The John Report: Shawn Michaels DVD Review

Welcome to my first attempt at reviewing a WWE DVD. This is going to be the first of what I hope to be many DVD reviews as well as tape reviews of older WWE events.

What you'll see here is, what I think, the most in-depth review of "Shawn Michaels: From The Vault" anywhere. The DVD is two discs. The first DVD covers the early moments and matches in his career while the second DVD looks at the matches that came a little later in his career. What you'll get here are the matches in their entirety, Shawn talking about those matches before they air, extras that show highlights of the build to those matches and an alternate commentary on one of his matches. When it's all over with, I'll let you know what I liked, what I didn't like and what changes I think they could have made to it.

Before I begin, there are a couple of things worth noting. In the match write-ups for some of the older matches, you'll see me refer to the company as "The WWF" instead of "WWE." The reason is because I wrote that stuff before the name change. I also feel it is more correct to refer to stuff before May 2002 as the WWF. It feels more natural to me. Secondly, a lot of the write-ups for the matches are stuff that I've written before. I will put a link up to my previous work at the end of this review. Lastly, I use star ratings to grade matches. Here's a synopsis of what those ratings mean to me:

DUD - Horrible match. A waste of time.
* - Below average match. Needed something more to be considered good.
** - Average match. Either too short to be better or they just never clicked.
*** - Good match. It was entertaining, but was lacking in certain areas.
**** - Very Good match. Needed a little bit more to be close to a classic
***** - Fantastic in every possible way. They are classics, high-end match of the year contenders that are as close to flawless as you can get.

The good news is that everything on here is good stuff. No DUDs on here. That's for damn sure. Now that you know that info, it's time to begin:

Shawn Michaels: From The Vault - DVD Review

The DVD is broken up into several sections highlighting his career. It does a good job of hitting the key points as well as covering the actual matches. Here's what we got on Disc 1 starting first with the CHAPTERS and following that up with the EXTRAS.

THE CHAPTERS - DISC ONE

The first part of the video is entitled: The Beginning

The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) vs. "Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Don Summers for the AWA Tag Team Titles - 09/02/86

Before each match, they showed Shawn talking about the match coming up. For the first match, he mentioned how the AWA teamed him up with Marty. He mentioned that since the AWA was on ESPN (a major sports cable channel in the US) he got plenty of good exposure there. He said that The Rockers met Rose & Summers almost entirely for two years. Shawn called this his first match that "made him close to making it."

The Match:
The match began with Shawn starting out on fire, then the heels cheated to gain control. Shawn was bleeding within three minutes. The heels work over the bloody Michaels with some classic heel double team moves. Crowd is NUTS for everything. Almost ten minutes in, a bloody Michaels tags in Jannetty to a thunderous applause. After bloodying Summers by using the ring post, Jannetty sheds some blood of his own as he goes headfirst into the exposed steel turnbuckle. Everything is made of steel, isn't it? Fourteen minutes in, the ref gets bumped. The heels beat up all the refs and the match gets thrown out after 15 minutes. Shawn was awesome in his selling here. What a great brawl with tons of blood and an extremely hot crowd. Had I seen this match before it would have come in at ten or eleven on my list of his top twenty matches. ****1/4 on the five star scale.

Next up is the: Ladder Match

Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon @ WrestleMania X in a Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Title - 03/20/94

We see the announcement from Jack Tunney (real life Canadian wrestling promoter, on camera WWF president for a long time) where he suspends Michaels, the Intercontinental Champion at the time, for failing to meet contractual obligations. Razor Ramon is shown pinning Rick Martel to win the new Intercontinental title. They show each man cutting promos for the ladder match. They cut to current HBK, who says it turned out that this was the match for which WrestleMania 10 was remembered. He says it's gratifying to be labeled as the innovator of the ladder match. (Yes, I realize that there were ladder matches in Stampede Wrestling before this and that Michaels actually had a ladder match with Bret Hart on a Coliseum Video as well. I'm just quoting here.) "There can be only one first, there can be only one blueprint. In that respect it's always going to stand by itself." To him, it shows the company had a lot of faith in him.

The Match:
The first ladder match in WWF PPV history took place at the biggest show in the business (WrestleMania) at the world's most famous arena (Madison Square Garden). When all was said and done, Shawn Michaels gave one of the best performances that this business has ever seen. This was the match that showed everybody just how special Shawn was. This was the match that propelled Shawn to the main event as he took a huge step from being a good worker to being one of the best that has ever lived. As great as Shawn was, though, I have to give credit to Razor Ramon (now known as Scott Hall) for putting on a tremendous match proving that he could be a great worker when motivated. The story here was that Shawn got stripped of the IC title in '93 due to a contract dispute (which was actually true). By the time he re-signed with the WWF in late '93 the IC title was on Razor Ramon even though Shawn never lost the other IC belt. WWF officials decided that the best way to settle this dispute was to have a ladder match with both belts hanging from the rafters. The winner would be the first one to climb the eight-foot ladder and grab both belts in order to become the real Intercontinental Champion.

They grapple in the ring to start for a few minutes until Ramon is thrown outside where Diesel, Shawn's "bodyguard" at the time, clotheslines Razor on the mat. He is then told to go to the back by referee Earl Hebner to the delight of the crowd. Razor whips Shawn into the corner, Shawn does the usual cross corner flop and gets clotheslined outside the ring. Razor exposes some concrete but it does not come into play until Shawn throws him back inside. He reverses a Razor's Edge into a back shoulder toss that sends Razor to the floor onto the exposed concrete where he lands on his left knee and arm in a sweet bump. Shawn goes to get the ladder before Razor stops him. Razor goes to set up the ladder until Shawn hits a baseball slide dropkick that sees the ladder nail Razor squarely in the ribs. Man, that's such a sweet move. The next few moments are filled with ladder shots on Razor's stomach and back as that is the body part of choice for Shawn to work on. As Razor is down, Shawn climbs up, Razor reaches up and exposes his bare ass to the delight of women everywhere and probably Pat Patterson too. Shawn kicks him off and drops an elbow off of the ladder in another cool spot. Razor takes advantage using the ladder as a weapon leading to a wonderful spot that sees him slingshot Shawn into the ladder that was positioned outside the ring. After throwing the ladder onto Ramon repeatedly Shawn delivered the superkick and a piledriver that kept Ramon down for a while. He carried the ladder over to the turnbuckle on the left side where he mounted the eight-foot ladder and came off of it for a huge splash that would make my other favourite wrestler, Jimmy Snuka, very proud. He climbed up again and used his own body to squash Ramon in the ribs with the help of the ladder. Shawn set up the ladder again. As he started to climb, Ramon got to his feet, came off the ropes and hit the ladder hard causing Shawn to get his leg caught in between the ropes. With Shawn incapacitated for the time being Ramon climbed up, grabbed both titles and got the victory after nearly 20 minutes of heart stopping action. *****

Shawn did not win the match, but when all was said and done he proved to the entire wrestling world that he did have what it takes to be the best in the business. Just a kickass match that deserves all the praise (it was Match of the Year in 1994 everywhere) it has ever received. Shawn sets another trend by having a superb match with a gimmick. To prove it wasn't a fluke, he decided to do it all again 18 months later. (That's a reference to the number two match on my list, which is not featured on this DVD at all. It was the ladder match between Shawn & Razor @ Summerslam '95.)

