wrestling / Columns

Wrestling Deja Vu 06.29.09: Thrillers

June 29, 2009 | Posted by Joseph F. Martinez

Hey yo. Welcome to the column. Last week was a very busy one in the wrestling world and everywhere else. Of course, the news was dominated by the passing of Michael Jackson. He was one of the greats. Also in the news were the deaths of Farah Fawcett and Ed McMahon. I guess these things do come in threes. All of these were extremely tragic and my condolences go out to all involved.

Wrestling also had an active week that was full of surprises and great action. It started with TNA’s King of the Mountain pay-per-view and got crazier with a special commercial free Raw. I liked the show but was disappointed that they blew off the Donald Trump storyline so quickly. He presented some fascinating possibilities before he sold the show back to Vince, but it is what it is. The week didn’t stop there because Friday Night Smackdown showed why they are the most exciting wrestling program on television with a series of great matches. One of these was between John Morrison and current World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk. The match was fun and John Morrison pulled off the upset giving him his first major win since his split with The Miz.

This is related to the column because today’s column involves one of the participants in that match, John Morrison. The Shaman of Sexy was arguably the best thing to come out of Tough Enough and is one of the fastest rising stars in the WWE today. People do not shy away from calling him a young Shawn Michaels and I can see the comparison. Good Ole JR is one of the chief individuals at doing this and when a reader (this is the last of Reader Request month by the way) asked for a column between the two I could not do anything but oblige.

As always, there’s some stuff to do before I get to the main course that is the comparison. Some personal stuff first as last night was my 20th birthday. It was a fun day and I look forward to another year. One of my goals is to become a better writer with this site so look for more stuff out of me. Last week I wasn’t able to get in a column because of computer problems. It turns out that all I had to do was reset the wireless modem. I don’t know what exactly was wrong but it’s continued this week. It’s nice to have a solution though. If you haven’t, please check out the 2009 Independent Draft. I participated and I made some questionable picks (Lance Cade with the fifth pick) but I really liked how my roster turned out. You can check out that by clicking HERE and HERE.

Enough of the house keeping; here is the main event.

AND INTRODUCTING THE PARTICIPANTS

As mentioned earlier, The Guru of Greatness, John Morrison, is one of the fastest rising superstars in the WWE today. While he’s only recently surfaced to the top of the chain, he’s been employed by Vince McMahon since 2004. He went through a number of gimmicks in the early days but he always found success in some fashion. As Johnny Nitro, he won the Intercontinental Title on a number of occasions and won some tag team gold as well with Joey Mercury. After winning the vacant ECW Championship by defeating CM Punk, Nitro became Morrison and he’s been looking good ever since. He and The Miz formed one of the most successful tag teams of the decade and they got to feud with everyone. The tag team has broken apart but good things are happening for John Morrison right now. He’s currently wrestling on the Smackdown brand and looks like a future world champion.

WHERE IS HE NOW?: Morrison just finished beating the World Heavyweight Champion in a non-title match, so things are looking up for him.

Signed to the WWF in the late 1980s as a “tag team specialist,” Shawn Michaels has grown into one of the greatest wrestlers to ever compete in the company. He’s turned on nearly every partner he’s ever had and he’s built a career on having the match of the night every night. When the WWE needs someone to put on a good match, Shawn Michaels is the first guy they have on their speed dial. He’s that good. Michaels is a multiple World Champion and has had nine of his matches become PWI Match of the Year; after the year is over, he will have ten. He’s nearing the end of his career, but he will definitely create some more memories whenever he returns from his current hiatus.

WHERE IS HE NOW?: Shawn Michaels hasn’t been seen on WWE television since his Wrestlemania epic with The Undertaker. It’s unknown when he returns but when he does, he’ll immediately become the most entertaining part of Raw.

THRILLERS

After a short retirement, Shawn Michaels revitalized his career with a string of great matches. He’s continued that into the year 2009 and he’s widely considered to be one of the best talents the wrestling world has to offer. Michaels isn’t a one dimensional guy though. He’s got the look, the in-ring abilities and his mic skills can make the whole crowd cheer or boo him depending on the situation. He’s versatile and always pulls out the best in his opponent.

John Morrison isn’t quite there yet, but he’s of the same build as the Heartbreak Kid. It’s been a while since The Guru of Greatness has had a bad match and his mic skills are always improving. After Morrison won the ECW title, he wasn’t very impressive with the stick, but he’s grown and seems comfortable speaking (see his promo with Edge a few weeks back). Morrison is still on his way up, but he’s definitely gifted with a unique set of skills that will help him on his way up. I’d say these men were born with the talent they possess but that’s unfair seeing as they’ve probably done a lot of work to get where they’re at.

