Dark Pegasus Video Review: Shawn Michaels - My Journey (Disc One)
Karolina Dean.....Unauthorized...and proud of it
Posted by J.D. Dunn on 03.31.2010
Shawn Michaels third disc set includes some hidden gems.
Shawn Michaels: My Journey
by J.D. Dunn
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Examiner.com
Wow. It just occurred to me as I popped this in that I haven't sat
down to watch wrestling since… well, the Best of Raw 2009 DVD.
I did catch the NXT debut on the internets, though, and since I've
also become addicted to Spartacus: Blood and Sand thanks to Netflix,
I've decided that NXT should be booked exactly like Spartacus. Have
the patrons (like Jericho and Punk) get financial rewards when their
gladiators win. Book Daniel Bryan just like Spartacus – arrogant and
above it all, but ultimately a man who loses everything and becomes a
great warrior.
Also to come out of the show, smarmy anti-Smark Michael Cole who,
apparently, is representing Cole's real feelings toward the internet.
Well, that's just unfair.
I mean, when has the internet ever said anything bad about Michael
Cole?
Just to screw with his head, I'm going to start praising him.
Btw, they didn't use Shawn's theme music for the DVD. In fact, it
sounds a lot like Fatboy Slim/Pierre Henry's "Psyche Rock" which was
the inspiration for the theme from "Futurama."
Your host is Michael Cole, who is forced to work beneath his station
as this interview shows. He really should be on 60 Minutes banging
Lara Logan… hell, everyone else is. Hi-yoooooo!
We open with talk of Shawn Michaels achieving his dream of becoming a
wrestler and being sent to Dallas to get the shit kicked out of him by
Billy Jack Haynes and The One Man Gang. It took a while for him to
grasp the fact that he *was* a wrestler and not just a fan they let in
the ring.
The One Man Gang vs. Sean Michaels (01/11/85).
"Sean" is billed as being from Georgia, which is odd because you'd
think they'd want to give him some sympathetic hometown babyface
cache. And the funny thing is: he looks just like Bryan Danielson
here. Gang has no patience for him and completely destroys him.
Michaels actually fared better against him at WrestleMania V. Gang
powerslams him and finishes with a splash at 2:36. 1/4*
Cole recalls, from the vast databank of his wrestling knowledge, that
Shawn paired up with Marty Janetty and had a great series of matches
with Buddy Rose and Doug Somers. Shawn says the Wrestlerock show was
huge because it was the AWA's answer to WrestleMania.
Doug Somers & Buddy Rose (w/Sherri Martel) vs. The Midnight Rockers
(04/20/86).
I don't think they ever released this one before this, so that's
another one on the pile. Hey, Marty Janetty wrestling on 4/20? That's
just precious. We get a gymnastics exhibition early as Shawn does a
backflip off the top and challenges Rose to do the same. That goes
about as well as you'd expect. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH! He's fat and,
therefore, worthy of my derision. The usual Rockers vs. Rose/Somers
stuff follows with the heels being all discombobulated because the
Rockers are just too darned fast. Btw, Rose might not be agile on the
top rope (or he might be, we'd never know) but he can MOVE, baby. Like
grapefruit pulp. Rose catches Shawn and catapults him into a forearm
smash from Somers to turn things around, though. Shawn takes a little
punishment but tags out pretty quickly for a face-in-peril segment.
Janetty evidently cleans house, but we're watching people in the
audience eat popcorn. Marty gets the pin, but Sherri puts Somers's
foot on the ropes, so the ref calls it off. The Rockers blitz Somers
with doubleteams. Marty goes up for the fistdrop, but Rose crotches
him from the outside. Rose waddles in and covers for the win (with
Sherri shoving Marty's foot off the ropes for good measure). The
Rockers get screwed at 12:04. It started out with some good comedy,
but it never really reached the heights of their other matches. The
venue and sparse crowd probably didn't help. **1/2
Michael, never one to cower, asks a piercing question: Did Shawn and
Marty spend any time with Brian Knobbs and Jerry Saggs outside of the
ring? Yes. Yes, they did.
AWA Tag Team Titles: The Midnight Rockers vs. The Nasty Boys
(03/05/88).
This starts as a polar opposite from the previous match. Everyone is
totally serious, and the Nasties actually steamroll the Rockers. The
story here is that the Rockers, while undersized, are willing to get
just as vicious in order to survive, but they don't sacrifice their
resourcefulness. The Nasties bump all over the place. Yeah, these are
not the Nasties of TNA. Of course, eventually, Shawn gets caught in
the heel corner and gets the crap kicked out of him good and proper.
