Sunday 3 February 2019

Jarrett v Michaels! Work Memphis! Sorta!

Jeff Jarrett v Shawn Michaels (WWF In Your House 2: Lumberjacks, 7/23/95) 

You know, for a guy who has a rep of not being all that good, Jarrett has a nice resume of fun stuff. Still think this is his best match and probably his best performance. It wasn't a carry job by any stretch, but it's total Memphis for most of it and I'd guess it was him who laid the thing out. Sure looked like he was having a blast the whole time. All the early horse shit rules, Jarrett's fun stalling, great one-upmanship shtick, Michaels leading the crowd along with Hebner's ten count, and even if Michaels' punches will never make the Nashville crowd forget a Lawler or Dundee punch, his short jabs are much better than his old man chops. Shawn's bump over the post is a doozy and works as a quality transition. I thought Jarrett's control segment dragged just a bit at points and his abdominal stretch was pretty muck, but they're minor quibbles. Finishing run lasts longer than I remembered but it was also good stuff. The double clothesline leading to the nine count before Michaels does the kip up is effective in that it plausibly allows him some extra time to recover. I don't mind the kip up in general but I know it's an irritation to lots of folk. Plus this was the smooooothest kip up ever because he does it straight after the flying forearm and just kips right up without his feet touching the mat first and McMahon blew his knickers off I bet. Roadie was also a fun annoying shit all the way through this and the finish was a fun payoff to that. Mega fun match. WWF was not great in 1995 but this feels pretty easily like a top 10 match in the US that year.

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