(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels – WWE Unforgiven 2008

It’s often said that wrestling careers are short (at least in North America) and very few people end up having storybook careers with fairytale endings. Both of these men certainly know a thing or two about that.

Michaels was once the most hated man in the English-speaking wrestling world; if social media existed in the 1990s during his prime he’d have enough hate mail – both physical and digital – to cause a mental breakdown. Yet he went away for four years, found God, and then had a complete career renaissance. He almost ruined his legacy when he prostituted himself for a hefty paycheck and a shitty match in Saudi Arabia, only to turn things around once again and become a much-adored and respected booker as the new head of NXT.

Jericho, meanwhile, has seen his fortunes sour in the eyes of many fans. Once heralded as the central figure behind AEW’s original success, as one of the greatest in-ring workers of his generation, and as a certified legend, Jericho has go-away heat with a lot of people. Some people point to allegations of bad behavior backstage while others point to his worsening creative ideas/catchphrases and the fact that he has stuck around so much that fewer people really care about him.

This is one of the reasons why it’s better to look at wrestlers’ matches instead of wrestlers’ careers in their entirety. You get a better snapshot of a wrestler’s skills in individual matches than you get when looking at careers that can span through different phases. It’s with this in mind that we revisit one of the best feuds in WWE during a time when the company was still on something of a downward slope popularity and interest-wise.

The story

Chris Jericho is the living embodiment of the expression ‘never meet your heroes’. He idolized Shawn Michaels so much that he modeled himself after HBK in many ways. Though the two men clashed several times throughout the first half of the decade, the hostility between them peaked in 2008. Jericho also idolized Ric Flair and so he blamed Michaels and his enormous ego for forcing Flair into retirement (ah, if only). Additionally, Jericho was also calling out the fans around this time calling them troglodytes and hypocrites for cheering Michaels when he did underhanded or deceptive things and booing Jericho when he tried the same.

Then in on June 9, 2008, Jericho attacked Michaels viciously and threw him head-first into the big JeriTron 5000 TV screen setup for his Highlight Reel talk show. At SummerSlam a few months later, Michaels claimed that getting thrown into the monitor damaged his retina and would thus force him to retire. Jericho didn’t fall for that BS and decided to sucker punch HBK, only to hit his wife instead. And while her taking a bump was planned, the contact was not and so Jericho ended up hitting her much harder than intended.

But that ended up helping this feud immensely: say what you want about the pro-wrestling in modern times, this was a step too far. No one puts their hands on another man’s wife or girlfriend. Many fans of HBK’s and even some jaded onlookers saw this as something much bigger, much closer to home. This was no longer just a campy wrestling storyline; it was a personal blood feud borne from the consequences of letting jealousy cloud one’s mind and emotions.

Though HBK didn’t explode in the moment (backstage, however, Jericho thought Michaels wanted to kill him) he knew he’d get his revenge soon enough: at Unforgiven the two men would face off in an unsanctioned match. This meant that this wouldn’t be ‘official’ and both men waived their rights to sue the company should anything happen to them. Whatever happened, happened.

The match

This took place on September 7, 2008. It was rated ****1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Before the match begins we get a shot of Michaels getting his left arm taped up in the trainer’s room. A doctor warns him that he risks tearing a tendon in his left triceps. For what it’s worth, Jericho’s in his usual wrestling gear while Michaels is in a tank top and jeans.

Michaels carries that same steely glower from the trainer’s room down the entrance ramp and into the ring. There’s no pomp or display of showmanship as he rushes the ring. Michaels double-legs Jericho and the fight begins. Michaels hits hard with punches, kicks, and a shot with his cowboy boot. Jericho tries to escape ringside buy Michaels chases him down and they both fly over the ringside barricade. Michaels misses a chairshot and hits a ringpost instead. Jericho takes advantage by knocking Michaels onto an announce table and with a drop onto the edge of the barricade.

Jericho follows with a DDT onto the ringside mats and then pulls out two tables. He attempts a powerbomb but Michaels punches his face so Jericho drops him face-first onto the edge of the apron. This stops Michaels’ momentum instantly since it adds more damage to his already-messed up eye. In the ring Jericho drives a chair into Michaels’ stomach and then smashes his taped-up arm with it. Jericho follows with a back suplex to target both Michaels’ arm and his back. He sets up a chair in one corner and foot chokes Michaels in the opposite one. He attempts to drive Michaels head-first into the char just like he did into the TV. But Michaels reverses and sends Jericho shoulder-first into a ringpost in the same corner he was just in.

Jericho hits a shoulder to Michaels gut from the apron (with the good shoulder) and tries a suplex over the rope. Michaels resists but Jericho still manages to get him onto the apron. Michaels escapes again and clotheslines Jericho into the ring. Despite having a bad arm and a bad back Michaels attempts his usual comeback with the flying forearm and the nip-up. Michaels chokes Jericho down to the mat, hits a top-rope diving elbow, and starts tuning up the band. He goes for Sweet Chin Music…and Jericho collapses to his knees before him. Michaels is unforgiving and pummels Jericho’s head with punches. Jericho falls to the mat but Michaels continues with punches and elbows to any part of Jericho’s head that isn’t covered. Then Michaels locks in a crossface but Jericho rolls sideways, sending Michaels head-first into the chair he setup earlier.

Jericho punches and chokes Michaels in return for earlier and rakes his eyes. More strikes to the head from both men. Jericho gets cocky and slaps Michaels but that only serves to fire him up. Jericho reverses a corner whip and sends Michaels back-first into that corner chair but Michaels is so fired up that he double-legs Jericho and goes back to mounted punching. Michaels teases a piledriver but Jericho counters into the Walls of Jericho. Michaels crawls under the bottom rope (there’s no ropebreaks) so Michaels pulls out a fire extinguisher and sprays the chemical into Jericho’s face.

Michaels uses the extinguisher as a weapon and hits Jericho in the head with it. Jericho rolls to ringside but Michaels chases him and throws him into the barricade. Then Michaels lands a vertical suplex on the steel entrance ramp. Both men take damage on that but Michaels gets up first, only to be confronted by Jericho’s protégé Lance Cade. Michaels makes quick work of him and goes back to Jericho for a moment, only for Cade to home back and drill Michaels with a huge clothesline.

Jericho and Cade double-team Michaels as they wrap his bad arm around a post and Cade boots it. In the ring, Cade holds Michaels in place as Jericho lands mocking shots and trash-talks him. Jericho follows with a wind-up kick to Michaels’ bad arm and some chair-shots to it. The Jericho attempts to pillmanize Michaels’ arm and goes to the top rope as Cade holds Michaels in place. But then Michaels kicks Cade off and sends him into the ropes, which causes Jericho to lose balance and crotch himself on the top rope. With the chair in hand Michaels swings at Jericho and hits him so hard he falls off the turnbuckle and through the table he setup earlier.

Michaels swings the chair with one good arm and gets some good shots in on Jericho as he lies atop what’s left of that table. Michaels takes care of Cade and places him atop one of the announce tables, then puts Jericho atop of him. Then Michaels climbs back into the ring…and lands a diving elbow drop onto both of them.

Michaels tosses Jericho into the ring and whips him with his belt. He wraps the belt around his knuckles, traps Jericho in a cross-arm choke, and punches away at Jericho’s head. The referee starts trying to push Michaels to stop; maybe he’s worried about Michaels going too far or something. Anyways, Michaels gets on top of Jericho and hammers him with more punches to the head. The referee has seen enough and calls for the bell but Michaels doesn’t stop swinging right away.

Winner after 26:54: Shawn Michaels

You can watch the full match here.

Post-match Michaels attacks Jericho again but the ref pushes him back to make him stop. Michaels responds with a superkick to this ref and teases going after Jericho again. Michaels appears to be on the verge of tears as Jericho is swarmed by more referees and some doctors.

Review

This was a simple but exciting brawl that lived up to the hype. It was exactly what it needed to be: a story of Michaels getting revenge on the man who talked a lot of shit and hit his wife. Doing any sort of high-technique wrestling or anything requiring tons of finesse would’ve been inappropriate in this setting so these two just brutalized each other with whatever tools and tricks they could find. But it wasn’t just senseless brawling or now-clichéd standing strike exchanges; there was an actual pro-wrestling element shown through limb targeting, two-on-one beatdowns, weapons use, and storytelling. Though this wasn’t as good as their ladder match at No Mercy, it was still one of the better matches from WWE at the time.

The best part of this match was the story aspect between the two men. They sold the stipulation in small ways (Shawn’s attire, for example) and in big ways (with how they fought and the near complete lack of rules or restrictions). Michaels was a tremendous babyface fighting more aggressively than usual because he was justified in doing so. Jericho was at his best as the cocky yet cowardly egomaniac who, in his mind, was in the right for what he did. The physical chemistry between the wrestlers and the story behind their match gave this a realistic and believable edge. The action shifted smoothly from spot to spot and between control segments. Although Michaels was the aggressor he was also the underdog because he had three known weaknesses/injuries (back, eye, and arm) which made gave fans more reason to cheer him. And ultimately that’s what WWE’s take on pro-wrestling was all about: giving fans a story they could believe in and see it get settled in the ring.

The only real blemish in this match came at the end when the referee interjected too much, to the point that even the commentators were questioning his actions. As Lillian Garcia noted at the very start, both men had signed hold harmless agreements. As such, both of them had carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to each other. With that, why would the referee try and stop Michaels? His only job was to call for the bell and determine if/when someone was no longer able to continue. He had no reason to get directly get involved and pull Michaels off. Sure it was an interesting visual to underscore Michaels’ aggression and desperation but it didn’t make any sense given everything that had happened up to that point.

Final Rating: ****1/4

This was solid but not the best that either man was capable of. The ladder match they’d have one month later surpassed this one in pretty much every category and Michaels’ unsanctioned match with Triple H from SummerSlam 2002 was a better use of that stipulation. Though there wasn’t anything outwardly bad in this match (aside from that overzealous referee), the match still failed to reach the same heights.

That said, it was still an entertaining piece of WWE storytelling with a solid post-match surprise. Michaels won this battle but Jericho would get the last laugh by inserting himself into one of the world title Scramble matches. The feud between these men would continue and only get better from here.

So while this isn’t the best match in the feud (or even the best Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho singles match), it’s one of the few good things out of WWE during a year of relative mediocrity.

Thanks for reading.