WANNA BE STARTIN‘ SOMETHING.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Sometimes wrestlers will get a push where they squash a bunch of jobbers until they are considered credible enough to face real competitors. Other people are brought up slowly by the way of the tag team. Shawn Michaels raised his reputation as a tag team specialist during the early part of his career. His team with Marty Jannetty made news across the country leading to his entry into the WWF. For nearly three years, The Rockers tagged in the WWF and were a treat to watch. Another treat to watch came in the form of The Miz and John Morrison. Of course, John Morrison had some tag team experience from his MNM days, but this was different. This was Morrison’s launching pad to the top. Miz and Morrison were wildly over with the fans and their online program, The Dirt Sheet proved their popularity. The duo tagged for over a year, won both tag titles, feuded with DX and did almost everything a tag team could do.

Of course, every good thing must come to an end. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty were going through a rough patch in their friendship until it came to an end in January of 1992. The two were being interviewed by Brutus Beefcake and Shawn Michaels turned on Jannetty. Morrison and Miz also split with one partner turning on the other (although in this case, the “Marty Jannetty” of the team turned on the “Shawn Michaels of the team). It’s unsure if John Morrison or the Miz will be more successful when their careers are over but it’s widely agreed that Morrison is the more talented of the team, just like Shawn Michaels was the more talented member of The Rockers.

SHOW STEALER

Shawn Michaels is one of the few individuals that you can call the best wrestler in the world. His aforementioned talents have secured him a spot in the main event and he is a surefire future Hall of Famer. There is one thing that separates Shawn Michaels from the rest of the pack and that is the ability to steal the show. The most recent of these was his last match with The Undertaker. Many argued that the matchup should have main evented Wrestlemania 25 and after the show was over I can bet that the booker of the show felt the same way. Michaels and Taker had a legendary matchup that saved the event from being a complete disaster.

It’s a stretch to say that John Morrison has that ability right now but he’s definitely shown some flashes of that. The June 19th edition of Friday Night Smackdown was advertised as having two main events (Jeff Hardy v. Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio v. CM Punk), but the most impressive match of the evening was a tussle between John Morrison and Edge. Morrison also had a very good match with CM Punk on the June 26th Smackdown, stealing another program. The Friday Night Delight’s flashy style has stolen the show on more occasions than the ones listed, but if he evolves at his current pace, he could be on par with Shawn Michaels in that area.

CROSSING PATHS

John Morrison and the Miz reached their peak at an unfortunate time for the two. The tag division was pretty weak and they were above everyone else in it. Luckily for the team, Shawn Michaels and Triple H weren’t doing anything, so they re-formed Degeneration X for a short feud. The rivalry never reached pay-per-view status but it was featured on both Raw and ECW. Good matches, fun segments and a nice matchup between Shawn Michaels and the man commonly called the young Shawn Michaels of the WWE were found in the feud. This is the only time HBK and John Morrison have crossed paths but it would be foolish for the WWE to not pair these two up in a one-on-one match before Shawn Michaels retires. If it happens, it has the ability to manufacture a match of the year candidate.

THE RUNDOWN

It’s impossible to tell how John Morrison’s career ends up so maybe calling him a young Shawn Michaels is pretty silly, but it’s a testament to his abilities and the improvements he has made over the years. Both Morrison and Michaels possess a unique skill set that allows them to rise above the rest of the bunch. Their tag team beginnings and ability to steal the show have helped them establish their spot on the ladder and polish their abilities to entertain us wrestling fans. The career of Shawn Michaels has been a pleasure to watch and if the fans are lucky, John Morrison’s career will be more of the same.

In Case You Missed It

Had a busy weekend? No worries, the following are all of the columns posted over the weekend.

All of your wrestling news from last week is in this week‘s Bell to Bell News Report.

The Wrestling Bard takes a unique look at last night’s Randy Orton-Triple H fight.

Kristopher Rodriguez takes a look at Jack Swagger‘s prospects as a main eventer in For The Record.

Don’t forget to check out all of the results, opinions and backstage occurrences from The Bash. All presented at this site for you. You should bookmark it if you haven’t.

Goodnight, Travel Well

• How did The Bash change the landscape of the WWE? How will the Raw roster respond after popping a great 4.5 rating? All of those questions will be answered tonight when Raw emanates from San Jose. I don’t know what the results of The Bash were, but it’s nice seeing that the card isn’t an exact replica of Extreme Rules. Tonight should be fun.

• Speaking of pay-per-views, it seems the WWE is changing up the names of even more events. No Mercy is now Hell in a Cell while Cyber Sunday will be operating under the Annihilation moniker. Change is always nice so these new names have that going for them. I don’t quite like the idea of an all cage PPV but it’ll be something to check out. I won’t really miss No Mercy or Cyber Sunday much. The latter was a nice idea but it was ruined when they went to text messaging.

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• I’m pretty sure some of you are sick and tired of the Michael Jackson coverage. He was one of my favorite artists so I’ll just end the column with a Youtube video of one of my favorites, Stranger In Moscow. I’ll be back next week with a bunch of flashy new graphics for you. The WDV Face-Off will also be making a comeback so please join the column. Have a great week and thanks for reading.

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Joseph F. Martinez

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