Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

I'm starting a new series that's gonne be alot of fun for me to do, I'm going to take some of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and do their top five matches. Now I know what your thinking, top 5? but it says top ten in the title, well you'd be right, but this is the debut edition and it's Shawn fucking Michaels there are just too many great matches to cut and a top 8 would just be lame. So in the coming weeks I'll be taking a different wrestler and doing my own count downs, this will be a synopsis of the match rather than a full match review, although if there's a great match that I've never seen that I'm watching specifically for this list then I might row it in.

Before I start I should point out that this will be rated on a comibination of my own personal favorites (of course), match quality, importance and relevance. So if you thinking why is five star match at the top then that's ther reason why, there are some braoder considerations.

10. Shawn Micheals vs. Triple H
Unsactioned - Summer Slam 2001

This match while certianly not in HBK's top ten matches in terms of match quality was a very special moment and a personal favorite of mine. It was the moment when the greatest wrestler of the nineties made his return to the ring four and a half years on from his career ending back injury. Just like everyone else I wasn't 100% sure what to expect, even though he was one of my child hood heroes I doubted that Shawn Michaels could be the HBK I remembered, the wrestler who had the best match on every single show he was on. Thankfully HBK brought everything, including the kitchen sink, HBK and Triple H embarked on a brutal brawl with blood, chairs, tables, ladders, fire extinguishers and some really good wrestling and best of all Triple H laid down and let HBK pin him clean (albeit with a jacknife pin). The only real criticism was that HBK did an uncharacteristically pussy bladejob but that's a real minor quibble. On the subject of minor quibbles, I know it was an unsanctioned match but I wish HBK had worn his ring attire not street clothes.

This match was just one long truly great moment for a fan, where everyone at home was willing HBK on and he delivered in a big way. Struting around the ring and hitting a plancha and skinning the cat within a the first minute we knew the show stopper was back. Had this been a one time deal then it would have been a fitting send off to HBK showing the world that he still had it. Psychology wise it was wrestled at Triple H's pace with a methodical and brutal beatdown on Triple H building to the kip up that we'd been waiting over four years to see, before building into a hardcore back and forth war. This match proves if your great you never lose it. (****)


Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena
Monday Night Raw - April 2007

After a very good but ultimately dissapointing wrestlemania Main event HBK repayed all those who felt a little let down by their Mania match with a awesome fifty minute plus tv main event on Monday Night RAW in london England. This was an absolute shock, I remember at the time thinking why on earth is the match starting in the first hour and presuming a screw job was on the way but instead they took us by suprise with a grueling back and forth match. With so many well played moments, dramatic near falls, submission counters, near count out and flat moments. This was an example of how great HBK and to his credit John Cena are at the WWE Main Event style. With brilliant consistant selling and great facial expression they told the story of a gruelling war between to stars who were so evenly balanced. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands going absolutely mental and the finish with HBK front fliping onto his feet to counter the FU nailing the superkick and collapsing exhausted ontop of Cena for the 1-2-3. This wasn't even a Title Match! It was just a great match, I still don't know why this was on free tv, but it was a great gift regardless. God I can't even imagine how good this was live considering how much fun I had seeing Cena-Jericho, lucky bastards. The star rating is a bit of a guess as I only saw it once, it one a couple of Match of the Year awards and in my head I had it at...(****1/4)


8. Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind
Mind Games - 1997

This is, was and always will be Mick Foley's best match. I can totally understand someone arguing that the Royal Rumble Street Fight was better but it wasn't. This match was taking a cleverly worked story, encorperating into a match perfectly and taking the crowd on a ride. The story of this match was that Mandkind was a sick psychopath who had gotten inside the head of pretty boy Shawn, Mankind loved to feel pain and wanted to mess up HBK. To overcome this whiter than whiter Shawn Michaels turned into an arse kicking bad arse, he kicked the shit out of the mental Mankind taking him on a brutal brawl, destroying Mankind's knee leading to a brilliant spot where Mankind hit his own leg with a spike to try and numb the pain. This match had the works great wrestling, high flying, brutal brawling and huge drama. The match reached a peak when HBK was back suplexed off the top rope through the old school announce table. The one major plight on this match up is that after twenty minutes of brilliant action Sid and Vader run in and the match is thrown out, you have no idea how frustrating it was at the time. Essentially that's what holds this match back that you didn't get the dramatic finale to a superb match up. (****1/4)



