History

The Tag Team Years

"Rockin an' Rollin', Struttin' an' Strollin'"

Shawn Michaels started off as others did, a jobber. He started everything up in the Las Vegas area, then doing some World Class Championship Wrestling work which mainly consisted of laying down to a VERY young Barbarian and One Man Gang in squash matches, then settling for a while in Texas All-Star Wrestling. Here he also floundered. One of the flashiest wrestlers of all time started off pretty dry, wearing simple light blue or green trunks, a light green polyester ring jacket, short brown hair, and a bit of a gut. He wandered aimlessly through his Texas All-Star Wrestling days until he and Paul Diamond teamed up to make the team of "American Force". Then he started to become very over with male fans rather than just female as had been the case previously. American Force had some great match-ups, but unfortunately Paul Diamond got injured so, feeling that his strength was in tag-teams, they teamed him up with the newly arrived Marty Jannetty. The two went by the name The Midnight Rockers and were such a great team that almost instantly they were swooped up by the AWA. So the Midnight Rockers then took their act to the AWA, where they became over instantly with many fans. Here they fought the likes of The Hoods, The Sheepherders, the excellent team of Bad Company, and most notably feuded with the team of "Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Sommers. Michaels and Jannetty had a ton of classic tag matches here, including a classic encounter in a cage, a 4-star match at the AWAs ripoff of "Wrestlemania", "WrestleRock"(which had a cheesy music video promo in which Michaels makes a bad attempt at rapping in, lol),and countless quality match-ups on the standard TV show. Holding the belt just once after a year of trying for it, once they lost it, they had a few more matches, before getting the call from ol' Vinny Mac. The Midnight Rockers came "Rockin'-n-Rollin', Struttin'-n-Strollin'" into the WWF in 1988 and immediately made threats towards the current tag champs, Demolition. After changing their name to just "The Rockers" and getting the snot beat out of them they were able to begin their first real feud there, against The Heenan Family's own; The BrainBusters, which consisted of Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. On the Rockers first Saturday Nights Main Event they took on the tandem of the 'Busters and put on an superb match as would be expected of these four men, that ended in a double count-out. From what I have seen, this is the match that began to get the Rockers(no more 'Midnight') over with the crowd. After a great set of matches the Busters went on to win and lose the WWF tag straps before again fighting Michaels and Jannetty, putting them over, making a face turn, and going back south. During this time of Brainbuster champs, the Rockers had a feud with the Powers of Pain(Barbarian and Warlord, managed by Mr. Fuji) where eventually they lost their match-up for #1 contender status. A feud there-after with The (original)Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka, managed by Mr. Fuji) led to a GREAT match at the '91 Royal Rumble and an OK match at Wrestlemania VI. After this point The Rockers floundered for a bit until SummerSlam '91 where Power & Glory(Paul Roma and Hercules) broke Michaels leg, thus starting a feud. The Rockers never seemed to get the upperhand in this feud, always sucumbing to the dreaded "Power-plex"(note sarcasm), which honestly was a pretty nice looking move; Hercules did a Superplex, which Roma(who was tre fab) followed with a beautiful top rope splash. Before the quick disintegration of the Rockers, they went on to win the tag team championships from the Hart Foundation (Jim Neidhart & Bret Hart) at a house show but the ruling was over ruled the next night because of a faulty top rope during the match. Soon, Michaels was more frequently competeing in singles competition, where he had a good match with Mr. Perfect for the IC title(he lost), and another great match despite one of the worst endings I have ever witnessed, against Ric Flair. Right after these singles matches, and about a month before he '92 Royal Rumble, Marty Janetty and Shawn Michaels appeared on the Barber Shop hosted by Brutus Beefcake to discuss their growingly apparent tension. Shawn acted like a real dick, but they ended up shaking hands and making up anyway.....for about 45 seconds at least. Michaels the superkicked(not yet known as Sweet Chin Music) Janetty right in the mouth, picked him up and broke the window of the barber shop with his now, ex-tag team partner's head. Janetty would be out for around a year and the road to infamy began for Shawn Michaels.

The Boy Toy Era

"I hit Diesel with a little Sweet Chin Music and everybody KNEW the match was over...."

