Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam Vs. Kane vs. Booker T vs. Chris Jericho vs. Triple H - Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship - Survivor Series (2002)
Whether or not you are watching Elimination Chamber, or No Escape as it's called in Germany, here is look back at the very first Elimination Chamber match from 2002.
The match includes HBK's hella god awful "returning after four years" ring gear, RVD destroying Triple H's throat from the first "top of the pod" shot ever performed, and an overall good first Elimination Chamber.
Big Bossman vs. Mankind - Ladder match for the Hardcore title - Monday Night Raw (1998)
Mankind defends his Hardcore title against the one man 'Shield' for the Corporation, the Big Bossman. During the match, Shawn Michaels, commissioner at the time, provides commentary as well as scores during the match for Mankind's performance a la cue cards. The Rock also happens to makes an appearance in the match.
Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels - No Holds Barred match for the WWF Championship - In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies (1996)
Today, Canadian wrestling legend, Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon passed away at age 84. Maurice, along with being part of the Vachon family, was also a multiple time heavyweight champion in AWA and WWE Hall of Famer. No disrespect to the man what-so-ever, but - despite all these accolades and accomplishments and rivalries with guys like The Crusher or Dick the Bruiser - I will always remember him most for his participation in the Diesel/Michaels match at In Your House 7 in 1996.
The match between Diesel and his former tag team partner, Shawn Michaels is a notable match in of itself as it serves as the last match that Kevin Nash ever played the character of Diesel in WWF before jumping ship to WCW (not counting a couple of years ago where Nash was dressed in the Diesel gear during his Royal Rumble return). The match was also a "No Holds Barred" match for Michaels' WWF championship and the first PPV or televised match Mad Dog Vachon ever got involved in. Well, a part of him got involved at least. See, Mad Dog Vachon was just a spectator in the audience that night until Diesel got out of the ring mid-match and threw the 67 year old man over the guardrail. Diesel then grabbed at Vachon's leg and ripped it off revealing an artificial leg that Vachon had from losing his real leg in a hit-and-run accident. That's when Diesel took Vachon's prosthetic leg and brought it into the ring to use against Michaels.
Unfortunately for Diesel, the leg was snagged away from him by the Heart Break Kid - who ended up using it to tune up the band and harness super "Mad Dog" powers for a devastating Sweet Chin Music. So devastating in fact that Kevin Nash was never seen in the WWE again until 2002. In a way, one could argue that it was the power of Mad Dog Vachon (and his fake leg) that drove Kevin Nash away all along.
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - first Hell in a Cell match - WWF Bad Blood: In Your House (1997)
The match that started it all: the very first "Hell in a Cell" match. The main differences between a Hell in a Cell match and a regular WWF/E cage match is that the cage is wider with room for the wrestlers to go outside the ring, there's a roof on the cage, and you can't win via escaping the structure.
While this match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels marked the first Hell in a Cell match, the match is probably remembered more for its ending. The ending goes like this: Just as Undertaker is about to finish off a bloodied Michaels after blasting him over the head with a blue steel chair, the lights got and from the darkness appears Paul Bearer, Taker's former manager, following a large figure clad in black and red from head to toe. After weeks of Bearer mentioning that Taker has a long lost brother, it is finally confirmed that he is still alive and looking for his brother. As the large individual walks to the cell, Vince McMahon from his headphones reveals, "that's gotta be... that's gotta be Kane!" before ripping the cage door right off its hinges. The two brothers of similar height then square off in the middle of the ring until Kane makes his move and takes out Taker using the Phenom's own tombstone piledriver and forever cementing his legacy as the Big Red Machine!
This match also features a fair amount of brawling outside the ring and on top of the cell, Michaels abusing cameramen, and a bump off the cage that will forever be overshadowed by the legendary bump that Mankind takes in the next Hell in a Cell match.
Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels - Intercontinental title ladder match - Summerslam (1995)
Since today is Night of Champions (an "all WWE titles on the line" themed PPV) and the IC title will not be on the line, I've decided to post a match where it is. I'm not gonna complain about how the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship is lost today and the man holding the title right now - who happens to be the son of one of the greatest IC champion of all time - is on the card and not even defending it. I'm just gonna watch this match instead.
Along with this match being for the IC title, it was also a ladder match. And while ladder matches were still relatively new in the WWF, this was already Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels' second ladder match together. These two had climbed for the title earlier that year at Wrestlemania X. Compared to a lot of ladder matches we've seen over the years, this one may seem pretty tame - especially since the high spot was an addition of another ladder - but this match is really what set the bar for those ladder matches to come. It also set the trend for ladder matches at Summerslam. Look it up: there's a lot.
Say what you want about the two men in the ring, they worked amazingly together and were looking to steal the show. Granted, stealing the show from Diesel and Mabel doesn't sound too hard, they still stole it nevertheless.
Editor's note: There was an IC title match after all. It was added last minute to kill time and gave Kofi Kingston something to do since he was on the poster.