The third and final match that is prominently featured on disc one is the Ironman Match

Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart @ WrestleMania XII in a Sixty Minute Ironman Match for the World Wrestling Federation Title - 03/31/96

Roddy Piper, the WWF president at the time, announces the match. Over videos of him training, present day Shawn says that training, eating and mentally preparing for this match was different. He had no experience for the entire Ironman situation. Clip shows HBK saying nobody respected Bret more than him. Current Shawn says he doesn't think he could have done that match with anybody else. That's a good point considering the WWF's roster in those days. I think Owen could have done it, though. He enjoyed it because he knew Bret would enjoy it, would prepare for it and would be ready for it. Bret promo saying he looked forward to wrestling a good friend. (Insert snide remarks here.) Present day Shawn said everything leading to that match was real. You mean wrestling is fake? NNNNNNOOOOOOO! Oops, I let that out. Sorry. Back to Shawn, who says that the preparation, the storyline, the emotion before it, during it and after it. That was as real as the business would be for him. It was as exciting as he imagined it to be.

The Match:
To a lot of people, this is Shawn's greatest match ever because this is the match that saw him capture the WWF World title for the first time. In my opinion, this is not his best match ever; it is merely the most memorable match of his career. Yes folks, there is a difference between greatest and memorable.

The first thirty minutes are kind of slow until Shawn goes for the superkick, Bret slides away so Shawn leaps over the top onto Bret outside the ring in a wonderful spot. After some near pinfalls Shawn takes an insane backdrop over the top rope that could easily blow a knee out but this is Shawn "God" Michaels so somehow he escapes unscathed. The next few minutes see Bret working over the back while solidifying his heel role by going after Jose Lothario, Shawn's mentor, a bit. The final ten minutes of this match are awesome as Michaels begins to mount the offense because we are supposed to believe that a draw would allow Bret to retain the world title. In the span of about two minutes Shawn unleashes a flurry of offense that includes a dropkick, a double axehandle, a top rope elbow and a moonsault among other things. Just as Shawn is set to come down on Bret again the Hitman puts him into the Sharpshooter as time expires which leads us to believe that the match is a draw. President Gorilla Monsoon comes down, orders the match to continue to the dismay of Bret and Shawn quickly hits the Sweet Chin Music but is too banged up from the Sharpshooter to make a cover. Great selling by Michaels there. Shawn gets up again, Bret hobbles to his feet and Shawn drills him with the superkick again as the ref counts the three for Shawn's first world title. He grabbed the title, then shed some tears while posing with it on his knees. It was a memorable moment. ****1/2

Now, for some griping. Both guys came into the match as faces although you could tell just by watching this match that Bret played the role of the heel throughout. Had this match been booked better I think there's a very good chance that it could top this list. However, due to the fact that there was only one pinfall in nearly 62 minutes of action I can't put it higher on this list. The match itself was special for about 40 minutes; it's just that the other 20 minutes were spent in rest holds that would have been effective had they ended up being falls. Do something where Shawn goes to bodyslam Bret but his knee gives way and he falls flat on his back with Bret on top for the surprising three count. If Shawn works over a knee for 10 minutes and slaps on a figure four forcing Bret to give up then Shawn would have had one fall. A few minutes later you could have Bret slap on the Sharpshooter and Shawn could give up so that it would give each guy at least one fall. Instead of that, Bret spent his time working the neck while Shawn worked over Bret's arm. To this day I still don't know why those were the body parts of choice. Despite the poor booking the action was phenomenal as both guys whipped out all the moves in their arsenal. Many people thought Shawn couldn't stay close with Bret because of Bret's technical expertise, but I feel Shawn was able to hold his own.

Bret left for 7 months while Shawn went on to have a fabulous year as the world champion. As I said earlier, I fully understand why people love this match because I am one of those people. It's the one you may remember more than any other one but it is not the best of his career. It's probably the biggest markout moment for an HBK fan like me but there are better matches, six of them in fact.

THE EXTRAS - DISC ONE

Since I want to rate the extras without using the star ratings (those are for matches), I think I'll just use the 1-10 scale for them. 10 = Great, 1 = Bad. Simple enough, right?

Bloodbath: Following the AWA tag team title match that you read about above, they talked to Greg Gagne. He was a babyface friend of the Midnight Rockers that was also the son of AWA promoter Verne Gagne. He says that Marty told him that he thought he broke his ribs and that they're both cut up pretty bad. He says there will be payback for Rose & Summers in the future. This wasn't that good. A generic babyface promo, basically. 3/10

Be Ready: Shawn cuts a promo in the AWA that was about 30 seconds long. No date is given for this interview. He talked about Summers & Rose for most of it. All he said was that the Midnight Rockers are coming for Summers & Rose. I'm still wondering why this was on there. Maybe it was the first promo he did on his own. I have no idea. 4/10

Barbershop: This was from the weekend shows with an airdate of 01/11/92 according to the DVD. This is the segment that signaled the breakup of the Rockers in the WWF. Brutus Beefcake introduces The Rockers. He asks Shawn & Marty if there are problems. Shawn calls himself team captain and proclaims that "there are absolutely no problems" between them. Marty admits that there is friction between them. Marty mentions two separate occasions where Shawn screwed up. Shawn mentions wrestling Ric Flair a month prior to this when Marty rolled Shawn in the ring when he wasn't ready. Marty says he was concerned, but Shawn never asked him to be. Marty wants it to work. He turns his back to Shawn. He says that if he wants to leave he can go on his own or if he wants to remain partners he can shake his hand when he turns back around. Marty turns around, they shake hands, hug and pose together with their arms up. With their arms still up, Shawn separates himself from Marty ever so slightly, then superkicks him. He picks him up and throws him straight through window. They actually show a camera on the other side of the window as if they knew that would happen! Imagine that! My man Bobby Heenan delivered a great line here: "Jannetty tried to escape through the window! What a coward!" Gorilla Monsoon responded with: "Are you blind?" Heenan and Monsoon rule.

