That RAW Recap 19.10.15

This week's RAW featured a few key moments.

You just had to know where to look for them. Here's a hint: they weren't in the Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox v Naomi and Sasha Banks match, or the throwaway Bad News Barrett, Sheamus and Rusev versus Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and Adrian Neville six man. Nor were they in Kevin Owens versus ark Henry. Although, for the record all three good for what they were. Nikki over as the serious title contender she should be considering her tenure and status as longest reigning Divas champ ever. The six man was a fun match which got some over lads on the show and gave them time to do their thing. And Owens v Henry featured Owens hitting his pop-up power bomb on 'The World's Strongest Man', establishing that he's strong enough to hit Ryback (his HIAC opponent) with it should the opportunity arise.

But, as I say, these things weren't anything noteworthy. The big segments from this week's RAW were the Undertaker and Lesnar confrontation, a dressing down of WWE champ Seth Rollins by Shawn Michaels, and an impromptu Shield reunion and match opposite their old foes the Wyatt Family.

This was fun to see but what an unbelievable waste.

The Shield reunion wasn't. It was Rollins agreeing to team up with Ambrose and Reigns to demonstrate to Shawn Michaels that he could "stop the show" then turning on them at the end of the match. Because the whole point of Rollins' character is that he's a dick who deserves a slap. In theory this worked but in practice it was incredibly wasteful. The first teaming of 'The Hounds of Justice' since their split in the summer of last year should have been a huge deal.

Instead it was a transparent attempt to increase ratings and it didn't even get that right. The least WWE should have done if this was their plan was to announce the match a week in advance and plug it non-stop to get people watching next week. Okay, that may have made some people think it was a full-time reunion but the answer to that would have been simple: have Rollins give a promo about not needing Ambrose and Reigns and Ambrose and Reigns say they don't trust Rollins but need him for this one match. It would have made time for word to spread and people to get excited about the match, increasing the chance of a larger viewing figure.

But it was more than that. The Shield shouldn't be something tossed out as a ratings grab. It will devalue their inevitable full-time (until the equally inevitable second split at least) reunion whenever it comes. The three men, though particularly Rollins and Reigns, are all clearly going to be big parts of the WWE landscape for years. They should be protected. And that means planning things like a reunion far in advance, working towards it and getting it right when it happens, not giving it away on free TV with only an hour's build-up.

On top of that things just felt off. Erick Rowan returning to the fold is fine. It actually helps get across Wyatt's cult leader deal because he slotted in with new lad Braun Strowman beautifuly. But Luke Harper not being involved was wrong. He and Wyatt are more over than Rowan and Strowman by a significant margin. He clearly should have been in the match yet he wasn't even at ringside. Rowan and 'The Black Sheep' are both very good in their roles but they can't hold a candle to Harper's ring skills and compelling weirdness.

Strong mic work from HBShizzle here.

HBK dressing down Rollins worked. The gist of Michaels' argument was that 'The Future' is content with the accolade of being the new Shawn Michaels when he should be concentrating on making his own name mean more and creating a legacy for himself. Which is hard to argue against (although it's worth noting that comparisons between Rollins and Michaels haven't been as frequent as this segment would suggest). Not to say that Rollins' doesn't have name value of his own, he clearly does, but he seems content to accept mediocre booking in exchange for getting to be world champ. Stories of 'The Heartbreak Kid' from the 90s make it hard to imagine him standing for this sort of booking.

Of course WWE now is different to the WWF then. And, perhaps more importantly, Vince McMahon has some bizarre attitudes towards the "millennials" that make up the bulk of his roster. That he was about as close to a Michaels mark as he could be in the 90s is a factor here too. Vince was less inclined to knock 'The Heartbreak Kid' than he is his current stars. But these political undertones, Michaels acting as Vince's mouthpiece, just added another layer of enjoyment to the situation.

It worked on the intended level of a respected veteran returning and condemning the current champion and as an insight into the backstage manoeuvrings of the promotion. Michaels and Rollins were both excellent. Particularly 'The Showstopper'. The only bad thing about it is that it made people (by which I mean me) want a Rollins v Michaels match that will never happen.

The showdown between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar was good because of how everything was slotted together. Despite having basically become a guy obsessed with avenging the loss of his WrestleMania Streak and being willing to make cheap shots to do it 'The Dead Man' was presented as the face here. The reason for that is that he was introduced by 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin (hey, he was there anyway, I've been saying since the podcast specials started that I think it makes sense to put him on RAW) and they were in Texas. Despite being announced from Death Valley he's a Texan and this audience was not going to boo him.

In Your House: Mind Games.

'Taker was basically there to remind anyone who's forgotten what is motivation is and to react to Brock Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman. He gave 'The Last Outlaw' plenty to react to, explaining the story of the rivalry one final time, making clear what both men stand to gain from a win, and, of course, hammering home that his client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Streak. 'Taker tried goading Lesnar into leaving the ramp and getting into the ring to fight. Hothead Lesnar was ready to accept this challenge before being convinced to hold off by Heyman. This framed 'The Beast' as a coward to the live crowd but the wider point was that Heyman knew 'Taker was trying to get inside Lesnar's head to gain an advantage going into their match, another cheap move by 'The Phenom' (although not one out of character, to be fair). The segment worked as a hype job for the Hell in a Cell main event and left the two men ready to take their correct roles: Lesnar the monster face and 'Taker the subtle heel desired desperate to win at any cost.

It wasn't the most exciting episode of RAW ever. But it was memorable and significant because of and for these segments. With such a clear unwillingness from WWE to formulate a long term creative plan, alter the way they present their performers, or do something different to what they've been doing for the last fifteen years, that's the most that we can realistically hope for on a Monday night.

Fantasy Booker: Edge's First World Championship

On January 8 2006 Edge defeated John Cena to win his first WWE championship. On January 29 2006, just three weeks later, he lost the title back to Cena. Sandwiched between these two matches with Cena was a TLC match opposite Ric Flair which was rather good despite being a crazy booking decision.

This three week reign with only one successful title defence was the culmination of a story that had started in the autumn of 2004. Edge had become increasingly bitter about his status within the company and his lack of world championship opportunities at the expense of the "old guard" lads like Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Despite these perfectly legitimate complaints (he really had been marginalised both in storyline and in reality) fans turned on him.

That an eighteen month build ended with a three week title reign that did nothing to elevate Edge was frustrating. It was made more frustrating by the fact that the RAW after Edge's title victory got the show's highest ratings in years. People were interested in Edge as champion. WWE did nothing to encourage people to stick with the product, a disservice to themselves and their newly crowned champion.

'The Rated R Champion'. Boom!

