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The Shawn Michaels Appreciation Thread


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Michaels was definitely one of the best wrestlers ever, there's no question there. His best years came from 2002 onwards in my opinion. He was the best worker in the world during that period. Flair was better than Michaels for me. I think Flair was the best wrestler ever. As much as I've tried to justify the opposite over the years, I think Flair was better than Bret Hart and the Barbarian as well. It wasnt until about a year ago I was watching a comp of Flair, and some of the matches he had were disgracefully brilliant. He had a match with El Gigante and it was actually good. EL GIGANTE! One after another, he was just blinding. from the late 70s to the early 90s, he was the worlds premier wrestler both as far as his look, his character, his promos and his ringwork. Flair had the lot. Personal life aside, Flair was the perfect wrestler. Influenced everyone, from most eras. Whether its Sting and Luger or Austin, Shawn Michaels and Jericho or Batista, Triple H and Randy Orton he's influenced many a generation of wrestlers. Michaels was great, but I think Flair was far better, in many different roles.

 

This is the thing. For me, Flair has (and always will be) the greatest ever. I'm just seeing Michaels' in-ring career in a greater and greater light the more I see of it. Flair had the look, the talk, the aura, the ability, career and that clich

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I hated Shawn Michaels with a passion as a youth up until his first retirement as there was something about his persona I despised, and as a Bret Hart fan the rivalry/dislike between the pair caused me to want to HBK battered at every possible opportunity. I thought at the time that "the Hitman" was the better wrestler of the two and didnt deserve to be shunted to the side to allow the WWF to become all about Michaels and to a lesser extent Diesel, even though I admit to having known even then that he was one of the most talented and reliable performers between the ropes that you could possibly find.

 

Fast forward to the present day, and having seen large quantities of the body of work of most of the North American wrestlers thought to be among the "best of all time," which I hadn't during Shawn's "first" prime, I can honestly say I consider him to be the greatest American wrestler that ever stepped foot in a ring.

 

While Ric Flair or Bret Hart at their best could construct the best match you've ever seen, and I sometimes think I would take the single best Flair or Hart match over the single best match Shawn ever had, the sum of Shawn's total contribution in terms of in ring action stands alone. He is the only wrestler that has main evented WrestleMania before, during and after the Attitude Era, and has contested stirring matches with all the top stars of each era he competed in. His durability in terms of a sustained main event career could have come close to Flairs had he stayed active the whole time, he was the man trusted with the first televised ladder match, 60 minute match on WWF TV, Hell In A Cell and one of the participants in the first Elimination Chamber... "ain't nobody crazy enough to this gig... except the Heartbreak Kid."

 

In simplest terms, I consider that Michaels had the biggest number of outstanding (readily available to view) matches across a sustained length of time with a wide variety of opponents in an unbelievably varied different type of matches with different stories told, even compared to Flair. I balked when I saw that WWE's "50 greatest Superstars ever" had neither Flair nor Hogan in the top 5, but with Shawn as number 1, I could not fault. And as a Bret Hart fanatic, that's hard for me to type.

 

Yes, I believe Shawn Michaels was the best in-ring performer we have ever seen.

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If you haven't already seen it I would also recommend the Ric Flair & the four horsemen dvd too.

 

I've got it mate, that's what got me into Flair properly in the first place actually. I then got his Definitive Collection DVD that came out around the time of his retirement. I absolutely love Naitch to bits and it wasn't until Power Slam placed his Ultimate Collection DVD in the number one spot of the greatest wrestling DVDs ever that I realised just how much I need to watch it. The thing with Michaels is that his best stuff came whilst I was a fan so I've seen the majority of his top work; I only wish I was around to see Naitch going against Wahoo in '82.

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I hated Shawn Michaels with a passion as a youth up until his first retirement as there was something about his persona I despised, and as a Bret Hart fan the rivalry/dislike between the pair caused me to want to HBK battered at every possible opportunity. I thought at the time that "the Hitman" was the better wrestler of the two and didnt deserve to be shunted to the side to allow the WWF to become all about Michaels and to a lesser extent Diesel, even though I admit to having known even then that he was one of the most talented and reliable performers between the ropes that you could possibly find.

 

Fast forward to the present day, and having seen large quantities of the body of work of most of the North American wrestlers thought to be among the "best of all time," which I hadn't during Shawn's "first" prime, I can honestly say I consider him to be the greatest American wrestler that ever stepped foot in a ring.

 

While Ric Flair or Bret Hart at their best could construct the best match you've ever seen, and I sometimes think I would take the single best Flair or Hart match over the single best match Shawn ever had, the sum of Shawn's total contribution in terms of in ring action stands alone. He is the only wrestler that has main evented WrestleMania before, during and after the Attitude Era, and has contested stirring matches with all the top stars of each era he competed in. His durability in terms of a sustained main event career could have come close to Flairs had he stayed active the whole time, he was the man trusted with the first televised ladder match, 60 minute match on WWF TV, Hell In A Cell and one of the participants in the first Elimination Chamber... "ain't nobody crazy enough to this gig... except the Heartbreak Kid."

 

In simplest terms, I consider that Michaels had the biggest number of outstanding (readily available to view) matches across a sustained length of time with a wide variety of opponents in an unbelievably varied different type of matches with different stories told, even compared to Flair. I balked when I saw that WWE's "50 greatest Superstars ever" had neither Flair nor Hogan in the top 5, but with Shawn as number 1, I could not fault. And as a Bret Hart fanatic, that's hard for me to type.

 

Yes, I believe Shawn Michaels was the best in-ring performer we have ever seen.

 

Wouldn't change a word of that. Absolutely bang on.

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As a side note to the Flair thing, I'd consider "Ultimate" to have the better matches but "Definitive" to have the better interview. Any fan of Flair HAS to see both, in addition to the Horsemen DVD, and I'd say "Ultimate" is the one most likely to bring someone around if maybe they only know of Flair from his WWF/WWE runs and later WcW work. "Ultimate" best showcases when he truly was THE MAN.

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If you haven't already seen it I would also recommend the Ric Flair & the four horsemen dvd too.

 

I've got it mate, that's what got me into Flair properly in the first place actually. I then got his Definitive Collection DVD that came out around the time of his retirement. I absolutely love Naitch to bits and it wasn't until Power Slam placed his Ultimate Collection DVD in the number one spot of the greatest wrestling DVDs ever that I realised just how much I need to watch it. The thing with Michaels is that his best stuff came whilst I was a fan so I've seen the majority of his top work; I only wish I was around to see Naitch going against Wahoo in '82.

 

Wow I didn't know power slam rated that dvd number 1, I haven't read power slam for some time now I NEED to catch up. There might be some Flair Wahoo matches on youtube I found some gritty footage of Arn n Tully vs the midnight express the other day. Gritty but still worth the watch. Its surprising the amount of ol skool stuff that people upload on there.

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Regarding the Chris Masters comments on page 1, he probably won't reach the upper midcard again but that's no reflection of his worth. His problem was getting such a push before he was ready, but that's not his fault. As it stands now he's easily one of the best wrestlers on the roster.

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Regarding the Chris Masters comments on page 1, he probably won't reach the upper midcard again but that's no reflection of his worth. His problem was getting such a push before he was ready, but that's not his fault. As it stands now he's easily one of the best wrestlers on the roster.

 

Yeah he was pushed way beyond his capabilities on his debut. I felt really sorry for him in that DX backstage skit about how to lose 30lbs of muscle in 30 days. He has improved vastly as a wrestler, But with a gimmick that works better as a heel I just can't see how you would make Chris Masters important right now.

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The Best of Pro-wrestling

 

Best Match

 

2010: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 26)

2009: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania 25)

2008: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 24)

2007: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Raw April 2007)

2006: Edge vs. Mick Foley (WWE Wrestlemania 22)

2005: Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 21)

2004: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit (WWE WreslteMania 20)

2003: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (WWE WrestleMania 19)

2002: Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Rey Mysterio & Edge (WWE No Mercy)

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