For a lot of people in wrestling, you can point at specific matches as defining moments. Shawn certainly had plenty of those. However, this promo right here was the start of something special. It was a heel turn done beautifully and won that set the stage for the career of one of the best wrestlers ever to begin. This was a fantastic moment. 10/10

Ladder Match Extras

There are No Rules: This is from WWF Superstars on 02/26/94, three weeks before WrestleMania 10. On commentary are Vince McMahon and Johnny Polo (aka Raven) while in the ring is Ray Rougeau, who is set to interview Shawn. Michaels comes down to the ring and says there are no rules. According to HBK: "You have to beat your man down, retrieve the ladder, set it up and grab the championship." Those sound like rules to me. He says that he used to be on the same level of other superstars, but he had to climb the ladder to prove he was the top dog in the WWF. He climbs the ladder, sits on it and claims victory is his at WM10. A good promo for wrestling in 1994. It'd be considered lame by today's standards. 7/10

Two Champions: This is the video package that was used to build to the WM10 ladder match. First up is Jack Tunney's announcement on September 23, 1993 (they gave me the date) stripping HBK of the Intercontinental title for "failing to live up to contractual obligations." In real life he had a contract dispute, so it's kinda true. A battle royal would determine two finalists to become the new IC champ. They were Razor Ramon and Rick Martel. Razor won clean with the Razor's Edge to win the title. Shawn returned on December 4, 1993 with the original IC title. In a promo, he says anybody could win a title and be called champion, but he's the real champion. He says, "I'm going to say this nice and slow so everybody can understand. Especially you, chico. There is only one Undisputed WWF Intercontinental Champion, Shawn Michaels." Razor shows up. He calls himself the real IC champ. On Raw a couple days later, HBK sets up Razor. He gets chased by Razor down the aisle, then as he goes through the curtain he runs into a punch from Diesel (Kevin Nash). HBK gives him a Razor's Edge on the floor in the aisle way. At Royal Rumble '94, Razor retained the title against IRS despite interference from HBK. That's all they showed. Nothing else between the Rumble and Mania. Could have been better. 6/10

Ironman Extras

Piper's Announcement: This was on Raw back on 02/26/02 in Huntington, West Virginia. Vince McMahon is in the ring with "the two greatest athletes in WWF history," Bret Hart (the champion) and Shawn Michaels (the challenger). Shawn says that nobody respects Bret more than him. He believes that Bret is the best there was and even though he can't see into the future, he may be the best there ever will be. He can't say he is the best there is because that spot is owned by the Heartbreak Kid. Bret says that HBK is one of the greatest wrestlers he's had the privilege of watching. He says the past five months have been tough for him as champion because his opponents were such big guys. He looks forward to the opportunity to prove he's the best. Once they ring the bell he's in for the biggest dogfight of his life. Shawn says he's in the best condition of his life. Bret says he's like the Energizer bunny that keeps going and going. They're interrupted by WWF President Roddy Piper. He puts both guys over as great wrestlers. He says WrestleMania 12 is the "night to fight." He then announces the Ironman Match for WrestleMania 12 on March 31, 1996 in Anaheim. I remember watching this when it happened. It was a really cool moment back then and it still holds up today. 9/10

Training Video: This is the standard video highlighting the feud. They show the training video of HBK that aired before WM12. Then they showed another video that featured both men. They have comments talking about how much they want it and how hard they are preparing for it. It was Rocky IV style. Almost. I don't know if anything can be as good as that. Considering this was 1996 I'd say it was quite good although I'm probably tough on the score because the quality of videos that WWE has now. 7/10

Ironman Match TV Spot: This is like the previous video although they cover each wrestler's career up to that point instead of showing their training style. Another awesome video reminding me of how much I loved the hype for this match. 8/10

Match of the Year: This is from the 1997 Slammy Awards, which were held prior to WrestleMania that year. Jim Ross presented the award to be given to the best match of 1996. The nominees were: Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind from Mind Games (That's coming up later), Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart from Survivor Series (That was my choice), Undertaker vs. Mankind from Summerslam, Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega in a Strap Match from In Your House in May and Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart from WrestleMania 12. Gee, I wonder what the winner will be. Yep, it's Michaels vs. Hart. Shawn brags about winning while Bret makes a crack about hoping for a rematch one day if Shawn "finds his smile" again. Yep, there'd be a rematch. In Montreal. But there's no mention of that on this DVD. 6/10

Confidential Extra

Before They Were Superstars: This is basically his life before wrestling. I saw this on Confidential when they showed it at some point last year. He talks about being an army brat as a kid, then showed where he lived. They mentioned how he was always getting in fights and how he took up football when he was in school. He was good, but it was not his passion. He started watching wrestling at age 12 despite his parents not wanting him to. They think that he had the dream at age 12 and followed it. His boyhood friend Kenny says that he would practice moves in the pool or the gym at school. He was obsessed with wrestling. After high school, Shawn says he got a "staggering 750" on his SATs, which was minimum to get into Southwest Texas University. Dad says college was a waste. Shawn convinced his dad to let him wrestle and his dad said that at first he didn't like the idea, but he didn't want to face the thought of regretting it later in his life. For $3,000, Jose Lothario trained him. Sent him to Kansas City after three months, where he met Marty Jannetty. Marty helped him when he was starting out. He went back to San Antonio to help Jose's promotion, but Marty was in the AWA. He went up there to form the Midnight Rockers. Soon after that, Pat Patterson saw them on AWA TV and hired them to work with the WWF. He tells the story of how a veteran wrestler lied about an incident in the bar because he didn't like the two young guys. He ended up getting fired soon after. Vince said his boots were made for walking. After going through the territories, they called the WWF back to and got re-hired. He hasn't left since. He says that he thought wrestling was his life, but has since realized it was only a part. He talks about the important role that his wife, son and God play in his life as the piece ends with him walking off with his family. If you want to know how he got started then this is right up your alley. 8/10

Tell Me a Lie: This is the music video that they played to get HBK over as a sympathetic babyface character before Royal Rumble '96. I was a little shocked that the DVD didn't even make mention of the post concussion angle that they did. It was a really cool moment that had a lot of people fooled. Too bad. 7/10

The bonus Easter Egg is a Buddy Rose "Blow Away" Diet Ad. Go to the Extras, Go to the title Be Ready and hit left on the control to reveal this egg. Not much to say about it other than it was different. 5/10

That's the end of disc one.

