#this writer doesn't know how to have fuckin fun apperently

[blowflyfag]

Wrestling Eye: November 1992

Shawn Michaels: A SINGULAR SENSATION! 

By Steve Muller

Transcript Below!!!

[Shawn Seems to be enjoying his new found success.]

Shawn Michael’s classic philosophic turn from babyfaced hero to arrogant, conceited bad guy was completed when he threw his longtime partner, Marty Jannetty, head-first through the plate glass window of Brutus Beefcake’s Barber Shop. If it was not the end of an era, it was certainly the end of the beginning of one. Until that rather dramatic partnership dissolution, the Rockers tag team had been one of the most successful duos in the mat sport’s history. 

Bugun as the Midnight Rockers in Verne Gagne’s now defunct and almost forgotten American Wrestling Associate, the Rockers were among the most exciting high flying teams this side of Japan. They became AWA World Champions at a very young age and it seemed they were destined to join teams like the Bastien Brothers, The Fabulous Kangaroos, the Graham Brothers, the Midnight Express and the Road Warriors in wrestling’s mythical Tag Team Hall of Fame. 

Indeed the Rockers possessed all the important elements necessary for tag team success as well as a few extras. They worked well in the ring together and employed complimentary styles. They moved dynamically and complicated teamwork was executed smoothly. Loaded with charisma, they excelled on interviews and in involving the arena crowds in their own personal dramas.

The Rockers were major successes not only in the AWA But on the independent circuit and then in the WWF, the Land of the Super Giants, where they excelled despite their relatively average size. Unfortunately, success did not last for Rockers. Insiders now say the team was doomed to fall from its inception. The team had a fatal flaw that eventually destroyed it.  Outside the ring, Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels simply did not like each other/ Perhaps the mutual dislike developed  from a kind of friendly rivalry that often develops between longtime team members,  perhaps they never really liked each other only because they were so successful in the ring. But whatever the cause, the Rockers team had no future. 

The fated break-up was foreshadowed many times. Once, in a hotel in London, after a tough match, Micheals and Jannetty were stopped from punching each other into oblivion only by the quick intercession of WWF road managers. Another time, when there were no managers present, the tag duo battled each other in a parking lot behind a denver saloon, The two tag partners beat each other so badly that they had to be pulled off television for a month. 

The breakup of the team and subsequent emergence of Shawn Michaels as a major singles star was one of the best handled pieces of booking ever by the WWF brain trust. Shawn Michaels was craftily depicted as the cause of the breakup. 

 [Shawn and Sherri are quite a pair!]

During the buildup of the angle, Micahels slowly developed an arrogant, nasty persona. He repeatedly reprimanded Jannetty during matches for mistakes, mostly imagined ones, in full view of the arena crowd. Michaels utilized many tricks to steal the spotlight from his partner including refusing to tag out during easy television matches and pretending to leave the ring with Jannetty after a victory, only to return to it to enjoy the applause of the crowd alone. Shawn acted as if he were solely responsible for the team’s success. And the fans began to truly hate him. 

After the break-up took place, hardcore fans expected an exciting series of four star bouts between Jannetty and Micahels, both accomplished ring technicians and aerial move artists. 

Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Marty Jannetty experienced some legal problems, and amid a cloud of rumors, left the WWF. He continued to wrestle on the independent circuit, and now that his legal problems have been resolved, there are rumors circulating that he will return to the WWF to feud with his former partner. However, at this time of this writing, the possibility of any Jannetty/Michaels matches is pure speculation. What is not speculation, however, is the amazing success Michaels has enjoyed since the break-up.

Shawn Michaels is now one of the WWF’s top singles stars and one of their top three villains. His interaction with new manager and spiritual cohort, Sensational Sherri clearly has established his new egotistical “boy-toy” persona. Additionally, his already great ring skills are increasing. Some of the matches in his continuing feud with Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Title have been cited by experts as among the WWF’s best of the year–a major accomplishment even if it is a somewhat slow year for great matches in the WWF. There are some who believe that Michaels will eventually win the I-C belt and may already have done so by the time you read this. 

[Watch out, Shawn may be coming after you!]

Additionally, in the land of comic book mutants and graveyard denizens that the WWF has become, Michaels stands out as the wrestler who has gained success the old fashioned way–he has earned it through hard work in the ring and well planned character development outside of it. Michaels is a throwback to the days in the WWF when wrestlers had real names and believable personas. It seems Michaels has stepped directly out of those halcyon days when wrestlers were called Bruno, Pedor,, Bobby and Buddy, not Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, Bezerker, or Mountie. 

[Michaels is determined to wear gold in the near future]

Also, impressive is the transition itself, from tag to singles wrestling. Very few wrestlers have been able to make this change successfully, and even fewer have become bigger stars in singles competition than they were as part of a tag team. It seems that Michaels, together with Sensational Sherri, or the Sensational Sherri look-alike who remains unidentified but who has appeared with Michaels at arenas across America, will become a major star for a long time in the WWF. Experts have predicted that the WWF of the future. The WWF without Hulk Hogan, will be a time dominated by wrestlers ranging from Lex Luger to Sid Vicious/Justice to the Ultimate Warrior.

The experts may be wrong this time. The future WWF may well be a federation dominated by Shawn Micahels. Try it on: Shawn Micahels, World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion. It does have kind of an innovative ring to it. After all, how long has it been since the WWF had a heavyweight champion with two names, a first and a last, neither of which are a nickname? Is the world really ready for this? From this writer’s standpoint, one can only hope so.