P-Boi Wrestling Mixtape - Week 12

[B]

Starting this up again, because we all need more good wrestling in our lives. Week 12 will be an easily accessible one, since I was going to throw up Jumbo/Funk from 1976 and then went "oh, wait, I'm a snob."

A lot of (if not most of) you have seen this one, and if you have, give it a download and watch it again for the benefit of thread conversation.



Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin, RAW Gold Rush Tournament, 5/2/05

https://www.progressiveboink.com/b/mixtape/12.wmv
(Right click and select "save as" to view)

Size: 39.9M

Discuss.
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[SundownMotel]

yay
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And this is a promise, because this is true. This is real. This is Straight Edge.

[wee bull]

Every time I feel the need to remind myself why I love Shelton Benjamin so, I remember the first MitB match at last years Wrestlemania, his build-up match with Benoit before it, and this match. He's by no means perfect, and when he fucks up, you fear for his life, and he gets hunted down to Heat post-hoste, but then every now and then he cracks open a match like this and all I can say is "Wow".

[pholby]

Sometimes guys stick matwork at the beginning of a match for no real reason, other than to have it there. The matwork here avoids that trap by simply having Shawn hug the shit out of the ropes and look frustrated, and Shelton smile. LITTLE THINGS.

I think the transition to the forearm shot (6:15) is weak. Shelton, to this point, has really been taking it to Michaels. Then all of a sudden Michaels gets a brief advantage with a shoulderblock and a nearfall, and then he hits the forearm. I think the forearm would come off a lot stronger if Shelton had been dominating on the mat again, Shawn had struggled to a standup position, then drilled him with the forearm and knocked him down. Then he could look at him like "I ain't no pushover." Michaels still looks at him and Shelton still does what he's supposed to, but I think if you took out the shoulderblock and the pin it would work a lot better.

I've been watching punches a lot more lately, and Shelton's aren't bad. It's worth noting that Michaels actually bothers to sell them, snapping his head back. A lot of people don't bother to do that, they just take the punch to the face, and therefore, it means nothing.

The double knockdown spot was pretty pointless. "Go on, just fucking kipup allready." Then they traded some pins, and Shelton did the "put my hands on his head and flip him over into a pin" spot. 99 times out of 100, that spot looks terrible, because the guy puts his hands on his opponents head really early, and the whole sequence pretty much telegraphs itself, so putting your hands there and just waiting just makes things worse. People need to stop doing that spot.

I would have liked this match to end on the kick after the blocked superkick. Shelton would have won, and I think a rematch down the line (with Michaels admitting that he was outmatched at that point in time) would have done well. But matches aren't allowed to end on kicks, so I guess it wasn't meant to be. Oh yeah, and that dive out of the corner is pretty fucking cool.

Changing cameras right at the point of impact is kind of annoying. The spot is nice, and if you're going to give Michales the finsher->win out of nowhere, that's as good a spot to do it with as any, since it's a credible knockout. As a final note, I thought this match was paced really, really well. The control segment, the comeback, it all came together really nicely.
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"You're a pussy, Strong!"

"Woah woah woah."

[Jim]

I remember that this match took place on a night where I had to tape Raw. When I got done watching this match, I finished watching Raw, fast-forwarding through anything that I didn't want to see. Right when I got done watching the show, I rewound to this match and watched it again. Easily one of my favorite WWE matches from last year, and easily my favorite from Raw.
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[Rusty Cooledge]

I think the ending would have gotten a ton of credibility if Shelton had just been knocked out and that was the decision the ref gave rather than a pin fall. Regardless I remember the first time I saw it and thinking "holy shit that was sweet."
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[Lindy]

That was pretty good for a WWE match. My favorite moments came from when Michaels was going to suplex him and Benjamin jumped into a cross body. Like Pholby said, it had good pacing as well. It started off slow and worked itself nicely into the middle and had a good finish.
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shrieking raccoon on a jetpack

[Benson]

in the past couple of years i havent watched much wwe except for the odd show, or a short run of shows, i find it better that way to tune in and out because i can enjoy myself then, rather than to try and watch long term and wait for blow offs that never happen, to see the same crappy finishes week in and week out, to see rehashed storylines and old storylines being forgotten 2 weeks later and just generally seeing bad headache inducing booking decisions....it frustrates me too much to watch...

