Been an HBk fan since I started watching wrestling in 06, still watch his matches today, even the ones before I was born. I even did a school project on his life and career and I’m just flabbergasted that I never heard of this. Good video!
The most crazy thing is I lived in San Antonio growing up on the northeast side, I lived in the Amberton Apartments on Randolph Blvd. The Far West Rodeo where HBK would put on those wrestling shows for his school was literally right down the road from me, but I never heard or was aware of Shawn Michaels coming back to wrestle!
Finally this is talked about. I kept telling people that Shawn wrestled before his famous come back. People told me that I was crazy and that he never wrestled
@@royshaheer it's online. Or at least it was about 10 years ago. Google is your friend. Far from the best ever shawn michaels match mind. You have been warned. Think Saudi Arabia, then think that was better.
@@stevelowe2647 poor dude still getting flack about Saudi lol I have to give dude a pass after basically being forced into a match after how many years away, having his partner get hurt from the start and basically working the entire match by himself, and then other than the awful look of him finally embracing his baldness he was still the best performer in the ring. But ya still wish I never had to witness it lol
Holy shit i remember this!! I'm from San antonio and the TWA was fucking awesome to watch on Saturday nights. I hung out with Venom's daughter a couple of times actually (had a mad crush on her, she was a friend of my closest cousin and was always over) They advertised all over local TV and radio for this. It was a huge deal all over town. I didn't think anyone outside of the city even ever knew about it.
Lmao yo I grew up in San Antonio, around this time 2000, I was in middle school, Ed White Eagles represent! Lol but the craziest thing is I lived on the northeast side, Amberton Apartments on Randolph Blvd. The Far West Rodeo where HBK would put on shows for his school was literally right down the road from me but I dont ever remember hearing or being aware that Shawn Michaels was coming back to wrestle! I missed out!
Lmao yo I grew up in San Antonio, around this time 2000, I was in middle school, Ed White Eagles represent! Lol but the craziest thing is I lived on the northeast side, Amberton Apartments on Randolph Blvd. The Far West Rodeo where HBK would put on shows for his school was literally right down the road from me but I dont ever remember hearing or being aware that Shawn Michaels was coming back to wrestle! I missed out!
Great video, very interesting, but I think even more interesting is the seemingly random Shawn Michaels appearance in FMW in 1999 as a guest ref in a Hayabusa vs Gannosuke match at FMW's 10th Anniversary show. Even stranger is the relationship that TWA had with FMW, where Bryan Danielson and Lance Cade performed as a tag team in 99/00.
This answers the question from OSW's Mania 7 review about why the match between Rockers and Orient Express at Mania VI was better than the match between than Rockers and Barbarian/Haku match a year later
I remember staying up late watching this late on a Saturday (old days of syndicated Indy wrestling amirite??) lol The TWA show was GREAT altogether, young Bryan Danielson , Paul London , Kendrick and many others
“Dressed like a mix of Jerry Sags and that quiet kid in school who listened to Tool and collected Magic the Gathering cards” LMAO that was perfect, Jack.
I believe this match was even mentioned in a WWE documentary and was considered by Shawn more as a "can I still go" match then a one last match type situation. He thought he could still go but wanted to make sure before he contacted WWE/HHH about the idea. Didn't know it was such an unknown match as ive seen several mentions of it online and even on video since the moment it happened.
Not saying you didn’t but I’ve watched every Shawn Michaels documentaries I could ever find and lots and lots of online content etc. never heard of this.
@@eXHackeR well I can neither confirm nor deny where I heard about this but ive definitely seen it and knew it happened so it's out there somewhere lol
@@JMohler oh yea I believe you it’s just crazy how little this is known. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. Some documentary or something has it I’m sure. I think WWE official documentaries wanted to act like this didn’t happen. But that doesn’t mean someone didn’t talk about it somewhere. Now even more than this match, I want to find the documentary where this was mentioned lol 😂
@@eXHackeR yeah you have me really wondering about it now lol I feel like it was only a year or so after the match that I heard about it. I'll look for it and let you know if I find it again. I'm on a mission now 😂
I would have never guessed Michaels to wrestle in a match like this when so much could have happened had he not screwed his back up. It's almost like the time off rejuvenated his career which was quite frankly better in his golden years then it was before he injured his back.
lived in san antonio and they used to air this at midnight saturday nights on one of the local cable channels, was a lot of fun, AND you got to see the debut of the American Dragon
He did a special referee appearance in FMW during this time period in a match with Hayabusa and Mr. Gannosuke. I'm not sure what happened, but Michaels was supposed to be on Hayabusa's side after Gannosuke took HBK to Dick Kick City but then he just randomly kicked Hayabusa's hands off the ropes midway through the match. I might've missed something but I think HBK just completely forgot which guy he was supposed to be helping. And let me tell you something about those old FMW VHS tapes they sold in the US, they were hosted by these two absolutely insufferable dipsh*ts who also did the commentary. They were so flat-out terrible on every level I'd feel obligated to warn people before watching it. I wonder if the Yakuza later f*cked up those two for ruining their product like that.
Wow, really great deep dive had no idea he ran his own company and had this match. Kind of odd he didn't go for one last, big money WWE match at this time. Maybe he didn't feel his body wasn't up to WWE's standard but he was more than capable of a brawl. Great video although it skimmed over the weird period he worked for WWE, sometimes as commissioner but mostly taking drugs backstage.
I knew Shawn Michaels wrestled for his Wrestling school during his recovery period but I did not know the story and circumstances behind this match . This Bunkhouse brawl seems like a very fun and violent prologue to the SummerSlam street fight that Shawn Michaels would have with Triple H in 2002 which would prove to be his return WWE match
I was at this TWA show at the far west rodeo. Drove down from Fort Sill OK to see it. They were pushing Michaels wrestling academy at the time. I need to dig out the pictures I have from it.
This is why I believe what Jim Cornett said. Michael's essentially was on a 4 year paid vacation. only when the well dried he had to come back to work.
Not really. He had a spine fusion & a battle with drugs & alcohol. Cornett had no idea what he’s talking about & half the time is talking out of his ass.
Yep. As soon as his 5 year contract ran out and there was no WCW around to threaten to jump to, all of a sudden his back healed and he could miraculously work again.
I feel like this is one that isn't acknowledged as much 'cause it doesn't fit the whole 'gone for four years to return triumphantly' story that's been built for HBK over the years. Bit of info for those that didn't watch TNA, Matt Bentley is Shawn's cousin. Just imagine, there's a timeline where Shawn Michaels didn't retire into the mid-10s but instead went out in a Bunkhouse Brawl for his local fed.
Ya know ? Badd Company was a very underrated duo when tag teams are brought up . They wernt around really long i guess is why . As a kid i loved em ! Orient Express too heh ! Great workers tho . I think they complimented each other very well as a team
Yeah I found this match on TH-cam fan-made of American Dragon Bryan Danielson I found the Texas Wrestling Academy so I checked a lot of that and I like that Shawn Michaels match also he refereed in the fmw two rivals last matches for Hayabusa
I'm gna be like most of the people that arnt know it alls and say I genuinely didn't know this match happened that's why I like these videos and podcast u learn something new everyday
I heard somewhere that Max Moon was actually portrayed by a young Konnan......? Edit: konnan was max moon first, then the gimmick was given to Paul diamond before the match vs HBK, so this video is very much accurate
I've seen the match in its hole that you're leading up too but I had no idea of all of hbk,s history with diamond I thought ide pretty much either read or seen it all of his run,s basically any way thank you thank you thank you its so cool to be wrong thank you
I know it's gonna sound like I'm just saying this but I have seen this match before, the one takeaway from this match is that both look slightly out of their depth, prime example the double table spot off the stage, Venom barely makes the distance to those tables
Thats it, no more doubt in my head. Shawn Mchaels is the GOAT. The creme of the crop. The best wrestler of all time. Better than hogan, Flair, Cena, Balor, Omega, Page, Jericho, Undertaker... He is the best to ever do it.
It's crazy that it was only slightly more than 3 and a half years from when stone cold Steve Austin would win the title until he last held it. Just crazy!!
The other “missing” HBK appearance that I swear I remember reading about but never saw was the Smackdown before Wrestlemania X7 in 2001. As I recall, at the taping Vince declared there would be a special enforcer in the Rock v Austin main event, bringing a masked figure tO the ring who was revealed to be HBK. It was staged and filmed at the Smackdown taping on the Tuesday, but cut from the broadcast that Thursday and instead we got Rene Dupree debuting as the ref Hopefully someone else remembers this and I’m not losing my marbles…
Been an HBk fan since I started watching wrestling in 06, still watch his matches today, even the ones before I was born. I even did a school project on his life and career and I’m just flabbergasted that I never heard of this. Good video!
for all the time i've spent ingesting wrestling content and i've still never heard of this. just another reason i love wrestling.
Same
Wasn't no social media around the time
Right?!?!! It's crazy lol, u figured u woulda heard about something like this, especially with Shawn Hickenbottom.
@@jayhari1713 these house shows happened all the time its just internet wasnt as big as it is now
@@dionthomas2969 I know that, I was just saying like u think something like this woulda been known by now
The most crazy thing is I lived in San Antonio growing up on the northeast side, I lived in the Amberton Apartments on Randolph Blvd. The Far West Rodeo where HBK would put on those wrestling shows for his school was literally right down the road from me, but I never heard or was aware of Shawn Michaels coming back to wrestle!
I remember when Far West Rodeo had 75 cent longnecks haha good times…
@@jorgebarrera2165 haha .75 long necks and $2 wells! I would hear those commercials on 98.5 The Beat everyday
Finally this is talked about. I kept telling people that Shawn wrestled before his famous come back. People told me that I was crazy and that he never wrestled
Ive known about this since it happened as well. Didn't know it was so unknown
I knew, my older brother told me. But I was under the assumption that Venom was a graduate of his wrestling school
I think wrestlers should get paid less
You can imagine the shock and confusion on everyone's faces when we saw the notification for this.
Hi hunny
I thought it was gonna be a disastrous match
whys that? i dont get it
I don't know if this is considered a forgotten match or more of a never knew about this match. It looked awesome though. Nice video Jack.
Wow... I wish to see this full match.
@@royshaheer it's online. Or at least it was about 10 years ago. Google is your friend.
Far from the best ever shawn michaels match mind. You have been warned. Think Saudi Arabia, then think that was better.
@@stevelowe2647 poor dude still getting flack about Saudi lol I have to give dude a pass after basically being forced into a match after how many years away, having his partner get hurt from the start and basically working the entire match by himself, and then other than the awful look of him finally embracing his baldness he was still the best performer in the ring. But ya still wish I never had to witness it lol
@@JMohler if by basically forced you mean asked to do it & offered several million dollars, then yeah, he was forced.
I feel like Michaels vs HHH at Summerslam 2002 was inspired by this match after watching all the details of this.
I never heard of this! And this match sounded legendary! I can't believe that nobody talks about this!
Holy shit this is interesting. Never knew he returned in 2000
Holy shit i remember this!! I'm from San antonio and the TWA was fucking awesome to watch on Saturday nights. I hung out with Venom's daughter a couple of times actually (had a mad crush on her, she was a friend of my closest cousin and was always over) They advertised all over local TV and radio for this. It was a huge deal all over town. I didn't think anyone outside of the city even ever knew about it.
Lmao yo I grew up in San Antonio, around this time 2000, I was in middle school, Ed White Eagles represent! Lol but the craziest thing is I lived on the northeast side, Amberton Apartments on Randolph Blvd. The Far West Rodeo where HBK would put on shows for his school was literally right down the road from me but I dont ever remember hearing or being aware that Shawn Michaels was coming back to wrestle! I missed out!
