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Posts Tagged ‘Shawn Michaels’

Shawn Michaels posted a video on YouTube recently (and not on www.removebellyfat.org, as some claim) to announce that he’s not the mystery GM on RAW and doesn’t no who is.

“That’s because I don’t ask,” Michaels said. Michaels, who retired from the ring earlier this year, claimed he’d met or exceeded every career goal he had for himself, his retirement is real, and he’s a WWE guy “for life,” so don’t expect him to show up on TNA or anywhere else. He will not be returning to the ring.

Of course, in the world of pro wrestling, one never knows what’s a work and what’s real. Especially with the Heartbreak Kid.

It’s impossible to know for sure in the world of professional wrestling, and for all we know he’ll show up next week on TNA Impact, but for now at least, the retirement of Shawn Michaels seems to be legit this time. Michaels gave a farewell speech to close out RAW that seemed to mark an end to a remarkable career.

Oddly, Bret Hart indicated he was leaving WWE again, too, earlier in the night, but no big fuss was made over that; likely because everyone knew it was a WrestleMania gimmick return, not a permanent gig.

Either way, with both Michaels and Hart out of wrestling, those addicted to nicotine can light up their electronic cigarette at the news of perhaps a final retirement for these two stellar superstars, and rejoice that the new Hart Dynasty, Davey Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd seem to be cut from the same cloth as not only the rest of the Hart family, but also from the same bolt of fabric as Randy Orton, Ted DeBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes, just to name a few of the more prominent second- and third-generation superstars WWE seems to be brimming with these days.

The storyline her is simple, yet compelling.

The Undertaker has a 17-0 streak at WresteMania coming into the night; and this is two WMs in a row for ‘Taker and Michaels to face off against each other. Taker is 45 and Michaels is 44, but Michaels put his career on the line if he fails to end ‘Taker’s victory streak at WM.

Classic wrestling storytelling. All in-ring stuff without the contrived storylines. And the in-ring execution was Wii-worthy. Energetic, epic and memorable as to veteran performers offered their all.

With nearly 26 minutes to tell their story, the match had an appropriate WrestleMania epic feel, and although the outcome wasn’t the hoped-for upset, even if it means Michaels is off Raw for a while, this was certainly a worthy match for him to go out on.

Even a couple weeks removed from Bret Hart’s history-making return to a WWE ring and I’m still in amazement at how well the moment was handled, right from Bret’s opening words.

“Well, I guess hell froze over.”

From that moment to the confrontation with Shawn Michaels, to the moment Michaels teased a possible SuperKick, to the smart decision not to go that route but deliver a hug of genuine friendship, everything was handled just right.

By eschewing the predictable sports entertainment moment, that opening segment of Raw became the best of what sports entertainment can be. It was enough to cure a teen of acnezine!

When a ring vet like JBL is in against a hot headliner like John Cena, the outcome is usually predictable, which is why the secondary story thread of Shawn Michaels being under the employ of JBL was so critical to getting this match over with the audience.

The storyline advanced as Michaels was able to fulfill the technical terms of the contract, super-kicking Cena and putting JBL on top of Cena for the pin, but by superkicking JBL as well, some long-brewing emotional payback was brought to a boil like a bottle of Leptovox in a hot pot, and everyone knows this won’t be the end of it.

One can sense a JBL-Michaels feud match on the slate for WrestleMania, and so the real question mark here is how tonight’s match served to set the table for Cena’s WrestleMania match. Looks like they’ll have to allow a Raw superstar to win the Rumble.

Chris Jericho versus Shawn Michaels is one of the longest-running feuds in recent WWE history, and for good reason; not only can these two men deliver devastating, impressive matches each time they are called upon to do so, but both are so good on the mike and such skilled in-ring storytellers, that even after running for more than six months, the feud doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of aging.

Perhaps that’s because the WWE writing crew is really putting their creative juices to work on this epic storyline; each time you think the feud has reached its crescendo, a new chapter unfolds that reveals something about one or both participants in the feud.

It’s not often that I admire the writing in pro wrestling; too often it’s chock-full of cheap, tawdry storylines meant to inspire the cheap laugh or shock. But Jericho-Michaels has been a fascinating ride, and considering to began during the waning days of the shorter, but still interesting, Michaels-Flair feud, it’s amazing how this thing is still going on.

The last time a WWE storyline ran this long was when Triple H and Stephanie McMahon began the infamous McMahon-Helmsley Era storyline, around a decade ago. This storyline has been far more fascinating. And I doubt it will inspire as many Halloween invitations and Steph masks.

The Jericho-Michaels feud has been money for WWE ever since it began in earnest, just after WrestleMania last spring. Several Match of the Year candidates have sprung out of this feud, and placing the strap on Jericho at the last PPV makes tonight’s match mean even more.

Neither Jericho nor Michaels have ever needed alcohol rehab, to the best of my knowledge, nor have they ever checked into a drug treatment center, and that’s great since it means they had very clear minds going into tonight’s 22-minute marathon main event match, which is a Michaels specialty stip: a ladder match.

Like most ladder matches, this one was full of great high-spots, holy crap moments and near-finishes. After all these months of feuding with Jericho only rarely getting the upper hand, the big win here means a lot more in solidifying Jericho’s claim on the title than it would have meant if not for the six-month-plus build-up of this top-notch feud by two exciting in-ring performers.