Things should have been different. Edge had been a presence on WWE television since 1998. For all of that time he had been presented as a future main event star. His first world title victory and reign should have been presented as a far bigger deal. WWE got it right with the booking of Edge's win over Cena and with his "live sex celebration" with Lita the next night on RAW (they rolled around in a bed set up in the ring) but faltered by continuing his uninspiring feud with Ric Flair and giving him only three weeks as champion.

So I thought it would be nice to kick back in the ol' armchair for a brief spot of fantasy booking. Here's what I'd have done...

The January 9 edition of RAW would have featured the "sex celebration" as was, because it was amusing, got over Edge's scumbag character perfectly, and helped to attract a strong rating. Usually I don't keep things that actually happened when I'm writing these fantasy booking things but let's just assume that whoever suggested it would still have suggested it, eh?

Although I've criticised the decision to continue Edge's feud with 'The Nature Boy' I'd do the exact same thing. The difference is that I wouldn't be planning to take the belt off of Edge so quickly, meaning that his bout with Flair wouldn't be the only successful defence he'd make. I'd have Flair, as he did in reality, knock Edge for conduct unbecoming of a champion¹ and set up a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the following week's RAW. Naturally that would be won by Edge.

The pre-Rumble RAW would be all about hyping up the Edge-Cena rematch and the Rumble itself would be where I'd finally diverge from reality. Edge would successfully defend the gold against 'The Franchise', but he'd do it via some shady, heelish tactics. I would want to build Edge up as a crafty, cowardly heel who'd win at any cost, a man desperate to keep the world championship he's worked so hard and waited so long for. Because, well, that would have actually made sense considering the story arc he'd been on for the preceding eighteen months.

Let's say Edge would have won with a belt shot to the head of Cena while Lita distracted the referee. That would get over Edge's character, make use of Lita, protect Cena (still a fairly legitimate concern at this point as he'd only been granted his top guy push in the spring of 2005), and create reason for a rematch. Elsewhere on the show Rey Mysterio would still win the Rumble only he'd do so by last eliminating Shawn Michaels (instead of real life finalist Triple H), with HBK overcoming Vince McMahon flavoured interference throughout the match². Mysterio would go on to challenge for SmackDown's World Heavyweight championship at 'Mania.

The third Edge-Cena match of the series would take place on an episode of RAW between the Rumble and WrestleMania 22, because at this point WWE was doing the branded pay-per-views ting and February's No Way Out was a SmackDown show. In the lead up to this the Cena and Edge programme would begin to crossover with the Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon programme. Michaels would confront Edge about not having proven himself capable of beating Cena fairly. Cena, the valiant babyface, would thank Michaels but tell him he can speak for himself (tension!). McMahon would interject to endorse Edge as company figurehead and champion and make some claim along the lines of "Edge is ten times the champion Shawn Michaels ever was." The idea would be to keep each feud a separate entity but begin teasing the possibility of Michaels v Cena and Michaels v Edge.

Being the blow off to the rivalry, and coming after two regular rules matches between the two, the hyped-up-RAW match would need to have a stipulation. Last Man Standing would work. Cena's good in those. A cage would work too. Let's say it would have been a cage match (I can't bring myself to break Cena's LSM streak, even in a fantasy booking scenario set a decade in the past). Cena and Edge could probably do something good in a cage, and they'd have Lita at ringside to throw a chair or two in if needed.

Edge wins lol.

More importantly they'd have Lita to pull a chain and padlock form under the ring and lock the door shut as Cena tries to escape. With Cena arguing with the referee about getting the door opened, possibly even going so far as to try and wrench the door off its hinges (because Super Cena™), the champ would try sneaking over the top of the cage. Cena would spot him, grab him, and pull him back into the ring for an AA. During this sequence Lita would unlock the padlock and scrabble into the ring to grab Cena by the leg as he tried to climb out (with the commentators making it clear Cena still thought the door was locked). Edge would then crawl through the open doorway and slump down to the mats to win.

A cheap, convoluted finish. Using a woman, no less! Outrageous! Exactly the sort of thing a cowardly champion would dream up.

Also on this specially hyped episode of RAW would be Shawn Michaels versus Vince McMahon in a street fight, with the stipulation that Michaels would get a WWE title match at WrestleMania if he won and renounce God if he lost (which isn't my idea of a great stipulation but would fit nicely with the existing themes attached to their feud). Naturally Michaels would win, setting up 'The Rated R Superstar' versus 'The Heartbreak Kid' for WrestleMania.

Edge would successfully retain in this match too, though Lita's influence would be less pronounced. She'd interfere throughout the first half of the match and get wiped out by a Sweet Chin Music aimed at Edge (who'd move, obvs). Just to be clear, I'm not a big fan of man-on-woman violence in wrestling (or out of it for that matter) but used sparingly it can be impactful. WrestleMania is exactly the sort of show that can benefit from a rare spot and Lita is the sort of woman who should be involved in this sort of thing: she had massive heat at this point, making the spot count for more.

After Lita's elimination Edge would kick out of a Sweet Chin Music. Michaels would kick out of a spear and the lifting DDT Edge had used earlier in his career and ascribed about four different names too. Edge would avoid another SCM (assuming he'd have taken one before Lita went backstage, meaning he'd taken two in total) and hit Michaels with a spear for the win. This would hopefully carry enough credibility for a WWE championship match on 'The Showcase of the Immortals' but keep Edge's cowardly streak alive by again featuring heavy interference from Lita.

Backlash would be the traditional WrestleMania rematch, giving us another Michaels v Edge exchange. This would be a Last Man Standing match with more interference and shenanigans than the WrestleMania match. The finish would see Lita distract Michaels, allowing Edge to sneak in with a spear and half a dozen chair shots to the back. He'd then finish the challenger off with a Conchairto.

Only Cena could do this justice.

All of which brings me to the problem of fantasy booking something like this: at some point you have to acknowledge One Night Stand. WWE's second ECW reunion show was used as launching pad for the ill-fated ECW "brand" and was built around Rob Van Dam cashing in his Money in the Bank title shot against John Cena. Having the title on Edge for that show would produce a better quality match but that misses much of the point of the exercise. One Night Stand needed the spectacle of John Cena, the most WWE guy on the roster, facing the personification of ECW, Rob Van Dam. Only Cena and RVD could produce that main event atmosphere that was needed.

Cena would need to win the title back from Edge so that feud would be reignited. But, because it would have only been wrapped up a couple of months earlier, it would need to happen in a spur-of-the-moment kind of way, setting up and having the match in one night. So Cena would interrupt a show-opening promo from Edge, remind him that he never beat him in a fair one-on-one match, and goad him into a title match in the main event.

