5 for Michaels. He was one of very few with star power in the era I mostly watched and could make almost anything work - see the God angle against Vince. Told a brilliant story against Flair in the retirement match, the Undertaker arc worked brilliantly and while the Hogan match was obviously unprofessional, it’s one of the all time great kafaybe destroying matches.
I think if I’d known him more for his 90s run then I’d struggle to go above a 4 because of the politicking, but he was one of the few that could make WWE worth watching in the 2000s.
late 80s/early 90s shawn is probs a 4, like bret it was obvious he was miles better than everyone else and you were just desperate for him to get the chance to main event
mid 90s / main event shawn, don’t know what to score him really. some good matches of course, but was badly miscast for a lot of it as a babyface, plus all the politicking and general dickheadery.
00’s comeback hbk is a 5. not as athletic as he was but for my money, had way better matches. shame he came back for that saudi deal though
Pretty much responsible for the modern style, and when he got it right like the first ladder and hell in a cell matches there simply was nobody better. I don’t really mind that he was a diva even, resting on his laurels for most of his career and pretty much openly over egging his back issue in 98-01 so Vince would pay him not to go to wcw. Now that’s a worker!
Was consistently a highlight of raw when he returned too, no matter what he was doing, but especially against the likes of Jericho and Shelton until they ruined it all over again with the pg-DX garbage. But then some absolute modern classics with Flair and Taker to cap off the career
This was perhaps the hardest favourite match poll yet because there’s another 5 I could have conceivably chosen. Fuck it, him refereeing Taker vs HHH hell in a cell WM28 is one of my favourite performances ever
@Severed799 I know this is rightly said a lot but just wanted to add some personal props to you for these threads.
Our first-born arrived on Friday and catching up on these threads at 3am and ending up in a rasslin youtube hole while he nods off on my shoulder is amplifying a lovely fuzzy time in my life. The Flair/Shawn ‘i’m sorry, i love you’… a blubbering mess at about 1.30 this morning but in the best way.
Congrats Al. That’s great news. Those early, hazy days are full of good memories. I remember watching a load of my favourite cycling stages during a similar time.
Rockers have got to be one of the best teams at the time and the barbershop glass smashing is still iconic. The last few years of his career, it’s amazing how many great matches he put together and those Wrestlemania matches at that time, Flair and Taker*2 (among others), what mastery and storytelling in his twilight years.
5 for me (Bret is still better though!)
That match with Hogan was funny, like the Unstoppable Prick vs the Immovable Dickhead. Everything else about him I do not enjoy. Not helped by first watching wrestling after he’d fucked off for the first time, he just seemed like a weird interloper when he came back. I’m not a fan of the style of ‘epic’ matches he had towards the end of his run. Not that fun to play as in WWE games.
Really vivid memories of watching the barbershop window incident as a young kid and not really understanding why somebody would do that to a good friend.
