Royal Rumble Match (WWF, 1-15-1989)

WWF Royal Rumble, Houston, TX

A request! The first Royal Rumble match to air on PPV, as it became the last of the WWF’s original Big Four PPV shows following the debuts of WrestleMania (1985), Survivor Series (1987), and SummerSlam (1988). The first Rumble does pre-date the first SummerSlam, but aired on USA Network to take a further shit on Crockett’s Bunkhouse Stampede PPV.

It’s also the first 30-man Rumble, as the inaugural ’88 edition featured 20 men, and was won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, featuring entirely midcard (however popular or whatever) wrestlers.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Shawn Michaels vs Mankind (WWF, 9-22-1996)

WWF In Your House: Mind Games, Philadelphia, PA

A request! It wasn’t the same requester, but this goes nicely with the recent look at Mankind’s arrival in the WWF in the spring of ’96. Honestly, I doubt Vince thought he’d have Mankind headlining a PPV — even an In Your House — five months later, but that’s just what happened.

Shawn is defending his WWF title here, a month after SummerSlam, where he narrowly escaped a challenge from Vader, which I would get into again but it’s ancient history at this point. The wheels kept on turning. Not for Vader, really, though, that whole thing and Shawn’s pissfit pretty much killed Vader as a top WWF challenger. He’d get more chances but not in a way where he was a real threat to actually do much.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Triple H vs Rob Van Dam vs Shawn Michaels vs Kane vs Booker T vs Chris Jericho (WWE, 11-17-2002)

WWE Survivor Series, New York, NY

A request! I loved this match. The first-ever Elimination Chamber, with Triple H defending the “world heavyweight championship” against the other five lads in this NEW demonic structure.

I used to have this show on DVD; it was right before I started being able to buy PPVs monthly, so I didn’t see it live. I sold that DVD at some point. Now, as I am older and back to collecting DVDs, I kinda wish I had it, even if I haven’t really beefed up my wrestling DVD collection, because it’s an expensive habit to catch up over so many years. Ah, well. ANYWAYS,

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

40-Man Battle Royal (WWF, 5-18-1992)

WWF, Cincinnati, OH

A request! This is from a Wrestling Challenge taping in Cincinnati, and is on the “Bashed in the USA” Coliseum Video. Mike McGuirk, under Jim Ross yelling, announces that this is a first in WWF history, a 40-man battle royal.

“40?!?!” Bobby Heenan asks, as checked out of being here anymore as he can stand. 40 whole men??? Wh-wh-WHAT? There is also a 40-man battle royal that took place on June 1 and is on the “Rampage ’92” tape. No idea why they got horny, with a thinned-out roster, to do 40-man battle royals in the spring of 1992.

Now I also hear you saying: “But TAPE, you handsome scientist, Jim Ross did not work in the WWF until WrestleMania IX in 1993.” Yes, but this tape didn’t come out until he worked there and it’s just him and Heenan doing half-awake commentary about a year later or whatever. Like, duh! Haha! How could you even be so silly as to pause on this idea for a minute when you wanted to be sure about the date? OBVIOUSLY studio recorded commentary recorded later! Hello!!

Oh, Randy Savage is also here on commentary.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels (WWF, 10-5-1997)

WWF Badd Blood: In Your House, St. Louis, MO

A request! It’s the first-ever Hell in a Cell match! Shawn Michaels and his DX friends had been fucking with Undertaker since SummerSlam, including a match at the September In Your House that I really kinda hate, and now it was coming to a head, as the great narration on the opening package lays out:

“Pride. Confidence. Extraordinary talent. They’re the signature of a superstar performer. Add arrogance, conceit, self-adulation to the equation, and you’ve defined the very essence of Shawn Michaels.

“For two months, the self-proclaimed ‘master antagonist’ has launched a calculated and brutal war of destruction on the phenom of the World Wrestling Federation. And like hyenas rabid from the scent of a fresh kill, his pack of allies have been quick to join the slaughter.

“But tonight, within the unforgiving confines of a specially-constructed steel cell, the cocksure tormentor will become the tormented! Tonight, Shawn Michaels will stare into the eyes of a merciless reaper hellbent on revenge.

“There’ll be no Helmsley, no Chyna, no insurance policy to save his soul. Tonight, there’s no way in. No way out. No one to stop the carnage!”

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty (WWF, 7-19-1993)

WWF Monday Night Raw, New York, NY

A request! From the Manhattan Center, and a TV follow-up to a big showdown from May, where Michaels lost the Intercontinental title to Jannetty in what became the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match of the Year, a very legitimate award and voting process. It really was a great match, too, with Jannetty returning to the WWF to confront his old partner and just ruining his life.

I am told that in fact it was this match that was the PWI Match of the Year, and that it’s just been an incorrect online listing forever. My brain remembers it always being the May match, but honestly I have also been online now for 57 years and I have probably just seen the incorrect listing so many times that it dug in that way.

Also, Michaels is once again the IC champ. He beat Jannetty on a June 6 house show in Albany, NY, so Ol’ Martin didn’t even get to drop it on the TV. He went out like Stan Chera on a house show.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Shawn Michaels vs Shelton Benjamin (WWE, 5-2-2005)

WWE Raw, Boston, MA

A request! This is a “Gold Rush Tournament” quarterfinal as Raw looks to crown a No. 1 contender for the recently-minted Batista. The tournament was set up in a sort of mystery format so we know Shelton is here but not the opponent, and then we see it’s Shawn.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels (WWE, 4-3-2005)

WWE WrestleMania 21, Los Angeles, CA

A request! The first time that WrestleMania “went Hollywood,” though not the first WrestleMania in LA or anything. WE LOVE IT!

It’s no secret that I am not a Shawn Michaels fan. It’s probably less overstated but I am also not the biggest Kurt Angle fan. But! I do not let this cloud me from believing that, like, yes, both of them were great wrestlers. And while I haven’t watched this in forever, I remember liking it very much; actually, both in 2005 and when I watched it later for a thing I did on The Internet, I was mildly surprised how much I liked it, because I was actually far grumpier about both in earlier years.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

La Resistance vs The Rockers (WWE, 3-14-2005)

WWE RAW, Atlanta, GA

This was a Ko-fi request. I got this one and thought, “Oh, cool, I haven’t thought of that in a long time, probably haven’t watched it since it aired.” And then I thought, “Oh, cool, that was my birthday. That’s the day I turned 23.” And then I started hearing Bruce Springsteen warbling about the passage of time and lost or crushed hopes and dreams in my head.

Anyway, Jannetty’s back in the WWE to add to the Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels feud. Angle had a match signed with Jannetty for the March 17 Smackdown, but Shawn called him in for Raw on late notice, saying Marty’s first match back in WWE should be with him, reuniting The Rockers. It’s the first time they’d teamed since Dec. 1991.

TAPE’s Time Travel: This Week in TV Wrestling, Nov. 20-26, 1995

Another new week, and another one with a pay-per-view extravaganza!

IN THIS SET:

• WCW Prime (Nov. 20, 1995)
• WWF Monday Night Raw (Nov. 20, 1995)
• WCW Monday Nitro (Nov. 20, 1995)
• ECW Hardcore TV (Nov. 21, 1995)
• WCW Worldwide (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WCW Pro (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WWF Superstars (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WCW Saturday Night (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WCW World War 3 (Nov. 26, 1995)