Shawn Michaels: My Journey
Disc Three
Released: March 9, 2010

Michael Cole puts his Barbara Walters skirt on and interviews Shawn Michaels in between the matches.

• Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H – Boot Camp Match (Raw: Tribute to the Troops, 12/19/05)

Our friends Joey Styles and Jerry Lawler are on commentary. Shawn brings his own camcorder with him to the ring to showcase the REAL stars at this show. HHH runs Shawn over with a few shoulderblocks. Shawn stops all that with an armdrag into an armbar. They work off that for a few moments. HHH shoves Shawn off into the ropes and knocks him to the floor with a back elbow. Commercials! We return to see Triple H backdrop out to the floor. They brawl up the aisleway where Shawn decks HHH with a sandbag while HHH gets him back with a gas can. You want to get violent, but not all that much. Back to ringside, Shawn hits Triple H with a mop! WHAT. HHH saves himself from the embarrassment and sends Shawn into the ringpost. Inside the ring, Shawn clotheslines the ref down by accident. Out comes another ref with a 1^st Calvary Division patch on his sleeve, but HHH isn’t impressed and punches him out. Instead of getting heat like I’m guessing it was supposed to do, the crowd starts to cheer for HHH! Back over to Shawn, HHH comes off the middle rope onto Shawn’s boots. VALENTINE FLOP! Shawn wins a slugfest and the Flying Forearm signals the big comeback. Flying Elbow connects and Shawn tunes up the band, but HHH ducks the kick and goes for the PEDIGREE. Shawn trips him up and catapults HHH into the corner to stagger him up for SWEET CHIN MUSIC and the 1-2-3. (10:41 shown) Well, Slaughter-Sheik it ain’t, but this is a *tribute* show. Perfectly acceptable match considering the circumstances. In my opinion, it would have been tasteless to get violent here. **

• WWE Champion John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton – (Backlash 2007)

This is on the Sunday after Shawn pinned Cena on Raw in a classic hour-long match. Also, Rated RKO had recently split, so you have that going on too. Cena and Shawn draw Edge and Orton over to them across the ring by talking to one another. Once they come over and ask what the deal is, Cena and HBK clothesline the two out of the ring so they can go one-on-one with each other. Shawn chops away, but Cena comes back with a release fisherman’s suplex for two. Now Edge and Orton come in and clean house so they can go toe-to-toe. Shawn pulls out Orton, but Cena runs over and clotheslines them down. Edge takes out Cena with a baseball slide and heads outside to whip Orton into the steps. However, Shawn slams Edge down and heads to the top with everybody staggering for the MOONSAULT PRESS! Michaels brings Edge back inside only to knock each other down. Cena ascends to the top and comes down on both guys while they’re doubled over with the Flying Famouser. Orton interrupts Cena’s momentum and dumps everybody else out. He hits Cena with the Inverted Backbreaker for 1-2-NO! Cena fires back, but misses a corner charge and runs shoulder-first into the ringpost as he ends up on the floor. Shawn meets Orton in the ring and hits the Flying Forearm. As he kips-up to begin his comeback, Edge shuts him down with a spinning heel kick for two. Orton pulls Edge off the cover and jumps on Shawn for a nearfall! Edge pulls him off the cover as well, but then smoothes things over to form an alliance as they work over Shawn together. During a double Boston crab, Cena flies in out of nowhere with the Throwback on BOTH guys to break up the hold. Cena takes care of Michaels and Orton with shoulderblocks, but saves Edge for the Protobomb and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. As Cena waits for Edge to stand up, Michaels and Orton yank out Cena and send him into the ringpost. Now Shawn shoves Orton into the ringpost to wipe him out as well. With Orton incapacitated, Shawn takes him over to the Raw announce table for a piledriver until Edge runs over and BLASTS Shawn with a steel chair to save the day. Orton gives him the thumbs up, but turns around into a CHAIRSHOT TO THE FACE courtesy of Edge! He slides the chair back into the ring and gets ready to finish off Cena and win the gold. Edge runs at Cena with the chair, but Cena trips him up into the STFU! There’s nobody around to save him! Awesome. Edge makes the ropes and Cena releases the hold as Orton comes staggering into the ring prime and ready for the STFU as well. Cena sees HBK coming into the ring, so he lets go of Orton and tries for the STFU on Shawn, but HBK pulls him into a small package for two! Shawn hits atomic drops on everybody and dumps out Orton and Edge so he can finish off Cena. He hits the Flying Elbow and tunes up the band until Edge interrupts. Shawn slams him down and gives him the Flying Elbow. The same happens to Orton, but Cena cuts off the Flying Elbow and goes for the SUPER F-U! Orton and Edge come over for a modified TOWER OF DOOM spot. Shawn and Orton roll out. Cena tries several times to get the F-U on Edge, but he keeps getting away. Shawn runs in and gets put on top of Edge, but he slips away and looks to hit SWEET CHIN MUSIC on Cena. Out of nowhere, Orton jumps in and drops Shawn with the RKO! With Orton covering Shawn, Cena drops Edge and breaks up the pin real quick. Edge hits Cena with EDGECUTION for 1-2-NO! Now Edge wants to hit Cena with the SPEAR, but Cena leapfrogs him. That sends him into Orton for the RKO, but Edge shoves Orton off into the F-U. He slips out of that and tries the RKO on Cena, but Cena shoves him off into the SPEAR from Edge! As Edge gets to his feet, Cena lifts him up for the F-U! Finally, he delivers! Cena turns around to go after Shawn, HBK meets him with SWEET CHIN MUSIC, but Cena falls on top of Orton for the 1-2-3! (19:21) Probably one of the better if not the best finishes possible for a fatal-four way match. This was just amazing. You really have to see it to be able to appreciate just how good it is. ****½

• WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels – (Survivor Series 2007)

Randy Orton punted Shawn Michaels in the head back in May to send him out of action for the summer. Every five years since 1992 at Survivor Series, Shawn Michaels has received a world title shot. He had won the world title twice in those three tries, but this time he can’t use Sweet Chin Music or he’ll be DQ’ed and can never face Orton again for the WWE title. As for Randy Orton, Shawn gets the strap if Orton gets himself disqualified. Early on, Shawn goes all European on us and works a cravat. Orton beats him back into the corner and tries to fire him up so he’ll lose his cool and try Sweet Chin Music, but Shawn manages to stop himself. HBK grounds Orton with a chinlock and floats over to a front headlock as he hits him in the top of the head with his knees. NASTY! Orton has to go to the floor to escape, but Shawn meets him on the outside with an ASAI MOONSAULT! Back in, Orton rolls through a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! Orton levels Shawn with lifters while he properly sells all the neck work Shawn implemented earlier. Out of nowhere, Shawn applies a SHARPSHOOTER! Orton makes the ropes and snaps Shawn’s neck on the top rope. As he stomps Shawn to the apron, Orton brings him back into the ring with a DDT through the ropes for two. HBK fights out of a body vice combined with a chinlock and hits the Flying Forearm. He kips up and follows through with his signature comeback. He hesitates tuning up the band, but gets the crowd going anyways. The ref yells at him that he can’t go through with Sweet Chin Music or he’ll lose the match, but Shawn doesn’t listen. As Shawn goes for the kick, Orton covers up and gets caught in a small package for 1-2-NO! Since he can’t outsmart Orton, he’ll have to try and win a different way. He pulls Orton down into the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! This put a bad taste in a lot of fan’s mouths considering this was only five months after the Benoit family tragedy. Orton gets his foot on the bottom rope for the break. Orton stops Shawn with a clothesline and delivers the Inverted Backbreaker and gets ready for the RKO. Perhaps another punt to the skull would be better? Shawn sees it coming and catches Orton’s foot for an ANKLELOCK! Everyone believes Shawn has a chance of winning now. Orton nearly reaches the ropes, but Shawn pulls him back and grapevines the leg for maximum leverage! Orton will not tap, turns the hold over, and kicks Shawn in the face to make him release the hold. Shawn tries a figure-four, but Orton kicks him off into the corner and tries for an RKO. Michaels shoves him off and thinks Sweet Chin Music, but he hesitates and gets nailed with a SICK RKO for the 1-2-3. (17:48) An AWESOME example of ring psychology with Shawn choosing to rely on different finishing holds that he had personally tapped out to in order to try and beat Orton. As for Orton, he didn’t know what to expect next from HBK, and you’re always trained to just look for the superkick with him. Just great stuff. ****

• Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho – Unsanctioned Match (Unforgiven 2008)

Shawn comes dressed in his SummerSlam 2002 fighting clothes while Jericho thinks this is going to be a regular match, I suppose. Michaels punches away on Jericho and beats him to the floor with his boot. Shawn beats Jericho in and out of the crowd and then proceeds to catapult him into the post. Jericho avoids a chairshot and DDTs Shawn on the floor. Jericho pulls out of a table and tries to powerbomb him through it, but Shawn starts punching and Jericho drops him face-first on the apron. In the ring, Jericho brings a chair with him and whacks Shawn across the back before wedging it into the corner. They brawl to the apron where Jericho tries to suplex Shawn through the table he set up earlier, but Shawn manages to land on the apron and clothesline Jericho back inside. Shawn hits the Flying Forearm and kips-up before straight up CHOKING Jericho down for the Flying Elbow. Shawn tunes up the band and when he goes for Sweet Chin Music, Jericho drops to his knees and Shawn starts laying in a bunch of MMA elbows. Shawn starts up the Crippler Crossface, but Jericho flips him over into the chair wedged in the corner to escape the hold. Now Jericho starts punching at Shawn’s eye that he messed up earlier in the summer. Jericho applies the WALLS OF JERICHO and even though Shawn finds the ropes, it’s UNSANCTIONED so he doesn’t have to break if he doesn’t want to. Shawn ends up reaching down all the way to the floor and finds a fire extinguisher which he shoots off in Jericho’s face to break the hold. From there, Shawn uses the hard part of the extinguisher to knock Jericho to the floor. Shawn proceeds to beat Jericho up the aisle and give him a suplex on the ramp. Jericho’s partner in crime Lance Cade comes out, but he’s immediately beaten down by Shawn. Cade hits Michaels in the injured elbow and clotheslines him down. Jericho puts Shawn in position for Cade to running boot Shawn’s elbow into the ringpost! While they continue to humiliate Shawn, Cade brings a chair into the ring and after a few chairshots, they decide to PILLMANIZE Shawn’s arm! No way, no how. Shawn kicks Cade off through the ropes to trip Jericho up to end all that. Cade runs back into the ring for SWEET CHIN MUSIC to end him. Now Shawn has the chair and KO’s Jericho off the top and through the table down on the floor. With his one good arm, Shawn wildly beats the crap out of Jericho with the chair. He sets up the Raw announce table and places Jericho on top of Cade and delivers the FLYING ELBOW ON BOTH MEN THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! While that should be enough, Michaels brings Jericho into the ring to whip him with his leather cowboy belt. The ref tries to get him to stop, but just the look on Shawn’s face scares him away. Once he stops, Shawn reaches down and wraps Jericho’s arm around his chin so that he’s completely helpless. Strange how he does it, but he’s gets almost tame with Jericho and whispers something in his ear. And just like that, he turns Jericho over and beats him in the eye until Jericho is completely defenseless leaving the ref no choice but to stop the match. (26:47) Afterwards, Shawn begins to cry and almost has to come back to the reality of who he is supposed to be in real life. That is really awesome character development. Just a brutal fight with Shawn taking the ‘eye for an eye’ bible verse WAY too literally and turning up the crazy meter to an easy eleven to create one heck of a story. While you would think this is the way to end the feud, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho went on to top themselves in the ‘match of the year’ ladder match in October. ****¼

• Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker – (WrestleMania 25)