Edge would drop the belt to Cena. Cena, the newly crowned two-time champ, would then be confronted by Rob Van Dam. We'd get the RVD v Cena at One Night Stand match and Van Dam would leave as champion. Edge would have had the inaugural world title reign he deserved (or at least something closer to it than he got in reality). And when Van Dam failed the drugs test we'd be in a great position to keep people guessing as to who'd replace him as champion: Edge or Cena.

There we go. Better than reality.

***

¹ Yes, Ric Flair, the limosine-riding, jet-flying, kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing sonnovagun, actually accused Edge of not behaving like a true world champion because he was celebrating his world title win by rolling around in bed with a hot woman. The hypocrisy of this is baffling: it's hard to imagine a segment more geared towards 'Naitch' in his prime than Edge's "live sex celebration."

² Michaels and Vince had been feuding since December 2005 after Vince had taken it upon himself to mock Michaels Christian beliefs. In reality Michaels defeated Vince in a no holds barred match at 'Mania 22. Vince would team with his son Shane to face Michaels and God³ at Backlash. Vince and Shane won that one⁴.

³ Yes, really.

⁴ If it surprises you that Vince McMahon, the owner of the company, would book himself to not only face but defeat God in a wrestling match then you're clearly not very familiar with him. "Eccentric" does not do him justice.

Unforgiven 2008 review

Ahead of the WWE Network’s British release on Wednesday I thought I’d get into the spirit of things by watching and reviewing an old WWE pay-per-view. I selected Unforgiven 2008 for two reasons. One, I remembered it being a pretty sloppy show. Two, I found a DVD of it in a cupboard. I didn’t (and still don’t) remember buying it or being given it so I took it as a sign that it was the right thing to watch.

All set? Let’s begin…

 

 

Opening video

Before getting started it should probably be pointed out that Unforgiven 2008 was built around a new kind of gimmick match. Vince McMahon, so the story goes, felt that the company had become complacent with regard to creating exciting new gimmick matches. It had been twenty years since the Royal Rumble had been created, eleven since the first ever Hell in a Cell, and six since the inaugural Elimination Chamber. Vince wanted a new toy, dammit!

The creative team, and probably a fair number of agents and senior wrestlers, went away to see what could be dreamed up. They returned with a match that was part Royal Rumble, part five-way dance (because those are always popular), and part Elimination Chamber (a gimmick match which is itself a collection of various other matches). Two men would start. Another would join them every five minutes. There would be a five minute period at the end. Guys could pin and submit one another throughout, with anyone doing so becoming the “current” champion. Whoever was the “current” champion once the twenty minute time limit expired would be recognised as the official champion.

They called it… the Scramble.

 

 

It had its good points, in theory. It would allow numerous title change pops in one match without actually having the title change hands, protecting the prestige of the prize while still getting the audience to pop. It could, with a bit of thought, tell a story you couldn’t in many other matches. We’d get a couple of examples of that. It also gave guys outside of the main event the chance to look more competitive than usual, although in practice the one real attempt at that made just didn’t work.

In practice the concept was a shambles. As we’ll see below. All you need to know at this point is that this show was built around this convoluted new gimmick match and the intense feud between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. Again, more on that below. The opening video concentrated on these two things, though mostly the latter. Amusingly it began with the words “Tonight is the first ever championship Scramble." There hasn’t been another since.

ECW championship Scramble

In the arena we were greeted by the strains of Motörhead. Todd Grisham and Matt Striker welcomed us to the show, immediately confirming to me that I’d made the right choice in my search for a disappointing pay-per-view. Tony Chimel announced the ECW Scramble and then Matt Hardy came out.

Matt was still fairly over at this point, although that perception was helped at least in part by a healthy application of the Crowd Roar Noise Machine™ what with this being a DVD. Striker informed us that there was an eighty per cent chance of a new champ being crowned in each Scramble. Because if there’s one thing Striker loves it’s maths! Apparently experience, health and other things used to measure form don’t factor into WWE. Everyone has a fifty-fifty chance of winning any given singles match, no matter who they are or what they and their opponent have accomplished.

As Striker ran through the rules (winding himself in the process). The Miz came out as entrant two. This was trilby hat, fingerless gloves era Miz. A Miz who wore a bandana underneath his hat because that’s what the cool kids do. He’s not great in the ring in 2014, but he is considerably better than he was back in 2008. Seeing that he was involved in this match was not a good sign.

The opening five minutes featured basic exchanges with a strong focus on headlocks. The crowd were into that for some reason. Perhaps Cleveland is a big headlock town. Or maybe Matt Hardy was so popular in the early autumn of 2008 that people went crazy for him doing anything, even a headlock.

Chavo's impressed. And Chavo is not easy to impress.

Chavo entered third, wearing a poncho which he immediately handed over to Bam Neely. Yeah, Bam Neely. I’d completely forgotten his existence too. He was Chavo’s henchman for a couple of months before getting released or demoted to Deep South or something. He was so dull he’d make Justin Gabriel look full of charisma. This was the calibre of performer then head of talent relations John Laurinaitis went for. It’s no wonder WWE was so uninspiring for so long.

Continuing the obscure seconds theme Mark Henry waddled out with Tony Atlas. I am not the biggest fan of Mark Henry but at this point I was actually pretty pleased to see him. It felt like a legitimate star had arrived, although I wouldn’t have thought that when this first aired. Henners was still a year and a half away from opening his Hall of Pain.

Henry, the reigning champion, quickly pinned Chavo off a World’s Strongest Slam to become the “current” champion. This brings us to the first problem of the Scramble gimmick. Any reigning champion is a current champion. That they chose that as the term to denote the man currently on track to win was confusing and didn’t convey that the man in question wasn’t the official champ until the final bell. Interim champion would have been better. Anything would have been better!

While we’re at it I’ll mention the second trouble with the format: the audience seemed unclear on whether the title was changing hands or not. While I could be wrong on that it seems like the safest way of explaining their tepid reaction to some of the results throughout the night. The rules weren’t indecipherable but any gimmick match with as many stipulations as this is probably not going to do well.

Henry slowed things down so everyone could catch their breath. After Striker had described him as "the strongest... human being... on... the... planet” Finlay came out as final entrant. He was a wildly over babyface with jaunty panpipes for music. Hornswoggle was with him. I’d completely forgotten this era of Finlay’s career, which would include him doing jigs with Hornswoggle in the ring on a semi-regular basis, and didn’t appreciate being reminded of it. Finlay was over, which speaks volumes about roster depth at this time.

