The Shawn Michaels Appreciation Thread

[Grimoire Lenin]

I think the Backlash match gets as much praise as it does because it takes place in Canada with an absolutely hostile crowd that worked into the match much better than the story-driven Mania match.

 

[Showstopper]

This interview took place 24 years ago today between Shawn and Nash going into their title match at IYH: Good Friends, Better Enemies:





This interview between Shawn and Diesel was going into Nash's last match in the WWF (on TV) which was against Shawn at IYH: Good Friends, Better Enemies in April 1996 for the Title.

I love how there were shoot-ish comments in this. Shawn bringing up how he used to tell Diesel 'in the car' and while travelling on the airplanes how much winning the title meant to him. How the 9 navy seals in Syracuse 'worked him over' and they couldn't stop him. Diesel bringing up how Shawn now is in the same position Diesel was the previous year when he was the Champion and became all corporate and sold out. Which is funny looking at it, because Diesel turned heel the year after he won the title and became a white-meat babyface, and he was right; the SAME thing happened to Shawn. He's the white-meat babyface Champion here in 1996 (like Nash was in 1995) and Shawn would turn heel the very next year in 1997, just like Diesel is here in 1996. :LOL: Great promo from both guys. I actually like how they are screen in screen interacting with eachother in real time despite not being in the same building as eachother. Good stuff:

P.S. Love Shawn's style in this interview. And the belt looks GREAT glistening there on his shoulder. What a beautiful fucking belt.

 

[Showstopper]

34 years ago tonight at AWA WrestleRock 1986, the Midnight Rockers took on their AWA biggest rivals 'Playboy' Buddy Rose and Doug Somers in a tag team match. This wasn't their best match against eachother. They'd have two classic matches against eachother later in the year in September (the blade job Shawn does in this match is pretty great) and on Christmas Day 1986 in a steel cage match. I'll post all 3 matches. Highly reccommend the last two in particular if anyone is interested in pre-WWF/E Shawn Michaels matches:

WrestleRock, 34 years ago tonight:



September 2nd, 1986:



Cage Match Christmas Day 1986:



(The latter two are fantastic matches. These two teams HATED eachother. So, lots of intense brawling and "GOOD SHIT" overall. )

 

[Showstopper]

13 years ago tonight, Shawn vs. Cena in London on Raw for 45 mins. Love this match:

 

[Showstopper]

24 years ago tonight, one of my favorite matches of all time, HBK vs. Diesel at IYH: Good Friends, Better Enemies. Such a great match. Probably Diesel/Nash's best match of his career. Shawn got an absolute gem of a match out of him. This match is just action-packed from start to finish. Not a dull moment to be had. I honestly didn't know Nash was capable of a match like this, and neither did most of the fans at this point in time, either. Not just one of my favorite Shawn matches, but one of my favorite matches of all time period.

I love how right after the match when he gets up from the pin, Shawn gives Nash the finger and throws his gum at Nash. They were best friends, but Shawn was legitimately not happy that Nash was leaving the company. Then, after that, Shawn lays the belt down on the floor right in front of him as a way to say he's taking on any challengers. Then, my favorite part happens, he does the Hogan pose for a second, as if to say, he wants a piece of Hogan, too. LOVED that. And then after all of that, when he's doing his signature pose, look at how hard he's flexing and the look on his face and in his eyes. You just don't see that passion anymore. 90's Shawn had a passion for this business like I've never seen anyone have before. Just incredible. I miss that guy so much. To me, that's the only thing that's missing from his 2000's run as great as that run was, you never really saw him so expressive, passionate, and sometimes angry like you did in the 90's. In the 90's the business was his life and it showed. He had no wife or kids. In the 2000's, that obviously changed. Still, a great run, though. Anyway, enjoy the match:

 

[Chris]

I agree that was probably Nash's best match of his career, also missed your post about the Cena match on Raw and I absolutely LOVE that one as well, better than their Mania match for sure and that one was still really good in it's own right.

 

[Hoss]

I think Diesel had at least one better match with Hart but the Good Friends, Better Enemies match was a banger.

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Mad Dog Vachon should have hobbled up and beat the shit out of Nash.

 

[Showstopper]

I think Diesel had at least one better match with Hart but the Good Friends, Better Enemies match was a banger.

That's a good one, too. I just prefer this one more. I know, big shock. I just enjoy the story more.

Also, on FOX SPORTS right now, they are airing Shawn's Best Of WM matches! HBK vs. Jericho is on right now. It's pretty wild to see Shawn matches on a real sports Network in their entirety. Loving it! Mr. WrestleMania has come to Fox Sports!

 

[Showstopper]

Ok, don't know if there are any NFL fans out there, but RG 3, who is the Ravens backup QB, but earlier in his career, before he suffered a serious knee injury, was one of the best QB's in the league for the Washington Redskins. He got in on the action on Twitter and responding to the WWE on FOX's twitter account of who his top 5 favorite wrestlers are, and he named Shawn (and tagged him) as his number one favorite wrestler of all time. Awesome. And Shawn is trending on Twitter for the past hour or so now, too. Love it:

 

[Chris]

That's a helluva list

 

[Showstopper]

15 years ago today was that fantastic HBK/Shelton Benjamin match and the match in which Shawn hit Shelton with perhaps the greatest superkick ever; back when the superkick meant alot. Can't believe this was 15 years ago. WWE uploaded the match to their official Youtube page earlier today:

 

[Chris]

Watching this live was awesome especially as a 9 year old, but the coolest part to me was that I noticed it was added to the Raw intro video the VERY NEXT WEEK

 

[Showstopper]

My childhood:

 

[Showstopper]

24 years ago tonight, one of my favorite underrated HBK matches, vs. Triple H on Raw on 5/13/96. It's not a 'great' match or anything, but it's one of those hidden gems that doesn't get alot of attention, but it's pretty fantastic. I have always and always will prefer Shawn as a heel (especially his 97-98 heel stuff), but sometimes when I watch his '96 stuff, I have to begrudgingly admit he was a good babyface here in '96 even though it was alittle too white-meatish for me. This took place during Shawn's first title run in 1996. Highly recommended to watch if you never have: