WWE: Shawn Michaels - My Journey

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Average Customer Rating:	4.0
Release Date:	2010-03-09
Publisher:	World Wrestling
Actors:	Shawn Michaels; Triple H; The Undertaker; Bret Hart
Audience rating:	PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format:	AC-3; Box set; Color; Dolby; Full Screen; NTSC
Language:	Original Language: English;

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Product description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 03/09/2010 Run time: 540 minutes

The Heartbreak Kid is one of the most celebrated and talented superstars in the history of Sports Entertainment. Shawn Michaels’ career has spanned more than 25 years and has produced one great match after another, earning him his “Showstopper” moniker. Now fans can relive this superlative career with Shawn Michaels: His 25 Greatest Matches, a 3-disc set with more than nine hours of matches. This DVD presents Michaels’ great bouts from every phase of his life, from early tag-team matches as a member of the Rockers through his highly decorated championship reigns. The matches include new commentary and reflections from the Showstopper himself, as well as partners and adversaries throughout the years.

Customer reviews

« Excellent overview, good insights on wrestling »

I enjoyed the DVD series on Shawn Michaels and recommend it to anyone interested in his career or the wrestling business. Note how talented he was even in the early matches. I interviewed him in 1985 at the Heart of Texas Coliseum in Waco, Texas before a show with Texas All Star Wrestling. Even then he stood out as a rising star. Soon after this, he joined with Marty Janetti and became the Midnight Rockers in the AWA. Even the announcers were struck by their skill and high flying maneuvers. Also very interesting to wrestling fans is the way he answers the questions of Michael Cole. Listen carefully to how he doesn't say so and so was an enemy and I wanted to destroy him in our match together, but "he was someone I trusted, and we worked well together to put on an excellent, entertaining match." Pretty honest stuff. Enjoy this DVD set and remember fondly the career of the Showstopper.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-06-27

« a great WWE salute to a great wrestler »

The WWE has produced multi-disc salutes to its wrestlers in the past and they haven't tarnished that image with this 3rd installment of wrestling matches featuring the Heartbreak Kid.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-04-27

« Shawn Michaels...One to remember. »

"WrestleMania 25 April 5, 2009
This match ALONE is more than enough to buy this DVD."

Or you can just buy WrestleMania 25 on DVD.

Do you rember the sit down send off for Hulk Hogan before Wrestlemania VIII?
This in my opinion is basically the same.

However there are some nice matches. From World Class, and the AWA. As well as a few nice matches from some house cards. And a few Monday Night Raw's.

For True Wrestling fans, or Shawn Michaels Fans.

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2010-04-23

« shawn michaels-definitive story »

I puchased this product for my daughter,who finds it entertaining and informative. I believe it to be a very wothwhile purchase for any wrestling fan.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-04-22

« Shawn Michaels - A Legend »

3 Disc Widescreen Edition DVD Set (2009, Released 2010)

This DVD set has three discs and an approximate running time of 9 hours. Shawn Michaels' previous DVD Set, "Heartbreak and Triumph" really explored the timeline of his career from the early days up to 2007 with a deep foray into his less admirable habits and his fight back to a better place. Instead of the documentary format from that set, this one jumps into the other format of match-interview-match-interview, etc.

The difference here from sets like "Edge: A Decade of Decadence" is that like Triple H's set in this format, it is not done in character necessarily and the interview is Michael Cole in shot asking in depth questions. Michaels' answers are not edited down for time so they are completely honest with pauses and no time limits so the candidness can come off genuine.

Certain areas of Michaels' life have been covered thoroughly in the other sets so what is refreshing about this set is that it doesn't have to go in depth rehashing old material and goes a little further with other subjects. He does talk about his relationship with Triple H and working with Bret Hart and the British Bulldog as well as his old tag team partner, Marty Genetti.

For instance, Michaels talks about what it was like to work with Hulk Hogan and is not afraid to call him out for how he wanted to do business and Hogan's lack of participation in promos and the way he reacted to it after the fact. Another subject that was surprising was Michaels' respect for Kurt Angle and how Angle motivated him to train harder to put together a different type of challenging match that played more to Angle's strengths in traditional mat wrestling. The match between Angle and Michaels at WrestleMania 21 is one of the best in this set.

Although the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair match from WrestleMania 24 is not in this set (It IS on the Ric Flair DVD Set which I will eventually review as I have it on hand here), they do have a match of the two competing at Bad Blood in 2003. Leading up to the match, they do discuss the lead up to WrestleMania 24 and Flair's emotional state at the time and how difficult it was for him to make that journey and how many tears Ric shed before that day.

Another man Michaels talks about is The Undertaker and how although they've both been in the business for close to the same amount of time that they have never really been friends that hung out but they have a mutual respect and appreciate the way each of them does business so that whenever they are in the ring together, they can just make "art." The last match on the DVD is the match against Undertaker from the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania last year that won a Slammy award for Match of the Year.

Some of the other great matches on this set are the Fatal Four-way from 2007 at Backlash that I remember seeing where Michaels used "sweet chin music" against Cena who fell on one of the others and it was counted as a pin for Cena. The match against Randy Orton in 2007 with the "no super kick" stipulation allowed for a more creative match with more submission holds than Shawn Michaels would normally use and Randy Orton is always an engaging performer to watch with his viper pumping up moves and stomping.

Shawn Michaels has had good instincts when it comes to the business of the WWE and really knows how to push the buttons of the people to get a reaction, particularly in his years as a heel. One example would be the ganging up on Davy Boy the British Bulldog at a show in England for the European Championship where Triple H and Chyna joined him to swing the match in his favor with interference since he knew that would have a huge impact on the people there since they loved Davy Boy so much. It worked to the tune of fans actually throwing things at them in the ring and a strong negative reaction can be just as good as a positive one as long as you get a reaction. His instincts served him well again when he let loose on Hulk Hogan at a promo IN Montreal and was the first to bring up the Montreal Screw-job because no one likes to bring up that event more than the WWE itself because of the controversy and emotional feedback it gets even if it no longer feels as bitter to the fans.

The Slammy Awards are a relatively new event to the WWE, but I have a feeling if his career had continued, Michaels could have won a Slammy every year for his work at WrestleMania. Michaels is an emotional performer as well as a talented high-flyer. No one can take a hit like Michaels and let the entire audience feel the impact. His spirit and defiance has inspired so many wrestlers and one can hope his body of work will continue to do that in years to come.

By now, everyone knows that the career ending match at WrestleMania 26 did not end in Michaels favor but the way it wasn't built up to as much as Ric Flair's and the fact that no one came out at the end of his farewell except for Hunter (my husband said that if the Big Show didn't cry, it wasn't real) makes it a little suspicious that while Michaels may not wrestle again, I think it could be very possible that he return in a different capacity such as General Manager for one of the shows or another administrative position. It is difficult to imagine him leaving the business completely but I think he has enough respect for it not to return to wrestling after the send off by the fans like Ric Flair did on another network (Sorry, but that was such a slap in the face to hear Ric Flair came out of retirement somewhere else after all the fanfare, farewells, and ceremony to his retirement in the WWE. It could NOT have been better or more emotional and those fans have to feel cheated.).

The ending of the DVD set asks what is next for Shawn Michaels and he speaks earnestly about wanting to spend more time with his kids and anyone who managed to finish getting through the 9 hours of content before WrestleMania would have already known the outcome of the match by his attitude. It is a little sad and bittersweet but also nice because he talks about wanting to go out on his own terms and Michael Cole asks what he wants his grandchildren to remember about Shawn Michaels and he answers as best as he can. No longer seeing Shawn Michaels in the ring is a little emotional but he does indicate he may continue to work with the business who did so much for him for so many years.

Matches:

Shawn Michaels vs One Man Gang - WCCW 1985
Midnight Rockers vs Buddy Rose & Doug Somers - Wrestlerock 1986
Midnight Rockers vs Nasty Boys - AWA 1988
Rockers vs Brain Busters - Boston Garden 1989
Rockers vs The Hart Foundation - Madison Square Garden 1989
Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart - Intercontinental Championship 1992
Shawn Michaels vs British Bulldog - RAW 1995
Shawn Michaels vs Sid Vicious - Intercontinental Championship at Raw 1995
Shawn Michaels vs 1-2-3 Kid - RAW 1996 (Who IS this guy???)
Shawn Michaels vs Mankind - RAW 1997
Shawn Michaels vs British Bulldog - European Championship at One Night Only 1997
Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker - Casket Match for WWE Championship at Royal Rumble 1998
Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho - WrestleMania XIX
Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair - Bad Blood 2003
Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle - WrestleMania 2005
Shawn Michaels vs Triple H - Bootcamp Match at Raw 2005
Shawn Michaels vs John Cena vs Edge vs Randy Orton - Fatal 4-Way Match for WWE Championship at Backlash 2007
Shawn Michaels vs Randy Orton - WWE Championship at Survivor Series 2007
Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho - Unsanctioned Match at Unforgiven 2008
Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker - WrestleMania 25

Extras:

The one interesting feature added on to this set is that while it flows from interview to match to interview to match and there are no additional features to click on, there is an option for alternative commentary on one match on each disc with Shawn Michaels and Michael Cole. So for three matches, you can hear a little more background about what was going on at the time and how the matched played out from Michaels' perspective.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-04-11

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List Price:	$34.95
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