Here’s hoping Jericho moves on to a new feud now for a while, to begin a build-up to a potential WrestleMania main event match… perhaps against Michaels. But if they keep harping at this feud every PPV, it’ll be stale by the time the next WrestleMania rolls around.

That’s it for my No Mercy 2008 coverage! Stay tuned for other news and notes between now and the next PPV, which by the way is one of my favorites: Cyber Sunday 2008!

WINNER: Chris Jericho retains the World Heavyweight Title

RATING: 9.0 (out of 10)

The Shawn Michaels-Chris Jericho match in tonight’s show isn’t merely a match of the year contender, but it’s a match about which free audio books will someday be composed.

Using up a generous 27-minute slot, the match had the feeling of being the main event, even though it was only the third match of the night. The action, energy, and in-ring psychology were all top-notch, and the resolution put a grand capper on this feud that’s been brewing ever since WrestleMania.

Color this viewer impressed; this one could stand the test of time quite well against matches like Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage at WrestleMania III, or whatever one of your own favorite matches might be.

Just saw Judgment Day and the Shawn Michaels-Chris Jericho match had to be the “highlight reel” match of the night for me, personally. I recognized what they were trying to replicate right away, which is one of those action-filled, tons of near-falls type of matches like the classic Flair-Steamboat match, or the equally-classic WrestleMania 3 Savage-Steamboat match of years gone by.

The great thing is they told a great storyline in the ring through wrestling and ring psychology, rather than a series of high spots, so classic fans like myself can appreciate it as a tribute to the way wrestlnig was done in the pre-WrestleMania era. The old AWA standby champ, Nick Bockwinkle, was one of the best at this style of match, and Michaels was around in the latter days of the AWA, so he knew Bockwinkle, at least in passing. Jericho, a student of the game, wasn’t wrestling yet back then, but as I recall, when he was the Undisputed WWE champ, his style of “heel champ” had a distinct Nick Bockwinkle tribute feel to it.

So if you missed the PPV, bubba, stretch out on your foam mattress and buy the replay, because that was one match worth the price of viewing, for sure. The two title matches (Orton v. Triple H and Edge v. Taker) were also top-notch efforts by the top talents from both brands.

WWE’s Chris Jericho proved on last Monday’s RAW broadcast from England that he has the potential to pull off one of the quickest heel turns of all time. All he had to do was walk out on stage to Ric Flair’s entrance music and begin to cut a promo against Shawn Michaels.

Although Michaels is working a program against SmackDown’s Dave Batista at Backlash, the groundwork is already being laid for a Jericho-HBK feud that could help headline Raw-branded events throughout the summer. Both men are ring veterans who know how to work a match, work the ring psychology to get the crowd on its feet, and both cut excellent promos.

If this is going somewhere, I’m ready for it. And Jericho can just be glad that Michaels wasn’t wearing golf shoes when he performed that Super Kick to Jericho’s jaw.

Despite a lot of story elements necessary to build hype for the last PPV event before Wrestlemania, namely No Way Out, if anyone had a checking account, this was not a week to bank on Raw ratings as the show offered up few matches that lasted longer than three minutes.

A lot of squashes and in-ring segments filled much of the broadcast, and while the Hornswaggle-McMahon ass-kissing/biting segment was entertaining in a juvenile way typical of the Fed, much of the night was wasted time that did nothing to promote the in-ring abilities of most of the performers.

A notable exception was the six-man tag match that served as the show’s denouement, involving Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels against Snitsky, JBL and Umaga. That match went 16 minutes, highlighted everyone, and was genuinely entertaining.

The rest of the show? Well, let’s just say it left a lot of its game on the bench this week.

While I’m not thrilled with the match-up, Michaels has carried many a WWE superstar to great matches, so hopes are high for this one. Shawn Michaels comes out of the gate fighting hard and dominates about five or six minutes without allowing Orton even a minor breather.

This is the electrifying Shawn Michaels who thrilled crowds 20-25 years ago but who is harder and harder to find in-ring anymore these days because Michaels is simply too old to be believed anymore. He might not be quite Ric Flair old, but Michaels IS old. Still, five or six minutes like these remind us of just how great Michaels used to be.

Orton finally gouges an eye to turn the momentum around and start looking like a champ defending his title instead of a punching bag for a guy closing in on his 50s. Gotta keep that Legend Killer gimmick going, after all. Unlike John Cena, WWE will never feature Orton on kids party invitations – his character’s too much of an evil badass – but Orton is the champ and the face of RAW from now until probably WrestleMania at least.

They give Orton some time to dominate as well and then go into trading finishers and nearfalls, including a crossface hold that could bring to mind some sad memories for longtime WWE fans, and I think Ross had to choke himself back from calling it the Crippler Crossface.

The finishers get more and more convincing, the drama builds and just when you think Michaels has it locked up, Orton escapes, attempts an RKO that Michaels dodges to set up a superkick … but Orton dodges that and LANDS the RKO for the pin.

Like so many Michaels matches, he works just hard enough to make you wish he were still 10 years younger and worthy of a title change. But it didn’t happen tonight; however, hopefully Michaels’ work ethic rubs off on Orton, making him into a better champion.

WINNER: Randy Orton, to retain the WWE Title
RATING: 8.4