WWE - From The Vault: Shawn Michaels [2003] [DVD]

AWA Tag Team Championship - Nice to see Shawn in his early days as a Midnight Rocker. The only average match on the DVD. There are much better Rocker matches that I would have prefered to see thouh. 5/10

Ladder Match vs. Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X - One of the greatest matches ever, enough said. Still as great to watch today as it was in 1994. 10/10

Iron Man Match vs. Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII - Great technical wrestling for over an hour by two of the greatest wrestlers ever. 9/10

No-Holds-Barred Match vs. Big Daddy Cool Diesel - Kevin Nash in a great match??? Its true. A great hardcore macth 9/10

WWE Championship Match vs. Mankind - Another amazing match from two of wrestlings greats. 10/10

Hell in a Cell vs. Undertaker - The 1st and greatest Hell in the Cell ever. 10/10

Comeback Match vs. Triple H - Shawn shows just how great he is by returning after four years and carrying Triple H to a great macth. 8/10

The extras on this DVD are great, the best being his famous losing my smile interview from 1997.

If your an HBK fan or just love great wrestling in general you must get this. Although its a shame they did not include some of HBK's rarer matches such as the never shown Rockers tag title match or the first ladder match against Bret Hart from 1992 or more from the Rockers. Hopefully the WWE will release Shawn Mchaels from the vault part 2 soon.

Whether you are a hardcore Shawn Michaels fan or just a fan of wrestling, this DVD is definately worth buying.

Interesting then, was WWE's decision to entitle Shawn Michaels' first DVD "From The Vault". Surely the titles "Shawn Michaels: The Showstopper" or "Shawn Michaels: The Heartbreak Kid" would be far more appropriate. But when you really think about it, it all makes perfect sense.

"Shawn Michaels: From The Vault" isn't a profile as such. Rather, it is a compilation of Shawn's greatest matches. Unlike most match compilation productions, the bouts are shown in their entirety, as they happened. In between these matches, we also hear Shawn's personal opinion on the bouts and the impact they had on the audience.

We begin with a bloody and entertaining AWA Tag-Team Title Match featuring The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty). Moving on, we re-live HBK'S memorable Wrestlemania X Ladder Match with Razor Ramon. Even though this wasn't the first Ladder Match in history, the efforts of HBK and Razor make this the best one-on-one steel-rung battle of all time.

The Ironman Match at WM 12 between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart was a daring and risky venture for WWE in 96', and credit to both men, they manage to keep the viewer's attention for most of the duration, although the match drags a little in the middle (Incidentally, the match went into overtime, after both men failed to get a decision within the 60 minute time period).

Although Shawn Michaels was responsible for bringing Diesel into the WWF as his bodyguard in 1993, both men were “Good Friends, Better Enemies” by 1996. HBK and Diesel had an enjoyable “No Holds Barred” brawl which set a new (and previously unseen) standard of lawlessness and violence in the WWF. Even compared to more recent “Hardcore” bouts, this is still an impressive encounter today.

Speaking of violent matches, few fans will forget Shawn Michaels’ and Mankind’s simultaneous plunge from the top turnbuckle through the announce table during their superb ECW-style “Mind Games” scuffle. The only thing that tarnished the match was the Vader run-in at the end, although The Undertaker’s involvement was truly something to behold.

Despite making the save for HBK at Mind Games, The Undertaker was seeking revenge against “The Showstopper” just over 1 year later at Bad Blood (due to HBK costing Undertaker the WWF Title at Summerslam).

The first ever Hell In A Cell match was a bloody, spectacular affair that will stick in the memory of every wrestling fan. Apart from the sight of seeing Shawn become a human lawn dart and plummet from the top of the Cell through the Spanish announcers’ table, we also get to see the debut of The Undertaker’s “brother”, Kane.

Finally, we see Shawn’s return to the ring last year, in an entertaining Street Fight against his former DX buddy, HHH. This match proved that “The Showstopper” has still got it.

The DVD extras are just as impressive as the matches. In addition to several TV and PPV promos, there’s also the “Tell Me A Lie” retirement music video (which really is ironic) and the infamous “Barber Shop Incident” between HBK and Marty Janetty (which is still a rather violent angle, even by today’s standards). Plus, there are some hidden “Easter Eggs” to be found (Shawn’s “Losing My Smile” speech, the making of his theme tune, to name a few).

While Shawn Michaels hasn’t lost too much of his magic since his comeback, his heyday will still always be when he was flying off ladders with Razor Ramon and nearly killing himself in matches with Mankind and The Undertaker. Newer fans who’ve only been watching HBK since 2002 ain’t seen nothing yet...