This review was commissioned by portablestove over on my Ko-fi account.
For the last five or so years, I’ve described myself as a Shawn Michaels agnostic. I say so in the sense that I have heard the varied criticisms of Shawn Michaels work and his influence on the industry throughout the years, and a lot of it makes total sense to me. Hammy character work, his inflated ego getting in the way of performances, the way this philosophy of wrestling has infected the industry at the highest levels, I totally get all that. The problem is that when I go back to rewatch the Shawn Michaels matches that I had the most fondness for as a kid, I do also find that most of them still hold up to a certain degree, even the ones I might have expected to turn on. So I find myself caught between sensible criticism that I see the effects of day to day, but also there being enough footage as evidence of at least a spark of greatness that I can’t quite deny.
If your experience of Shawn Michaels hinges on this WWF Title match against Mankind, it’s understandable to see how he’s made believers of so many.
Because, to steal a phrase from Shawn’s much publicized conversion, Jesus fucking Christ.
There’s a lot here that we can credit to Foley–and we will–but there’s really no denying that it feels like a truly top level performance from Shawn Michaels. With maybe only a few other candidates (looking right at those 97 Taker matches), this may be some of his best singles work ever. An energetic, focused performance that’s rife with character. He pops off the screen here in all the right ways. The important part here though is how it all plays as a contrast to Mankind. Foley’s performance here is truly one of his masterworks in basically every sense of the word. He’s able to full embody this gimmick in a way that feels both authentic and distinct from the work he’s done in the past. You want to talk reinventions? Look at how Mankind takes all the classic Cactus Jack spots but infuses them with a wholly different aura and tone.
The result of these two stunning performances coming together is arguably greater than the whole. Here in pre-Attitude WWF, at the tail end of the New Generation era, there’s the feeling of unbridled violence bubbling up to the surface. There’s a friction here that one can easily see being ignited once Stone Cold becomes a much bigger part of the promotion in the year to come, but its tangible and exhilarating even in this primal state. If anything, being an early indicator of what was to come only makes it pop even more.
The match succeeds because its kayfabe goals match its genuine quality: Mankind’s trying to force Shawn Michaels out of his comfort zone. That means opposing him at every turn, forcing Shawn to earn every goddamn thing, and also allowing Shawn a jumping off point to access something a little more visceral and gritty in the process. Structurally, the match allows this to develop so organically. There’s an early lock up but Mankind’s quick to turn to punches and sheer manic force in order to overwhelm the champion. Again, all credit goes to Foley to making this gimmick work and really getting over the idea that Mankind’s approach to wrestling is as an unhinged brawler. With that opposing him, Shawn not only becomes a more vicious defending babyface than ever, but also a cleverer one as well. He’s not going to breeze through this match, and him earning his small victories as they compound mean so much more because of it.
The dynamic’s about Mankind’s unpredictable frenzy being enough to overwhelm the champion at points, but Michaels learning enough on the fly to divert the challenger’s energy to his advantage. Note all the ways that Shawn dodges Mankind, sending the challenger flying into turnbuckles and ringposts. It’s here that Foley’s uncanny ability to bump gets put to such good use. As mean as he is on the offense, with his short jabs and clawing at the eyes, his failures are all the more spectacular and serve to make Shawn look like a worldbeater. It’s a truly grotesque series of bumps we get from Foley all through this match too–multiple knee crushing crashes into the steps, a horrifying snap getting into a hangman position on the ropes (how he has the courage to do this after losing an ear to it baffles me), and then that climactic table bump on the end. All of it full force, no coward bumps here, not even from Shawn whenever he’s called upon to partake in the carnage.
In a pre-match promo, Shawn says that he’s too stupid for mind games to work on him (don’t shoot the messenger, he says that himself), but you really wouldn’t know it watching this match. Not only does Shawn do a good job playing how intimidated he is by Mankind early on without descending into cowardly hysterics, Shawn also does a fantastic job being the kind of thinking man’s wrestler in this. The peak of that work comes from a dual limb attack throughout the bout–first to Mankind’s knee after a suplex on the outside sends them into the steps–and then later, to the hand which Shawn batters with a chair to neutralize the Mandible Claw. It’d be easy for me to sit here and quip about Shawn working on top, attacking limbs, feeling a little more like a heel than he should, but the reality is just that isn’t the case. With Mankind bringing such an unbridled sense of chaos to the match, Shawn’s capacity to match that energy through a more focused plan of attack has him reading far more valiant than I think I’ve ever really seen him elsewhere.
Foley’s fantastic on the defense though. The completely cracked energy of Mankind combined with leg selling? Glorious to behold. Adding to that, trying to heal himself with a spike to the leg? Fuck yeah, dude. Just the coolest ever and making the absolute most of one of Vince’s pet project creations projected onto an already great worker. As with all the best of all-timers, Foley makes the most of the least, and the realization of Mankind here in this match really is wondrous to behold.
Where the match succeeds the most is in being this clearly meticulously structured bout–filled with big setpieces, bumps, and shifting control segments–while retaining the feeling that everything’s unraveling around them. Such beautifully coordinated chaos in this, from the way Mankind adjusts the announce table early to set up the late table bump, to the way every transition of control feels more violent than the last, and the compounding craziness of the finishing moments all leading to that genuinely stunning step up Sweet Chin Music to the top rope. Good fucking lord, it all works so well.
Even the interference non-finish can’t do much to detract from this. Smartly, Vader comes in at the exact apex of the match–the step up superkick–and things conclude pretty much exactly when they should. That Sweet Chin is so fucking great that it absolutely calls to be the end of the match, and if they get there via DQ instead of pinfall, that honestly works just fine for me. But for once, I’ve got to say, a match really may have just been improved by Shawn Michaels getting a three count when he well and truly earned it.
All in all, one of those miraculous WWF matches where every single thing just goes in exactly the right way. Along with the Bret/Austin match in November, a harbinger of bigger things to come from the WWF.
IS IT BETTER THAN 6/3/94? The Misawa/Kawada title match is arguably not even the best that those two could do together. Here, Foley gets something out of Shawn that I don’t think we ever really see matched again–an honest to god, true blue babyface performance that gets you on his side. One of the all-time great successes of special chemistry elevating a match far and beyond what it might have been otherwise. Shawn and Foley take the win.
Rating: ****3/4
