The Shawn Michaels Appreciation Thread

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Honestly, might not be an unpopular opinion anymore these days, but I think the Iron-man match between Shawn and Bret ages worse and worse with each other day.

Yeah. seems like there are people who feel that way or don't like the match at all. I still love it, though.

Actually, now that you mention it, it seems like my opinions on wrestling are differing more and more from alot of folks these days, and I like it that way considering their opinions on other topics. Not saying you, just fans in general.

 

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April 1, 1996:

Overview: We are one day removed from the Boyhood Dream coming true for Shawn Michaels, on the Raw after WrestleMania 12! Shawn is now WWF World Champion is on top of the world! after finally capturing his first World Championship, Shawn will be on the final segment of Raw tonight cutting an in-ring promo with Vince McMahon interviewing him. It does feel like a new era is upon us. Shawn is the Champion. New talents like Mankind, Marc Mero, Sable, and Shane Douglas would make their debuts.

Review: Vince introduces Shawn as "The Leader of the WWF's New Generation" as Shawn makes his way to the ring. Shawn says he is in heaven and that last night was the single, greatest moment of his life and he has the fans, his "kliq", to thank. The people picked him back up every last time last night and he'll never forget it. Vince says Lawler will face Shawn on Raw next week and that Diesel will be ringside doing commentary for the match. Shawn says that last night Bret made a believer out of him and will be always be a Champion in Shawn's eyes and the fans of the WWF. He wants Bret and the Hart family to know, as well as the fans, that he promises to wear the belt with the honor, dignity, and the class that Bret did in the past.

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Vince then directs the interview to next week's match with Lawler as the fans begin to chant "Burger King." Shawn says next week he and his kliq are going to send the King back to his 'White Castle.'" Vince reminds Shawn that Diesel will be ringside for the match doing commentary. Shawn says when the clock struck midnight that the celebration was over. Diesel and he were best friends, but that is the past. He and Diesel make "Good Friends", but "Better Enemies" and In Your House he is going to dance all over Diesel's face!

Analysis: Good interview and introductory to Shawn as Champion. They did a good job hyping up Shawn vs. Lawler for next week and Shawn vs. Diesel at the PPV.

 

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ALL of the WM 14 gear for Shawn is finally up for sale on Chalk Line. The shorts, a tank-top, a jacket, and the pants. I purchased all of them. They look so great. So happy merch has finally been made of my favorite HBK gear of all time:

https://chalk-line.com/collections/all-products/products/hbk-wm14-satin-entrance-jacket

https://chalk-line.com/collections/all-products/products/hbk-wm-14-red-entrance-shorts

https://chalk-line.com/collections/all-products/products/hbk-wm14-tank

 

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April 8, 1996:

Overview:[/] We are one week removed from Shawn achieving his Boyhood Dream and finally capturing his first WWF World Championship. Tonight, Shawn will take on Lawler in a non-title match. This is Shawn's first match since winning the WWF World Championship at WrestleMania 12. Diesel will be sitting ringside doing commentary for the match.

Review: Both guys lockup and King has Shawn in the corner, but misses a punch and Shawn knocks him down with a punch as the fans cheer. They lockup again and this Shawn has King in the corner. Shawn peppers King with punches and knocks him down after delivering a punch after hitting the ropes. Shawn then lays on the top turnbuckle and is taking it easy.

They lockup again as King has Shawn against the ropes. Shawn back body drops King. The story here is that Shawn has an answer for everything Jerry does thus far. King goes for a test of strength, and then punches Shawn as Shawn goes down. King does what he does best and that is punch Shawn repeatedly and choke him while he's down on the mat as they go to commercial.

Back from commercial, King is still in control here. King hits Shawn with a piledriver and gets a two count on Shawn. King comes off the top and Shawn hits him with a punch in the mid-section to regain control of the match. Flying forearm, nip-up, bodyslam by Shawn. Shawn goes to the top and hits his elbow-drop. Shawn goes for the pin, but gets up and stares down Diesel. Shawn hits King with some SWEET CHIN MUSIC and gets the win!