Much like the Sheepherders, there was a time when the Nasties lived up
to the "Nasty" part of their name before the devolved into a comedy
act. Shawn takes a beating before a heel miscommunication leads to the
hot tag. The Rockers dazzle the Nasties and the crowd with their
doubleteamage, and Knobbs is so confused that Marty is able to fly off
the top with a crossbody for the win at 14:37. The ugly, stinky Nasty
Boys were great foils for the pretty-boy Rockers and this match is a
good demonstration of how they (briefly) worked together. ***
On to the WWE. Shawn and Marty weren't welcomed by the grizzled
veterans. Shawn says Greg Valentine was particularly gruff, but Cole
points out that Greg always looks like that. How astute, Michael! No
one at the top wanted to work with them because they were "too small
to draw," but the Brainbusters specifically wanted to work with them
because they saw money in a Rockers vs. Brainbusters feud.
The Brainbusters vs. The Rockers (03/18/89).
There is no bad Rockers vs. Brainbusters match. There is only varying
degrees of awesome. They just… work. It's like finding that place
where the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle goes. If you've never seen
a match between these four, it's all about treachery and technique
versus youth and enthusiasm. The Rockers dominate early, using their
doubleteams and quickness to stay one step ahead of the Busters.
They're not quite as crisp as they were on, say, Saturday Night's Main
Event, but it's still amazing to watch. They actually get a double
figure-four at one point, but Arn rakes Shawn's eyes to get out of it.
Marty gets caught and snapped off the ropes to turn the tide. NOW the
Brainbusters go to work dissecting the stoned little bastard.
Retractor. Retractor. Scalpel. Scalpel. Shawn appears to get the hot
tag, but the ref didn't see it. Marty gets a flying crossbody but gets
tossed over the top behind the ref's back. That would be a lot more
meaningful in the NWA where people care about over-the-top. Of course,
Shawn gets the hot tag for real, and the Rockers discombobulate them
with doubleteams. Arn gets tossed, and that allows Shawn to come off
Marty's shoulders for a flying splash. Arn yanks the ref out to save
the pin at 20:25. Not quite the crazy, balls-out pace that their
classic matches have. This had all the same moves but not quite the
same intensity. ***1/4
There were a plethora of great tag teams in the late 1980s. Shawn
loves the British Bulldogs' Japanese-meets-European style. Demolition
wasn't sure about working with them because of their small stature,
but after a match with them, they warmed up to them.
The Rockers vs. The Hart Foundation (11/25/89).
The crowd is evenly split, and it's all positive heat. They love the
Rockers' doubleteams, and they love it when the Anvil steamrolls over
them. Shawn gets caught in a bearhug for a goodly portion of the
match. He fights out of it but gets caught diving for the tag. Bret
tags in and knocks Shawn's dick in the dirt. He puts the match on hold
with a chinlock, though. Marty tags in and flips the switch on the
whup-ass machine only to miss a crossbody and tumble over the top.
Shawn and Anvil tag in, and Anvil BOWLS him over with a shoulderblock.
The fans love that. Shawn comes back with a dropkick and reverses an
abdominal stretch from the Hitman. Analyst Hillbilly Jim: "I've heard
of wrestling clinics, but this is a wrestling hospital." Oh,
Hillbilly. You're no Michael Cole. Both teams get scrappy with one
another, and that lasts until the time-limit draw at 19:36. The usual
from these two teams. It's good, but not nearly as good as you'd think
it would be. They've had some better matches where the Harts went more
heelish, and maybe that's the key component. ***
Shawn superkicked Marty through the Barber Shop window (Don't bother
arguing, it's metaphorically speaking, and besides, Michael Cole said
it, and he's a professional at the top of his game. That makes it
double-sourced.). Shawn was worried that he wouldn't be able to make
it as a singles guy. He admits he didn't have a plan.
Intercontinental Title: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Sensational
Sherri — 06/2/92).
This isn't one of the famous ones, which is good because I don't
remember ever seeing it. Shawn's obnoxious mocking of Bret's pose is
so damned irritating. Awesome. Bret catches him and catapults him into
the turnbuckle. Bret gets whipped to the corner and takes the
backfirst bump this time. Shawn takes over with a chinlock, although
not one long enough to get boring. Bret elbows out of it, but Shawn
pummels him. Bret gets fired up and makes the comeback. FMOD! Bret
rolls him up and gets two. Sherri gets on the apron to distract him,
but it backfires as Shawn accidentally takes her out with a flying
knee. Sherri takes the hardest bump of the match, flying off the apron
to the floor. That allows Bret to schoolboy Shawn for the win at
13:29. This was a point in time where both guys were out to prove they
could carry the company, so they were intense in everything they did.
