[1992-11-27-WWF-Providence, RI] Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was going well at first. Jannetty came in cleaning house and fired up, but then they started working too many holds sitting still on the mat. Considering the storyline, a brawl would have worked so much better I think. I do like Shawn attempting to be the aggressor, but he sits in the front facelock way too long. It seems like they'd do a non-finish here since Jannetty just returned, so I was surprised to see the pinfall.

[Tim Evans]

Didn't think too much of this. The handheld kept going out of focus and too many rest holds.

[shoe]

This started strong with some fun brawling, and great bumps. Then we got boring with working a front facelock which is becoming an HBK staple. Other things I liked was the mirror spots with twists in them.

[Kevin Ridge]

I liked some of their spots where Shawn would tries things and fail and then Jannetty would hit the same move. But agreed that Shawn would go too long with the headlocks. Crowd really wanted more from the match.

[PeteF3]

Decent opening, hot finish, shitty middle. Shawn is very good at transitions and cut-offs but, as would be the case for the rest of his career, so-so at best when in control. There are some clever spots here and some good near-falls before a surprisingly clean finish, but overall this isn't a high point for either guy.

[WingedEagle]

Hot start with punching and brawling outside the ring. And then this really, really slows down. Just a ton of rest spots as they clearly weren't looking to put on a show. Despite that, the crowd was still hot for Jannetty's comeback and were eager for a hot stretch here, but it just wasn't happening on this night. Nothing special at all.

 

**

[garretta]

I thought Shawn put on a decent enough show here, much better than he would a month later against Savage in Worcester. Marty, on the other hand, seemed either ring-rusty or just not ready to have a decent singles program. He seemed a step slow the whole match except for a few sequences here and there, and even then Shawn always outsmarted him, like he did when he reversed Marty's flying bodypress for the winning fall.

 

I actually liked the reverse chinlock/front facelock spots, as they seemed to be a deliberate attempt by Shawn to slow down Marty so he wouldn't have the energy to do a number on Shawn the way he did at the start of the match. As was the case in his title win, they're showing Shawn as a man who sees his opportunities and takes advantage of them, even if it means wrestling rather dull matches. As long as the IC belt stays with him, that's all that matters.

 

This bout actually felt like one they felt obligated to put on just to get it out of the way; Shawn would soon be the top heel in the company, and he'd progressed far beyond the likes of Marty Jannetty, wronged former partner or not. Once they'd gotten one good house around the loop (which wouldn't be due exclusively to this match), why keep running it? Actually, based on this match I'm kind of surprised that they went back to it as often as they did throughout '93. If I'd been running the WWF instead of Vince, Marty would have either been one step above the likes of Van Van Horne and Brian Costello on the jobber scale or off to WCW. I'm not even sure I would have wasted time trying to form a new tag team with him in it. Maybe I'll change my mind when I actually see the bouts from '93.

 

Did Marty use the Rockers' music as his entrance theme here? From what little I could hear, his music sounded a bit like the NWO's theme from a few years later.