[2005-02-28-WWE-Raw] Shawn Michaels vs Edge (Street Fight)

[Vinnie B]

I always thought Edge's heel run sucked until the Lita/Matt Hardy and Rated-R stuff, and this supports that view: the crowd goes mild.

Holy shit Michaels bleeds a gusher. Not quite Eddie vs. JBL levels, but not far off. There's a lot of botches at the beginning, which I don't usually care about but it really disrupted the flow of the match, but it get a lot better and more dramatic. They move quite slowly, just going between big spots without much in between. Yet it actually makes quite a refreshing change of pace - there's no big nearfalls until the finish, and most of the spots make sense, especially Michaels throwing a ladder at Edge's head. He also clobbers Edge with a ridiculously hard chairshot to the head. Very much a product of its' time, but a pretty enjoyable one. *** 3/4

[ohtani's jacket]

They wore such shitty clothes to the street fight. Why wear identical outfits? This was a typical WWF street fight match involving chairs, ladders and a kendo stick (looked more like a pool cue to me.) Michaels deserves credit (not sure if that's the right word) for blading so hard for a TV match. There was a sick chair shot towards the end that was absolutely hellacious and then a bunch of hammy crap, but Michaels' bladejob made it stand out from other TV matches. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

Shawn Michaels vs Edge - WWE RAW 2/28/05

Pre-Lita Edge was rough. When he couldn’t get over as a babyface in 2004, they turned him heel and stuck with Good Ol HBK which honestly was the nicest thing they could do for this generic huffy puffy CAW. The whole he has SNAPPED or he is deranged now almost never gets over. You need a gimmick. A hook. A character. The Money In The Bank and Lita gave him that. Before who was Edge? After that, he is sex-crazed opportunistic sleaze bag. Thats something you can sink your teeth into. Whenever 21st century fans say a gimmick is a four letter word you know they don’t what they are talking about. 
 

This is Shawn Michaels show through and through which means it is very good but I would hesitate to call it great. I know I said before in these reviews but even though 2005/2006 were smack dab in the second wave of my fandom my teen years I forgot how violent it was. HBK taps a gusher and Edge takes yet another insane chair shot. I can’t believe he can still form complete thoughts in AEW.  They really went from 60 to zero when they went PG with the blood. 
 

Appreciated the jeans and Shawn immediately going to whipping him with the belt. Mid-tempo Shine of Shawn beating Edge’s ass all over the place. Shawn goes for the ladder But gets wiped out by a trash can lid. Which creates a story that whenever Shawn goes for the ladder he is thwarted. Edge hits the Impaler on a chair triggering the massive bladejob we go to commercial as we have our hook HBK is a bloody mess can he survive Edge huffing and puffing and blowing his house down.

Theres a real good anemic Shawn dive to the floor where it almost looks like he trips on the ropes and takes a header to wipe out Edge. It was a great sell of blood loss and exhaustion. Shawn’s selling carries this over Edge’s offense as he never had much. Edge’s homage to Shawn at Mania X falls short of looking cool. Shawn hits a homer off Edge’s head with a chair and a kendo stick. Shawn comeback. Apparently this was in Providence and they really rallied behind HBK. That and the blood make the standard Shawn comeback electric. I enjoyed the trading of ball shots. Shawn punching right in the balls on the One Man Conchairto popped me. Edge spear. Yeah right like he had a chance. Edge attempting a finisher steal only to walk into Sweet Chin Music was a pretty sweet finish. 

Angle attacking Shawn after the match because Shawn he the audacity to challenge Angle to a Mania is the classic 0 to 60 booking that WWE does that drives me insane. It sucks and it leaves you cold and senseless. 
 

Shawn was great and Edge was mediocre. The bladejob and finish run gets close to great But not over the Edge :p *** 3/4