Hornswoggle distracted Henry and the referee, allowing ‘The Belfast Bruiser’ to sneak his shillelagh out of the corner and smack Henry in the head with it. Then, in the most confusing spot of the night, Finlay and Hardy teamed up to throw Henry over the top rope, as though they were in a battle royal. Striker and Grisham, being a pair of stone cold pros, didn’t even acknowledge that.

Finlay immediately hit the Celtic Cross on Hardy, pinning him to become the “current” champ. Hardy recovered fairly quickly and hit a Twist of Fate on Miz to take the title for himself. The final two and a half minutes were an omnishambles of moves, pin attempts and breakups. The match ended with everyone but Miz (he was busy lying at ringside with a nasty hard way gash on his face) piling on top of each other writhing around in one of the most shambolic displays I’ve ever seen in a wrestling ring.

Your winner and new ECW-but-not-really-actual-ECW champion Matt Hardy.

Striker talked about Hardy climbing the cliffs of Dover and standing at the apex as the champion. Stuff like that is why Striker was fired. Thankfully he would not appear on this show again.

Backstage segment one

New champ Matt hugged his brother Jeff, who was at this point the most popular man in wrestling about to embark on a quest to win the WWE championship. Matt said he wanted a Hardys clean sweep and declared it the greatest night of his life. I wonder if he even remembers this show now.

A split screen showed WWE champion Triple H and World Heavyweight champion CM Punk in corridors preparing for their respective title defences. Both had long hair. It was weird.

Question time fun with Jim Ross

Back at ringside Tazz and JR introduced themselves and rambled about the show a little. JR asked whether SmackDown GM Vickie Guerrero should have let Big Show compete in the WWE title Scramble match and told viewers they could vote on their answer on the WWE website. No Twitter here. Presumably there was some controversial aspect to this topic. Whatever it was it wasn't made clear.

And then... "Yo yo yo yo! Shad Gaspard and JTG, it's Cryme Time! Brooklyn, Brooklyn!"

Tag team championship: Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase v Cryme Tyme

Yes! Everyone’s illiterate gangsta thug wrestlers were on this show! Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler were both massively excited by this entrance. I felt nauseous. Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes came out to face them. This was blue boots with the Triforce on them era Cody Rhodes. He also had trunks with 'The Prince of Pro Wrestling' scrawled on the back. That nickname should have caught on.

Cryme Tyme were more over than I remembered and had more double team spots too. With a better gimmick, better timing, and an understanding that speaking out against the way you’re booked doesn’t help your standing if you’re a guy in WWE’s mid-card, they could have gotten somewhere.  

Dripping with charisma...

The match was decent. Cody and Ted cheated to isolate JTG. Shad came in fired up off a hot tag and threw his foes around like a hoss. The Legacy lads thwarted a double team move which looked like it may have been More Bang For Your Buck (it definitely wouldn’t have been) then Ted flipped a small package from JTG over, giving Cody the win.

After the match the debuting Manu ran in to save Cody and Ted from a post-match beating from Cryme Tyme. Cole described him as a "mysterious violent stranger.” This was about as good as it got for Manu. He was chastised on-screen and off- by Randy Orton for being lazy and having a bad attitude. You know you’re in trouble when Orton’s knocking you for being unmotivated. He was released in February of 2009 having accomplished nothing of note.

Backstage segment two

A doctor told Shawn Michaels that he would risk making his injured tendon worse by competing. Michaels didn’t reply. We’d find out what the silence and disregard for safety was about in a video recap.

At this point the Michaels and Jericho dispute had been going on for around six months. It had started when Michaels super kicked his friend and mentor Ric Flair into retirement at WrestleMania XXIV. Batista, another friend and student of Flair’s, took issue with Michaels retiring ‘Naitch’ and challenged him to a match. Jericho offered his services as a guest referee for that match, which HBK won by faking a knee injury.

Batista moved on to other things after that, leaving ‘Y2J’ to take Michaels to task for cheating. Even though Michaels had cheated in a face versus face match he was seen as the good guy in this scenario, with Jericho as the villain. The pair had a match at The Great American Bash during which Michaels received a cut near his eye which Jericho targeted, giving him the edge and allowing him to win the match.

Michaels announced his doctor had advised him to retire, so serious was the eye injury. During his farewell speech he knocked Jericho, saying that he’d never achieve the success ‘The Showstopper’ had. This led to a meeting where Jericho verbally laid into Michaels and accidentally struck his wife. Because he exhibited no signs of remorse for this accidentally blow Michaels announced his plans to remain an active wrestler so that he could take on Jericho in a non-sanctioned street fight to gain retribution for his family.

Non-sanctioned match: Shawn Michaels v Chris Jericho

This match is the saving grace of this entire show. It’s the only match on it that’s worth watching. While the latter two Scramble bouts did some interesting things and featured some memorable moments this is the only match that is good from start to finish. Without this on the show it would have been far closer to train wreck levels than it is.

Lilian Garcia kicked things off with a reminder that both combatants had signed paperwork that ensured they could not hold each other or WWE responsible for what would happen in the match. Michaels immediately got a takedown on Jericho and then lamped him with his boot. They went out into the crowd and round ringside before Jericho floored Michaels with a DDT, introducing a chair to the match and setting up a table outside the ring.

Michaels escaped a suplex through table and choked Jericho. He stopped a Sweet Chin Music attempt because he wanted to hurt ‘The Highlight of the Night’ more, sinking in a Crippler crossface to do just that. Cole understandably didn’t name it, the Benoit incident having taken place just a year before. Jericho staggered to his feet and sent Michaels head first into a chair.

Jericho fired off jabs at Michaels’ injured eye before applying the Walls of Jericho. With no rope breaks in an unsanctioned fight Michaels had to use a technical counter to escape: a fire extinguisher to the face.



He learnt that from Jose.

Jericho’s protégé Lance Cade showed up to interfere for a bit, eventually getting wiped out with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels then smashed Jericho with a chair, sending off the top rope through the table standing at ringside. He followed that up by draping him on an announce desk (he was spoilt for choice with three at ringside) and elbow dropping him through it. Jericho got back into the ring (because wrestling) and Michaels whipped him with his belt (because southern justice). ‘King’ chose this point to suggest Michaels may have been possessed by the devil. His sense of timing never fails.

Michaels trapped Jericho in an armbar and pummelled his eye, retribution for Jericho’s unsportsmanlike attacks. With Jericho unconscious the referee stopped the match and awarded the victory to Michaels.