It contrasts with some of the more cerebral matches they had later on
when both guys were on more solid footing. ***
So, for a disc that details Shawn's career, he sure hasn't had much
success. Shawn talks about working with Davey Boy Smith. He was
worried because their biggest match was when the power went out on PPV
at "Beware of Dog."
The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Sycho Sid - 03/06/95).
Davey Boy was still smarting from getting thrown out at the Royal
Rumble after he thought he won. Sid is replacing Diesel as Shawn's
bodyguard. Davey Boy DESTROYS Shawn early. Sid has to keep picking
Shawn up. Bulldogs tosses Shawn, but Sid catches him and puts him back
on the apron, allowing Shawn to knock Bulldog down and slingshot on
top of him. Dastardly. Shawn takes over as Sid looks on menacingly. It
occurs to me that Sid has the bizarre luck of getting over whenever he
wasn't pushed and having the audience turn on him whenever he was.
Davey Boy backdrops to counter a chinlock as we go to break. We come
back to both guys knocking heads for the double KO. Shawn misses a
charge and posts himself. DBS crotches him on the top rope and sends
him into the Shawn Flip in the corner. Shawn sends Bulldog to the
floor where Sid knees him into the post. Back in, Shawn superkicks
Bulldog for a rather anticlimactic win at 17:51. Damned good TV match
for the time, especially since Shawn was headed to WrestleMania as a
main eventer. ***1/4
Shawn says he loves fighting big guys because half the story is told
just by standing there. He thinks he could have a better match with
Sid now. Shawn thinks Vince just put him out front intending for him
to fail so he could go back to big guys. He used that resentment as a
driving force.
Intercontinental Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Sycho Sid (w/Ted Dibiase -
09/11/95).
This is the infamous match where… well, you'll see. The match was
originally slated for Summerslam, but Gorilla Monsoon rather bluntly
informed us that no one wanted to see that match. I wish Roger Goodell
had that power. Shawn quickly sends Sid to the floor to get advice
from Dibiase. Back in, Shawn tries to shoulderblock Sid and gets
tossed over the top. He skins the cat and dropkicks Sid to the floor
again. Back in again, Sid catches him with something that could almost
be considered a spinebuster. We take a break and come back to Sid
chokeslamming Shawn. He stops to gloat, though, and Shawn comes back.
Sid kicks out of a crossbody, but Shawn ducks swing and superkicks him
in the gut. A second one to the jaw rocks the big guy, and a third one
polishes Sid off at 7:24. Of course, had you been watching Nitro at
the beginning of the night, you'd already know the result because Eric
Bischoff informed us that Shawn "pins the big guy with three
superkicks." Okayish "big man vs. little man" match. Not nearly on the
level of Shawn's matches with Diesel or their Survivor Series match
the following year, though. **1/2
Shawn says he was friends with the 1-2-3 Kid, and they both had a chip
on their shoulder because Vince didn't believe in them.
Shawn Michaels vs. The 1-2-3 Kid (w/Ted Dibiase — 03/04/96).
Kid was a heel and Shawn was a babyface, for those who have trouble
keeping track. Funny start as Shawn starts doing his little stripper
dance, backdrops a charging Kid over the top rope, and continues the
dance without blinking. Kid actually dominates early with a roundhouse
kick for two. Shawn rolls him up and then clotheslines him over. Bret
Hart looks on from the back and says Shawn would never get away with
the same things against him. Kid dropkicks Shawn over the top where
Dibiase takes a few cheapshots. Bret complains that the ref isn't
putting a stop to it and reiterates that he likes Shawn. Not exactly
convincing. Watching Shawn bump around for a guy who is actually
smaller than he is just shows what an awesome showman he is. Shawn
hits the flying forearm to the kip up to come back. The funny thing is
the Kid is busy posing and doesn't see Shawn behind him. Shawn fakes
him out on a crossbody and then hits the moonsault block. The picture-
perfect elbow sets up SCM, but Kid ducks to the floor to avoid it. Kid
attacks him on the way back in but eats the superkick anyway at 10:04.
Kind of a light-hearted match with Kid hamming it up in the heel role
and Shawn coasting his way towards destiny at WrestleMania. **3/4
The 411: We're three DVD sets into Shawn's career, so this is
obviously going to be the also-rans and obscurities. Not bad at all,
though. Next up, we fill in some of the gaps in Shawn's most
controversial era and his rebirth in the early naughties.
Final Score: 8.0 [ Very Good ] legend