This match took place during Jeff’s rise to the main event scene in the WWE. He would get popped for a second wellness violation mere weeks later though which would stall his push for a good while.
Shawn Michaels cleanly jobbing in a singles match? On television? What????
Jeff Hardy’s rise in 2008-2009 was personally very exciting for me. He was one of my favorite wrestlers as a child, and he had a ton of good-to-great matches in his second run with the company. It was the perfect combination of nostalgia and in-ring quality as far as I was concerned. He delivered in the ring with all manner of opponents, and it should come as no surprise that Shawn Michaels was one such opponent.
They thankfully did not settle for a run-of-the-mill WWE style match, as they did some neat stuff with the in-ring story. Jeff was a step ahead of Shawn for most the match. Unfortunately for Jeff, he took one chance too many, and Shawn caught him with a powerslam on the floor Shawn then controlled the match for a while, which was always a nice change of his pace during his second run since it was so uncommon. Shawn’s work on Jeff’s back was solid but not anything too special. If there was a bit more focus on that, we could have had ourselves a class. Instead, we merely have a very fun match with a surprisingly clean job from Shawn as the finish. Jeff hit the Twist of Fate and Swanton to put Shawn away on their separate paths to the Elimination Chamber. (***3/4)
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