Jericho did a great job of selling unconsciousness. Michaels pummelled him more after the decision.  The ref yanked him off (to stop Jericho getting hurt) and got a super kick for his trouble. More officials showed up (including Mike Chioda) to protect Jericho as he was taken backstage. The segment ended with Michael Cole wandering aloud if God would ever forgive Michaels for what he’d done.

Backstage segment three

Cody, Ted and Manu were joined by Legacy boss Randy Orton. At this point in time the group was having problems, although my memory of the group is that it was always having problems and never really felt like the cohesive, Evolution 2.0 it was probably meant to. Cody formally introduced Manu, telling Orty that the new boy recognised and respected talent when he saw it.

Manu piped up at that point, revealing another reason he would ultimately be released: he is not a natural at wrestling speak. He told Orton that Cody ‘n’ Ted were in a different class in the most bland, hollow, passionless voice imaginable. He said the words because he was scripted too, not because he believed them. Fair enough, he didn’t believe them, but he should have tried to make viewers feel like he did.  

Orton cut a promo memorable only for its abundance of shoulder movements. He rambled a bit but seemed to feel the lads had gotten lucky. It ended with him saying he wasn’t impressed with them. At all. Over at the commentary desk JR said Cody and Ted didn't want to hear that. Then Tazz put over Motörhead and JR asked his Big Show question again.

WWE championship Scramble

The second championship Scramble is remembered for one thing: ‘The’ Brian Kendrick pinning Jeff Hardy with Sliced Bread Number Two to become the “current” champ. It was the sort of surprise this match was probably designed to incorporate. Ultimately it was nothing more than a token shock that accomplished nothing.

What this match should be remembered for is its final five minutes. It marked the beginning of a friendly rivalry (by which I mean a face versus face rivalry) between ascending babyface superhope Jeff Hardy and WWE champion Triple H. Entering last ‘The Game’ quickly pinned Kendrick to keep his title reign on track but Hardy would become the “current” champion by pinning MVP with a Twist of Fate. They exchanged the lead a few more times and although Triple H ended the bout still the champion Jeff Hardy was just seconds way from pinning Shelton Benjamin at the final bell.

It was a story that could only be told as effectively in a match like this. Hardy and Helmsley were shown to be on a similar level, essentially trading the title back and forth, desperately trying to retain the upper hand until the time limit expired. It could have gone to either of them. A good feud in which Hardy would win his one and only WWE championship would come out of this. Sadly the rest of the match dragged and Kendrick, MVP and Benjamin were made to look like the enhancement guys they clearly were, with Kendrick and MVP taking a cumulative six losses between them.

Backstage segment four

In the back Todd Grisham asked Michaels how he was feeling. That was a slap in the face to the Brand Extension: Grisham was supposed to be an ECW guy! Michaels said it was the first PPV in three months which hadn’t resulted in him being hospitalised. He said he was going home to his wife and kids, content but not satisfied and with no sense of closure. The worst, he said, was still to come for Jericho.

The location of his smile was not touched upon.

Somewhere else in the building Eve Torres (here just an interviewer) channelled Matt Striker and reminded WHC CM Punk that the odds were against him successfully retaining his belt. Punk started the standard life of adversity promo before Orton showed up and called him a fluke champion. DiBiase, Rhodes and Manu then attacked Punk, roughing him up and throwing him against a plastic container. Kofi Kingston (who at this point still had the potential to become a somebody) tried helping Punk out but didn’t get far. Orton gave Punk a Punt kick and told his cronies that was how to make an impression.

There’s a more relevant point to discuss this segment below…

Divas championship: Maryse v Michelle McCool

I’d love to say that they surprised me and had a great match, but they didn’t. It was Maryse and Michelle McCool. Did you really expect anything else?

Promo segment spectacular

JR revealed that seventy seven per cent of viewers felt Vickie Guerrero had made the right decision not allowing Big Show to compete the WWE title match. Once again they provided no context for why this question was being asked. Looking into it I’ve found out that Show had interfered in a qualifying match for the Scramble and had been generally disrespectful to heel GM Vickie. It was also very clearly designed to play into what would happen between the two minutes later.

And then he appeared: Mike Adamle. Dim-witted, wooden, vacant, clueless Mike Adamle.

He didn’t really do enough to warrant me going into much detail on him here but it was a pleasure to see him fumbling his way through a promo he probably didn’t understand. Basically he was there to announce that CM Punk might not compete. With any other babyface that would be the setup for them making a gutsy comeback in their scheduled defence. That wouldn’t be the case here. But again, I’ll get to that. Adamle said if Punk couldn’t compete he’d find a suitable replacement.

Adamle left and Big Show came out. Full-on babyface Big Show, high-fiving, waving and smiling. He volunteered his services for Punk’s vacant spot and then awkwardly plugged the SmackDown Your Vote campaign (something that was done to help ease the McMahon name into the political sphere ahead of Linda’s failed attempts at getting elected). Vickie came out and had a go at him for disobeying her instructions.

Then The Undertaker’s druids came out. Dimmed lights, hooded robes, smoke machine, eerie music, the whole deal. Show loled it up, literally holding his sides because he found it so funny that Vickie was going to finally be caught by The Undertaker. A gross oversimplification: ‘The Dead Man’ wanted revenge on Vickie for costing him the World Heavyweight championship and using him as a weapon against her ex-boyfriend Edge.

All this was done so we could get to this thrilling piece of work at No Mercy.

The druids parked a casket at ringside and ‘Taker appeared on the Titantron, telling Vickie to get in. She didn’t so he came out to ringside to get her, Big Show happily holding her in place to stop her escaping. When ‘Big Evil’ arrived in the ring Show swerve turned on him, giving him a big ol' right punch to the face. Show smacked Undertaker around for a few minutes before giving him a second KO punch. Then he held 'The Dead Man' up for Vickie to slap him.

No context was provided throughout any of this. It was just stuff that happened.

Backstage segment five

William Regal and Mike Adamle had a chat about Punk's status for the World title match (which was next). Regal wanted in on the action and reminded Adamle he’d pinned Punk to become the 2008 King of the Ring. Adamle made his excuses and left.

World Heavyweight championship Scramble

The future Drax the Destroyer and John Bradshaw Layfield started the main event. That may sound alarming but they actually had a pretty enjoyable five minutes together, the highlight of which was Batista using a figure four (because it looked so strange to see him do it). Batista was massively over as a face. JBL was well established as a heel. His limo entrance was still a thing and helped him come across as a big deal. Unfortunately there was no hot stepping from him. I was gutted at that.

Bald headed evil Kane was third. JBL had been wiped out by a collision with the ring steps, so we were treated to Kane and 'The Animal' for several minutes. He got back into the match just in time to break up a Batista bomb and get pinned after a choke slam. Yes, Kane became the “current” champion.