THE CHAPTERS - DISC TWO

The first thing we see on disc two is: No Holds Barred

Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel @ In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies in a "No Holds Barred" Match for the World Wrestling Federation Title - 04/28/96

Shawn says the direction of the business was going up. Size did not matter. All that mattered was the talent and ability. They started letting people know that rarely is the biggest guy the most talented player on the field. The key to being successful was being more athletic than the other guy. He says wrestling bigger guys was easy because once you stand in the ring with him the story was told. (I assume he means because he was smaller than the opponent, thus creating the mismatch story.) Eventually when you (the small guy) get him down they (the audience) say: "Ooh, maybe you got a chance." They show action leading up to the match as well as promos from each guy. Shawn says that it's not tough to get excited in front of 20,000 people. Regarding this match, he says: "It was a lot of fun to do."

The Match:
Shawn won the title from Bret Hart a month earlier at WrestleMania XII. It was Diesel's (Kevin Nash) last, and by far his best, match in the WWF before moving on to WCW along with Scott Hall to kickstart the NWO angle in the summer of '96. Diesel was acting like a heel prior to the feud and the WWF started mentioning the fact that he and Shawn were good friends in real life. Thus the title of the PPV, "Good Friends, Better Enemies." As much as I dislike Kevin Nash I have to give him credit for doing a good job in terms of establishing his heel character in his last month as part of the WWF. Of course, I'm glad he left because once he did it allowed talented people like Steve Austin and Mick Foley to come in and ultimately lead the WWF to the top of the wrestling mountain. I could preach about this for days but I do want to get to this match. Before the match, Diesel said "he's got something for Vince." That meant confusion to some fans because Vince was only an announcer at the time.

Diesel is billed as a monster that doesn't care about anyone so Shawn does his best to move around early hitting a dropkick and moonsault right off the bat. Outside the ring, Diesel gets in control and as they climb into the ring he takes off the tape on his wrist and chokes out Earl Hebner thus enforcing the "I don't care" attitude that he had at this time. He ties Shawn in the ropes and hits him a couple of times with a chair until Shawn wriggles free and takes the chair himself. He beats on Shawn a little more as Vince the announcer tells Shawn to stay down, which manages to make Diesel look like a bigger monster. Diesel takes Shawn outside and powerbombs him through Vince & Lawler's announce table in what was one of the first times that something like that happened in the WWF. Of course, Shawn sold it as if he were dead. Shawn gets back thanks to help from a fire extinguisher and lays two chair shots that Diesel no sells leading to one of his four moves, a boot to the face. Failed powerbomb attempt gives Shawn the advantage as he sets up for Sweet Chin Music only to have it reversed by Diesel who blocks it and then hits a clothesline. They go outside again where Shawn is dropped on the guardrail. Diesel takes a look at Mad Dog Vachon at ringside and rips off his wooden leg to major heel heat. Just as he goes to strike Shawn with it, Michaels hits him with a low blow out of desperation. Shawn drills him with the leg and hits the Sweet Chin Music for the victory as Diesel rides his truck into WCW. ****3/4

Simply put, this is the best carry job I have ever seen as Shawn sells everything wonderfully. This match really put him over as a credible champion who can take a licking and keep on ticking. It was a wonderful brawl that set the tone for years to come, as the WWF would have many more brawling main events in the years following. Shawn sets another trend, what else is new?

Alternate Match Commentary: On the DVD, one of the best features was the section that allowed you to hear the thoughts of the combatants on the above match. The commentary was done by Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash while Jonathon Coachman asked questions or showed his idiocy, whichever you prefer. All three were in a room wearing headsets, watching a monitor, while the actual match took up about 65% of the screen. The actual match commentary by McMahon & Lawler is off on this part although it's there in the original part. I took some notes of the interesting comments that were touched upon. Here's what I got:

- They both say it was special because Nash was heading to WCW. It was tough for HBK because Nash was his best friend and he wasn't very popular with the other boys. (Cue the HBK haters.)
- Nash claims he didn't want to leave, but the money was too good. He had to think of his wife, who was seven months pregnant at the time. He didn't like leaving his three close friends (HBK, HHH, Waltman), but the money was too great.
- Shawn says this was one of the first hardcore style matches in the WWF. I think he's right.
- Nash says that when the really good friends, like HBK and him, had matches they always brought the physicality out of eachother, especially on TV or PPV.
- Coach asks about Jose Lothario's role. Shawn said in the build to Mania they tried to make things real, so he brought in his trainer to be on camera with him.
- Coach asks about Shawn's back condition at this point (ie. April '96). Shawn said his back and knee bothered him since about '89. He said he didn't worry about injuries because back then you didn't get paid if you missed work. This was a stupid question. Shawn's back injury became a factor in January '98. That question by Coach had NOTHING to do with the match. Did Coach even watch wrestling before he got hired? Even if he didn't, can't the guy do his homework?
- Nash says Shawn had great psychology and the ability to make others look well. Shawn says it was an easy story to tell, visually. It's like the "bully in the schoolyard" thing where the big guy picks on the little guy. He liked working with big guys especially when they were his buddies like Nash.
- Nash says that Shawn was so instinctive in the ring. He'd say stuff like, "get a piece of your body on me, I don't know I'm coming off." Didn't make Nash nervous because they were like brothers who trusted eachother not to get hurt. Shouldn't you be that way with all wrestlers even if you don't like them?
- When Diesel uses a chair, Nash says the WWF went about a year without chairshots. They had a "violence code" at the time. Shawn says that by today's standards this was a hardcore match.
- They say wrestling in title matches is something you want. Shawn compares it to Michael Jordan wanting the ball in his hands at the end of the game.
- Since this was his first PPV title defense, he was motivated to put something on tape that people would remember. He did. On DVD too!
- Nash said Bischoff wondered why he put Shawn over clean like he did. He wanted to do the right thing on the way out because he went through so much with Shawn.
- They reach the spot where Diesel powerbombs HBK through the announce table The tables were different then as they were just a regular table (like the Dudleys use) with a tablecloth and two monitors on it. Nash jokes that nowadays somebody would kip up and start a comeback soon after that.
- Shawn says the match wasn't talked about (with management) until just prior to it. They didn't plan it months in advance, so the table thing was pretty spur of the moment. Nash says the pace of the match was like a real fight. Because of that, they didn't have to worry about pacing that match. I think that's Nash's way of saying he's slow. He's smart; I give him credit for that.
- Coach mentions how the crowd was into everything they did. Nash says Shawn's timing is one of the things that made him great. Plus, he was able to work a great match at Nash's pace.
- The mutual admiration continues as Shawn says he loved wrestling Nash because he felt he could sell moves real well. He says in real life he couldn't get up from blows, but in WWE he could. What? You mean wrestling is fake? Oh no!
- Coach mentions the top rope elbow that Shawn does. Shawn says he didn't realize until later when HHH told him that he could do the elbow with either arm from really far away.
- Shawn said that guys like Nash and Undertaker worked great with him because they sold his offense well. They made it look legit. The key is "working with eachother," he says.
- When Nash pulled off Mad Dog Vachon's leg he had to ask him which leg was the fake one. He knew it was a good idea because it would make the match memorable.
- After Shawn got the pin, Nash said they each had a nice steak in the hotel after the match and realized they had the match they wanted. Shawn agreed with Kev, saying they accomplished their goal.
- Coach ends it by thanking them and that we just watched "In THE House." Wow, that's new. I thought it was called In YOUR House. Man, that guys sucks.

