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[1997-09-07-WWF-Ground Zero] Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

Great video package before the match. Not sure what to think of this match. Maybe bloated is the word I'm looking for. But it's a mess. The crowd is shockingly quiet for big chunks of this. The match has some good stuff and plenty of highlight reel moments -- specifically Shawn's bumping and big offense and Undertaker's big dive in the post-match brawl -- but is pretty uneven overall. I do think this was well booked and did a great job setting up Hell in a Cell with all the laid out refs and Rude/HHH/Chyna interference, but it's not a match I feel any need to revisit. It might have worked better as a 15-minute sprint.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Shawn gets all pissed off when his pyro doesn’t go off at the right moment. His reaction was funny as hell. Undertaker beats up Chioda before the ring bell. Hebner ends up replacing referee. Poor trade. Shawn is taking crazing bumps all over the entrance stage, ramp and on the ring barricade. Rude, Triple H and Chyna all get involved. Hebner gets beat up a few times which is probably the highlight of the match. They are doing all the tricks to not have a clean finish. Best part of the match was the stuff before bell officially rang. Well, Taker’s dive was awesome too so the pre and post match action was all you needed to really see here.

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  • 1 month later...

Yeah, they meandered quite a bit, though if you want to watch an HBK bump-a-thon, this is a pretty good example. They did succeed in conveying that this feud had become too hot to be contained by a single, basic match. The announcers did a nice job of putting over the Taker dive as a big deal. As with a lot of stuff from '97 WWF, they managed to continue the momentum of a storyline without having an enduringly great match.

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  • 3 months later...

This could have been edited some and the crowd did suck but as a no-contest main event to serve as a bridge for a ending to the feud, I thought this was a fabulous match that featured some spectacular bumping from Shawn and always felt out of control and could have been thrown out at any time. Taker really brought his A game for this match with great punches, bumping when he needed to and that sick dive to end out the show. Vince and Lawler were pretty bad throughout the match but did get over how crazy the dive was so I will give them credit on that point.

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  • 1 year later...

This is a fine performance by Shawn, taking some crazy bumps and doing his best to hold this together, pulling off the tricky balancing act of being a despicable cocky heel who thinks he can't be touched as well as being a simpering coward. Mike Chioda's bump from being flung over the ropes to the floor deserves praise as well. The ending is pretty ridiculous and overlong and overbooked, with HHH and Chyna coming in repeatedly and Undertaker essentially playing Whack-a-Mole with them (without being able to touch Chyna, naturally). It does a good job of establishing that a normal match can't contain these two but I wish the point could have been made a little more succinctly. The post-match emphasis on Undertaker's dive is one of those little things that separated the WWF from WCW--I'm not sure WCW ever had the capability of getting a singular wrestling spot over to that degree.

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  • 1 year later...

Oh my God this is a mess. The video package & entrances are outstanding. Shawn's entrace is treated with utter contempt by the Louisville crowd. His dancing down the aisle is amazing. He makes some hilarious gestures at heckling fans during this. I loved his pyro not starting during his pose & his reaction. It seemed fitting with his alignment change over the last month. Taker's entrace is spectacular. This is one of his better ones since I've been doing this project. I loved the camer shot from behind a fan's lighter. Awesome visual. The pre-match stuff is great with Shawn bumping around like a madman & trying to open the IYH set door. Once the match started this turned into a trainwreck within a few minutes. They lost heat because Taker took way too much in this & never worked underneath for any considerable amount of time. The crowd couldn't care less by the end of the match. The excessive ref bumps & DX interference was so overbooked it became comical. Total clusterfuck. To make things worse, a fucking fourth referee showed up just the throw the match out. That ticked the Louisville fans off. The post-match is just as messy with an average brawl that doesn't have much intensity. The locker room fills up the ring with guys the DOA, Rocky, & Savio standing side by side trying to hold off Undertaker. I don't want to be Wade Keller, but three groups in a gang war shouldn't be so nonchalant about being in one another's prescence. Taker's dive is cool & got a nice pop, but this is pretty much an utter disaster as a match in the way it's worked & booked. Not good.

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  • 4 weeks later...

You all are crazy! This is fucking awesome!

 

Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker - WWF Ground Zero 1997

 

I am a total sucker for absolute chaotic brawls. I have this match a zillion times, but haven't watched it in a good 5 years and I thought it held up so well. Late '97 Shawn is one of my all-time favorite characters in and out of the ring. Undertaker is such a badass. It is just a great dynamic. The thing I noticed this time beneath all the hoopla was how well they worked the story in reverse. Undertaker was working that slow, punishing, stalking style you would associate with a heel. Shawn was peppering in hope spots but ultimately being cutoff as if he were the babyface. It all works though because Shawn is such a cocky little shit so you want to see his ass get handed to him and he was bumping huge like a heel. Undertaker is such an asskicker that you love to root for him. Telling David vs Goliath in reverse is no easy task and I thought they did a great job.

 

Undertaker slugging the ref at the start is one of my all time favorite starts to a match. Shawn's reaction to get the hell out of Dodge was pitch perfect. Throwing the ref over the top rope to the floor at Shawn is probably the spot of the match in a match filled with great spots. Kicking Shawn's ass up and down the rampway. Shawn on his knee's knocking on the In Your House Door to be let out, Shawn falling ass over head down the ramp all great entertaining shit. Shawn tries all sorts of bullshit like pleading with the ref to have Taker DQ'd, clipping the knee, crotching Taker on the top rope. To no avail, the Creature from the Black Lagoon rises again and again. There is a part where Shawn crotches himself on the top rope and Taker shakes the ropes that is just amazing. Shawn's as a bumping lunatic is on fire here and Taker is dishing out the punishment. Love it! Shawn says fuck it and get a chair, which is how this whole mess started (Summerslam 97). Taker gets the chair is about to waffle HBK with it, but the ref grabs the chair. Shawn dropkicks Undertaker into the ref and into the chair. Finally an opening for Shawn! You really get the sense the little fucker had to earn it. He hits the top rope elbow and Undertaker presses him off onto the ref. Shawn cant win! Shawn's insurance policy, Rick Rude tosses him some knuckledusters and Shawn KOs Taker! HHH & Chyna with a 3rd ref, but 1-2-NO! I agree with the naysayers of this match that once D-X got involved it did start to drag. I really, really enjoyed Undertaker chokeslamming that Load, Earl Hebner after he did not get a three count. Really great spot. Tim White calls this whole clusterfuck off. The big brawl and then of course the iconic Undertaker dive over the top rope that wipes everyone out.

 

Amazing spectacle. Just total chaos. Undertaker as the avenging stalker and Shawn Michaels as douche fighting for survival was quite the dynamic. All the ref violence was awesome. It felt like anything could happen. Tons of fun spots. It really, really put over the fact that you needed a really badass match to blow off this blood feud and hence Hell In A Cell was born. ****1/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [1997-09-07-WWF-Ground Zero] Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker

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