7. Shawn Micheals vs. Kurt Angle
- Wrestlemania XXI

While I'd have to go back and watch the best of three series to see which match was individual the best but make no mistake this is the match that will be remembered forever. At the time this seemed like the symbolic coming together and passing of the Torch from the best wrestler of one generation to the next, literally back to back. Obviously at the time we didn't know HBK was going to stay on retake his torch and be the best wrestler of two straight generations. The match itself start methodically with the submision based stuff reminiscant of HBK-Hart Iron Man Match but then it really kicked off in the second half. With HBK bringing the Asai Moonsault and a brilliant counter sequence, finisher finale, the ultimate drama of the match came down to whether HBK would or wouldn't tap. The entire crowd was willing HBK to counter the ankle lock and make the ropes each time and there was that feeling of disbelief (the good type) when he finally tapped. This match delivered, it could never exceed expectations but it met them and left us wanting more which is about as much as anyone could ask for. On a side note, remember how fresh these cross brand matches used to feel? Yeah this is why you keep the fucking brands seperate!!! (****1/4)


6. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho
World Heavyweight Title Ladder Match
- No Mercy 2008

This was the brilliant culmination of the Feud of the Year for 2008 and very possibly the greatest fued of the decade. This match proved why Shawn Michaels is the best in the business. Go back and watch this match, watch how brilliant the timing is, how perfect the selling is a witness how there are absolutely no contrived moments. Yes no contrived moments in a ladder match, just when you though ah lame he's just gonna stand around and wait for a spot the switched it up and HBK suddenly did the opposite of what you we're expecting. This match was incredibly creative and did a great job of creating drama and building towards one of the most unique finishes in ladder match history. This is my second favorite ladder match of all time, and all of the top three either include HBK or Jericho. This was brutal, intense and dramatic everything ladder matches haven't been in recent years. Flair-Michaels was the match of the year, but this was the best wrestled match of the year and deservingly won the Observer Match of the Year and in any other year would have claimed the spot. The most believable ladder match ever. (****1/2)


5. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon
Intercontinental Title Ladder Match
- Wrestleman X

Notice I said that Jericho-HBK was my second favorite ladder match? Well here is my favorite, not literally the original but effectively the original as we know it. This match was superb in almost everyway, it was so well paced, it was just non stop, but was never a spot fest. Both guys worked their arse off and Shawn bumped allover the place. The secret to this match is that Shawn didn't take life threatening bumps he took big bumps and made them look amazing and inconic. That is ultimately how this match is best summed up, Iconic, almost every wrestling fan worth his spots can recount the famous images of the match, and that big splash, which isn't so big by modern standards still looks as good today as it did back then. This is an example of a perfect match that holds up just as well today, running so smoothly from start to finish, it never lulls, no wonder the ladder match caught on. This was the perfect gimmick match, a great build, a logical reason for the match and of course two brilliant workers who could pull it off. Shawn has a knack for great finishes, the Jericho finish was brilliant, this was even better, Shawn getting hung by his foot in the ropes when he fell of the ladder, manages to struggle out just in time only to end up with his arm tangled in the top rope. Sublime, the first time HBK stop the show, it wouldn't be the last. (*****)


4. Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker
WWE World Title Hell In A Cell Match
- Bad Blood 1997

As a kid this was my favorite match, and as an adult it remained my favorite match for a very long time. This was everything that the Foley-Taker Hell In the Cell was not, it was fast paced, back and forth crisp action. With both men bringing their A game and HBK bouncing around all over the place to make the Undertaker look like a legitmate undead monster. HBK selling and timing were impeccable, but the highlight of the match was not the insane bumping, the big power moves or even the back body drop ontop of the cell oh no no no. The highlight of this match was Taker catapulting HBK into the Steel Cell and HBK doing a mid air blade job, a brutal blade job at that. This match had so many great story telling moments, when HBK hit the Sweet Chin Music at about ten minutes with the crowd in disbelief Undertaker suddenly sat up and that's when you knew it was on. Some people felt the finish detracted from the match but I totally disappear the debut or re-debut of Kane was a great moment to end the match with the epic show down between the brothers going face to face for the first time. It ended with a brilliant visual of HBK crawling out of a pool of his own blood to lay one arm across Taker's chest for the win. Great stuff, fuck Foley, if you've got a HITC match coming back this is the tape you study. (****3/4)


3. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit
World Heavyweight Title - Wrestlemania XX

Another match that I haven't seen in a while but on repeat viewings this holds up as the best Wrestlemania Main Event in history. While at the time many were angry that HBK had been shoehorned into the match up to and felt he was encroaching on Benoit's moment. All those feelings subsided as HBK clearly enhanced the match and we get a face off between two of the all time greatest in ring performers. The match was dramatic and had it all, amazing near falls, brutal blade jobs from HBK and Triple H. The drama was just off the scales for this match up with Triple H holding HBK's arm to stop him from tapping. Normally triple threat matches are dissapointment as they are overly crowded, struggle to tell a story and normally involve one man hanging around outside the ring for no apparent reason. This match avoid all these pitfalls and each wrestler deliver nonstop with HBK and Benoit both putting in MVP performances and Triple H more than carrying his weight. At the time it felt like a victory for true wrestling fans around the world, that two of the best workers (Eddie and Chris) who had been held back by the bullshit of WCW and the weight of Triple H finally triumphed and had there moment in the sun together. Unfortuantely there is one big asterix next to this match that of course being Chris Benoit's death, it makes the match hard for me to go back and watch, a ruined a legacy in an instant. It's hard to know what to say had he not killed his family I'd be talking about the magical once in a life time moment with Eddie and Benoit crying an celebrating together on the biggest stage of them all. Regardless unbelievable match. (*****)


2. Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
Career Threatening Match - Wrestlemania XIV

It's interesting that Benoit's match came out one place behind this match as that match at the time had one of those perfect moments that we thought would last forever, and this match absolute did too. This moment however will last forever because while Ric may tragically die, possible even in a wrestling ring I can't see him killing anyone or doing anything horrible. While comingout of retirement will dent it slightly, it has been over a year and nothing can touch this moment for being so perfect. This as I've said many times was one of the great stories of all the two greatest wrestlers in the history of Western Wrestling coming together. This was all about emotion, one of those rare moments of class in wrestling that was just untouchable. The match in terms of quality surpassed all expectations with HBK bumping his arse off, Flair doing the same pulling out the suplexes, the flying cross body and yes even taking a back body drop over the top rope. The real genius match of this match was the conclusion the counter finishes, Flair locking on the figure four and HBK having you doubting your self for just a second and wondering if they might just have Flair win. The final moments with Flair knowing it was his time and telling HBK to bring it on before Shawn said "I'm Sorry I Love You" and nailing the superkick will go into wrestling folklore forever. The send off was then phenominal we will never, ever, ever see a moment like this again. The classiest moment in the history of a shitty industry. (****3/4)


1. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
- Wrestlemania XXV

Now you might be thinking I didn't pick a very exciting picture but your wrong, this was my absolute favorite moment of the match. A moment of absolute genius, HBK has just skinned the cat and Taker has dragged him kicking and squeling to the centre of the ring and hit a tombstone piledriver, the crowd are counting along and going mental and Undertaker does the face, the face that tells you the match is over, he's sticking his tongue out no one kicks out when he sticks the tongue out right? WRONG! HBK kicks out and we get a zoomed in close up on Taker's face, he sold it like he was in complete and utter disbelief. Now fuck falling of ladders and table this was a moment when every wrestling fan sat up and shouted "holy shit". This match had everything and just built and built and built and built. It just got better and better one of the those matches that no one wanted to end. Of course it did end and it ended with another sublime HBK finish a moonsault countered with a tombstone. I've written about this match so I won't go on, it can be simply summed up with one sentance, if your not a fan of this match, then your not a wrestling fan! This was an iconic moment that like Flair's retirement will never be recreated again, two of the biggest stars of all time who hadn't touched in 9 Years! Another amazing wrestlemania moment curtesy of HBK, can't wait till next year. (*****)

So there we have it! Tommorrow or later in the week I'll do another top five, actually I'm free for suggestions Kurt Angle, Ric Flair, Ausin, I don't care, all suggestions welcome EVEN TEST!!!