Kane thinking he's flying. Mysterio's hair mask. There's so much going on here.

Rey Mysterio was the fourth man introduced, wearing a mask with a thoroughly ridiculous Mohawk headpiece attached to it. This could well be where my problems with Rey started. Broadly speaking it was Kane and Layfield v Mysterio and Batista during this portion. The faces busted out some double team moves. Rey cheekily rolled Batista up from atop his shoulders and the two had a few heated words but JBL thumped them before they could come up blows.

Entrant number five’s time arrived and CM Punk did not come out. Instead it was Chris Jericho who got the spot. Yes, the same Chris Jericho who’d been beaten and left unconscious by a vengeful Shawn Michaels earlier in the night. He was clearly in a bad way but he had been deemed fit and healthy enough to compete in a second match. Meanwhile Punk had been on the receiving end of a generic backstage tussle and blasted with Orton’s Punk kick. True, the Punt has been built up as a particularly devastating move since this show but even so it didn’t seem like much to take out a world champion, especially when compared to what Jericho had been through.

At the time this move was interpreted as a burial of Punk. I can see why people would think that but looking at the bigger picture I don’t think that was the case. Rightly or wrongly Punk had been portrayed as a man who’d broken into the main event a little too early and had found himself out of his depth. He would regain the WHC in 2009 and be presented in a far better light. His falling to a single Punt was one aspect of the story being told at the time rather than a single incident designed to make him look bad. It’s also obvious with hindsight that the World title was transferred onto Jericho to freshen up RAW’s title scene and boost the status of his feud with Michaels.

Punk being written out of this match was bad. But it was at least done for a reason.

Come on, baby!

The closing moments of the match were very good. Batista escaped a choke slam attempt and floored ‘The Big Red Machine’ with a spinebuster. Mysterio sprung into the ring and tried a hurricanrana on Batista but Batista countered it into a Batista bomb. With the clock ticking down ‘The Animal’ made the pin… just a little too late and seconds after Jericho had snuck into the ring and pinned Kane. The final klaxon rang out and Batista was left to despairingly sink his head into his hands as ‘Y2J’ was awarded the championship.

It was another example of how the Scramble format could be used for interesting storytelling. But it was also the last example. In one night WWE did everything they were realistically going to with the Scramble match. Which is why we haven’t seen one since.

Final thoughts

This was a shambles of a show that benefited greatly from hosting one of the most memorable encounters of the Jericho v Michaels feud. Without that it would have been awful. The Scramble match concept was flawed and presented poorly. Although it is something I think could work somewhere like Ring of Honor or if WWE had a deeper mid-card and were willing to put the time in constructing a five way feud for the IC title.

The show would have been better had they been scrapped entirely. Triple H and Jeff Hardy could have had a singles match. Benjamin, Kendrick and MVP could have had a three-way for Benjamin’s US title. Mark Henry could have had a weapons-laden brawl with Matt Hardy. The only thing they would have lost by swapping the Scramble matches around was Jericho’s surprise title win, and they still could have found a way to get to that if it was what they wanted.

There are worse shows out there. But none of them have the Scramble match to offer. And for that we should probably be thankful.

21-1

On March 24 1991 The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania VII. He defeated Jimmy Snuka in the show’s seventh match. Twenty-three years later he suffered his first loss at the annual event, falling to Brock Lesnar in one of the evening’s most heavily anticipated matches. In recent years The Undertaker’s Streak has become a big part of ‘Mania. It was something WWE could market just as much as any championship bout or meeting of icons.

The annual defence of The Streak was a big thing. ‘Taker’s imposing stature, coupled with his length of service in the company and supernatural trappings made him (and indeed still makes him) a unique performer. He has an aura unlike any other wrestler there’s ever been. The Streak became part of the magic of the character, something ‘The dead Man’ was known for as much as his eerie mood lighting powers or supposed zombie origins.

It helped that WWE took care of The Streak from around 2001, helping to make it appear something special in wrestling and a meaningful achievement. Undertaker’s opponents were selected more carefully, and for the most part a good job was done keeping ‘The Phenom’ linked to big names at the show. The challenges mounted by Ric Flair, Edge, Batista, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels (twice), and Triple H (thrice) were all exciting affairs that added to the aura that accompanied the feat of The Streak, and did more than balance out less than stellar challenges from Mark Henry and Big Show and A-Train (the latter two at the same time in a handicap match).

The dream is over.

I never thought The Streak would end. This wasn’t through a desperate urge to see ‘The Last Outlaw’ ride off into the sunset (or should that be moonlit night?) with his greatest accomplishment intact. It was based on a feeling that WWE would want to bestow the honour of a lengthy undefeated record on a man who has arguably been their most loyal in-ring performer for well over two decades.

I certainly didn’t think Brock Lesnar had a chance at ending The Streak. The build-up to the match had been subpar, with Undertaker outwitting and dominating ‘The Pain’ in all but one of their encounters (the March 31 RAW). In hindsight it’s possible that this was a deliberate ploy to help convince people that this year’s Streak match would be business as usual, although I hope not because that would indicate WWE set out to short change their fans. Not that they’ve never done that before, of course.

It was more than just a ponderous build that had me convinced ‘Taker would slay ‘The Beast’. There were still men for him to defend The Streak against. Daniel Bryan could have presented a credible challenge to The Streak, and if WWE set their minds to it Bray Wyatt and Roman reigns could both have been ready by next year. The challenger I’ve mentioned many times before was John Cena. The match would have had such a great atmosphere: the most heavily pushed, unstoppable star of the company for well over a decade challenging the most impressive record in the business. It was the one match that WWE could have convinced people beforehand might not go ‘Taker’s way. It was the one thing Cena, the man who’s done it all, had not accomplished. That alone would have convinced people he was the most credible threat to The Streak ever.

These matches can still happen, of course. Just not for The Streak. It’s still too early to say whether or not it’s a good or a bad thing that it’s gone. Certainly WWE have deprived themselves of a key feature at WrestleMania but they of course knew that before the match took place. Presumably they have a draw in mind to replace it. It’s possible the feeling was that Undertaker’s career was in danger of becoming overshadowed by The Streak. While it’s clearly the thing for which he’ll be most remembered he has done other things in the company. WWE wanting to protect the legacy of one of their biggest ever stars seems utterly plausible.

'The Conqueror'.