Dubbing himself "The Heartbeak Kid", obtaining the managerial services of "Sensational" Sherri, and having her sing his theme song, Michaels began his singles career in the WWF. Having a fairly impressive stay in the '92 Royal Rumble which Ric Flair won (and many consider the best Rumble ever), Michaels than went to Wrestlemania VII, his first singles 'Mania, and took on Tito Santana, who had since been dubbed "El Matador". Hickenbottom beat El Matador with a bit of ease, which was a sign of the things to come in his PPV future. After beating Santana, Michaels took notice to someone else claiming to be the sexiest man in the federation, Santana's old partner "The Model" Rick Martel. Sherri became overwhelmed by both men trying to win her affections and the match for Summerslam was signed with a stipulation for them not to hit each other in the face. The match ended up with both men getting counted-out fighting over Sherri, who repeatedly fainted whenever she saw one hit the other in the face. Soon after which on one of the last "Saturday Night's Main Event" on Fox, HBK unwrapped a turnbuckle, managed to whip the current champ, Davey Boy Smith into it, took advantage of his treachery and won his first singles title, the Intercontinental. Michaels than had his first PPV encounter with Bret "The (s)Hitman" Hart at Survivor Series in 1992. Bret was the world champ, Shawn was the IC champ, this was the last time HBK would job to Bret on PPV. After then defeating the yet-undefeated Tatanka by count-out at a PPV which I cannot remember, Michaels' old ally, Marty Janetty came back for revenge. About to hit Michaels with his own big heart-shaped mirror, Michaels, being the caring ladies man that he is pulled Sherri in front who got the mirror smashed over her head instead, setting up the match even more and continuing this 'smashing glass over others heads thing' :). He and Michaels fought on another PPV which I can't remember, and Michaels eventually won with the superkick, which (and I may be wrong) he dubbed "Sweet Chin Music" in one of the following weeks. Janetty though, still being pissed took advantage of an open challenge that Shawn made on Raw is War and with the help of Mr. Perfect, defeated Michaels for the Intercontinental title, only to almost immediately lose it back to HBK. Due to contract disputes, Michaels would sit out for a period of time before returning. Upon his return HBK claimed that the IC title was still his, as he never lost it before he left. "Razor" Ramon was a mere pseudo-champ claimed Shawn, and we were now set up for the best Wrestlemania match ever, taking place at WM10. After which HBK brought in the services of "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel (Kevin Nash). He and Nash would end up making a tag-team to kill time, while both men were basically without an angle, this team (not yet "Dudes with Attitudes", lol) won their first tag team championship from The Headshrinkers at SummerSlam '94, I don't remember who they lost the belts to or why. After which at the 1995 Royal Rumble, HBK went in first and he didn't leave. Shawn drew #1, the British Bulldog drew #2, Bulldog was the last man eliminated, Shawn won it all. Bulldoig thought that he had it won, but only one of Shawn's feet touched the ground, before he did that nifty little thing where he holds the ropes and backflips into the ring. HBK was on his way to his first Wrestlemania main event (WM11), to take on Diesel. Shawn enlisted the sevices of "Psycho" Sid as an escort for Wrestlemania (not to mention Jenny McCarthy!). Shawn had the match won, but Sid turned on HBK and hurt the referee, who was unable to make the 3 count. Nash ended up Jack-knifeing Shawn for the win. The next night on Raw, with the help of Kevin Nash, Michaels turned face. He gave Sid a verbal lashing and paid for it with one screwed up power bomb, one weak power bomb, and a few really nice power bombs from the Sidster. Sid then ended up getting his ass beat by Michaels pretty consistently until the feud ended (sorry about the lack of detail, but hey I can't remember EVERYTHING). Shawn then began a very short feud with Jeff Jarrett. For the uninitiated thats spelled J-e-double f(haha), J-a(haha)-double r-e(haha)-double t(haha). In Jarrett's own town of Nashville, he was defeated by the Heartbreak Kid, who began his 3rd IC title reign. During this title reign, HBK and Diesel healed their wounds and again hooked up in the tag team ranks(this time they were "Dudes with Attitudes":)). The tag champs were Owen Hart & Yokozuna (that translates to "Fat, worthless, lazy turd") who were managed by Jim Cornette. Cornette, proving he has brains decided to anger the team which comprised of both the IC and World champs, and for doing so his team got their ass beat 2 consecutive In Your House's, the second time for the belts. The "Dudes with Attitude", now held EVERY title in the WWF. After beating the likes of The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray & Dr. Tom Pritchard), Shinobi (his former "American Force" partner, Paul Diamond), and Rad Radford (Louie Spicolli), Michaels and the "Bad Guy", "Razor" Ramon hooked up once again in a ladder match at Summer Slam 1995. This time the match ened up being the best to ever happen on American soil. I could list some of the spots from this match but I want you to go rent...hell, BUY this tape! An amazing match that will take years more wrestling for it to be topped. Directly before Michaels was ro engage in a feud with "Dean" Douglas (WWF was full of witty puns for names back then) HBK was attacked by 5 'thugs' (What happened to Bulldog? He was there!), about 45 minutes from my hometown, in Syracuse, NY. Michaels suffered a severe concission and had to take time off, thus, as ordered by then-president Gorilla Monsoon (who graduated from the #2 school IN my hometown), HBK forfeited the title to Douglas on Raw.

Becoming the Main Event

"Ever since I was 12, all I wanted was to be the WWF Heavyweight Champion...."

Upon his return, HBK won the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row, this time he was on his way to face Bret Hart. Michaels and Hart were both babyfaces at the time so the promos leading up to 'Mania were pretty much just complimenting each other, but insisting that they were better anyways. Roddy Piper (the current commissioner) decided that since both men thought they were so good that they could have a best 2-out-of-3 falls 60 minute "Iron Man" match at Wrestlemania 12, which Piper decided would end all the pleasantries and make them hate each other. Roddy, they didn't need your help for that. The vignettes for both men that showed their preperation for the match were some of the best the WWF has ever done, and that says A LOT! At WM Bret got the benefit of simply walking to the ring right after Shawn had the most glamorous entrance in 'Mania history (to the day), in which he cabled down to the middle of the crowd to an enormous amount of flash bulbs and made his way to the ring, where his mentor (and the guy who would follow him around for the 10 months) Jose Lothario, awaited him. After a beautiful, though admittedly slow match. It was considered a draw as both men couldn't score a pinfall, luckily Gorilla Monsoon (or was it Piper??) called for a sudden death over time, and after hitting Hart with 2 consecutive superkicks, Michaels had become the WWF champion. The emotion on his face that night was raw. Diesel, though turned on Michaels the night before 'Mania at a house in MSG. Nash, who was now on his way out to "invade" WCW, was punking HBK out at near every oppurtunity, setting up a hardcore match and the infamous Michaels quote, "Me & Diesel sure made good friends, but I tell ya what; we sure as hell make better enimies". The match that culminated from this feud is one of the best hardcore matches I have ever seen and I don't give a damn what anyone says. Many lacluster feuds, though excellent matches culminated in the months to come such as HBK Vs The British Bulldog ("Don't flatter yourself, Diana"), HBK Vs.Vader (kinda), and a bit later, an excellent PPV main event against Mankind at "IYH:Mind Games" which was abosolutly amazing in case you were too busy watching the nWo at this point. Finally, at Survivor Series (did I just screw up my timeline??) HBK was back in the ring with Psycho Sid in a match for the world title at Madison Square Garden. This match is what I consider to be the best of Sid's lackluster (in terms of matches) career. The NYC crowd was absolutely on fire and, like he did for Scott Hall, Shawn made Sid look amazing and unstoppable. The match ended in a screw job, with Sid hitting Michaels in the back with a camera and hitting Jose Lothario with a camera, thus HBK was too concerned with Lothario to take advantage of his pin. This set up Lothario getting away from Michaels (finally) and a rematch at the Royal Rumble in the just-built Alamo Dome in Shawn's hometown of San Antonio. The heat for this match was OK, and this match was the ONLY time we saw HBKs parents, but as far as the match.....it sucked...Shawn said he had the flu or something. Anyhow Shawn won which set up HBK Vs. Bret Hart at Wrestlemania in a rematch from last year. Shawn and Bret had some words during a Raw interview, which I think was a shoot (though who knows), anyhow Bret got REAL personal with Shawn, and all of a sudden, the next week on Raw Shawn 'lost his smile' and forfeited the belt, making his only appearance in the next 6-8 months at Wrestlemania.

The Final Run for the Heartbreak Kid

"Ask your momma, sisters, and girlfriends how gay Shawn is!!"

Shawn came back, and he immediately re-engaged in his Bret feud having a mini-feud with Steve Austin on the side. During this time, the Hart Foundation (Brian Pillman [RIP], Bret Hart, Owen Hart [RIP], Jim Neidhart, and Davey Boy Smith) had just formed, and Michaels joined Steve Austin (as well as fighting him) to fight the Hart Foundation, the reasoning being that though they thought each other was a peice of shit they hated the Hart's even more. On a Raw is War, Austin & Michaels took on the tag champs, Owen & Bulldog, for the titles. A great, classic match ensued and HBK & Mr. 316 prevailed as champs. Pillman forfeited his match against Austin so taht Stone COld could fight his tag-team partner, The Heartbreak Kid. So at King of the Ring'97 (Go Hunter, GO!), Michaels and Austin swuared off in a match that I, to the day, have unfortunately seen the first 10 minutes of, though I know the result was a double-dq or something. HBK then had a date for SummerSlam, to referee the Bret Hart-Undertaker main event title match. During which, Hart spat on Michaels who then went to hit Bret with a chair but accidentally hit Undertaker, then HAD to count the pin or be fired (or something like that). This had Undertaker in a match with HBK at the upcoming PPV, Badd Blood in a matchup for revenge. With an idea from Jim Cornette who did it first with SMW, Michaels Vs. The 'Taker was to be set in a Hell in a Cell, the first time most of us that dont live in the northwest ever saw such a match. Anyhow the second best match on US ground took pleace, and like he did for Sid Eudy, Hickenbottom provided Mark Calloway with the best match of his career. This meant Michaels was on his way to the 1997 Survivor Series to face his arch-nemesis and soon departing for southern pastures, Bret Hart. The build up of this match is what created De-Generation X. HBK, who was now hanging out with HHH, Chyna, and Rick Rude (RIP, you were the fucking man, Rick) Bret took to calling Shawn a degenerate every chance and excuse he got (Bret gave good promo's at this point, I grudgingly admit), Shawn figured hey, I'm part of Generation X and a Degenerate (HHH agreed he was too) why not all of call our selves Degeneration X?? So they did. (I stupidly forgot that HBK won the European title from Bulldog at some point during all this). We all know what happened during this infamous Survivor Series, so I shall move on simply sayin, Shawn left that night with the World Championship. The next night DX came out on Raw is War, without Rick Rude and debuting the best entrance video and theme song ever (HBK bias or not, you KNOW that shit rocks!). Shawn had a hilarious interview with Shamrock, completely embarassing the worlds most dangerous man, "I am gonna give you the microphone ok Shammy? What you have to do is try and put those few words and grunts that you know together to try and form a sentence!" The next week on Raw, Michaels brought out Harvey Whippleman as Rick Rude and was saying he'd brought the Hitman back to the WWF to settle the score with respect once and for all. Well, once Bret's music hit, out comes a midget dressed exactly like Hart, HBK proceeds to demonstrate how beat the Hitman with his own Sharpshooter by doing it again, and making 'mini-bret' call him, the best there is, the best theres was, ans the best there ever will be, classic stuff! During this time of great HBK interviews, Michaels showed the world how he was preparing for his match with Ken Shamrock at the upcoming PPV "DeGeneration X", by having Helmsley twist Michaels' foot 720 degrees! The match itself between Michaels and Shamrock was absolutley horrible as HBK had to walk Shammy through the ENTIRE match, and obviously wasn't having fun out there (maybe this match inspired him to start the academy?:)). Undertaker wanted his revenge, and would get it at the Royal Rumble, the match that I hear from rumor, put the nail in the career of HBK. Michaels constantly heckled the Undertaker in a series of hilarious interviews leading up to the bout with the dead man ("ooooooo, wougy wougy wougy!"). On a side note if you can get a copy of this tape do it, if you want to see one of the best WWF Promos segments ever (and Shawns 2nd best) it's on this tape...it's unbeleiveable. Undertaker and Shawn had a great match, but at one point HBK was tossed over the top rope and his backlanded on a sharp corner of the wooden coffin full force, apparently fully seperating some vertebrae....HBK still went another 15 minutes anyway. This match put HBK out of action until the final match of his career at WrestlemaniaXIV against Steve Austin. HBKs promos leading up to this were all great, I remember one non-Austin related one, where he, HHH, and Chyna sat in the middle of the ring for an entire Raw is War playing strip poker then ended the show, by beat the snot out of the Headbangers and Road Warriors to end the show....back when the NAO wore South Park t-shirts and were scrubs, not tag team legends (like it or not, it's true). So the match at Wrestlemania was great, it was so good that I have heard people say it was his best match ever.....I completely disagree but this shows you how good the match was which is crazy considering he was working a 20 minute match through an injury that was so bad it made him retire! Austin beat HBK with the Stunner, thus came the end of the in-ring career.....for one of, if not the best performer ever, The Heartbreak Kid...

Skills Assessment

Credit Adam "OCD" Karabel. I got the idea of how to structure this from his great anaylsis columns.

Move Set In case you didnt know, Shawn's fucking moveset was huge. I'm not going to list it because it would be an article unto itself. Michaels was never one to go out and give the people a repeat match, hell I even saw him use a dragon screw a few times, the only other BIG 2 wrestler I had seen use that move other than him is Dean Malenko. Michaels also used a Hurricanrana back when US announcers didn't know what the hell to call. "WOW! Flip thing from Michaels, the ladies love these Rockers, Bobby." Rating:10

Workrate Michaels was the fucking king of this category. Any time you were going to see HBK you knew you were going to get an effort of 110%. The only match I saw where he was kind of lazy was at the "DeGeneration X" PPV against Ken Shamrock. He was lazy there because he probably felt like a teacher in there with a greener than grass Shamrock. Unless he was whining about jobbing to Bret, Shawn always came to wrestle whether it be through an injury or not, hell look at his last 2 matches, the casket and Stone Cold. He still gave it his all. Rating:10

Psychology HBK was from the old school, so unlike today's stars where it seems to be a dying art, Michaels was very fluent. He could sell a move an entire match, or work on a single body part an entire match. He also had excellent pacing in his matches. Rating: 9

Athleticism Ask around, HBK was one of the most naturally athletic people to step foot in a wrestling ring. He could do tons of athletic things in a ring with the greatest of ease. Rating:10

Charisma Michaels wasn't always charasmatic, but as soon as he broke off the of Janetty, he had so much you probably thought he had sold his soul. Extremely flamboyant and very charismatic, yet another of HBKs strong points. Rating:8

Mic Skills Depending on his character at the time HBK could cut a great promo. I honestly don't really like his babyface promos, but as a heel (especially later on in his career), he could cut classic promos. Rating:7 (For not being too good at babyface promos)

Selling Selling was what paid Shawn Michaels' bills. He never sold the same move the same way twice and he could wither sell like he was being killed, or sell like he was hurt so badly he couldn't move. From the expressions on his face to his body language, HBK was one of the kings. Rating:10

Bumping HBK was a bumping machine. It was a just a part of his selling. He would take bumps that, though common today, were risky and unheard of back then. He would also continuously go down like a shot and take bumps flying out of the ring onto his back. Michaels, had no fear. Rating:10

Technical Many don't give HBK the credit he deserves for his technical abilities. But ol' Hickenbottom could go with the best of them when he wanted to. Just look at his matches with Bret Hart, or some of the older matches with Steve Austin. Michaels was wonderful technically and even incorporated a good bit into almost all of his matches. Rating:9

High Flying HBK was a great high flyer. He owned the second best flying elbow. One of the first americans to consistently use the huricanrana. Doing backflips off of his opponents chest or just of the buckle. Sometimes implementing top rope sunset slip, or double axe-handles. HBK was definitely solid in this area. Rating:8

Brawling While not the greatest brawler ever like a Foley, Brody, or Austin. Michaels still could throw out a real exciting brawl when he felt like it. For examples, Diesel/HBK at IYH. HBK/Mankind at IYH. Hart/HBK at Survivor Series 1997. All of those brawls are classic. Rating:8

Final Score:99 for an average of 9, A+ (wow)

HBK's TOP 10 Matches

(competitors, event, type of gimmick, my comments in italics)

10)The Rockers Vs. The Brainbusters, Saturday Night's Main Event, 2-out-of-3 falls match, This is just one match of a feud that provided many 4 star or better matches, this match just happens to be my favorite from the while feud because I am a mark for 2-out-of-3 fall matches.