Lmao yo I grew up in San Antonio, around this time 2000, I was in middle school, Ed White Eagles represent! Lol but the craziest thing is I lived on the northeast side, Amberton Apartments on Randolph Blvd. The Far West Rodeo where HBK would put on shows for his school was literally right down the road from me but I dont ever remember hearing or being aware that Shawn Michaels was coming back to wrestle! I missed out!
Great video, very interesting, but I think even more interesting is the seemingly random Shawn Michaels appearance in FMW in 1999 as a guest ref in a Hayabusa vs Gannosuke match at FMW's 10th Anniversary show. Even stranger is the relationship that TWA had with FMW, where Bryan Danielson and Lance Cade performed as a tag team in 99/00.
This sounded like a really good match.
Michael’s was really stiff but it’s still neat to see.
Finally some new wrestling content I havent ever heard of before. This is really cool
Yet another fabulous video!! I’ve never heard of this one but will YT it now. Thank you, lads!!! Don’t know what I’d do without Cultaholic 👏🏼
This never could've happened had Shawn not found his smile
Also in 2000 Shawn was a special guest referee at the FMW 10th anniversary show.
He was referee of Rock vs Triple H iron man match in 2000 aswell I think.
The death match FMW,
That's the most devastating hip-toss I've ever seen
This answers the question from OSW's Mania 7 review about why the match between Rockers and Orient Express at Mania VI was better than the match between than Rockers and Barbarian/Haku match a year later
Sure does
Get home from a night shift, cook breakfast, and cultacholic has a good video up, thanks for making my morning great!
I was worried it was gonna be a sad story, but i'm glad it was actually something fun.
He still looks like the HBK of 96-97 there, glad to see!
that would change in 2001.
I remember staying up late watching this late on a Saturday (old days of syndicated Indy wrestling amirite??) lol
The TWA show was GREAT altogether, young Bryan Danielson , Paul London , Kendrick and many others
You did a great job presenting this match, Jack. But I gotta see this match for myself sometime.
Never heard of this match because I thought Michaels didn't wrestle again in WWF until 2002
Ive heard of this match but never actually saw it. I might have to watch it in full!!!
I remember this match. it wasn't all that but watched the whole thing since it was Shawn Michaels
“Dressed like a mix of Jerry Sags and that quiet kid in school who listened to Tool and collected Magic the Gathering cards”
LMAO that was perfect, Jack.
I was thinking a Bootleg mix between Masahiro Chono and The Sandman
I remember hearing about this match back in the day. The tagline for the build-up was "4/4 For History".
Damn, SM’s wrestling school had legit talent in it! I wish I woulda known that back then..
I believe this match was even mentioned in a WWE documentary and was considered by Shawn more as a "can I still go" match then a one last match type situation. He thought he could still go but wanted to make sure before he contacted WWE/HHH about the idea. Didn't know it was such an unknown match as ive seen several mentions of it online and even on video since the moment it happened.
Not saying you didn’t but I’ve watched every Shawn Michaels documentaries I could ever find and lots and lots of online content etc. never heard of this.
@@eXHackeR well I can neither confirm nor deny where I heard about this but ive definitely seen it and knew it happened so it's out there somewhere lol
@@JMohler oh yea I believe you it’s just crazy how little this is known. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. Some documentary or something has it I’m sure. I think WWE official documentaries wanted to act like this didn’t happen. But that doesn’t mean someone didn’t talk about it somewhere.
Now even more than this match, I want to find the documentary where this was mentioned lol 😂
@@eXHackeR yeah you have me really wondering about it now lol I feel like it was only a year or so after the match that I heard about it. I'll look for it and let you know if I find it again. I'm on a mission now 😂
this would have been one hell of a match too see at the time
Imagine watching this as it happened and two years Shawn Michaels was back in WWE!
Man if only Michaels was cleared to wrestle in 2000 imagine if he fueded with Triple H 2 years prior to their actual rivalry
Whoever wrote the script for this, fucking fantastic work.