And this is a boon for Lesnar, of course. It becomes a bragging right for the former UFC champion and in theory makes him a more interesting man to watch for WWE fans. Certainly ending The Streak is a feat nobody else will get to have, and it lends something to Lesnar’s “big box office draw” appeal. It’s a questionable decision, what with Lesnar not being a man fully committed to WWE’s long term future: his current contract ends shortly after next year’s ‘Mania and even if he re-signs it will only be another short, limited dates deal. The accomplishment would have been better going to a younger guy who’s going to be on TV to benefit from it for another ten years. But I can’t argue that Lesnar is a credible winner: his credentials make that impossible to deny.

I suppose some space should be dedicated to hypothesising as to why The Streak ended. I’ve already mentioned that WWE may simply have wanted to divorce Undertaker from The Streak. Another popular theory is that Undertaker was simply too knackered to continue and felt it was time. I’m not convinced by this.

Undertaker wrestles one match a year and there’s nothing in his repertoire that’s going to injure him too badly. The topé could simply be dropped. The Tombstone requires some strength but is more about precision, and it’s more risky to the person taking the move than Undertaker himself. The person taking the choke slam does most of the work. And the Hell’s Gate is a rather fancy rest hold that has the benefit of having been built up as a match ender. More to the point ‘Taker seemingly felt so good last year that he stuck around and wrestled a few matches on RAW and SmackDown against The Shield. Yes, he left because he suffered an injury and he has years of them accumulated but I think the man has it in him to wrestle his current schedule (the lightest realistically possible) for another year or two.

What’s so interesting at this point is that ‘Taker’s future is so unclear. Does his loss of The Streak mean he will retire? That’s the assumption many, including myself, have gone under for years. Will he return to TV for a rematch with Brock Lesnar at some point? His absence from the post-‘Mania RAW, despite being backstage, makes me think he’ll be gone for a while. He’ll definitely be back. But until the return happens we won’t know if it’s to get back in the ring or enter the Hall of Fame.

And somehow that feels right. The Undertaker, the closest thing wrestling has to a mythic figure, should not be someone we should know inside out. Mystery has always been a crucial part of the character. No matter what his future holds that's something that should never change.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 41

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 41 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

Entrances are one of the most important parts of wrestling. Done right they can be one of the most entertaining aspects of a show, add layers to a character, or create a career highlight. Done wrong they can be horrific, ruining shows, dampening audience enthusiasm, and ruining careers. Many wrestlers, notably (but not necessarily interestingly) Daniel Bryan, have said that having a good entrance is the most important aspect of succeeding in WWE.

This is nothing new, of course. You can go back decades to find examples of wrestlers enjoying lavish entrances on bigger shows. As time’s gone on and technology and budgets have improved the quality of these entrances has grown. WrestleMania III saw wrestlers ferried to the ring on a truck, with a shot of Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan becoming a recurring clip in WWE video packages. WrestleMania IX saw The Undertaker pulled to the ring on what was described as a “funereal chariot”. Three years later Shawn Michaels ziplined into ‘Mania before dethroning Bret Hart for his first WWF championship.

There are non-WWE examples too, of course. The Sandman’s entrances for his match in ECW were usually better than the matches that followed. Meanwhile WCW used the simple idea of having static and black and white featured in the nWo’s entrance video to make it seem as though they really were hijacking episodes of Nitro. And they had Sting dropping in from the rafters too.

And this isn't even the entrance!

Right now New Japan are the undisputed market leaders when it comes to wrestling entrances. Instead of having a set routine their wrestlers are given special entrances on bigger shows, ones that fit their personalities and position on the card. Everything from giant anime swords to strip clubs to comic book-inspired body paint daubing to Japanese rock stars to full size animatronic dinosaurs have been incorporated into entrances for their top stars. It’s an approach that enhances both the wrestlers and the shows.

It’s also an approach that knocks WWE’s tacky firework displays into a cocked hat. If comparing WWE entrances to NJPW’s seems unfair think again. WWE has a long history, longer than New Japan, of giving its top players memorable entrances on big shows. Not only that but they have more money than NJPW, meaning that if they had a mind to they could produce something far more lavish. That they don’t is disappointing.

New New Generation

Something we learned at Royal Rumble was that there is still hope for Dolph Ziggler. This may seem like an obvious thing to note, but it hasn’t been since Ziggler’s main event run ended last summer. After dropping the World Heavyweight championship to Alberto Del Rio at Payback in June and failing to regain it at Money in the Bank in July Ziggler slipped into a forgettable breakup feud with former heavy Big E Langston and then did, well, nothing of consequence.

From SummerSlam onwards Ziggler wrestled pointless matches on RAW and SmackDown and appeared only on pay-per-view pre-shows if he appeared at all on Sundays. It was very disappointing to watch a man who'd been one of the hottest guys in the company for the first six months of the year completely wasted like that.

But, as I say, the Royal Rumble showed that things weren't lost to 'The Show Off'. He got a rousing response when he sprinted to the ring and got similarly loud cheers when he performed his first sequence of moves. That his elimination was met with boos was a promising sign too. It all showed that people cared about Ziggler and wanted to see him do well.

 

Will Dolph ever be the WWE champion?

It's not just crowd support that demonstrates Ziggler could be doing more. A recent promo on the WWE app regarding a SmackDown loss to Antonio Cesaro revealed a passion that's rarely seen on WWE screens. 'The Show Off' talked about being the best on the roster and working hard to outdo everybody. It was clear how much success, or a lack of it, means to Ziggler and the buzz it created once again showed that fans remain interested in him and prepared to rally behind him. Had something similar been said in the ring, in front of a crowd, I'm convinced it would have had a great reaction. There's a lot to be said for letting wrestlers speak candidly in front of audiences. The realism can be sensed and it generates a better response.

The support for Ziggler stems from the same place as the support for Daniel Bryan. Fans desire new stars in top spots. The current list of top names in WWE is quite small but they've all been around for a long time (even Punk had been on top for going on three years when he walked out). People want new guys at the top because it will mean new matches, new scenarios and a new direction for the company, and because they want to see hard work rewarded. Bryan and Ziggler, as athletic men who have worked for years to become incredibly good at what they do, have understandably been singled out as men fans want to see succeed.

 

Vinnie Mac with his New Generation boys

Why WWE isn't listening to its audience is anyone's guess. The situation is similar to the one that was faced in the early nineties. Then Vince McMahon launched his New Generation campaign and structured events around smaller, more athletic wrestlers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. While business didn’t pick up until Hart left and Michaels took lengthy time off they were the men who helped the company stay afloat, and they were picked to succeed by fans.

