With Bret Hart firmly in the midcard and Big Daddy Cool stinking up the joint against the likes of Sycho Sid & King Mabel, it was up to Shawn Michaels to deliver those high end upper midcard matches. Shawn Michaels began the year winning the biggest match of his career up until that point at Royal Rumble 1995 meaning he would go to face real life best friend, Diesel. This was a natural progression given their break up as tag team champions in the Fall of 1994. I did not review Shawn and Diesel's match at WrestleMania XI (which did not main event. Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow did), but I have seen it once before and I remember thinking it was good, but Shawn was working way too fast. They would have a much better match a year later when Shawn had the title. Sid, who was Shawn's bodygiuard, turned on Shawn after leading to Sid run in the main event and Shawn's babyface turn.
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| Jeff Jarrett Will Be With His Baby Tonight |
This was the first time Shawn was babyface as a singles. If you read reviews of the 1995 King Of The Ring, often maligned as the worst WWF PPV ever, smart money was on Shawn to win. However, thinking about now, they clearly wanted to use the King of the Ring to vault a new heel challenger into the main event to face Diesel at Summerslam 95. King Mabel would not be my first choice either, but I think the problem was the clear dearth of heels with Diesel, Shawn, Bret, Razor, AND even the Bulldog as babyfaces. I think they didn't think Owen could cut it unless he was in the ring with Bret and thus went the monster route. So I cant say I am surprised Shawn did not win King of the Ring. However, the next month Shawn did win the Intercontinental Championship from Jeff Jarrett in an amazing match and the best Jarrett match I have seen thus far. This made sense as it gave Shawn a purpose for the rest of 1995 and earmarked as someone to watch.
The Summerslam Ladder Match rematch against Razor Ramon was heralded at the time finishing SECOND overall in Wrestling Observer Newsletter Rankings ahead of many classic All Japan matches INCLUDING 6/9/95. However, it has faded into obscurity for a reason I don't know why because it is truly a classic and even better than the first ladder match. I guess when your first match is so revolutionary it is hard for the rematch to stick.
After that Shawn ran into some personal problems aka Marines in Syracuse, which apparently beat the dogshit out of him. He was forced to relinquish the Intercontinental Championship to Dean Douglas (Shane Douglas) and promptly Razor defeated Douglas for the title, which often cited as Kliq politics and the fuel for many of Shane Douglas' infamous tirades. Shawn did make it back into the ring in late 95. They ran a very famous quasi-shoot angle where Owen Hart hit him with an Enziguiri to the head causing Shawn Michaels to be knocked out. This was a great way to tie the Syracuse Incident into the storylines. They really sold this as a serious situation and it was one of the better angles they ran in this time period. This set Shawn up really well for his '96 campaign as he would be on the comeback trail but you never knew with that head injury.
Below are the Shawn Michaels' matches I watched in 1995:
WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett vs Shawn Michaels - WWF In Your House II
One of my all-time favorite WWF matches because of just how feel good it is. I love me some good shtick and this is good shtick. Shawn Michaels as part of the Rockers was in some good bullshit matches and he fit in this Memphis style match seamlessly. I thought he was great as cocky jock showing up the annoying showboat, Jarrett. Jarrett actually gets a couple over on HBK allowing him to strut and kick back and relax on the top rope. But he gets a little too fancy for his own good so Michaels pokes him right in the eye and then does exactly what Jarrett intended and blasts him in the face. After HBK dumps him on his ass, he does a little strut and booty shake. Combining the Fabulous Ones and Fantastics in one awesome combo! Michaels wipes out both Double J & The Roadie. I am probably alone in feeling this way, but I actually thought Shawn Michaels felt pretty cool in this. I liked the head and shoulders fake out on the reverse crossbody sunset flip by HBK. It is not the greatest babyface shine ever, but it is a fun one and one that is unique for WWF. The bump Michaels takes to the outside over the top turnbuckle to set up the heat segment is crazy. I think Jarrett supplies a lot of great heel character work in this, but Michaels was dictating the flow of the match with his bumping. The heat segment was not as good as I remembered it unfortunately. It felt a little dry. I liked the classic cheating like ab stretch assist and Roadie attacking with a clothesline from the apron and Michaels mixed in good bumping and hope spots. The sleeper was a good climax to the segment. It just did not feel special. The finish was well-done with Shawn working through his comeback and adding a nice posting of Double J. I liked the wrinkle of Roadie causing Shawn lands on his nuts on the top turnbuckle to set up some figure-4 attempts. Jarrett signals for Roadie to trip HBK on a criss cross, but Roadie not looking trips up Jarrett and BANG! Sweet Chin Music! Great finish
Feels like a great, Southern 1980s match that happens in 1990s WWF, which makes it special. I would say easily Jarrett's best WWF match and a top ten Shawn Michaels 90s match. Thought the shine and comeback were real fun and the heat segment was just alright. I loved the fan sign that said "HBK would be with Jarrett's belt tonight" and even with the loss "With My Baby Tonight" remains the best pro wrestling song not named Badstreet USA. ****1/4
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WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon
WWF Summerslam 1995 Ladder Match Part Deux
Before that all happens, there is a nice little match that happens without the ladder. It is face vs face so I loved the symmetry of them both going for their finishes. I liked that it took THREE big moves for Razor to finally bring the ladder in. The Irish Whip bump and the super Fallaway Slam were great spots, but the crown jewel was that suplex to the floor. Damn! Usually people just tease that and even when they do take it is a much safer bump on the feet. Shawn went all out on that.