I liked the commentary a lot. I wish Shawn were more vocal because I'd say Nash spoke 60% of the time. I also noticed Shawn is a lot more humble now compared to the RF Shoot Video I saw of him that was from a few years back. The insight they gave into the match was not groundbreaking, but it was still a very cool feature that I'd like to see repeated in the future. The worst part of the alternate commentary was Jonathon Coachman's ineptitude. This could have been so much better with somebody who knew what they were talking about. Couldn't they get JR for twenty minutes? Still, that's only a minor gripe.

Nash, despite my dislike for his work, is a funny guy who comes up with one-liners pretty quickly. Shawn is very honest although, like I said, way humbler than I ever thought he'd be. The downside is that after I watched this I was hoping to see it in every match because it could make it all that much better. Could you imagine HBK talking about HIAC this way? That'd be outstanding. All things considered, I was digging literally everything about this. 9.5/10

Next up is: Mind Games

Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind @ In Your House: Mind Games for the World Wrestling Federation Title - 09/22/96

Shawn said it was a lot of fun because of Mick's style. He thinks he was one of the ones that helped break in a more aggressive style. It made the match more realistic and easier to accept because Mick was doing a lot of crazy stuff that allowed them to take risks. He add that there were subtle things in that match that were different than what he normally did on a number occasions. They show match highlights. They show quotes from Mick's autobiography where he called it the best match of his career. That made Shawn feel good because that's all he ever tried to do.

The Match:
The two craziest bumpers in our generation in a one on one matchup for the world title. What more could a wrestling fan want? The sad thing about it is there was not much of a build for this match as Shawn was coming off a feud with Vader while Mankind was coming off a big win against the Undertaker. While the feud and storyline were mediocre the match itself turned out to be one of the most brutal world title matches that this business has ever seen. Mankind entered in a casket as that remains at ringside to be used as one of the places where these two maniacs (I meant that in a good way) will bump their asses off.

The first two or three minutes of this match are insane as they head outside after about 30 seconds when Mankind lifts up the protective mats exposing the concrete. Shawn dropkicks him on the floor and follows that up with a wonderful looking tope. Shortly thereafter, he whips Mankind back first onto the floor as the back of Foley's head hits the concrete in a disgusting bump. Things slow down a little bit until Shawn gets in control for the next insane bump, which was a suplex on the ring steps that sees Mankind's knees take some tremendous punishment. Shawn works on the knee for a few minutes until Foley turns the tide by reversing a hurricanrana into a stun gun. A pretty cool spot follows afterwards as Mick gets his head stuck in the ropes and manages to put on the mandible claw. Shawn seizes control of a chair and drills Mankind's fingers so he can take away the mandible claw from Mankind. Back in the ring, Shawn takes the vicious backdrop to the floor bump that he does in seemingly every one of his matches. Mankind gets a half dozen near falls before finally showing signs of frustration. Shawn is perched up on the top looking for some move until Mankind gets up, crotches him on the top and back suplexes him through the Spanish announce table although it looks like Foley took a worse bump than Michaels did. The Philly crowd is absolutely berserk here probably because they've seen many table spots in the past (ECW! ECW!) although not many could be more violent than this one. This was one of the most brutal bumps you will ever see probably because it was two guys at once instead of the usual one guy doing all the work. Foley's on the top rope with chair in hand when Shawn dropkicks him down. He covers him but out of nowhere Vader comes in for the Shawn DQ victory after 27 minutes of action. Mankind and Vader try putting Shawn into the casket when 'Taker comes out of the casket to get rid of the heels. Shawn would lose the title two months later to Sid even though Mankind or Vader would have been much better choices. The screwjob finish still pisses me off and so does the fact that these two never had a PPV match against eachother again. Regardless of all that, it is still a terrific match that is all the more special when you consider that this was the first time these two wrestled. *****

In his #1 selling autobiography, Mick Foley had great things to say about this match. Among other things, he said: "We put twenty-seven minutes into what was undoubtedly the finest match of my career. There is no doubt in my mind that it was the best match of the year, and one of the greatest in history." He later went on to say, "It was truly a special night, and try as I might, I don't think I've ever been that good again." I agree with everything Foley had to say about this match because it was his best ever and it was better than anything else in '96 even though the Ironman match gets most of the attention. If somebody asks you why Michaels and Foley retired before age 35 just show them a tape of this match because it's a perfect example of why both guys had to leave this business before they were ready. They were insane bumpers. Not only that, they were also smart wrestlers who knew how to build a great match. This was the best world title match that Shawn ever had and it deserves to be recognized as such because it was fantastic from start to finish.

Next up is (cue to scary music): Hell in a Cell

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker @ In Your House: Badd Blood - 10/05/97
Shawn says they were rolling with the DX thing. They had the opportunity to turn things up. He said they thought they were pushing the envelope before, but now they were REALLY pushing it. What they said, what they did, they started using the obnoxious humor from the dressing room and put it out on TV. They show clips of DX stuff including the famous line: "I did not sleep with that young intern, I was up all night!!" Shawn says it really worked and they had a lot of fun doing it. He says from a creative standpoint it was like running down the street naked, so once you're out there like that there's no going back. Once you start doing that kind of stuff, you can really do crazy things. You can see how far you can go and people seemed to get a charge out of it. He said it was fun to take the business to places it hasn't been before (i.e. raunchy, obnoxious, etc.)

Regarding HIAC, Shawn says they did a lumberjack match the month before. (That's wrong actually. It was just a wild brawl that ended up with most of the locker room coming out.) He said the next step was a cage, but they didn't want that stupid blue cage because it hurt so much (it was used for Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart @ Summerslam '94 among others). He talks about remembering a Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich match from years before having a top on the cage, so when they suggested it to Vince he decided to run with it. When they saw the cage in St. Louis he was amazed by that. First thing he thought of was: "Can we do something off the top?" He says, "all the matches are special but that one was really, really fun." He said he had 15 stitches on the outside of his head and 16 on the inside. Lastly, he says: "It was a tremendously fun match to be a part of."

The Match:
The first ever Hell in a Cell match is the greatest match in the career of Shawn Michaels. It came at a time in his career where he had a lot of doubters. Even though the WWF was making significant strides in '97 it was a tough year for Shawn. Among other things, he dealt with a knee injury, a broken smile (ha!), a backstage fight with Bret Hart and pressure from up and coming WWF superstars, namely Steve Austin and Mick Foley, that wanted his spot. They wanted to be the showstopper. They wanted to be the icon. They wanted to be the main event. They had to wait though because Shawn still had the goods and he proved that on this October evening in St. Louis (Go Rams!). This match was the follow up to their match at Ground Zero (match #17 on this list) that ended in a DQ. The WWF's hierarchy felt that the best way to settle this feud would be to stick these two in a steel cage that would surround the ring. This would be to the Undertaker's advantage because he was the big, overpowering babyface while Shawn feared for his life due to the fact that his DX allies would not be able to help him out at ringside. The heat for this match was absolutely phenomenal, as was the feud, which was the deciding factor in why I decided to place this match at the top of the list.

To start out, Shawn runs around the ring because he's literally scared of 'Taker, who manages to slow him down with a big boot to the face. As is the case for most of the match, 'Taker dominates early sending Shawn outside the ring via back body drop over the top that forces Shawn to land back first on the mats with his feet up against the cage. 'Taker uses power moves like clotheslines and ramming Shawn's back into the cage that leads to the "physical dissention" of Michaels. When Shawn tries to mount a comeback 'Taker manages to drill Shawn with a flurry of clotheslines and punches that the crowd absolutely loves. These clotheslines and tosses into the cage look really stiff but this is the best match of Shawn's career so what do you expect? When 'Taker throws Shawn back in, HBK seizes the opportunity by pushing 'Taker off of the apron sending him into the cage in what can be considered a good bump for 'Taker. Shawn climbs up the cage and drops an elbow in one of my favourite spots of this match. Shawn realizes he needs to get sadistic so he picks up the steel steps and drills 'Taker in the back rather viciously. He piledrives 'Taker on the ring steps followed up by a double axe off the top to the floor ala Randy Savage. Sadistic Shawn brings in a steel chair that he uses on 'Taker twice only to have the dead man kick out after two. Shawn's frustrated now. 'Taker gets to his feet, whips Shawn into the ropes and gives him a back body drop over the top rope that sends HBK onto a cameraman at ringside. After laying a beating on the cameraman Shawn hits UT with the usual flying forearm, top rope elbow and a superkick that should have finished off 'Taker. However, it only serves as a wakeup call that causes the Undertaker to snap forcing Shawn to run out of the door that was opened so that EMT's could come help the camera guy who was really some local indy wrestler. Fabulous booking here. 'Taker gets control outside, slingshots Shawn into the cage that sees Shawn do one of the best blade jobs ever. How come he never did blade jobs before? Hmmm, I wonder. Seriously, of all the matches Shawn had I can only think of a handful where he actually bled.

Shawn realizes that the only way to get away from the Undertaker is to go on top of the cage so he climbs up with 'Taker in hot pursuit. While there, 'Taker manhandles Shawn again until Shawn reaches the other side of the cage when everybody watching at home realizes that the only way to go from there is down. He drops down to the side of the cage with his fingers on the top so 'Taker kicks them as Shawn falls eight feet below onto, you guessed it, the Spanish announce table in what is one of the greatest bumps this business has ever seen. 'Taker brings him back inside where he gives him a massive chokeslam off of the top rope. Shawn is motionless so 'Taker decides to grab a chair. He swings so hard that it would have made Mark McGwire proud. He absolutely drills Michaels to a huge pop thanks in part to the storyline from Raw where Shawn used a chair to beat the crap out of 'Taker. Fantastic booking. Once again, psychology finds its way into an HBK match. Just as 'Taker's ready to finish Shawn off the organ plays and out comes Kane for his long awaited debut. He comes in, hits a tombstone on 'Taker and Michaels rolls over for the pinfall and the tainted victory. *****

I never thought he could top the bumping performance he did against Diesel in their April '96 match but this was an absolutely brutal match. The Undertaker deserves a lot of credit too as he played the role of a monster real well. When he did sell a move he did a good job of it compared to some of his previous efforts. There are people who frown on this match because of the finish but I think the finish worked well since it was a part of the storyline. It set up a Kane/Taker feud that was actually pretty good thanks in large part to the memorable debut Kane made here. The reason I think this match is Shawn's best ever is that he was able to show his whole arsenal for the entire 20+ minutes. It was arguably his best feud ever, he was cutting his greatest promos around this time and this was the match that garnered the most heel heat for him. Plus, it seemed as though he was 100% healthy for the first time in months. His offense was impressive considering he was giving up 80+ pounds and his bumping here is nothing short of extraordinary. This match solidified his spot in history as the greatest wrestler to ever set foot in a wrestling ring. As great as Ric Flair was, he was not as good as Shawn was in his prime. Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Shawn's performance helped make this match one of the greatest matches in the history of wrestling. If I could give it a higher rating I would. It's the greatest match of the career of the best wrestler that ever lived. Period. (Note: I've written an in-depth column about this match. I'll post the link at the end of the review.)

Next up is: The Comeback

Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H @ Summerslam - 08/28/02
Shawn says that the decision to wrestle again was something he felt he was led to do. It was the first time he felt he could do it at the level he was before. "Anybody can get in the ring, but can you do it as well as you did before?" He felt that he had a pretty decent level of talent left. He didn't know if he wanted to take up that challenge again. He said he was very satisfied it. He thought it was, "over and above what anybody expected of it." He closed by saying: "I thought it was fantastic and I know that it will stand over the test of time."

The Match
The build for this match was outstanding. There were several things that I liked about it. I think the best part was that Triple H turned heel during this feud. That was needed badly because he was drowning like a man that couldn't swim as a babyface. The premise behind the match was pretty simple. Here you had Triple H, a recent Undisputed Champion, challenging against his former mentor who hadn't had a match in over four years due to major back surgery. Heading into the match, nobody really knew what Shawn could do. Would he be able to move as fast? Would he be able to bump as much? Would his offense be as good? The answers were quickly answered in a match that I'd consider being one of the more important matches in Shawn's career.