Perhaps Vince is part of the trouble now. Or rather the lack of him might be. Triple H has become an increasingly important figure in the backstage working of WWE and while Vince will retain the final say on everything company related until the day he dies it's possible he's giving 'The Game' as close to a free rein as he'll allow anyone to test him out as a successor. It would explain the increased focus on Randy Orton, who seems to fit the mould of ‘The Game’s’ preferred headliner figure, and the lack of significant roles for men chosen by the fans. The pushes of Hart and Michaels, and later Austin, all show that Vince listens to fans after a while. We've no precedent for Triple H doing the same.

Last year should have been Ziggler's year. For that matter this year should be Daniel Bryan's. As I keep writing, and will almost certainly write again, sooner or later WWE will have to start creating new stars because a reliance on part-timers cannot go on forever: the returnees in question will retire sooner than later and the comebacks they make before they do will suffer from diminishing returns. There's still support for the Zigglers and Bryans of the roster. I remain hopeful WWE will act on it before WrestleMania so that the new guys are exposed to as many viewers as possible. Give people a reason to keep watching in May and beyond.

Mr Retirement

March 28^th 2010. WrestleMania XXVI. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker faced each other in a career versus Streak match. Michaels lost. He hasn't wrestled since.

This is an incredibly rare example of a wrestler honouring a retirement stipulation after losing. The norm is for the retirement stip to be used as a way of writing people off of television to undergo operations or to take a break. It’s also not unknown for retirement angles to be tacked on to lengthy feuds to heighten drama and tension with no intention of either party genuinely retiring. See Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Terry Funk and some of the ludicrous stipulations implemented by Vince Russo in WCW for all the examples you could need on wrestlers and retirement.

While he's managed to adhere to the terms of his loss to 'The Dead Man' Michaels hasn't disappeared completely. He's come and gone from television over the last three and a half years. For the most part he's made one off appearances but that changed a couple of months ago when he was made the guest referee of Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton's WWE championship Hell in a Cell match (at the imaginatively titled Hell in a Cell). Before the show Michaels had stated he'd be fair and call the match impartially. On the night that was proven to be a lie when he super kicked Bryan, billed as his protégé¹, and allowed 'The Viper' to leave as champion.

The Slammy Award-winning Shawn Michaels

It wasn’t an immediate heel turn for Michaels. He received a mixed reaction on the following evening's RAW, which saw him trapped in the Yes Lock by an angry Bryan (a moment which showed that retirement hasn’t diminished his ability to make you believe he’s in pain one bit). Since then the mixed reactions have continued and he's stuck with playing a character of blurred alignment as opposed to an out and out heel. He'll support lead bad guy Triple H but act in a relatively humble manner when accepting a (prestigious) Slammy. It's the logical way to play it. Not being on the active roster means he has to be presented differently. It’s a reflection of his standing within the company.

He’s also found himself at odds with CM Punk. During the excellent show-closing segment of the pre-TLC RAW Punk manhandled ‘The Game’ and got Sweet Chin Music for his trouble. Michaels in turn was floored with Bryan’s running knee strike. The following week Michaels confronted Punk to tell him that he should be worrying about him, not Tripper. They didn’t come to blows, but Punk did say that if he was kicked by HBK again he’d be kicking him back.

So as 2013 draws to a close Shawn Michaels has established disputes with two of WWE’s most popular wrestlers. It feels very much like a Michaels match against one or both of the former indy stalwarts is being teased.

But teasing and promoting are two different things. I don’t think Michaels will return to the ring for an official match. I’m sure he’d be physically able to, his appearances over the last couple of months have made it clear that he can still throw his finishing move and is just as good at drawing fans in as he ever was (and he was among the best). I just don’t think he’d want to. One thing motivated Michaels throughout his entire career, and that was being seen as the best. It manifested in different ways, the nineties saw him playing some cutthroat political games to ensure the spotlight was always on him, while from his return in 2002 until his retirement eight years later he was more about putting on the best match of the night no matter who he was facing. The latter was a far more admirable approach but it had the same motivation. Michaels wanted to outperform everybody else².

When he retired Michaels was the best. He was WWE’s top in-ring performer. His last match was the best match of the biggest show of the year and it went on last. There is no finer send-off a wrestler could receive than that, and Michaels would know that. I can’t imagine that he’d come back to have another match and run the risk of it not being quite as good as the masterpiece of a last stand he had with The Undertaker. Even a very good match would be a comedown from what is currently his last outing. Not that he’d have a less than satisfying match. I just don’t think he’d want to run that risk. Seconding Triple H in his matches opposite Punk and Bryan (and I think ‘The Cerebral Assassin’ will be going up against both men next year) seems more likely.

This isn’t to say WWE wouldn’t try to tempt the guy. Michaels versus Punk and Michaels versus Bryan are both fresh matches and would be a great addition to the WrestleMania XXX card. Almost as appealing would be the “dream match” (that’s definitely how they’d promote it) pitting CM Punk and Shawn Michaels against D-Generation X. It’s not the sort of thing that would be added to ‘Mania but it would certainly be a boon to Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber. Planned right WWE could probably find a way to stretch the current disputes out to include Michaels matches at SummerSlam 2014 and WrestleMania XXXI.

I’d love to see another Michaels match. He’s one of the best wrestlers ever and his involvement would benefit WrestleMania XXX in ways that nobody else’s would. That said I’m equally happy not seeing him wrestle again. He went out on top after having one of the most amazing careers the business has ever seen. There are loads of highlights we can look back on. Nothing new is needed.

***

¹ I feel I should clarify this. When Michaels had his four year lay off from 1998 to 2002 (due to what was originally believed to be a career ending back injury) he handpicked a small number of young guys to teach at a wrestling school in Texas. Bryan ‘Daniel Bryan’ Danielson was one of the guys there. How much Bryan learnt from Michaels is impossible to say without speaking to either man (which I haven’t done, obviously) but we can take a guess from the amount of time Bryan stayed there (less than a year) that it wouldn’t have been that much.

Daniel Bryan made a point of travelling all over the world to learn how to be a professional wrestler. His style is not especially influenced by ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, it’s more in line with Japanese wrestling and technical mat wrestling. Bryan’s been much more heavily influenced by KENTA, whom he faced many times before signing with WWE, and William Regal, whom he trained with while under his first WWF developmental contract in the first few years of the millennium. The reason he wears maroon trunks is as a tribute to Regal. No broken heart emblems there!

All of this said I can completely understand why WWE presents the Bryan and Michaels relationship in this fashion. Being the former student of Hall of Famer and ‘Mr WrestleMania’ Shawn Michaels does more for Bryan’s standing with the average fan than an open admission of the same relationship with an NXT commentator would.

² There is absolutely nothing wrong with this attitude. More wrestlers should attempt to have the match of the night more often. It would contribute significantly to making the output of many wrestling companies more enjoyable.