review i wrote of it for another forum:
Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena, 4/23
Holy shit I need to rewatch Cena/Umaga, but this very well may be my match of the year so far. I think a week before this Michaels cut a pretty awesome promo about how he was tired of losing even though he knew he was the better man, and the pre-match confrontation solidified what it meant. Cena asks Michaels how he can say he's the better man if he dosn't have the title, and basically says he sees through Michaels' act. Michaels may be the Showstopper, but John Cena is the Champ, and it sets up the match perfectly. The beginning is great, Cena outwrestles Michaels and the roles from Wrestlemania are reversed, Cena is great with the confident facials and Michaels is gold here with his, showing exactly where his character is - John Cena beat him at Wrestlemania and the smokescreen of being The Showstopper is gone, Michaels lost his mental edge and now the match up is what it actually is: a balding, skinny, slightly akward looking guy 10 years past his prime against someone younger, stronger, and seemingly better. The opening conveys this really well. The actions itself is great, way better than their WM match. The match has lots of sections, and always uses its very ample time wisely. The section where Cena works over Michaels' back was pretty great and Shawn's bump over the top rope was AWESOME. There were tons of great nearfalls and false finishes, as this started at the top of the hour and no one expected it to go this long. Sweet Chin Music was put over great as a move that could be hit from anywhere, which worked perfectly with Shawn's role. He's the veteran underdog struggling to hold on, frusterated that he might not be as good as he used to be and still thought he was until up against the new Man, but he always has one last ditch move that can be hit anywhere at any time. The finisher sequences were awesome and Cena's teasing of the STFU and Michaels' selling of it was great.
Michaels crawling to the ropes in the STFU was one of the best crawling to the ropes submission spots I've ever seen, with Cena on top of Michaels the visusal was great just to see how much effort it takes and the desperation. The finisher teases were really believable, and with how the timing of the match on the card and how over the finishers were, the FU and SCM near falls were great. The end was awesome, perfectly fitting for how they put over the SCM and I loved how Michaels just fell on Cena. Can't wait for Michaels/Cena III, as the most interesting thing about this series has been how the character evolve through the matches and I can't wait to see how it's handled next.
i am intimidated posting a reivew here!!! :-X
