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Special Referee Shawn

Hey Scott,
Two quick questions about your rating of last night's Hell In A Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H:  (1.) Would that match have been ***** without Shawn Michaels as the special referee? and, (2.) If so, was HBK's performance the most influential of any referee in history?  No disrespect to Taker or HHH, but it seemed like HBK was nearly as important to the match as the two combatants because of the emotion he displayed.
 

Well last year there was no Shawn and it was ****1/2, but I don’t tend to rate matches based on the referreeing job anyway.  So for question, I’d say yes.  As for the second question, I’d say Earl Hebner probably will hold the record for a while yet. 

Comments

  1. Shawn did a great job last night with his emotions and participation. I'm sure the match would have been stellar without him but he did add something to the match's story.

    On another referee-related note, it was funny to see Rock hug the referee and tell him he did a good job after the match last night.

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  2. People keep wondering why Shawn was so emotional last night, and I have to wonder if they're just stupid. Shawn was upset for a number of reasons, he didn't have that anger, that edge, so he didn't want to see Triple H kill The Undertaker. Plus, he saw that perhaps HHH could do what Shawn couldn't. Then we had Shawn, trying to upload the whole impartial referee code of honor shtickt and he lost it and superkicked 'Taker. Then we had HHH getting absolutely killed, and Shawn was upset at seeing his best friend damn near killed.

    I loved that they went back to Taker being dominant, or at least winning in a knowing fashion, as opposed to the past WM's where it just kept escalating with him getting beat within an inch of his life. Great match.

    Still pissed that rock won. I really wanted to see Cena execute that People's Elbow, because we haven't seen a side of him like that in almost 10 years.

    scrublife.wordpress.com - need to calm down after the excitement of WM? Well check out the latest article, The Top 4 Uses of the Word Fuck in PG-13 Movies. 

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  3. You could argue Shawn is the best special referee ever. And last night wasn't even his best referee performance - I have to give the nod to SummerSlam 97 when he smashed Taker with the chair.

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  4. It was a good night for ref moments. Charles Robinson sprinting down to get his ass kicked was awesome. And the ref at the end of the 12-man running in to tell Ryder it was time to get kicked in the balls cracked me up.

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  5. What I enjoyed about HBK's role in this match was how he instantly regretted the superkick.  I didn't get the impression that it was a plan, it felt like it was childish and unprofessional retaliation for Taker choking him out to keep the match going.
    It was a petulant and childish thing to do and that isn't who HBK is anymore.

    Going a bit further, Taker and HBK had a brief staredown after that fact where it seemed silently acknowledged that Taker understood what happened and was willing to let it go.

    Great psychology.

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  6. exodus316 exodus316April 2, 2012 at 11:07 AM

     I agree.  It never occurred to me watching the match that it was a plan.  Very much seemed like it was a response to the choke out.

    Not sure anyone will ever look back on this match and not instantly remember the referee.  His part of the story was huge.

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  7. Just watched it, thought it was pretty great. I could imagine going crazy for the near falls watching it live. That superkick/pedigree spot was a doozy.

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  8. Another thing they did well was teasing a superkick to HHH earlier in the match, before HBK got choked out.  They spent forever in position for it, I think to deliberately build up tension for those of us who might have saw it coming.


    And once HBK got choked out by Taker, that tension was gone, so the superkick we did get was a surprise.

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  9. Shawn was one of about a hundred reasons why last night's match was better than the year before. I wish they'd just had that match back then.

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  10. I don't know, Earl is great as a regular referee but when was the last time he was responsible for bringing a HUGE portion of the story to a match?

    Shawn was absolutely essential to the story they told last night.

    God, what a great fucking match. I was shocked they didn't do any special music for them though, after the epic entrances last year. I guess they were saving that for Flo Ride and whoever that girl was in the Cleveland tank top.

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  11. At first I thought that Shawn took away from the match (why have a referee in an "anything goes" match stop people from doing whatever they wanted?)  But he did a lot of selling that the Undertaker and HHH couldn't do and TBH the new Christian Shawn caring about the well being of others has a hint of irony.

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  12. Agreed.

    I was firmly in the camp that thought last year's match was just too slow and boring and had no cohesion.  I think Shawn brought that cohesion in between spots and helped the match flow a hell of a lot better.

    I can tell you, I lost my voice on this match chanting "this is awesome" last night.  It was an incredible match to witness.

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  13. You want an example of a ref that took away from a match (although many still rate it 5*), Gene Kiniski in Flair-Race, Starrcade '83.  That was detrimental in so many ways, I think Shawn played his role perfectly...man, is there anything this dude can't do?  

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  14. Oh fuck you got to see it live?

    *jealousface*

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  15. Completely agree, Shawn wasn't out to screw Taker, but instead had a momentary lapse in judgment that he regretted immediately.

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  16. I hope you're joking and realize that Scott was obviously referring to a certain match that happened in Montreal. Pretty sure that ending was a huge part of the story of the match.

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  17. ba-dum-TSH, lol.

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  18. Idea for WWE: find the people responsible for the awesome story-telling in this match last night and have them book shows. 

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  19. Haha, I got wooshed. Nice.


    My strongest memory of Montreal is Vince screaming at the timekeeper, I totally forget Earl's even involved in that.

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  20. exodus316 exodus316April 2, 2012 at 1:45 PM

     He and Dave were also pivotal to the Hogan/Andre title switch.

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  21.  That would be Shawn, Taker and Triple H

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  22. I don't know how Scott got to two stars for last year's match, much less four, but he's entitled to his opinion.

    There was a LOT less dead space this year. Shawn had a lot to do with that. If not for the sub-plot of Shawn being tempted to stop the match, either HHH or UT would have been doing a lot of standing around. That's part of what made last year's match so poor.

    Another point: I think both men were in better shape. HHH, in particular, looked better conditioned than he did during his last title reign. Good for him.

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  23. As well as the Backlash '04 match when Shawn got put in the Sharpshooter (though I wouldn't put it on the level of the aforementioned two).

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