Review for WWE Shawn Michaels Mr Wrestlemania

10 / 10

Shawn Michaels is the greatest performer in Wrestlemania history. Really the only person who could compare is The Undertaker, but when you look at the sixteen matches on this set it proves without a shadow of a doubt that he was Mr Wrestlemania.

It is very rare that I find a DVD in which every match is watchable. Usually, there are one or two, but this DVD is almost perfect. I say almost, because it does the thing that I hate which is the old Talk Match Talk Match template which is fine sometimes, but really I would have preferred maybe an hour of HBK talking followed by the matches. One of the reasons is that if you don't know the finish to the matches, well he already spoils it for you.

Going from Wrestlemania V and VI when he was part of the awesome The Rockers tag team, it goes through the evolution of Shawn Michaels to the Showstopper we came to see retire at Wrestlemania XXVI. I am actually glad that they included every match (or almost every match), because I do feel that if this was a 'hand picked' selection it would be the typical: Ladder Match, Iron Man and Undertaker match and completely miss out some of the great matches he had. Even against people like Tatanka at IX and Cena in XXIII he still had one of the best matches of the night.

I say 'almost every match', because even I didn't realise until after that one match is missing from his Wrestlemania career. It is a match that I often cite as one of the greatest of all time. Why is it not included? Two words: Chris Benoit. Yes, even with a disclaimer or with Shawn Michaels talking about the match, or even for completist sake, there is no way that WWE would allow themselves to glorify this man, no matter how great the match is. This is a shame, because as I say, it is an awesome match, though I understand why they don't include it.

One of the other issues I have with the matches is that because there is no story being told about why they are happening you come into every match very cold. Why is he facing Diesel at XI or Kurt Angle at XXI? Again if they had separated the HBK reflections into one section and then had a little promo before each match it would make you realise why it was happening. Granted the early ones were matches for the sake of it, but the whole feud with The Undertaker or with Ric Flair would have been better with a little recap about why the match was happening.

As it is, this is just fifteen amazing matches and funnily enough they do a great job at showing the career progression of Shawn Michaels and if you own any of his previous sets, this is a great accompanying piece. Despite knowing how most of the matches ended, they were still great the watch and things like the Wrestlemania X Ladder Match will always stand out as one of the best matches of all time.

If you are a fan of Shawn Michaels you will love this set. If you like to watch some great... no not just great showstopping wrestling matches, then this is a set to pick up.

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