Tuesday 27 February 2018

Michaels v Kennedy...happened more times than I thought!

Shawn Michaels v Mr Kennedy (WWE RAW, 12/31/07)

Kind of under the radar gem and maybe one of the better Michaels TV matches of his second run. I actually went looking for this because I was sure they had a match early on in 2008 and I remembered liking it a bunch at the time. I couldn't find any from that year (in the one google search I made) so I figured this was the match I watched and I'd been getting my dates confused all this time. Turns out they did actually have a match in 2008, on the third RAW of the year, so I'm guessing that's the match I liked and I haven't been living a lie all this time. I also guess they were sort of feuding around this point because they had a match at the Armageddon PPV that I have no recollection of whatsoever. I don't care much for Kennedy so I guess you can say it's faint praise, but this might be one of his best matches outright and I thought he was really good in it. Michaels worked over his leg early and I liked the sell of it, mostly in how he was super vocal. Michaels threw on a half crab variation where he sat across the hooked leg rather than doing the normal version of the hold that would target the back, which was a cool touch. He also yanked off Kennedy's knee pad during this section, and for someone I don't really think of as a "little things" guy he brought a bunch of neat touches. There was the aforementioned wrinkles with the leg work, the way he was dogged in fighting for a crossface, later on punching Kennedy in the knee to create some distance, it was good stuff. Most of Kennedy's run of offense consisted of back work as this is the 2000s and a Shawn Michaels match, but it was solid back work. The tackle to the floor that set it up was pretty gnarly (Michaels' bump was great) and he had a nice seated abdominal stretch where he was twisting the lower back at a mean angle. Shawn's comeback had some clutching at his spine like a pensioner with chronic sciatica tying his shoe laces and I know people hate that because he's a lame actor or whatever, but the hairline was on its way out and he was already cross-eyed so if nothing else I bought him as a pensioner with chronic sciatica tying his shoe laces (and, you know, I appreciate the selling whilst executing offence and such). Finish was surprising as well and I just enjoyed all of this a bunch. I'll check out that 2008 match soon. I haven't really watched any post-comeback Michaels in a long time, but I'm actually kind of interested in going back to see how a lot of it holds up. For a guy who was my favourite wrestler all the way through childhood and then for a minute after that, it's strange how little I've thought about him over the last eight years. 

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