Goody Bag V: Kliq Picks

 

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon v Diesel: From Superstars, April 30 1994 (taped April 13). Razor doesn't wait for the bell, charging Diesel, and taking the fight to him with right hands. Razor's Edge early on, but Diesel counters with a backdrop. He tries to follow-up with a big boot, but Ramon ducks it, and knocks the challenger out of the ring with a series of rights. Diesel manages to snap the champs throat across the top rope on the way back in, however, and a short-clothesline leads to a pair of elbows in the corner, followed by a pair of knees. Pair of corner whips setup a sidewalk slam for two, and the snake-eyes sets up the straddling ropechoke. Man, this is like Diesel's Greatest Hits here. Elbowdrop gets two, and Diesel tries a headvice, but Ramon escapes with an electric chair for two. That's something you'd never, ever see Nash allowing anyone but one of his Kliq buddies to pull off. Razor starts mounting his comeback, and a 2^nd rope flying bulldog is worth two. Bodyslam gets two, but a distraction from Shawn Michaels allows Diesel to throw a knee, and he unloads in the corner as Michaels removes a turnbuckle pad. Ramon tries to reverse Diesel into it, but ends up hitting the exposed steel himself, and the Jackknife wins Diesel his first title at 7:43. Good little match too, with lots of energy. ** ½

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Shawn Michaels and Diesel v Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid: From Action Zone, October 30 1994 (taped September 28). The heels attack as Razor busies himself with taking off all of his gold, but stereo cross corner whips gets reversed, and Diesel gets clotheslined to the outside. Ramon immediately capitalizes with the Razor's Edge on Michaels, but Diesel saves at two, and the tag champs decide to bail. Ramon drags Michaels back for Kid to schoolboy for two, so Shawn goes to the eyes, and cracks Kid with an elbowsmash in the corner - only for a cross corner whip to get reversed, and Kid to hit a backdrop. Kid with a flying bodypress for two, and a victory roll is worth two. Rana, but Michaels counters with a powerbomb, and tags out to Big Daddy Cool. Diesel throws Kid around the ring with ease, but the tenacious little monkey keeps fighting, so Diesel blocks a sunset flip with a wild chokeslam. Kid got some hang time there! Flapjack, but Kid counters with a dropkick, and passes to Ramon. Razor slugs Diesel down and hits a bodyslam for two, but a short-clothesline is reversed, and the heels cut the ring in half with the type of expert level efficiency usually reserved for much more experienced teams. Remember that Shawn and Diesel just MET about a year before this, and didn't start regularly teaming until well after that. I honestly believe that they had the potential to be one of the best teams ever, but had the misfortune of being around during a time when the field of tag teams was about at its absolute nadir. Ramon fights out of a chinlock from Shawn with a backslide for two, but Michaels pops him with a dropkick to keep control, and passes back to Diesel to school this fool with a snake-eyes. I should note that we're only about ten minutes into this, and already they've done more than most guys do in twenty. Diesel with a straddling ropechoke and a pair of elbowdrops for two, but Ramon escapes a headvise, so Shawn takes a cheap shot to allow Diesel to blast him with a jumping shoulderblock for two. Shawn with an abdominal stretch while using Diesel for leverage, and they do an illegal switch behind the referee's back while Kid comes in to protest. Razor manages to fight Shawn off with a chokeslam long enough to get the tag to Kid, but the referee misses it thanks to some well timed cheating! That allows Diesel to hold Razor for Shawn to Superkick, but Ramon ducks, and Michaels cracks his partner with it! That leaves Diesel down and out, and Razor is able to make the real tag. Kid bounces Shawn around like a pinball, and knocks him to the outside for a somersault plancha. Back in with a missile dropkick for two, and Ramon comes in with a fallaway slam - then follows it up by throwing Kid into Michaels with a fallaway slam! Diesel is still out cold as Razor tries a side superplex on Shawn - Michaels countering with a bodyblock, but Ramon rolling through for two. Razor with a bodyslam, and he tags Kid for a rocket launcher for two. Shawn desperately tries to revive Diesel, but he's still not stirring, and Ramon clotheslines Shawn for two. Michaels desperately tries to hang on with a sleeper, but Kid breaks it up a two arm drops - leaving both men looking up at the lights, as Diesel finally starts to stir on the floor. He's not ready for a tag though, and Ramon is able to hit Michaels with a slingshot for the tag to Kid! Kid comes in with a flying legdrop for two, but a criss cross ends in Diesel taking his head off with a big boot as he climbs back in, and Michaels falls on top for the pin at 22:02! Awesome! One of the best tag matches ever, and a personal favorite of mine that I remember going bonkers for in 1994. And it totally holds up today! *****

