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The first and best HBK DVD set.
Publisher: Shock
Thu, 1 January 1970
by: The Gimmick
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He is known as the show stopper. The main event. The icon that can still go. He is Shawn Michaels; “The Heart Break Kid” and he lives up to all those monikers and then some. For ten years he delighted audiences everywhere with his high flying style of wrestling. Meeting and defeating some the greats the industry has ever seen. Then a career ending back injury grounded the legend in his tracks for over five years. Then, just as his millions of fans thought they would never see him in action again, he returned. And he returned with a vengeance. All this is chronicled in a DVD entitled Shawn Michaels: From the Vault. (Man, I hope Shawn reads this and thanks me for building him up like that.)
I’m only kidding! He needs no false praise. The praise he gets, he deserves. And what we get from this 2 DVD set is approximately 6 hours of classic matches and interviews/pro-mo’s from his long career. The disc starts out with a classic AWA (American Wrestling Association) Tag Team Match from 1986 between The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) facing “Pretty Boy” Doug Somers and “Playboy” Buddy Rose for the AWA Tag Team Championship. The match itself started out as a classic (classic in the literal sense) tag team match but deteriorated into a bloody brawl. Which, back in those days, was as rare as an underprivileged Liberal Party Member. The thing that stands out for me is Shawn’s wrestling style. It hasn’t changed all that much from ‘86 to today, quite an accomplishment!
We next skip forward some eight years to the match that put him on the map. It was his WWF Intercontinental Title match against Razor Ramon. It was at Wrestlemania X and it was a “Ladder Match”. I remember seeing this for the first time and cringing every time either of them hit the ladder. It wasn’t the first ladder match I had seen, but it was by far the best. It also proved that you didn’t have to be 270 lbs plus to be a main eventer. Headlining as a smaller guy in the WWF in those days had only ever previously been done by the legendary Bret “Hitman” Hart.
The final match on this disc involves Bret Hart, and it is the famous Wrestlemania XII “Iron Man Match” from 1996. In my opinion, this is definitely in my top 5 matches of ALL time. I still think about this match and get goose bumps. To see two top athletes in their primes, wrestling for 60 minutes is a pleasure that can only be topped by 2 other things. (And 1 of those things is illegal in this country, with the exception of Tasmania.) I can’t say enough good things about this match. If you haven’t seen it, please- check it out!
Disc 1 also includes interviews and promos. Plus an hilarious easter egg featuring a mock advertisement from 1990 with “Playboy” Buddy Rose and his weight loss product “Blow Away”. The weird thing about this is Jerry “The King” Lawler is doing voice over with Vince McMahon. But Lawler wasn’t an employee with the WWF until late 1992. I wonder who was doing the voice over previously.
Ok, if you think the action lightens up on disc 2, well then you must think Richard Wilkins is talented. The disc kicks off with another classic encounter between HBK defending his newly won WWF title against “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel, better known today as Kevin Nash. It was in ‘96 and was a No Hold Barred Match, and it can be compared with any hardcore match you’ve ever seen. It was during a time when the WWF was transitioning from family entertainment to the attitude era. It had been a while since the WWF fans had seen chair shots in matches prior to this, but we got them in this one. Not only did we see chairs but belts, fire extinguishers, an awesome table spot and a false leg. (That’s not a typo. There was a fire extinguisher used). Although the attitude era wouldn’t hit full steam for another 11 months, this was the first match of that ilk and speared the WWF into that direction.
Match #2 features HBK opposite everyone’s favorite mental patient, Mankind from Mind Games 1996. Just like the previous match this was a trailblazer, but this one had more of an ECW feel to it. It was hardcore, but also had a lot of wrestling in it. It was Mick Foley’s greatest match ever and certainly one of Shawn’s greatest also. When I think of hardcore wrestling, this is what it should be like. But try getting that kind of performance from any two guys on a regular basis and see how far you get. And if you do succeed, there’s a little disagreement going on in the Middle East you might wanna fix.
Next match up is Shawn Michaels taking on “The Phenom”- The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell. We’ve seen a few more since this (1997) but none better. It had everything from blood to more blood. And when Shawn took that bump through the table from high up on the cell, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We know Mick Foley saw this and bettered the bump some time later, but even with his falls, he couldn’t better the match overall. If what Foley did in his HIAC match didn’t better this one, I’d hate to see what has to be done to accomplish it.
The final match is Shawn’s stunning comeback match from Summer Slam 2002 against Triple H in a “non-sanctioned match”. I really feared for Shawn in this one after everything he had gone through. But in the end he proved that legends don’t retire, they just cut down on their schedule. But HBK hasn’t stopped; he’s continued the level of greatness that made him so famous. Again there are more interviews and extras to keep you interested on this disc. Plus, I forgot to mention the introductions before each match by the man himself. There is also a special audio commentary with HBK and Kevin Nash for their No Holds Barred encounter.
I have a lot of respect for Shawn Michaels not only for the years of entertainment he’s provided, but during his first WWF title reign he carried the company heavily on his back. In ‘96 WCW was on top and only he and The Undertaker were able to carry the WWF to an acceptable level. It seems kinda sad that the night he took his sabbatical was the night that the WWF became #1 again. I enjoyed watching this stuff so much. Some of it I hadn’t seen for over 15 years. This 2 disc set does him justice; my only problem is that it could have easily been a 3 disc set.
by: The Gimmick
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