WHAT YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT THIS EDITION OF DRS2EBRaSAGG will be looking at the RIVALRY BETWEEN shawn michaels and the master and the ruler of the world.
Raw 9/11/95 (Canton Memorial Civic Center)
World Wrestling Federation Intercontental Championship
WWF Intercontental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Sid (w/ Ted Dibiase)
Survivor Series 1996 (Madison Square Garden)
World Wrestling Federation Championship
WWF Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) vs Sid
Royal Rumble 1997 (Alamo Dome)
World Wrestling Federation Championship
WWF Heavyweight Champion Sid vs Shawn Michaels (w/ Jose Lothario)
This is your quintessential big man vs little man match up. Shawn uses his speed while Sid uses his power. The monster gets heat in one shot while the spunky babyface has to fight and fight to the delight of the audience. At least that’s the idea. An idea the crowd in MSG shit all over. The IC Title match starts off differently than the other two. Of all these matches it is the first one that seems most designed to make Shawn look good. Shawn spends almost the entire first half of the match, which stemmed from Sid turning on Shawn the night after Wrestlemania XI, running circles around Sid.
Sid is able to get Shawn down with some brutal shots that look less than stellar, then he randomly kips up out of a headscissor for no reason before going to the finish involving a top rope crossbody and several Superkicks in a row to fell the giant beast. It is a fine match. Shawn Michaels in 1995 is not having a bad match with anyone, but the psychology seems off. It is supposed to be Shawn’s revenge for the vicious, no pun intended, beating he received from Sid yet there is nothing going on to suggest anything other than a normal title defense is going on.
On that theme of odd psychology we come to their match at Survivor Series 1996. Most matches begin with the babyface running wild until the heel cuts him off and gets the heat and the match builds to the babyface making a comeback. Shawn is supposed to be the babyface here and Sid the heel. You can tell that is supposed to be the dynamic since Sid is booked to give an old man a heart attack. So in front of a crowd that is already grumbling in Shawn’s direction and gave Sid a gigantic pop the match starts with Sid tossing Shawn all over the place until Shawn slides through Sid’s legs and bitch slaps him. Let me repeat that. Shawn, with the crowd already turning on him and Sid looking good, bitch slaps Sid. No reason for it. Just does it.
After that Shawn runs away from a Sid Powerbomb attempt and then clips Sid’s leg from behind and loses the entire crowd. At the point when Shawn begins working over Sid’s leg the boos start cascading down on him. Sid makes the big comeback catching Shawn coming off the top with the crossbody which worked in the first match, but didn’t here as Shawn ended up eating a backbreaker. Shawn comes back with a bodyslam, but comes off the second rope and eats Sid’s boot.
The best part of the match follows with Shawn and Sid replaying the finish of the WWF Title match from the year before only Shawn was not able to get the 3 count Bret got. Sid then hits Lothario with a camera causing a heart attack to a monster pop. Shawn Superkicks Sid to massive boos. Shawn goes to check Lothario instead of pinning Sid protecting him. By the way Shawn got booed trying to help his dying friend. Sid then hits Shawn with the camera and the Powerbomb and we had a new World Heavyweight Champion.
So to recap the IC Title match on Raw was all about putting Shawn over and making him look good. The Survivor Series match had some bizarre psychology in front of an already hostile to Shawn crowd, but Shawn was booked to retain his heat because the presumed end game at the time was Shawn going over big in a stadium show in his home town. On the booking front things changed because business was down and Vince decided what he needed were big men in the main event. On the work side of things Shawn Michaels had a bad case of the flu effectively making the match a series of rest holds by Sid hampering the match quality.
Back to the booking. Shawn does not go over anywhere near clean here. There is a ref bump at which point Sid chokeslams Shawn and visibly pins him for about a ten count. The idea was that Shawn had to win in his home town or it’d kill him, but that Shawn would drop it back to Sid. The edition of Raw where he vacated the title due to injury and gave the infamous “I Lost My Smile” speech was to be the time and place. That is the most interesting through line in these matches. The booking goes from putting Shawn over strong to protecting Shawn to begrudgingly letting Shawn win. Knowing what we know now it’s safe to say Vince should of stuck with his first instinct.
Results and Ratings
Raw 9/11/95
WWF Intercontental Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Sid via pinfall at 8:00 with the Superkick. Shawn Michaels retained the World Wrestling Federation Intercontental Championship (Rating: **1/4)
Survivor Series 1996
Sid defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels via pinfall at 20:02 with the Powerbomb. Sid won the World Wrestling Federation Championship (Rating: ****1/4)
Royal Rumble 1997
Shawn Michaels defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Sid via pinfall at 13:49 with a Superkick. Shawn Michaels won the World Wrestling Federation Championship (Rating: **)
Well that does it for this edition of DRS2EBRaSAGG. Next time we return to Japan to take a look a our first native for gaijin series. We also take a look at the revitalization of a great career. NEXT TIME: Kenta Kobashi vs Vader
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