[1996-08-12-WWF-Raw] Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I don't think I've said this yet, but I really loved Owen's theme music. This is an excellent sprint, with tons of neat spots. These two worked well together and should have had a PPV program. Owen had a strong year in '96 in retrospect. There's a clip of Shawn's Baywatch appearance during his intro, which reminds me that we really need to somehow represent the WCW episode on the '95 set. There are some really good familiarity spots in this match, with Michaels having a cool ground-based counter to the enzuigiri and completely ducking Owen's leg lariat. I'm really surprised watching some of this stuff though, because I really don't remember Michaels being this sloppy, but it's been a pattern in quite a few matches. Michaels counters the enzuigiri again later in the match. I love that he has the move well-scouted considering the history. It's a nice little attention to detail. Cool post-match encounter with Shawn and Owen, with Shawn pulling Owen's cast completely off and challenging Vader after popping Shawn with the racket. Then Vader destroys him.

[Tim Evans]

I've really grown to like the Owen/HBK series. This was another good match mainly thanks to Owen's selling and bumping.

[BackToBionic]

Because I had all these Raws for a few years recorded and very little else to do as a kid, I've probably seen this match 30 times. I really liked it and was a huge Owen mark even as a kiid. These two always had good matches.

[PeteF3]

Not as high on this as the others--it's decent, with a few neat spots already mentioned and some nods to history (which the WWF has been VERY good at for all of '96), but also slow at points. The IYH match was the best of this series, I think. Kudos to them for not settling for that weak superkick to the chest as the finish. Normally I hate re-doing spots but this is a case where that was the better option. We get a really good post-match with Vader annihilating Shawn in a rare instance of WWF Vader looking like a killer. Great cliffhanger ending as Raw goes off the air right as Vader, after already dropping multiple Vader Bombs, starts climbing to the top rope.

 

This might be a bit over-the-top and Zeus-like, but I was always hoping for a pre-match spot where Shawn hit Vader with the Sweet Chin Music and Vader would no-sell it, or at least not go down.

[El-P]

I found Michaels formulaic here. Not nearly as good as his matches with the Kid and Jannetty were. You really wonder why… Owen was the better of the two here. Good TV match, but nothing special. The post-match really made the whole segment. They really should have put Vader over at SummerSlam, as Shawn would have worked better chasing the title back.

[soup23]

I liked this a good deal with the callback spots and Shawn trying to avoid them. Good athleticism mixed in and a fun ending that set up SummerSlam well. The main event hasn't been a bad program at all and Vader has gotten over on HBK a good bit up to this point.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart - WWF RAW 8/12/96

 

From the RAW right before Summerslam 96 where Owen's stablemate & friend, Vader would be challenging Shawn. There are also callbacks to the Enizguiri of Death! Typically great match from these two. They mix it up with some spots never seen in this series before. Like Shawn sweeping the leg on the enziguiri attempt and the dropdown on the spin wheel kick. Liked Shawn's shine a lot, energizing, fresh and logical. Owen uses the belly to belly as his transition. Typically strong Owen offense including a nice missile dropkick and his spinwheel kick. Thought Shawn could have gotten in more hope spots. Shawn ducks on Enziguiri attempt and this starts his comeback. Liked the use of powerslam to set up the elbow drop. Vader comes out to cause some chaos. The first Sweet Chin Music is blown. Owen feeds him a second and looks a bit better. Great post-match angle where Vader decimates Shawn. Between this and his victory at International Incident they did build Vader as a monster. Does not have concussion angle of 95 match or fun factor of IYH match, but still very good. ***1/2

[Exposer]

Really good & energetic match. These two have great chemistry. I think I'd rather watch a random Shawn-Owen match than a random Shawn-Bret match. That leg sweep counter to the enziguri was sweet. Liked Shawn's shine a lot. The head scissors to the floor/plancha combo is great. HBK could work really well from underneath. His selling is strong & he bumps big. I like how Shawn uses different moves to set up the elbow. I've seen him use a body slam, piledriver, & now a powerslam as a transition for it. Hot finish with Vader getting involved & Shawn giving the superkick a second try after a weak first attempt. Good idea to make sure the finish looked good. Post-match is great with Shawn removing Owen's cast then taking Cornette's racket from him & whacking him with it. Vader destroys Shawn to great heat. Strong go-home for Summerslam.

[tim]

This match was going really great and I was liking it a lot more than their earlier PPV match. Awesome, super energetic opening exchange and then good work with both guys taking turns in control. Ending was too abrupt and looked bad, which is disappointing. This was going toward being one of the best WWF matches of the year.