9)Shawn Michael Vs. The British Bulldog, One Night Only, Davey and Shawn fought each other may times during their careers, and this match I think was the masterpeice. It may even have been their last match together, i'm not sure, this match was beautiful.

8)Shawn Michaels Vs. Bret Hart, Wrestlemania XII, Iron Man match, Though many thought this match was too slow paced, I think that it great. Sure, it wasn't a 5star affair, but it was a match that was filled with riveting moments, and it never gets the respect deserved.

7)The Midnight Rockers Vs. "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers & "Playboy" Buddy Rose, AWA Weekly TV, HBK's first major title. While maybe not the greatest match of his career, definitely a stepping stone for him, and a great, great match anyhow. If you want to see where Michaels was really developing and learning the most, go to the old AWA tapes.

6)Shawn Michaels Vs. Mankind, Mind Games, Shawn went into this match acting like he was about to have a nervous breakdown from the thought of having to fight "the wackiest cat around". The rules were basically thrown out in this one. Towards the end there is a beasutiful spot where Mankind back-suplexes HBK off the top rope through an announcers table!! On a side note, out of Foley's "3 Greatest" things that happened in his wrestling career, this is the ONLY match that made it so you know it had to be a classic.

5)Shawn Michaels Vs. Bret Hart, Survivor Series97, Before the mess that ended this match it really, really was great. Bret and Shawn put on a great show here, and it's too bad that the ending makes people forget about the match itself.

4)Shawn Michaels Vs. Diesel, IYH:Good Friends; Bitter Enemies, Anything Goes match, This match is terrific, I think it's the only REAL hardcore type match that HBK was involved in. From getting hung, to beaten with a prosthetic leg, to being powerbombed through a table back when it wasn't common, to delivering Sweet Chin Music diving from a chair to Diesel who was on the top rope this match was the BOMB!

3)Shawn Michaels Vs. Razor Ramon, Wrestlemania X, Ladder match, A beasutiful encounter, that set the standard for ladder matches and stole the show of an already great Wrestlemania X card. A must see.

2)Shawn Michaels Vs. The Underatker, IYH:Badd Blood, Hell in a Cell, The match that set the standard (he did that a lot, huh?) so high for HIAC matches. Absoutley perfect match, I was spending much time before finishing this deciding if this match should be my #1 or not. For a great recap of this match go to http://www.cataclysmal.com/big3/oratory/posts/1319.html

1)Shawn Michaels Vs. Razor Ramon, SummerSlam 95, Ladder Match, His best match ever, if not the best American match ever. Every spot was timed perfectly, the heat was there, the anticipation of a rematch was there, a healthy HBK & a Scott Hall that gave a damn was there. This match is brilliant, if you've never seen it, I HIGHLY reccomend you find a tape of this and watch it.

The neXt HBK

This subject is almost laughable to me. Why worry about "who's the next Shawn?". There will never be another HBK. I personally would be feel immeasurably flattered and complimented, but I would rather be the next me, not the next HBK. Anyways, here's the list of the oft compared, with my thoughts.

Chris Jericho Chris Jericho is not the next Shawn Michaels. I suppose I am biased because of, previously stated I think there never will be another, but if there was, Y2J would not be it. First off, Jericho wrestles a different, though similar enough to draw the comparison I guess, style from HBK. While Jericho may finally be starting to wrestle well again, something he has done scarcely since entering the WWF, he still does not have the carrying ability, or in-ring improvisation skills that Shawn had(has??). As far as mic work is concerned, Jericho may be superior on the mic 1/2 the time, while HBK is the other 1/2. Jericho sometimes comes across as a D&D playing geek, while Shawn sometimes came across as well, kind of a bad interview. Both have had tremendous interviews during ther careers though, so don't write me asking how I put down their mic skills, because I didn't.

