looking as if he was closer to lunacy, he then snuck into Undertaker’s Elimination Chamber match (which was awesome) and cost Taker the world title. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the rematch was set, Taker’s streak vs. the career of Michaels. The WrestleMania 25 match was an all time Mania classic, and considering how it affected that show’s main event (which wasn’t good anyway) the call was made to have this match main event the show. For some this seemed like an issue, but the career of Michaels vs. Taker’s streak? Those are the highest stakes ever due to their perceived worth, and I had no issue with it going on last because I expected greatness. Unlike the Mania 25 main event, my optimism was rewarded this time around, because these warriors hit the ring again and delivered yet another Mania classic. The match came off even better than the year prior, which is a credit to both men; it succeeds because they not only have the year prior to play off of, but they have the extra-added emotion of the stipulation. You’re either going to see the streak end, or Shawn Michaels will retire. I remember discussing the match with long time 411 reviewer JD Dunn (HI JD!), and the feeling we shared when discussing this match was that it had the build, the pacing and even the psychology of a 90s AJPW match (Misawa vs. Kawada-esque) with the character work of a great WWE match all mixed together; and it is that combination that simply worked together flawlessly between two great performers. This is an all time Mania classic, and arguably the best main event in the history of the event. The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels @ 24:00 via pin [*****]

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 111. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook talk the news of the week, breakdown AEW vs. NXT (4.29.20), while Kevin Pantoja joins for a retro NXT Arrival review. The show is approximately 137-minutes long.

* Intro
* News Roundup (Rumored WWE Sale, More Release News, AEW Taping Schedule, More): 2:15
* AEW Dynamite (4.29.20) Review: 36:55
* NXT (4.29.20) Review: 55:55
* The Head to Head Comparison: 1:14:20
* Retro NXT Takeover: Arrival Review: 1:24:43

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– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

10.0

The final score: review Virtually Perfect

The 411

Overall, the Best of WWE: Shawn Michaels’ Best WrestleMania Matches collection was amazing as you’d expect with Shawn at Mania.