This is unlike basically every other WWF match of the era. There are definitely some stylistic anomalies in 90s WWF, things like Valentine v Garvin and even Doink v Mr Perfect, but not in a World Title match. I don't think anybody other than Bret would've been able to have this match with Backlund, not at this point in 1994 WWF; not Owen, not Waltman, certainly not Michaels. Backlund is all Backlund noises and unpredictable and will just sort of do shit that it looks like Bret really wasn't expecting (in both kayfabe and "narrative" terms). He'll grab Bret with a waistlock and roll around the mat, throw a crazy stiff forearm from his knees, go out after Bret when the latter regroups so he can throw him back in immediately, pops up from a dropdown that Bret trips over and goes flying out the ring. Maybe not all of those were LEGIT unexpected, maybe the dropdown was planned, but either way they all came off like that and they all added to the story. There was one point where Bret threw a headbutt, one of his usual ones that looks good but in very worked fashion, and he sells his own head in a cool touch. Then from out of camera shot as he's standing up Backlund just lunges at him with his own headbutt, but this one looking much less worked, almost like a Fujiwara headbutt right to the cheek. I guess it was two guys with different approaches meeting somewhere in the middle, and it wasn't always the smoothest but if nothing else that added to the grittiness of it. There was a mid-match bridge sequence that Backlund bridged out of twice, showing some really impressive core strength for a guy people thought might be over the hill, then takes Bret over with one of the tightest backslides you'll ever see. Bret's arm work looked snug and a couple times I bought him really gripping that short arm scissors just to keep Backlund contained for a minute. Backlund as perpetual forward motion wasn't quite the force of 14 years earlier, his engine not quite as robust, but he could still spike someone with a piledriver. I thought the finish was great too. Backlund almost catches Bret with the inside cradle and celebrates thinking he actually got the pin, which was very Bob Backlund. Then Bret catches him with a cradle of his own and there goes Backlund's chance. I can't imagine he'll get another one.
Shawn Michaels v Razor Ramon (RAW, 8/1/94)
I watched this for the first time back in like 2009 and I thought it was shockingly great. I couldn't remember seeing a regular Shawn v Razor singles match of note, and here was this one coming out of nowhere and being awesome. It wasn't quite the same surprise these many centuries down the line, more good than great, but good is nothing to shake a jaggy stick at as my great, great, great grandmother would often tell me. It felt more like a PPV match than a TV one. They kind of flip the roles a little with Razor working more from above and Shawn mostly being on the back foot, though they both very much remain babyface and heel respectively. It made sense because Michaels at this stage was an incredibly fun pinball stooge idiot bump machine but not really compelling working from above at all. Razor isn't the most sympathetic or expressive babyface but he has enough STUFF to fill time on offence, so they lean mostly into those strengths. The early going was my favourite stretch of the match as you had Michaels trying to use speed and even a wee bit of brinkmanship with how much he could try, while Razor was far less mobile but could swing momentum with only a couple moves, or in some cases just the one. Michaels tries to get in the ring on three sides but gets popped in the mouth and lands hard on all three aprons, then on the fourth attempt just pokes Razor in the eye before he gets jabbed again. He tries to fake out Razor with a dive out the corner, Razor seems to bite by hitting the deck, but it turns out HE was doing the faking out and catches Shawn on his actual dive before hitting the fallaway slam. There's a brief run of Shawn offence and it's not great, but that gets cut short when Razor slingshots him clean over the ropes and Michaels goes flying into Diesel. It may have honestly been the best slingshot spot ever, one that the Tonga Kid would shed a tear at. When Michaels takes over again late on there are some elements of Flair as he just tries to cling to Razor with a sleeper, sort of working like Flair against a Sting or Nikita Koloff or whoever. It was cool revisiting this for the first time in about 14 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment