Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

[1992-12-27-WWF-Worcester, MA] Shawn Michaels vs Randy Savage


Loss

Recommended Posts

  • 2 months later...

The absolute definition of a house show match. Lots of stalling and comedy, which I'll cop to enjoying. Much better than the Shawn/Perfect handheld on the '93 yearbook, which was pretty terrible in every way I can think of, but not at the level of their match earlier in the year post-Mania with Savage selling his knee injury from Wrestlemania. Truth is, Savage was wandering without a purpose by this point, and it's hard to pin down where they wanted to place him. I'm not sure if I could say Michaels had surpassed him by this point, but they had definitely switched places in that Shawn was a bigger part of future plans by the end of the year than Savage was. I've always wondered what specifically prompted that decision, especially when a heel turn and program with Bret would have been a much better bet going into Mania than anything else they could have put together. They also needed big names in the top mix desperately with Hogan out, Warrior out and Flair on his way out. So the biggest contrast between this and April is that the April match was a heel on the rise against the biggest star in the company, and this match is one of the top heels against a guy who fell pretty hard after dropping the title back to Flair. The match doesn't have the excitement or intrigue of the April match. They're just going through the motions. Interesting not so much for the match itself, but because it really demonstrates how differently Savage was positioned by this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never seen it, but what you mention about Savage is interesting. In a matter of few weeks, Savage would go on as becoming a RAW color guy with the occasionnal feature match on TV and guet spot on PPV. Pretty stupid, as he was obviously the biggest star on the roster at this point, and could still have contributed a lot. Savage being "too old" is the only reason I ever heard. Savage's career in WCW proved Vince wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 10 months later...

Didn't really like this but Loss does bring up some points about Savage that he could have still contributed to WWF as a top level guy in 93. Crowd went pretty nuts for him at Survivor Series as a surprise entrance in tag match. I do like the though of heel Savage vs Bret in 93. This match itself wasn't very good though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Savage challenging for the IC title?? At this point? Wow. That's really the only notable thing about this, as this is a total phone-it-in job on the part of both guys, with more of Shawn's shitty boring control segments. His superkick is still a good cut-off move, though. Shitty finish though you knew that was coming. Savage had fallen down in the card but he wasn't going to be putting over Michaels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 years later...

I'm against the grain here, but I thought Savage looked pretty good. It wasn't that he did a whole lot, but what he did looked better than what Shawn did, which was nothing. Honestly, I think this might have been the basic house show bout that Savage worked with Honky back in the day, because that's who Shawn reminded me of more than anyone else. The only difference is that Wayne Ferris knew how to make stalling and begging a lot more interesting than Shawn does here. The only thing that looked decent here was Sweet Chin Music, and not only didn't that really mean much so early in Shawn's run, but how on earth can a superkick look bad? If nothing else, you stick your heel out and let your opponent run into it.

 

I think that was Bret who chased Shawn back toward the ring and counted the three after the bell, not Jannetty.

 

I didn't particularly like the double countout, but there wasn't much else to do except have Shawn get a pin on Savage, and I'm not sure Randy would have gone along with that at this point. Honestly, I wouldn't have bothered with the postmatch; I'd have just had Shawn take off and leave it at that, with Savage getting the countout win. He was never going to be a top contender for the IC belt (or any other WWF belt) ever again, so what would have been the difference?

 

I'm fairly sure you can thank Slim Jims for Savage not turning heel again in '93; I don't think they would have wanted a heel representing their product. I know Randy joined the NWO in '96, but by then WCW was doing shoot stuff and otherwise acknowledging that what was going on was worked while it was going on, plus I don't think Randy was their only spokesman by then; his commercials may have already left the air for good, in fact. Anyone who can confirm that or tell me that I'm wrong, feel free to do so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • GSR changed the title to [1992-12-27-WWF-Worcester, MA] Shawn Michaels vs Randy Savage
  • 1 month later...

I couldn't agree more that in regards to Loss and EL-P and their points on Savage.  IMO he's still the biggest star in the company at this point, and the top overall performer that they have.  He still had a lot to give.  They dropped the ball, and I guess I'm not sure why either.  I think Slim Jim would rather him be on top vs. Hart in main events rather than color commentary, but I could be wrong.  I agree, his WCW career did end up proving Vince wrong if it was really the age thing.  I really wish we could have gotten a big time feud with Bret and then eventually Shawn for the world title from Savage before he left.  Oh well.  I do agree that Savage looked the better of the two here, and the pop for the elbow drop was still huge.  I actually do think it was Jannetty that made the 3-count...

I should note that Prichard says Savage wanted less of an in-ring role in the company, however Easy E says that it is why Macho wanted to come to WCW and had pushed for a program with Shawn... so who knows...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...