[1996-05-13-WWF-Raw] Shawn Michaels vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Ah, the days when a Michaels/Helmsley match didn't mean they were going to go 45 minutes and be all self-congratulatory about how great they are. This is a good TV match. Not as good as I'd remembered, but still good. As you'd expect, Shawn sells a lot for his friend who's getting a good opportunity to face the world champ in a long TV match. Seems to be the start of the Mr. Perfect angle with Helmsley, as he watches on from ringside.

[PeteF3]

This was okay, mostly saved by a well-worked closing stretch. That power bomb/Frankensteiner/sunset flip sequence was cool. Helmsley is SO not ready for prime time on offense, though--he really has nothing going for him except some knee-based stuff (big shock). I do admire the attempt at nose-based psychology in the early going, which may well be a first.

[El-P]

I forgot how mediocre Helmsley was at this point already. Shawn is so obnoxious, going after Hunter's girl despite being accused of being a womanizer. Good TV match, but it's mostly Shawn being über generous with his pal. I also had totally forgot that Helmsley was recieving the "hot babe" push then. They really tried everything with this guy...

[soup23]

Lawler gets some funny lines in with Hunter's girl. Hunter looked decent to me here. He gets a lot from the champion that helps and is limited on his stuff but he does have the character beats down and keeps the crowd engaged which is all I would ask from him at this point in his career. The Perfect angle felt odd and they blew through three commercials for this match which felt excessive. A good title match vs. a heel up and comer. ***

[tim]

Man I liked this match a lot. Triple H's best career match at this point? Has to be the best Triple H/Michaels match of them all. This got a lot of time, and though Hunter isn't over at that level, this was good enough to have been a satisfying PPV title defense. Opening stuff is classic heel/face schtick with Michaels getting the better of Hunter with some comedy thrown in. Michaels sells really well for Hunter when he's on offense.

 

The Michaels/Davey Boy build isn't super hot or anything, but I'm liking it a lot because it's such a simpler and better format than how WWE book these days -- pick one challenger of the month and focus on a simple build to the big PPV title defense.

[dawho5]

Was not a huge fan of this.  Probably due to Hunter not really being good enough to carry a match like this and being given a lot of it (very generously) by his friend Shawn.  The nose stuff was amusing.