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Buddy Landel: From SMW's SuperBowl of Wrestling card, August 4 1995. It's so weird seeing Shawn do his Sexy Boy routine in a non-WWF ring. Landel tries to psyche Michaels out in the early going, but gets paint brushed for his efforts. Buddy manages to throw a knee, but an Irish whip gets reversed, and Landel narrowly dodges the Superkick. He bails to the floor to regroup, and they trade headlocks on the way back in. Michaels catches him with a rana during a criss cross, and a hiptoss follows - Landel stalling between each sequence. Buddy manages to pound him in the corner, but Shawn turns the tables, and Landel flops after a ten-punch count. Shawn misses a charge in the corner, however, and Landel capitalizes by working the arm and shoulder. Shawn bumps to the outside off a cross corner whip (though he wisely falls to the apron first instead of taking a bump on the unprotected concrete), and Buddy rams him into the post out there. Inside, it gets two, but Shawn wins a slugfest for two. He starts mounting his comeback with a diving double-ax, and a bodyslam sets up a flying elbowdrop for two. Superkick, but Landel ducks, so Shawn reroutes with a rollup - Buddy reversing for two. Shawn tries to keep control with a cross corner whip, but Landel reverses to setup a side suplex - Michaels able to block, but bumping the referee in the process. That brings Jim Cornette in, but Shawn takes him out - though the distraction allows Landel to hit a DDT. The referee recovers, but doesn't count the pin since he sees Cornette's tennis racket in the ring, and Shawn puts Buddy away with the Superkick at 13:44 as Landel argues with the referee. This was a lot slower and more Southern than you'd expect from Michaels, though I understand why. * ¼

Shawn Michaels v 1-2-3 Kid: From Superstars, April 27 1996 (taped April 2). Shawn is the WWF Champion, but this is non-title. A distraction from Ted DiBiase allows Kid to sneak attack, but Michaels sees it coming, and sends him to the heavens with a backdrop, then clotheslines Kid over the top. Back in, Kid tries a kick combo, but Michaels wins a criss cross with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, then snapmares him over for a chinlock. Kid escapes and tries a sunset flip, but Michaels decks him to block, and grabs a standing side-headlock. Kid slugs out of that, but misses a spin heel kick - only for Michaels to miss a stinger splash, and get nailed with a corner dropkick for two. Lightning kicks in the corner and a schoolboy get two, and a snapmare sets up a legdrop for two. Bodyslam sets up a flying somersault legdrop, but Michaels rolls out of the way, and hits him with a vicious piledriver! I mean, fuck! No wonder Kid had so many neck injuries! Diving double-ax and a powerslam setup the flying elbowdrop, and Kid takes another crazy bump as Michaels press-slams him over the top to the floor! Don't get to see THAT too often from Shawn! He dives out after kid with a slingshot splash, so DiBiase runs interference again, and Kid tries a baseball slide, but Shawn dodges, and hiptosses him on the floor, then posts him for good measure. Back in for a flying axehandle, and the Superkick finishes at 8:00. This was little more than a competitive squash, but man Kid earned his money tonight - bumping like an absolute mad man! *** ¼