Diesel comes in the ring and they brawl alittle bit before Diesel hits Shawn with a big boot as Mr. Perfect distracts Shawn:

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Diesel then knocks Shawn out with the belt as Raw goes off the air!

Analysis: Good little match, but the story here is the build to the IYH PPV with Diesel. This will be Diesel's last televised match in the WWF, so obviously Shawn is going to win, but this is a nice first feud for Shawn with the belt and gets him over as being able to compete and beat the big guys.

 

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Shawn interview with ESPN about his WM resume:

 

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April 15, 1996:

Overview: Raw ended last week with Shawn beating Jerry Lawler. After the match, Diesel, who was ringside doing commentary, got called into the ring by Shawn and they brawled before Diesel laid Shawn out by hitting him in the head with the WWF Title. On this week's Raw, the WWF is in Europe for a tour, so no live appearances by Shawn or Diesel. But Diesel does phone in to discuss his actions from last week's Raw.

Review: Diesel calls into discuss Shawn. Diesel says one of Shawn's weaknesses is his temper. He said Shawn is a good fighter and Shawn attacked him and all he wanted to do was talk, lol. Shawn needs to be taught a lesson and the people wanted to see him, not Shawn. The match at IYH will be a No Holds Barred match and Diesel is the smartest man in the business and he is laying a trap for Shawn and that Shawn is falling for it.

Analysis: Not much here, but I guess they wanted to get something on the air for the feud. Diesel has really come to find his character here right before he left the WWF. Would have been interesting to see where his character would've went if he didn't leave the WWF.

 

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On May 2nd, there's a new documentary coming out on the Network about Shawn and Diesel and their time as a tag team together. Can't wait!

 

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Overview: We are on the go-home show to the No Holds Barred match between Shawn and Diesel. The WWF is in Europe at this time, so they are having Diesel do taped promos from Europe as Shawn is selling Diesel's beatdown from Raw a couple of weeks ago. Too bad they weren't able to do more for the build of what would wind up being one of the best matches of the year, but something tells me Vince wasn't mad at this since he doesn't have to put Diesel over on TV too much before he leaves for WCW.

Review:[/] Diesel is in a locker room in Germany during this interview. He is going to teach Shawn a lesson and it is the final chapter in Shawn's career. He doesn't want the belt. He had the belt for a year and it was the worst year of his life. Vince tried to make Diesel something he wasn't; corporate. Now, he's the 'bad guy.' He says he is the real leader of the New Generation. He says he is a genetic wonder and guys like him don't grow on trees. After he gets down with Shawn, Vince better watch out because he has a score to settle with Vince.

Analysis: Great interview from Diesel. Great way to hype the match with Shawn and tease alittle something with Vince. I'm quite surprised at the light build for this match. They only had a couple of segments together and that was in the first two weeks of the build. The last two weeks they just had a couple short Diesel interviews from backstage of the European tour. Pretty incredible. At least the match turned out great.

 

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14 years ago tonight on RAW in ENGLAND, Shawn took on Cena in a wonderful 40 minute match. Meltzer gave the match 4.25 stars. I can't wait to watch this match later tonight. Random thought; but it's amazing how you can post a decent to great Shawn match "on this date" for practically every freaking day of the year, isn't it? What a resume of matches. Dude was surreal:

 

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Cool video of a preview of the documentary on Diesel and Shawn coming out this Sunday on the Network. Lots of comments from Shawn and Diesel in this video. This documentary on Sunday is gonna be awesome!

 

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No.

 

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Welp, weird alot of the gifs aren't working since it's working at another place I posted it on. Oh well.

 

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And when I press the edit button, all of the gifs are working there. Really strange. Oh, well. Sorry guys. The words and description of the match is all still there. No idea why the gifs are working on the Edit screen, but not the actual post that you guys see. Odd.

 

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Nope.

 

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Okay, I decided to delete the review since it looks ridiculous with all of those red x's. Might not be posting my reviews here anymore. Sorry.