MID-Tier Match Reviews: Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan – WWE SummerSlam 2005

When people talk about Shawn Michaels and his status as a genuine GOAT contender, they often do so based on Michaels’ more serious and dramatic matches and stories. But the guy was also pretty damn good at making people laugh too. And there was at least one occasion where making people laugh wasn’t even his main intention.

Almost two decades ago Shawn Michaels had one of the funniest matches in WWE history. It wasn’t a typical WWE-style comedy match (thankfully) because no one besides Michaels himself knew what was going to go down here. The result was something truly special for its time, and while it was FAR from any kind of in-ring classic, it added another feather to Michaels’ cap nonetheless.

The Story

Oh boy, is this a good one.

On the night after WrestleMania 21, Shawn Michaels found himself facing down Muhammad Hassan and his manager Daivari, the two men who had gotten beaten up by Hogan the night before. This mini feud came to an end at Backlash when Michaels and Hogan teamed up to beat those guys. Michaels and Hogan teamed up a few more times, culminating in a tag match against Kurt Angle and Carlito…but their victory was short-lived as Michaels superkicked Hogan’s head off mid-celebration.

Michaels justified his attack as him being tired of Hogan living off a legacy that peaked two years earlier while he (Michaels) was working and reinventing himself every night. Now why does that sound familiar? Anyway, Hogan accepted Michaels’ challenge and said that he simply wasn’t at Hogan’s level. This led to two of the most controversial moments of HBK’s second run.

First, there was his infamous “Larry King” segment in which he dressed up like Hogan and made some scathing remarks about the difference between on-camera Hogan and real-life Hogan (looking back I get a sinking suspicion that this is what flashed in Hangman Page’s mind the moment he decided to sabotage CM Punk).

The second was a random promo in Montreal in which Michaels ripped on the city and the rest of Canada. This prompted Bret Hart’s music to play and the fans roared so loudly they almost shook the stadium. They thought Bret was actually returning, only for it to be a ruse by Michaels. Of course he had to something like this to get booed; Michaels was such an entrenched babyface in most places that he had to go the extra mile just to rile people up. It’s a shame SummerSlam didn’t emanate from Montreal because if it did there would’ve been even stronger reactions for both men than there actually were.

So all of this setup the first-ever match between Michaels and Hogan…and unfortunately it was also the last. As we would later learn, there were initial plans for this to be a trilogy but Hogan used his creative control to nix those plans and use this once-and-done opportunity to get another win. I’m not sure exactly when in the process of putting this feud together, either at the onset or closer towards the final match, did Hogan put his foot down. Regardless, Shawn Michaels was fucking PISSED, and honestly, who could blame him? Forgetting about more subjective and intangible things like legacy and ability, Hulk Hogan cost Shawn Michaels the opportunity to make a shitload more money. And since Hogan was only having one match there was no chance in hell that he was going to lose, which all but guaranteed the outcome before the opening bell even rang.

So everyone knew what the outcome of this match was going to be…the big question, though, was would Michaels still play ball after Hogan politicked his way out of the rest of the feud?

The Match

This took place on August 21, 2005. It was rated ***1/2 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Michaels comes out first and gets a decent reaction, though it seems like the commentators are trying extra hard to make him out to be a villain. Then Hogan comes out and he gets his typical monster reaction. The man is an icon so I’m not surprised people basically worship him whenever he appears.

The crowd is pretty damn hot as the bell rings and both guys soak in the atmosphere. They tie-up and Michaels powers Hogan into a corner, only for Hogan to shove Michaels across the ring and into the opposite corner. Okay, so it’s going to be one of those matches. Hogan shoves Michaels two more times and Michaels flies backwards on each one. A “you screwed Bret” chant begins as the two wrestlers circle each other intensely. Michaels wrestles into a headlock but Hogan escapes via shoulderblock, which once again sends Michaels flying backwards. Michaels falls to ringside and looks to be extremely frustrated over the situation.

After some stalling Michaels returns and knees Hogan’s midsection and follows with some chops. Hogan reverses a corner whip and Michaels somehow ends up supine on the top ropes. Hogan uses this opportunity to “kick” Michaels’ stomach, i.e. he raises his foot, misses by a mile, but Michaels still oversells it dramatically. He’s clearly fucking with Hogan right now. Michaels ends up crotched on the top rope and Hogan pulls the rope up and down. Hogan lands some right hands and a single turnbuckle smash, the latter sending Michaels flying as well.

Michaels makes a few more dramatic but then he thumbs Hogan’s eye. He lands a few more strikes but then Hogan reverses an Irish whip and hits a back body drop. Hogan clotheslines Michaels to the floor and Michaels does another overdramatic flipflop sell. Michaels stalls again but the moment he gets on the apron Hogan vaults him back into the ring. Hogan lands a big clothesline followed by more punches but Michaels blocks a second body drop with a kick. Michaels lands one buckle smash but Hogan resists the next one so Michaels slaps him. Michaels stiffs Hogan with chops but Hogan reverses another corner whip to send Michaels onto the apron. Michaels lands another slap before Hogan can capitalize but as he tries getting back into the ring Hogan punches him to send him back to the floor.

Hogan slams Michaels onto a ringside table and breaks the ref’s ring-out count. He shoots Michaels into a ringpost and goes to javelin toss him into the same but Michaels counters and Hogan hits the post face-first instead. Michaels does this with a different post and then busts Hogan open with punches to the head.

Back in the ring Michaels lands the ten corner punches. Each time Hogan shoves him back Michaels goes back on the attack until the ref has to basically wrestle Michaels off of Hogan. Hogan blades and cuts himself up something fierce, a good 0.65 Muta. Blood streams from Hogan’s forehead as Michaels goes after the wound some more. Michaels follows with a sleeper. So much blood pours from Hogan’s head that it looks like Michaels has gashed his arm on three-prong barbed wire. Hogan sinks down to one knee. He starts going limp. His arm drops once…twice…thr – no, Hogan counters with a back suplex.

Michaels gets up first and goes for an Irish whip. Hogan reverses it but Michaels drops him with a flying forearm. He kips up but misses a diving elbow drop. Hogan hulks up. He begins his comeback and sends Michaels into the ropes…and Michaels lands another flying forearm that knocks both Hogan and the referee down. The fans chant “We Want Bret” but they’re getting Michaels smirking instead. Michaels teases another diving elbow but decides against such a babyface move and goes for the sharpshooter instead. Way to stick it to the audience. Another referee slides in to see if Hogan’s going to tap out. Despite Michaels’ best efforts, Hogan crawls to the ropes for a break.

Michaels tries another sharpshooter but Hogan kicks him back and the momentum knocks the second ref down as well. Hogan hobbles around but then Michaels lands a low blow. Michaels brings in a chair and, after a long setup, cracks Hogan’s skull with it. Then he follows that with a second successful elbow drop and Sweet Chin Music. One of the ref’s gets up as Michaels makes the cover. One, two, and – Hogan kicks out. Hogan does his classic hulk up routine complete with punches and big boot. Michaels flops around into position for the leg drop of doom. Hogan milks these fans for all they’ve got and lands his finisher. One, two, three! Hogan wins, because of course he does.

Winner after 21:25: Hulk Hogan

Review

This match was just plain stupid but it was impossible to look away. Had this been a “pure” Hogan match with his same formula it would’ve likely been boring and completely forgettable, despite his unyielding popularity at the time. But Shawn Michaels basically stole Hogan’s thunder. Even though he lost, he shifted all of the focus onto himself. He made a mockery of Hogan’s politicking and tried to outshine the man best known for hogging the spotlight.

Hogan was Hogan here; if you’ve seen any one of his big 1980s matches you won’t find anything exceptional here, save for his incredible bladejob and the fact that he was almost completely immobile. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Michaels did, in fact, steal the show with a hammy, over-the-top performance that was captivating as it was bizarre. He was clearly overselling most of Hogan’s offense to a comical degree, though I’m sure he was doing this to have as much fun as he could at Hogan’s expense. Because if there wasn’t going to be a rematch, he might as well give the fans something to remember.

And yet, as I mentioned earlier, this match took place in the wrong venue; it should’ve taken place in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, or really anywhere else where the live audience would actually boo Shawn Michaels and give this match even more heat. Despite doing everything in his power to get people to hate him, Michaels couldn’t completely shed his babyface reaction. Some fans still cheered him, others responded to his villainous antics with relative apathy and just cheered Hogan not out of desire to see him overcome the odds but out of nostalgia and out of habit. And others still just laughed at the match because it came off as an exaggerated and unintentional comedy skit instead of the dramatic and serious fight it was promoted to be.

Final Rating: ***

This was a memorable match for completely different reasons than how it was hyped and it still left an impact. Though watching it without the funny music superimposed over the original audio isn’t as funny, there’s still something oddly mesmerizing about Michaels’ performance here. Though we can understand his actions better now with almost two decades’ worth of hindsight, the match itself still has an element of wrestling absurdity and lunacy to it. It was as close to cartoonish as it gets while still retaining somewhat of a serious edge.

or some people, especially casual audiences or those nostalgic for wrestling’s peaks from decades past, this is about as close to a tribute to those old glory years as you’re going to get.

Thanks for reading.