[1993-01-24-WWF-Royal Rumble] Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes, which have some great action. Sherri screws up and accidentally hits Jannetty with her shoe, costing him the match. Shawn looked as good as I've ever seen him look in these few minutes in terms of putting together a match. After the match, Shawn goes after Sherri in the locker room, Jannetty comes to save her, and we get a little brawling.

[benj]

Sherri's breasts look jacktastic here, and the in-ring action was nice. Backstage brawl was good too.

[ragemaster]

Does anyone know if there's a handheld of the night before, as Jannetty claims in a shoot interview that it's his best match.

[Kevin Ridge]

Watching full match. When I first saw this back in 94ish, I thought Marty legit hurt his shoulder! Shawn rams Marty's right shoulder into the ring post. Of course Marty sells his left shoulder instead! Ha. Humorous to completely miss that on my earlier watches. Jannetty's ring outfit is awful. Both Shawn and Sherri looking pudgy. Have always liked this match. Worth checking out the full thing if you have not seen it. Gorilla calls the finish "a miscarriage of justice". Well Jannetty and Sherri tried to cheat and it backfired on them. Heenan to Monsoon, "What were you watching?"

[PeteF3]

Good timing: we pick up right before an incredible suplex spot to the floor, and then the big Sherri babyface turn as she clocks Shawn as he tries to get up. Heenan is INCENSED. Some hot near-falls follow with Shawn continuing to bump like a pinball, and some clever twists on the usual spots like Shawn missing his superkick. Sherri accidentally creams Jannetty with her shoe, and Heenan goes off on the funniest misogynist rant since Paul E.: "PILEDRIVE HER! ... Look at her beg, 'I'm just a dumb harlot!'" Only Bobby can make domestic abuse funny. Shawn wins in one of the first but not last examples of heel Michaels completely outsmarting his babyface opponent.

 

Jannetty jumps Shawn in the locker room, and this looks like a feud that's going to continue, except Jannetty would get fired after working the next TV taping. I guess that puts a capper on this feud for good.

[WingedEagle]

Marty suplexes him to the floor but Shawn takes the bump pretty safely on his feet. That'll change soon enough. Sherri slaps Shawn to turn on him, and we get some hot near falls before Sherri accidentally hits Marty with her heel. Shawn took his time browbeating before hitting a superkick for the pin. That didn't make Marty look too tough. Fun backstage brawl where Michaels Sherri again.

[soup23]

Action was fine but that whole dress from Sherri was a disaster. Shawn is now getting wins with SCM and we get a pull apart backstage to continue the feud.

[garretta]

I didn't like this at all.

 

Since when does a former women's World champion cry in the corner after having the guts to turn on the man who was responsible for her going to the hospital? It would have been much more in character for Sherri to really put the badmouth on Shawn, then have him menace her for a few seconds, which would have led to a Jannetty comeback and another brief sequence before Shawn blatantly cheats to steal the win. As it is, Sherri's reduced to a wimpier version of Liz, Marty's beaten clean as a sheet after Sherri marks her face turn by nailing him with her shoe, and Gino calls the whole thing a miscarriage of justice.

 

Not quite, Gino. A dirty shame? Perhaps, because this feud had so much potential even with Marty's drug problems, let alone if he'd ever gotten clean. But now, what would have been the point, even if Marty hadn't been fired? So Marty gets mad because Shawn wants to beat up the same idiot who just hit him with her shoe. Big deal. How they ever revived this feud later in the year I'll never know; they must have been really hard up for believable IC challengers.

 

I didn't consider Bobby's rant on Sherri funny, but it doesn't carry as much weight as Heyman's rants did because he's so well established as a harmless comedy figure in the booth by now, association with Flair and Hall aside.

 

Was this the first high-profile match Shawn ever won with Sweet Chin Music? It has to be one of the first for sure. Interesting that Marty actually got to hit it first here.