This was a "non-sanctioned" match, which basically made it like a street fight or hardcore match that allowed anything to happen. The story of the match was great as HBK started it out as a house of fire. He came at Triple H with everything, drilling him trash cans and busting out some of his patented moves at the same time. The match started to become special once Triple H went on offense. Once he gave Shawn a sideslam about five minutes in the story was unfolding. Suddenly, Shawn was weak. His back would be a problem and everytime HHH did a move on it, the crowd gasped for Shawn. It was beautiful wrestling storytelling. One of the more memorable moves by HHH was a backbreaker on a chair that was in its natural position. The crowd went nuts for that, as they should have. The match went into the third gear a little bit later as Shawn started using furniture like a ladder and table to get the advantage again. The most memorable moment in the match came about 25 minutes in when Shawn drilled HHH in the head with a fire extinguisher, laying him up on the table that was placed at ringside. He rolled back in the ring, climbed up to the top and dove off with an incredible splash that sent both men through the table hard. Another sick spot was the patented elbow drop off the top of the ladder. All of these moves proved that Shawn would do whatever it took to win the match. The finish was outstanding. Shawn went for the superkick, Triple H blocked it as the crowd gasped, but Shawn fought out of it and won with a rollup for the victory. ****1/2

This match proved to everybody that even in his mid-30s with a bad back, Shawn could still go. Compared to the other matches he's had, it's not really the same. It wasn't crisp like his others. There were several points in the match that were lagging, which prevented it from an even higher rating. Still, this match was very historic because it was Shawn's last hurrah, or so we thought. He would have more matches in him, and he continues to have more, but this match will always stick out as the comeback match that proved that HBK, a few pounds lighter and four years older, could still deliver the goods.

THE EXTRAS - DISC TWO

Once again, I think I'll just use the 1-10 scale for rating the extras. 10 = Great, 1 = Bad. Got it? Good.

No Holds Barred Extras

Diesel Interview: This was Diesel cutting a promo on HBK backstage at a show in Germany. He's not worried about the belt. He says the people know he's the leader of the New Generation (the company tag line at the time). He calls HBK dime a dozen while he's a genetic wonder (so many jokes, so little time). He threatens doing something evil to "big man" at ringside. That would be Vince. I laughed twice at this serious promo. First time was when he called himself the leader of the New Generation. Even back in 1996, Nash looked old. He's the leader of nothing. Maybe the injury section of the hospital. Second time was when he called himself a genetic wonder. No Nash, you're tall. That's it. The only wonder is that you've made as much money as you have. 5/10

Big Daddy Cool: Diesel cuts a promo in front of the WWF logo. He says HBK has changed, but he's the remedy. "This is not some 60 minute aerobics thing," says Nash referring to the Ironman from the month before. No, this is a fight. Now Shawn cuts a promo at WWF studios. Good intensity by HBK saying his style is whatever he wants it to be. 7/10

Good Friends: Just a thirty second TV spot for the match. 6/10

Better Enemies: Another promo, this one is forty seconds. "When it's over, only their hatred will survive," says the announcer guy with the cool voice. I liked that line. 7/10

In Your House: A nice video package narrated by former WWF stooge announcer Todd Pettengill highlighting the feud. It covers their friendship, highlighted by Diesel's heel turn at the start of '96 as well as HBK's run to become the champion (winning the Rumble, then beating Bret). After the video we get a short promo from HBK saying he's not about to lose the title while Diesel promises something for Vince and the Kliqsters (the Kliq is what Shawn called his fans at the time). Good stuff. 7/10

Mind Games Extras

Have a Nice Day: Thirty second promo where WWF voice guy urges us to pray that HBK can stop the madness that is Mankind. 7/10

Slam Jam Promo: Shawn cuts a promo on Mankind that's about 45 seconds long. He says something to the effect of: "If you think you're nuts, wait till you meet us (the Kliq and him)." He's had better promos. 6/10

Mankind Promo: Mankind and Paul Bearer are in the dark boiler room. Mankind asks: "When I win the World Title will that make me a sexy boy? Will the girls want to kiss me? Or will they run away?" Good stuff. I loved that character, especially in his early days. Foley rules. 8/10

Brain Surgeon: This is from Superstars on 09/22/96, which would mean the Sunday morning of the actual match. Brian Pillman is talking to Pettengill, but HBK kicks him out saying it's his time to get whacky. He said it, not me. He's not a brain surgeon, but he is the WWF champion. He promises the fans something they've never seen before. He runs on adrenaline and emotion and tonight he'll run hard. Then he delivers one of his all time best lines: "Mindgames? Ha, I don't got a mind to play games with." What a cool line that was. Very good promo. 8.5/10

Pre-Match Interview: This is from the PPV with Kevin Kelly just before the match was to begin. He says he never gets nervous because he can outwrestle anybody, but now he's wrestling the wackiest guy. He's going to find a way to get it done. They're trying to play mind games, but there's not a lot upstairs for HBK. He has no idea what to do once he gets out there, so he'll just think on the job.

Hell in a Cell Extras

Hell in a Cell TV Spot: A video about 45 seconds long highlighting the storyline. The usual good stuff from the production crew. The quality is better here than in the others before it because it was a year later. 7.5/10

Building Hell: They show constructing workers building the actual Cell while McMahon & Lawler talk about the match. Vince says Shawn will pay. I think they showed this on Raw at some point before the match. 6/10

Blaze of Glory: This is Shawn in the ring being interviewed by Jim Ross on 09/15/97 in Muncie, Indiana on Raw. This would be after his heel turn from the month before. He calls himself a desperate man. He blames the powers that be for causing this match by making him be the referee at Summerslam. He got rewarded by wrestling the Undertaker, so he gave the fans the best match at that PPV (Ground Zero in September '97) because, "I can and that's what I do." He gets rewarded for that by being, "stuck in a cell with death itself." He says he gets the first Hell in a Cell match because: "I'm the man and I can." He says if he goes down he's bringing everybody with him and he'll go down in a, "Blaze of Glory." He says everybody is going to the depths of hell. Undertaker cuts a promo on the Titantron from behind a cage where he says: "The end is near." Bad Blood will be Shawn's final resting place. Shawn promises Undertaker that he'll taste his blood again. This promo ruled on every level. Shawn's levels of cockiness were at an all time high here. Undertaker cut a short promo that was perfect for the situation because he didn't need to talk all that much. I LOVED this feud. 9.5/10

