The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph DVD Review

The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph DVD Review


The HBK book of the same name was not very well received by wrestling fans, but how does the three disc set of the same name come across? Let's find out.




Disc 1 :

I always forget that Shawn's actual surname is Hickenbottom. Catches me by surprise everytime. Also, knowing that José Lothario was in fact his trainer at the start of his career makes the Iron Man match at Mania XII look a bit better. An annoying thing about the feature is that you can't understand a word that Marty Jannetty is saying, but it's a minor annoyance. A lot of the stories on this documentary are interesting to listen to, such as the Rockers' first firing from the WWF. Nothing is really held back about Shawn, as they mention how his in-ring work was amazing, and how his personality outside of the ring was just the opposite. The story of how the Wrestlemania X Ladder match came to be is pretty interesting. Shawn wouldn't send the belt back and so a new one had to be created. Kind of a dick move, but if it didn't happen we might not even have ladder matches today. Even the Curtain Call for the Kliq at The Garden is talked about which was pretty controversial for breaking kayfabe. I was interested to hear Shawn's take on the infamous 'Lost Smile' promo and he claims that his knee was really hurt, so make of that what you will. The birth of DX and the Montreal Screwjob segments were very interesting, especially when you hear the opinions of other superstars and legends. Ok I don't want to keep going over the moments in this DVD, as they're worth watching for yourself and there are a lot of them. Overall this is one of the better superstar documentaries that the WWE has released, and it was one that could have went downhill, but they kept it interesting all the way through and nothing was really sugercoated. Definitely one to watch, especially for it's story of redemption from hated, drug-taker to a clean born-again Christian. Great stuff. 9/10


And now for some great matches!



Disc 2:



Shawn Michaels vs Billy Jack Haynes
Very early match from WCCW in 1985. The ring announcer doesn't even pronounce Shawn's name correctly. No one could have predicted that that jobber from San Antonio would go onto become one of the best wrestlers of all time. Very short, squash match. 1/4*




The Midnight Rockers vs Buddy Rose & Doug Sommers
From the AWA in 1987. This feud is mentioned a lot when talking about HBK's early career, so it must have meant a lot to him. Sensational Sherri was managing Rose & Sommers, and she would become Shawn's manager in 1992. Solid, if unspectacular, old-school style tag match. I wonder why they don't bring back the time limit for modern matches? Could be a good idea. Anyway it's an entertaining match, but I have a feeling that it's not the best from this feud. **3/4



The Midnight Rockers vs Super Ninja & Ninja Go
Another AWA match from 1987. Shawn looks as if he's hungover here. Probably is. And the arena is looking pretty empty as well. Didn't really matter as the crowd was really hot for this bout. Holy crap, one of the Ninjas has a swastika on his wrist! What the hell is up with that? Anyway this was a fun, well paced tag match that had the crowd's interest the entire time. Worth a look. ***1/2



The Rockers vs The Brainbusters
Taking place in MSG in 1989. The first WWE match of the set. I remember an excellent match between the two teams and I think it may have been on the Saturday Night's Main Event DVD. Both teams are friggin' awesome. The start of the match was strange with the Rockers getting the illegal tags, and the ref stopping the Brainbusters from tagging. Kind of a role reversal. This was an excellent tag match, especially for its time. ***3/4



The Rockers vs Hart Foundation : 2 out of 3 Falls
Man it is such a shame that the ref couldn't figure out that he had to fix the rope for the match to continue properly. I think it may have been a near five-star match if the rope hadn't broke. As it is, the first part of the match is fun, but once the rope breaks it becomes dull. The Rockers win the Tag Titles, but the win wouldn't exist in the history books and the match was never aired. **1/2



The Rockers vs The Orient Express
From the 1991 Royal Rumble. I've heard a lot of great things about this match, so I'm looking forward to it. The match started straight away with an unbelievable pace that was awesome to watch. The great pace continues as the match goes on. Such a fantastic tag match with some awesome double team moments. I'm pretty sure the show has just been stolen. One of the best tag matches I've ever had the privilege of watching. ****1/2



Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog
From Saturday Night's Main Event in November 1992. Poor Bulldog had only held the IC Title for two months at this point before losing it here. The winner of this would face Bret Hart for the WWE Title at Survivor Series. Very entertaining back and forth match here that had the fans hot for it. Some nice back psychology as well. This was good, but they'd go on to have much better matches a few years in the future. ***1/4



Royal Rumble Match 1995
They show the full rumble here. This definitely wasn't the best Rumble that there'd ever been, but it certainly wasn't the worst. Only a few wrestlers looked like they could have won such as HBK and the British Bulldog. The match is mainly remembered for its famous finish of having Shawn touch only one foot on the ground and then come back in to win it. **3/4


I think the 1996 Royal Rumble match would have been better here than the 1995 edition, as HBK won it and then went on to beat Bret Hart in their famous Iron Man match at Wrestlemania. At Mania 11 he lost to Diesel. It's probably just there for the famous finishing sequence. Anyway, onto disc 3!




Disc 3 :


Shawn Michaels vs Jeff Jarrett
From In Your House 2. Man, Shawn gave us so many memorable matches from the IYH PPVs starting with this one. This is easily Jarrett's best match in WWE, but I've not really seen any of his TNA stuff so I don't know if anything topped this. Jeff was in his hometown and was still getting booed by the crowd. There's tons of heat for this one, and the pacing is just excellent. A phenomenal back and forth match here, that is must-see in my book. ****1/2



Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog
From King of the Ring 1996. This event is mainly remembered for Austin's classic 3:16 speech, but this was the match that stole the show. These two always have good matches and this was one of their best, if not the best. I think Bulldog's a heel here. Never even knew that he had a heel run. The match seems to change in pace throughout, as sometimes its a nice, quick pace, and sometimes its a slower, more controlled pace. That doesn't stop it from being a very entertaining match. Having Owen Hart on commentary was a bonus too. Awesome match overall. ****



Shawn Michaels vs Triple H
From Raw in December 2003. The first match from HBK's comeback. These two have had many matches against each other but, aside from their Summerslam classic, this is easily their best one, and it's definitely the best one without any gimmick applied to it. Just a straight up, who's better than the other, World Title match. Easy MOTYC for 2003. Just a shame that it's not really remembered. ****1/2



The Rockers vs La Resistance
This is from Raw in 2005, when the Rockers had a reunion for one night only. I think Marty was meant to come back full time, but couldn't stay sober and had to be let go. I could be wrong about that. Anyway, the match was a lot of fun, and would have been nostalgic for the older fans. It was short, but it was very enjoyable while it lasted. **1/2



Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle
From Vengeance 2005. The rematch that everyone wanted to see. I don't think there was any way that they could have topped their all time classic Wrestlemania match, but they were damn sure gonna try here. That German suplex on the announce table looked awesome. What I love about this is that you could watch this and the Mania match back-to-back, and see two different matches. Not as good as the original, but still a very worth sequel, as Shawn gets his win back. ****1/2


I think I'm running out of stars to give!



Shawn Michaels vs John Cena
From Raw in the UK in April 2007. WWE called this the greatest match in the history of Raw. It's definitely one of the best, but I think the best is Punk vs Cena from February 2013. Anyway, this fifty minute, non-title match was able to stay entertaining all the way through, and lived up to the exceptional original at Wrestlemania. In fact I'd say its even better than the Mania match. Another reason why this match is so great, is because it was the match that made Chris Jericho return to wrestling, which is a huge win in my book. The commercials are irritating as usual, but that doesn't stop it from being an excellent match. Watch this one immediately. ****3/4



9.5/10. Excellent DVD from WWE and one of their best. The first disc is brilliant with a very interesting two hour documentary on the Heartbreak Kid. But the matches are where this set really shines. This set is filled with amazing matches, and the best thing is that you can't get a lot of them on other DVDs. In fact I think only the KOTR and Jeff Jarrett IYH matches can be found on other sets. This is a must-have set for any wrestling, and it's worth the price of purchase just for the epic Raw matches with HHH and Cena.