.. but unlike what seems like, the majority of the internet, i do not enjoy coming online on tuesday mornings just to rip into the latest raw happenings....i like to stay positive about my wresling and if that means being ignorant to what's happening in general in wwe outside of the couple shows i chose to watch every few months, then so be it.....and it actually works, i enjoy the shows i do watch and i actually have some fun when i watch wwe, i suppose it's true, ignorance is indeed bliss...

..and of the few shows i saw in the past year or so, this was one that i did see, and i loved this match when i saw it, and watching it again has made me love it even more...

as noted, i think the pacing was great here, it was a great story, the cocky young lion benjamin continuously getting one over on michaels was fantastic and a good way of making benjamin look stong without putting him over michaels...

i really enjoyed benjamin outwrestling michaels, leading to michaels decking benjamin with a "fuck you" forearm, which as pholby noted, may of been better if it came during the actual mat wrestling spots, but i still think the effect was there and it wasnt a big issue...but i do have to disagree with pholby on the kip up spot, i really liked the double knock down...it came after michaels being continuously dominated through the match, finally hitting something big, his big flying forearm, a move that he's used alot in matches in the past in similair situations to turn the tide, and a spot that always gets a good adrenalin pop from the crowd...but here when michaels kips up, looking to now be in control, the cocky young son of a bitch benjamin kips up the same, again keeping up with michaels...and michaels just has to be thinking "you motherfucker!"...i really think its a key element to the story being told...

i also liked the use of the superkick, benjamin ducking the superkick and then attempting his own only to be caught by michaels is one of the very few times where i've liked the use of benjamins, "you catch my foot and i do a spinning heel kick to your FACE" spot...

i liked michaels bleeding from the mouth after the elbow from the top, getting all fired up and setting up for the super kick again, firing up the crowd...only for benjamin to catch his foot and hit a kick to the face for a near fall as michaels gets further frustrated that his big finisher attempt had failed yet again...

the home straight is just fantastic with benjamin doing a neat kip up the to the top tope and hitting a clothesline, again showing his athletic dominance..leading to him going for a springboard move and fucking EATING a desperation sweet chin music from michaels, giving the veteran michaels the win with just one big smart move, changing the whole story, and proving how true it is, that it only takes 3 seconds to pin a man and that all the greats can pull a big win out of seemingly nowhere...

this is definately my favourite wwe match in a long ass time and probably their match of the year outside of rey/eddie...

[escrew7]

How do you guys think Benjamin would go in an organisation such as ROH?
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We didnt start the Fire!!

[pholby]

I think he'd be worth a shot, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Benjamin seems like he'd have a hard time breaking out of the WWE style. And if you wrestle the WWE style in ROH, all the athleticism in the world isn't going to help you.
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"You're a pussy, Strong!"

"Woah woah woah."

[wee bull]

Actually, I think Benjamin struggles even with the WWE style. He's great with the cool spots and jumping and whatnot, but for the basic stuff he often seems strangely disinterested and lacking. As a face that doesn't always show as much as he just has to soak up the punishment before hitting sweet comebacks, but as a heel recently, his dominant periods never really seem to flow that well.

I think he'd fit really well into TNA's X Division actually. It's that bit more "spotfesty" than ROH there, and that's where Benjamin's athletic ability would serve him best.

[Jim]

I'd like to see him back on Smackdown. Put him in a long program with Benoit to see if he can tighten up some of his loose ends, because he does get a bit sloppy sometimes. After that, turn him face and put him up against Finlay.
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