Good News, Bad News: This is Shawn's backstage promo before the match began. He's standing there with Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude (that's who was DX at the time). He said the "good news is that my coveted European Title isn't on the line" with the word coveted being LOADED with sarcasm. He says he'll get through the match because he's the showstopper, headliner and main event. "The fact of the matter is ain't nobody crazy enough to do this gig 'cept for the Heartbreak Kid." He's going to show why he's the "number one guy in the business today." He did. Another awesome promo. I miss this stuff. I really do. 9/10

Badd Blood: This is a Michael Cole (I guess awesome announcer guy was on vacation) voiced promo highlighting the heel turn of HBK. Included is part of his memorable Raw speech talking about Summerslam. For those that don't know, Shawn was the referee in the match where his rival Bret Hart won the title from the Undertaker. For those that don't know, Shawn accidentally hit Undertaker in the head with a chair after Bret spit on him. Bret pinned Undertaker and Shawn counted the victory. Says Shawn: "So let me get this straight. You (Vince, in ring with Shawn), The Undertaker and, the best that I can tell, all the fans of the WWF are dumping this in MY lap? It's just like all of the fans of the WWF to not take responsibility for themselves and pass the buck onto the Heartbreak Kid because everybody knows I don't give a damn what anybody thinks of me." They show his vicious chair shots on Undertaker from Raw where he busted him open. The video ends with Undertaker rising up in a body bag while HBK, and the rest of DX, looks scared. Like I said before, THIS FEUD RULED! 9/10

The Comeback Extras

Nothing Left: Video package building up the HHH/HBK friendship. They show when Triple H turned heel on him about a month before Summerslam. They show the cool moment when the security camera shows that it was Triple H who put Shawn's head through a car window. Cut to HBK sitting in a wheelchair on the satellite feed: "It was you, Hunter!" Shawn says that the doctors think he'll be 100% ready by Summerslam. Awesome video. This was the best video package on here although that's not a shock because it came five years after the others. By this point, the WWE production crew had reached an unparalleled level of awesomeness. 10/10

Hammered: Straight from Summerslam, they show Triple H's sledgehammer shot to the back from after the match. Jim Ross was awesome in his call. "Do you have no soul, you son of a bitch?" Just an angle to keep Shawn out of action until he wrestled again three months later at Survivor Series. 7.5/10

Photo Gallery: These are pictures of the matches that are on both DVDs.

Easter Egg: Lost My Smile To access this: Go to the Extras Menu, Go to the title "Photo Gallery" then hit Left on the control. This is from early February 1997. Shawn gives up the title in his famous "I lost my smile" speech. Shawn claimed he had a knee injury that he didn't know if he could recover from, he says. This was pretty famous, especially for people that dislike Shawn because there were rumors that he was supposed to drop the title to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13, but used this knee injury excuse to get out of it. He didn't wrestle for three months after this speech. He never did get the surgery that he thought he would need. I doubt the average fan would even know what this was about if they weren't watching in 1997. Sucks to be them. 7.5/10

Final Thoughts
As you could probably tell, I really liked this DVD. The selection of the matches were good choices. All of the WWF matches that they picked were ones that I'd rate among Shawn's top seven matches ever, which is perfectly fine with me. The AWA match was good, but he had better matches as Rocker in the WWF. (At least the one against the Orient Express at Royal Rumble 1991.) I guess they chose that to show us the progress he made over the years. That's fine.

There are, however, a couple of things I would have loved to see on the DVD:

- A sit-down interview with HBK done by Jim Ross. Why Ross? Because he knows about this stuff. He was around during the key events and if he wasn't he knows about them. Do something where they talk about some other moments from his career that weren't on this DVD. It wouldn't have to be long. Ten minutes would have been fine. While he's talking, they could insert some videos of the things he's talking about. For example, ask Shawn about the Barbershop incident. They showed it, but what did he think about it? They made absolutely no mention of Shawn winning two Royal Rumbles in a row. There was nothing covering the awesome post-concussion worked shoot angle from late 1995 or anything like that. To close the interview they could have done a word association type thing with him. I doubt he would have bashed anybody, so what harm could it do?

- More match commentary. I loved the commentary that he did with Nash despite Coachman's ineptitude. They could have done this in another way. I don't need to see the guys talking. Just put it on there as an audio option. While you're at it, get Shawn and his opponent to talk about the other matches. I would have loved to see Foley or Undertaker or HHH join Shawn in talking about their matches with him. It would provide some great insight from not only Shawn, but his opponents as well. Plus, I think more people would have bought the DVD if they know that there'd be additional commentary on every match or at least more than just one match. Like I said, it's just an additional audio feature. It's not hard to do. Just like a director's commentary on a movie DVD. It's the same thing.

- No mention of Survivor Series '97 whatsoever. I find that a little weird considering he was a major player in that whole situation. Not only that, but they did a whole thing on Confidential where they interviewed him about it. I believe it's on the "Best of Confidential" DVD, which is probably why they didn't include it here. I just think it's a little weird to make no mention about it at all.

I understand that there's a limit on what you can put on a DVD. However, the suggestions that I offered above would take up a miniscule amount of space. It could have been done pretty easily.

For the most part, this DVD is outstanding. It will show you everything from starting out as a babyface tag team wrestler to how he was a young, cocky heel who turned into a plucky babyface world champion. Then as you go to the Hell in a Cell section you'll see how good he was as a top level heel while the comeback will allow you to reminisce about his return as a legendary babyface competitor.

If you're a diehard HBK fan like me with all of his tapes and matches it's still good because it provides you with a different look at all those matches. I think it's cool to have some of these matches in DVD form as well as VHS because the quality is just so much better on DVD. If you never saw HBK in his prime or only saw a little bit, then this DVD is a must buy. Overall, on the ten point scale, I'd give Shawn Michaels: From The Vault a.

9.5 - In other words, GO CHECK IT OUT NOW!

Before I go, here are some links to some other things I've written about Shawn Michaels in the past:
Shawn Michaels' Twenty Greatest Matches - A listing and in depth write-up of the best matches in the career of Shawn Michaels.
Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker - All about that one match.
Shawn Michaels' Biography - This covers his entire career from his start in the WWF to his last match as an active competitor at WrestleMania 14 against Steve Austin.

If you have any feedback for me I'd love to know what you think. Please email me at wwfjohnc@hotmail.com and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Smell ya later, John C. - wwfjohnc@hotmail.com AOLIM: JohnC1104

Rewind