Sunday, May 4, 2014

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Coliseum Video: Shawn Michaels' Greatest Hits



Hey guys. Continuing my trek thru ALL my tapes, is another Coliseum Video, this one being "Shawn Micheals: Best HITS from the heartbreak Kid!" Well, it's Shawn, so lets hope it's good. I mean, we can see the Survivor Series 1992 match, him and Marty Jannety, the two ladder matches. This tape should rock. (this is sarcasm... you'll see why later.) (This was originally written in 2000 – apparently a time before I learned how to spell the subjects name)


- With that in mind, released in 1996, it's "Shawn Micheals' Greatest hits."

I use this system: ***** - Excellent **** - Very Good *** - Good **- Okay * - Decent DUD - Awful.

- Decent video opens us up. Not Mr. McMahon's utopia, or the opening from WM XIV, but good enough.

- Dok Hendrix hosts this. Joy. He's wearing the shirt from the last video I reviewed. Huh. (They probably just taped it the same day. Relax. It’s not a conspiracy)

- Ladder Match: Shawn Micheals vs. Razor Ramon: For the IC belt, from SummerSlam 1995. Joined in progress as Shawn tips the ladder over, and Razor falls. Shawn climbs, and Razor does the usual pantsing. Shawn then gets tipped over, and the ladder lands right on his knee. Razor then works the knee for like 5 minutes, which is SO boring. I mean, it's good psychology, but Razor stomping, and hitting the knee is slow after a while. Damn, the crowd is hot. Were ALL WWF PPV's in 1995 in Pennsylvania? KOTR, SummerSlam, and IYH in December, and maybe others. Vicious bump by Shawn, getting slammed to the ladder. More knee working, and Shawn tries a comeback, but Razor stops that in a hurry, and rams him knee first to the ladder. Whoa, Razor using a shit load of psychology. Guess he ain't drunk tonight. This knee working is getting REALLY annoying. Razor tries to climb, but here's Shawn with an axehandle to dump him. That was cool. The announcers keep selling this as such an epic. I mean, yeah it's good, but I've seen better. Not only better in general, better from THESE TWO! Shawn side suplexes him OFF THE LADDER. Pretty good bump. Shawn goes on the offensive, just generally beating the hell out of Hall, who is bumping nicely. A lot of "whip to the ladder" spots by HBK, as the crowd cheers him the whole way. Shawn slams him to the mat, and sets up the ladder. He goes up, and hits a semi-screwed up moonsault, and hammers him. He climbs it again, crosses himself for effect, and misses a suicide splash. Higher then the WM X one. Both scale the ladder, as Dok annoys the hell out of me. They trade rights on the top, and both get crotched on the top. Things move slowly for a while, until Razor looks under the ring and.... FINDS NOTHING! He goes to the other side, and pulls out a ladder, and it's dueling ladders. Razor's Edge from the ladder, and everyone's dead. Both climb after like an hour, and Shawn superkicks him off, and dives at the belt, but he can't get it. He tries again, and misses. He gets REALLY frustrated, and goes again to win, with a HUGE pop. Babyface embrace, and we're done. Rating? Well, it's good, but not THAT good. Still, *** 3/4.

- Shawn Micheals vs. Yokozuna: From RAW in 1996. Shawn plays the crowd, and gets GREAT reactions. Why is this match here? Shawn/Yoko? Lets see how he carries this. Power stuff by Yoko to start, and Shawn sells nicely. Shawn comes back with his speed, and knocks him to the floor. This is a few weeks before IYH in Feb. 1996. Owen comes out to cheer on Yoko, and intimidate Shawn. Shawn gets ariel to take it to Yoko. Did the WWF go to the same building every week in 1996? Small place, BTW. Slow match, as Owen keeps attacking Shawn on the floor while Yoko distracts the ref. After Yoko gets FIVE MINUTES of Shawn on the floor in count-out situation, while the fat man stands in the ring, he gets him back in, and applies a nerve hold. WHY? Shawn fights his way out, and controls with the usual. Boring match, no wonder WCW was killing them. Owen interference backfires, and the superkick ends it. 1/2 *. I believe Yoko then was fired from Camp Cornette, and attacked them, but they don't show it.

- Shawn Micheals vs. Tatanka: From Superstars. Why the hell is Shawn vs. TATANKA on freakin' Superstars on this. This is the weekend before the previous match, as they plug that match. (If they weren’t going to edit the commentary, they could have at least gone in order. Idiots) Vince, Ross and Hennig are the commentators. Weird trio. I remember watching this live on TV, and thinking it was dumb. (I actually still remember watching this in 1996. No idea why this made such an impression on me) Shawn makes racial jokes and hand jesters to piss Tatanka off. Tatanka controls to start, but Shawn quickly comes back with his great offense, and actually works in a rana. Basically a filler match, to let Shawn play with the crowd. WEIRD moment, Tatanka on the floor, and a FIVE YEAR OLD gives him the finger. Weird to see. More racism by Shawn, and he kicks more ass. This is such a squash, but Tatanka gets in token offense. They say Shawn took a big beating during the commercial, but since that is obviously cut, I am thankful, since Tatanka's offense sucks. (Did nine Marines pop out of the crowd, or something?) HBK comes back, and kills him to big pops with the usual offense. Shawn chases DiBiase, and Tatanka takes control. Miscommunication spot allows a superkick, and goodnight. They sell it like a HUGE victory or something. ** 1/4. Turned out to be okay.

- Dok talks about whatever to bore me.

- Highlights of Shawn winning the rumble, in nothing of interest. This is basically to build to Shawn/Owen.

- Speaking of which, next is Shawn Micheals vs. Owen Hart: From IYH in Feb 1996. FINALLY a good match. Shawn takes his sweet time to get to the ring. Once he gets there, he quickly ejects Owen, and dances. I will review IYH from Feb. 1996 later. Shawn plays with the crowd so much, and is absolutely GREAT. Shoving match to start, and they work a very basic sequence, to allow Shawn to slap hands. Tape cuts to Shawn suplexing Owen on the floor, then charging him, and getting power slammed. Back in, and Owen controls with some nice stuff. Crowd is *SO* into Shawn, and so was I back then. Shawn with a BEAUTIFUL roll up, and then takes a Flair flip in the corner, and Hart controls. Owen hooks the Sharpshooter to give the crowd a heart attack. Long sequence in the Sharpshooter, and HBK makes the ropes. Owen puts the boots to him, and continues to work him over, until Shawn with ANOTHER beautiful roll up for 2. Owen pops up, and nails the insugery, (‘enzuigiri’ maybe?) which was serious shit at the time, because that move "put Shawn on the shelf" for a month or so in late 1995. I miss both. Odd enough, Owen is dead, Shawn is retired, and the ref. is working a huge angle on RAW. Huh. Insugery gets 2, BTW. Owen misses a charge in the corner to get crotched, and Shawn works him over with his usual offensive moves. Crowd is cheering HBK on, and he hammers on Owen, then whips him to the corner, and hits a flying forearm. Shawn with a big elbow from the top. he disposes of Jimmy Cornette, and Superkick is blocked, insugery misses, and another superkick ends it for a huge pop. *** 1/4. Good match!

- Dok closes.

- Bottom Line: Well, up's and down's folks. Ladder match is at around ****, and the Owen/Shawn match is around ***. But Yoko/Shawn is pretty bad, and the Tatanka one is okay. I could have made a MUCH better tape to compact in one hour then this, but still, the first match and the last match make this a recommendation. 3 out of 4 ain't bad at all.

Recommended, if you can find it.

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