Better Austin/Michaels match

[Guest Ray]

I had a discussion with someone about the Austin/Michaels matches, so I thought I'd bring the question here.

 

Which is the better match?

 

 

I strongly prefer the KOTR match myself. I've been told WM14 has a better build, but I don't see it.

 

KOTR 97 was much more enjoyable. More wrestling and less boring work.

 

WM14 does have the better finish though.

 

Meh...WM14 was very...unfulfilling, to me.

[Tawren]

WM14. KoTR had a bad finish, the stop in the middle, and less crowd reaction. Still a good match though.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

And the build to KOTR 97 match was....

 

NOTHING

 

Austin was a late sub for Bret for the obvious reasons. And the Tag Partners Who Hate Each other shtick is not better than the DX-Austin thing for WM 14.

[Guest BAR]

I'd give WM **3/4 and KotR ***1/2. I much preferred KotR but yes, the finish sucked.

[Guest Ray]

And the build to KOTR 97 match was....

 

NOTHING

 

Austin was a late sub for Bret for the obvious reasons. And the Tag Partners Who Hate Each other shtick is not better than the DX-Austin thing for WM 14.

When I say "build", I mean the pacing and flow of the match, not the storyline leading to it.

 

The quality of the match was superior at KOTR.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

Of Course. Austin didnt break his neck yet and Michaels back wasn't fucked six ways from sunday.

[Adam]

WM14, it had a better build up, more emotion.

[BifEverchad]

The KOTR match may have been the better 'wrestling' match, but the Wrestlemania XIV match had more of a emtional impact and more meaning to it than the KOTR match.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I hated the fucked finish at KOTR, and the run in by the retarded kid. So I must choose WM........

[cawthon777]

I give the nod to WrestleMania. I loathed the KOTR meeting, not for the match itself but because it meant absolutely nothing ... it wasn't a match I wanted to see and I could see the finish coming a mile away (a finish which in fact made the bout worthless). Austin vs. Pillman and Bret vs. HBK would have made the show better.

 

I've seen better matches between the two. Any of their early 97 work, with HBK as face and Austin as heel, could outdo both PPV fights.

[Kahran Ramsus]

KOTR. The Wrestlemania match wasn't very good at all.

[godthedog]

i don't really see the big deal about either one of them. wrestlemania was just typical 'shawn bumps around & works the leg' stuff (which austin isn't even selling by the end), and KOR was a lot of mat wrestling & safe spots that didn't really have a flow or go anywhere. austin & michaels just never got the chance to click together in the ring. even shawn admits that his knee was bothering him in 97 (as was austin's, i think), and he basically "gimped my way through the match," & shawn has a tendency to overrate his matches. it also speaks volumes that he was never happy with his performance at wrestlemania, when his back gave out on him and his objective became to just get through the match.