Lenny Lane I kind of like Lenny Lane, or Lane , or whatever the hell he's being called now. He puts on some pretty good matches, and I think he is very good at pacing, even on the short TV matches. Next HBK? I don't think so. It's called the total package (and I don't mean Luger) folks, and though Lane may stand out in some areas, he falls flat on his lollipop sucking face in others.

Edge How do I start this off? Hmmmm......how about, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Did that get my point across? Mr. Over-rated himself, is not the next HBK just because he has cool tights and the ladies love him(though I don't know why with his Mick Jagger mouth). Seriously though, I will give Edge credit for being a good worker, though I hate to do so. BUT, he has one of the worst looking finishers in the business, in the Downward Spiral. Speaking of which isn't he supposed to be some crazy loner 9"nails freak? What ever happened to that? Also, though people sell it for him well, seeing the skiniest guy in the company(almost) trying to spear people is sort of amusing to me. OW! Watch that bony shoulder, Adam!

Jeff Hardy Jeff Hardy is becoming one of the best American workers. Once he learns some psychology and bit better pacing he will be amazing. Thing is, he is an aerialist, while Michaels, though he would take to the air often, was more of a well rounded wrestler. Aside from psychology and pacing, Hardy seems to also lack much technical skill which was pretty abundant in HBK. Jeff Hardy may end up being a great, great wrestler but for one; it will be in a different style from HBK, and secondly; I don't know if he'll ever acheive the success that Michaels did. As an end note though Jeff was fucking amazing in his match on the 3/16/00 Smackdown.

Lance Storm I know what you're thinking, "Who the HELL ever picked Lance Storm?!?". Well, I did. I know it seems that a prerequisite for others is being blonde, but that is stupid to me. As far as ring work, and occasionally mic skills, I think the closest thing to HBK right now is none other than the "Owner of the best body, this side of a clean urine test"! Seriously though, his style is really the closest to Shawn's from what I gather. He may not be as good as Shawn all-around, or in terms of consistency, or with carrying others, but he's young so give him time, if he still can't in about 5 years than I'll full-heartedly renig on my statements.

REMEMBER: Just Because Someone Is Blonde and Talented, Doesn't Mean They Are the Next H-B-K!!!

My Reasonings

Shawn Michaels was a great wrestler for so many reasons, but the reason that stands out the most would be his willingness to bump like a madman and make his opponents look unstoppable. He could bottle-feed the worst wrestlers and make them look like stars. I have an old match where he took on Louie Spicolli, then known as Rad Radford, and coming to the ring to the music that Headbangers currently do("I'd be pissed if my parents named me Mike Michaels!"), Michaels makes Spicolli look like a beast, Spicolli was good to begin with, but Michaels made him look main event. He would bump like he had been shot for the big men and almost as dramatically for the smaller guys. He also is one of the only guys capable of carrying slugs like Nash and Sid to 4Star matches, which he did frequently. He also was, unlike today's Austin (not the old one), Rocky, hHh, and countless others, was able to have a different match near every time out. He VERY rarely recycled a match's formula (except for the nip-up). Also to add on to his varying matches he also could break into different styles depending on the size or style or experience or skill of his opponents! WOW! Don't think he only had one style either, his hardcore match against Diesel was one of the best hardcore matches I have ever seen, and that style was almost forgein to him, thus showing Michaels greatest skill (besides bumping and making other look good): the ability to adapt and improvise (I guess that's two).

I really hope you guys enjoyed this 3 week project of mine, it was a lot of fun to write, and I hope it proved equally fun to read. This may be my last column at [slash], though if not they will appear very sporiadically. So for perhaps the final time.....CRITICIZE ME, PRAISE ME, JUST WRITE ME!! All my workrate freaks keep it up, the battle is impossible to lose. I have to come to see how many people don't really like workrates, and met some people that do. It's not like I don't laugh at the occasional Rocky Maivia joke, it's just that i'd MUCH rather see a good match. Anyhow, if you were a reader of my column, become a reader of Gregg Mixdorf columns, he puts out a lot of quality stuff, and doesn't look down on his readers like many unmentionables do....overall a great writer. A reminder, CRITICIZE ME, PRAISE ME, JUST (FOR THE LAST TIME?) WRITE ME!!!

BenoitJericho@Yahoo.com

Until We Meet Again.....