As fitting an entrance if there ever was in wrestling, Shawn ascends from the heavens dressed all in white while the Undertaker comes up through the floor dressed all in black. The stick-and-move strategy works until Taker has enough and grabs Shawn’s fist. He takes Shawn by the throat and throws him out to the apron. Shawn climbs back in and stands on the middle rope giving UT the crotch chop. Not cool. As Taker charges, Shawn leaps over him and feigns a knee injury only for a second to draw UT over for a Thesz press followed by a barrage of punches. Undertaker gets to his feet and throws Shawn back into the corner to beat the crap out of him. Shawn takes the Ray Stevens corner bump into a backdrop. Press slam followed by an elbow drop gets two. Taker hits Old School, but misses a running boot in the corner. Shawn delivers a shinbreaker and a chopblock to set up Taker for the Modified Figure Four that never got a name. Taker punches out and drives Shawn into the corner so he can get the feeling back in his leg. Taker hits a pair of corner clotheslines to set up the Snake Eyes followed by the big boot. Jumping legdrop gets two. He wants the Chokeslam, but HBK yanks him down into the Crippler Crossface. Taker escapes with a side slam for two. Shawn comes back with the Flying Forearm and a series of atomic drops. Another Flying Forearm sets him up for the Flying Elbow, but Taker SITS UP and catches Shawn coming off the top for the Chokeslam. Shawn escapes that in mid-move and tries SWEET CHIN MUSIC, but Taker hits the deck. With Taker down on the mat, Shawn tries the Modified Figure Four again only for the Undertaker to pull him into HELL’S GATE! Oh, but Shawn finds the ropes. They go to the apron where Taker attempts the legdrop, but Shawn moves out of the way and nails UT with a baseball slide. Shawn wants the Moonsault Press, but UT SWATS him away on the way down! Now that’s sick. With Shawn hurting on the floor, UT goes for his crazy NO HANDS PLANCHA only for Shawn to pull a cameraman (Sim Snuka) into harm’s way. Well, sort of. Taker fell on his neck and the cameraman took the Undertaker’s butt right in the face once he hit the ground. Shawn Michaels tries to get the countout victory, but the Undertaker makes it back inside at the nine-count. Will SWEET CHIN MUSIC take care of the Undertaker? Nope! He sidesteps the kick and delivers a massive Chokeslam! Cover, 1-2-NO! Shawn manages to slip away from the Tombstone, escapes another Chokeslam, and hits SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Slow cover gets 1-2-NO! Shawn kips-up and goes to pick up the Undertaker when he’s met with a GOOZLE! UT goes for the LAST RIDE, but Shawn sunset flips away. Taker chokelifts Shawn to his feet and delivers the LAST RIDE on the second try for 1-2-NO! Taker heads up top for a flying elbow and completely crashes and burns. Shawn charges and gets tossed for the usual skin-the-cat headscissors, but this time Taker powers Shawn back into the ring for the TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER for 1-2-NO! Cue the desperate look on the Undertaker’s face. Undertaker gathers himself and DOWN COME THE STRAPS! He tries another TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER, but Shawn counters into a spinning DDT that looked like it hurt, but it was botched. Under the circumstances, its forgivable. Shawn hits the Flying Elbow, tunes up the band, and delivers SWEET CHIN MUSIC. Cover, 1-2-NO! They stand to their feet clawing at each other and then come to blows. Taker stops that with a big boot. Shawn avoids another Tombstone and catches Taker charging at him in the corner with a boot. He goes to the top for a Moonsault Press, but this time UT is waiting and ready as Michaels moonsaults right into the arms of the Undertaker for the TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER. That finishes off Shawn Michaels as UT gets the 1-2-3. (30:41) Big moves and great psychology behind those moves always equals dollar signs. This match is MONEY and I think it will prove to be money once again in the rematch at WrestleMania 26. I wouldn’t call it the ‘perfect’ match that no one will EVER be able to surpass quite like Michael Cole does on this DVD, but it still gets the full monty from me. *****

On the final interview piece, Michael Cole asks Shawn Michaels where he can go from here now that he has had the ‘perfect’ match. Like he’s done for the majority of the DVD, there are things more important in his life now than wrestling and he wants to be able to go out on his terms, yet at a point where he still feels he is having the best match on the card. How does he want to be remembered 20-30 years from now? He wants to be known as a man who overcame his downfalls and became a man of character.

And once again, they play the ‘Feet on the Ground’ song sang this time by a gospel singer.

Final Thoughts: Not a bad match on this disc. It’s a great sendoff to Shawn that is if he does lose at WrestleMania 26. Overall, thumbs up for Shawn Michaels: My Journey. Not one to go out of your way to buy, but it’s a nice edition to your DVD library for life-long fans of the Heartbreak Kid.