I loved all the callbacks to WM X. Razor smartening up to the baseball slide. Shawn mooning the audience, but this time het tries to keep climbing, but when Razor pushes the ladder, he wrenches his knee. Razor taking Shawn's bump with the Irish whip to the ladder. Shawn doing a super tippy-top of the ladder splash to do WrestleMania X, but eating canvas.
Shawn's comeback was perfectly pitched. It was a very gradual progression to finally gaining control. It was not too energetic, but it was also not completely dead either. The reverse crossbody off the ladder was great and the aforementioned missing the big splash was a good level the playing field spot.
The finish was my least favorite part even if it was not blown. It just felt so contrived and really drawn out like the cinematic WWE main events of today. So much down time selling, I usually encourage more selling, but this was excessive. The Razor's Edge, only for Michaels to still be able to set up another ladder. The two ladders in general just did not sit well with me. If Sweet Chin Music hit well AND he was able to leap and grab the belts, I would probably forgive everything because that would be badass. The fact he missed it a second time (nice cover with backdrop on Razor's Edge attempt) was pretty funny especially with the classic Shawn hissy fit. Third time is the charm for the Heartbreak Kid.
Callbacks and the leg psychology make this an all-time WWF classic for me. Razor never looked better on top and Shawn gave an impressive performance in a very difficult role. The finish is the only thing that holds it back from the tippy top. It feels like such a unique match in the WWF environment with how critical the leg psychology is in this match and they do a great job mixing in big time spots. ****3/4
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Camp Cornette (Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Yokozuna) vs
Diesel, Shawn Michaels, & Undertaker - WWF RAW 10/09/95
WWF 1995 Main Event scene EXPLODES! It is pretty incredible that for the last third of 1995, Jim Cornette was the leader of the number one heel stable and Bulldog was the number one heel basically. Shawn is IC champion here this right before him getting his ass handed to him by the Marines.
The babyface shine is fun. Shawn and Owen have such a great dynamic with each other. Its a shame they did not get a PPV main event in 1996 or in late 97 or early 98. I liked them sending Owen & Bulldog into Yoko and then the double big boot to Yoko. Diesel/Davey Boy don't have much chemistry which is unfortunate because they are main eventing the next PPV. Undertaker and Yoko was kinda fun. Yoko threw Shawn Michaels down! Good transition to heat. The heat segment is the real treat here. Owen and Bulldog pick Shawn apart with some really great Hart offense. Davey Boy looked great with his press slam and delayed vertical suplex. Shawn was great at selling. Owen misses top rope splash. Shawn tags in Diesel and in shocking fashion, Bulldog actually gets one over on the WWF champion thanks to some assistance from Owen. Running Powerslam, Taker saves but Yoko drops the leg and gets Bulldog the win. Wow! I guess they wanted to put some heat on Bulldog. Fun match with Owen and Bulldog working great against Shawn. Good stuff. ***
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Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart - WWF RAW 11/20/95
Right on the heels of the Diesel quasi-shoot promo where he outed Vince as the boss, WWF runs another huge angle with Shawn's collapse in the ring based off the Syracuse Incident. The match itself before the monster angle was really damn good. Shawn vs Owen is always a damn good time. Really liked Shawn's shine lots of movement and energy and playing to the crowd. Owen was great bumping for him. Owen catching with a clothesline over the top rope and then blasting him with a baseball slide was great. Is Owen the king of the baseball slide? Owen's heat segment on Shawn is awesome! German suplex, backbreaker, spinwheel kick among other things. Owen was in such a groove and Shawn is great at selling peppering in hope spots like a backslide. Owen goes for a superplex, but Shawn shifts his weight. Great spot! Shawn runs through his comeback in grand fashion. He really had the crowd behind him. He goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Owen hits the Enziguiri of Death and Shawn goes down in a heap. I thought that was end, but there's more. Shawn actually gets up and fights off Owen's Sharpshooter and manages to clothesline him out and skin the cat back in. So he gets a big pop for that and then gets woozy and collapses!
That was an even better way to handle the angle. If they just did the enziguiri everyone would have thought it was a part of the story. By having him fight off Owen and then collapse, they really blurred the lines. Great execution from Shawn's selling to Owen, Cornette, Vince and Lawler's reactions. All time great angle that really bolsters an already very good match. ***3/4
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