Michaels v Jannetty; Michaels v THE KID

Shawn Michaels v Marty Jannetty (RAW, 5/17/93)

Has there ever been a tag team split in which the heel continues wearing the same ring gear as they did when part of the tag team? Reigns still wears the body armour and Shield getup. Santana continued wearing the Strike Force trunks after Martel turned on him. Jannetty is wearing the exact same tights he wore in that Orient Express match from the '91 Rumble. I can't think of an example of the opposite (unless you count Jannetty turning heel three years later and still continuing to wear Rockers gear). Anyway this was alright. They cut a nice pace and I really liked how Michaels would organically get into position for things. He's still pretty vanilla on offence and easily at his best pinballing around, but either way he's good at setting up those bumps without being obvious about them. He takes a big clothesline over the top, Jannetty follows it up with a plancha, and Michaels waits right until the last second before getting up and turning to catch him. It never came off like a planned spot; his timing was good enough that he never had to stand around until Jannetty was ready to do the move, never telegraphed that Jannetty was going to do it by looking up ready to catch him. He even made the towel throw at the end look half convincing, like it maybe flicked him in the eye and it was enough for Jannetty to grab the roll-up.


Shawn Michaels v 123 Kid (RAW, 12/6/93)

Pretty badass little match. Michaels is already much better on offence here, has a much bigger move pool and generally looks more well-rounded. I guess I'd need to watch more of what he was doing between May and December to say with real confidence, but it felt like by this point he was starting to put it together as the heel he wanted to be. Even something simple like hitting a backbreaker, keeping hold of Kid, gloating a bit then hitting another backbreaker. He felt assured and it was much more engaging than the reliance on chinlocks he had for a while there (and nothing came across as wanky, like he was trying to overshadow the babyface and make everything about him, which I know people ding him for in the second heel run). Didn't hurt that Waltman was a pretty awesome bumper and willing to take all sorts of offence, including a dropkick counter to a top rope cross body and an awesome powerslam off the apron. His punches are sort of awful, all wrist across the forehead, but his kicks are great and most of them land flush. Michaels of course takes all of them in the face or ribs and makes all of them look lethal. I like these two as a match-up and this might be their best together.