(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31309845?contextType=wwe-show&contextId=raw_replays&contentId=67082300&watchlistAltButtonContext=series )
Ahhhhh, The Rockers…a tag team very much ahead of their time. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty made most other tag teams of the late 80s and early 90s look like relics of the 1970s. They were a team that was constantly moving around the ring, showing off, jumping around, and pretty much doing anything to get noticed. Their break up never became a rivalry for the ages, which is a crying shame. It should have been an epic feud.
However, it did result in this match, which is simply brilliant. It is nothing like what one would expect from an early 1990s Raw match. I’ve always thought of early 1990s Raw matches to consist of simple squash matches, where the stars of the show would easily defeat local jobbers. Michaels and Jannetty (for obvious reasons) had very similar move sets and ring styles, and these two ring styles mesh together to create a mesmerising bout. I’ve always thought of early 1990s Raw matches to consist of simple squash matches, where the stars of the show would easily defeat local jobbers.
They put on an exciting, fast-paced match. There are dives outside and flowing, high-risk wrestling moves that would not look out of place on a modern day Raw. In fact, if the visual quality of the match was improved you could squeeze it into next week’s Raw and no one would bat an eyelid. It is marred slightly by interference at the end, but it is all part of an ongoing storyline involving Michaels and Mr. Perfect.
Not only that, but the match is in the main event position for the Intercontinental Championship. Fancy that, hey? If only WWE would have taken advantage of the frequent absences of their WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and made either the IC Title or the European title the focus of Raw and Smackdown. It is about time we saw the IC Title in a main event…
VERDICT: 8/10 Well deserved placing, just in the 90s…how fitting!
(Click here for my review of #98 The Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada and Masato Yakushiji vs bWo Japan, ECW Barely Legal 1997)
Does this match belong in the WWE Network’s Best 100 Matches To See Before You Die? Leave your comments below!
Hammy Reviews 
4 thoughts on “Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #97 Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty (Intercontinental Championship Match: Raw, May 17, 1993)”