Thanks for sharing this great story with us!
I would have never guessed Michaels to wrestle in a match like this when so much could have happened had he not screwed his back up. It's almost like the time off rejuvenated his career which was quite frankly better in his golden years then it was before he injured his back.
I didn’t know HBK wrestled in 2000!
lived in san antonio and they used to air this at midnight saturday nights on one of the local cable channels, was a lot of fun, AND you got to see the debut of the American Dragon
He did a special referee appearance in FMW during this time period in a match with Hayabusa and Mr. Gannosuke. I'm not sure what happened, but Michaels was supposed to be on Hayabusa's side after Gannosuke took HBK to Dick Kick City but then he just randomly kicked Hayabusa's hands off the ropes midway through the match. I might've missed something but I think HBK just completely forgot which guy he was supposed to be helping.
And let me tell you something about those old FMW VHS tapes they sold in the US, they were hosted by these two absolutely insufferable dipsh*ts who also did the commentary. They were so flat-out terrible on every level I'd feel obligated to warn people before watching it. I wonder if the Yakuza later f*cked up those two for ruining their product like that.
i watched a youtube video and those two dildos were on commentary and i just flat out couldn’t take it anymore and had to turn that shit off
Oh really I must watch the show now I wanna hear those idiots now lol I hope the yakuza f them up lmao
Couldn't be worse than Bryan saxton
@@standardofexcellence saxton it’s ass on commentary 😂
Theres an fmw hat on ebay right now. Its beautiful but 80$ ya know christmas is approaching if anyone here loves me
I actually heard about that match but never knew how it came to happen
As opposed to Crown Jewel, the one we all WANT to forget
6:15 😂 @ Michael staring at the best sign eva…
Hahaha I saw that too, awful funny how HBK was so clearly fixated on it.....
In a day and age where most wrestling fans knowing anything at the touch of a button.. You turn up with this.. INCREDIBLE!
Excellent narrative from the coolest Jack the Jobber! Great description with cheeky quick wit here and there.
Fascinating history lesson! Thank you
Wow, really great deep dive had no idea he ran his own company and had this match. Kind of odd he didn't go for one last, big money WWE match at this time. Maybe he didn't feel his body wasn't up to WWE's standard but he was more than capable of a brawl. Great video although it skimmed over the weird period he worked for WWE, sometimes as commissioner but mostly taking drugs backstage.
I knew Shawn Michaels wrestled for his Wrestling school during his recovery period but I did not know the story and circumstances behind this match . This Bunkhouse brawl seems like a very fun and violent prologue to the SummerSlam street fight that Shawn Michaels would have with Triple H in 2002 which would prove to be his return WWE match
I remember reading about this many years ago. Awesome 😎
Surprising to see so many fans in the comments section not knowing about this match.... I thought people knew about this 😅
I was at this TWA show at the far west rodeo. Drove down from Fort Sill OK to see it. They were pushing Michaels wrestling academy at the time. I need to dig out the pictures I have from it.
I definitely never knew this match happened.
This is why I believe what Jim Cornett said. Michael's essentially was on a 4 year paid vacation. only when the well dried he had to come back to work.
Not sure if a surgery to fuse your spine could really be considered a "vacation"...
@@TheRustedShackleford People really over look his spine fusion and drug addiction during those 4 years.
Not really. He had a spine fusion & a battle with drugs & alcohol. Cornett had no idea what he’s talking about & half the time is talking out of his ass.
Yep. As soon as his 5 year contract ran out and there was no WCW around to threaten to jump to, all of a sudden his back healed and he could miraculously work again.
100% & delt he even had surgery.
4:11 There’s Bryan Danielson, top right.
Paul Dimond was the original Marty Jannetty!
I feel like this is one that isn't acknowledged as much 'cause it doesn't fit the whole 'gone for four years to return triumphantly' story that's been built for HBK over the years.
Bit of info for those that didn't watch TNA, Matt Bentley is Shawn's cousin.
Just imagine, there's a timeline where Shawn Michaels didn't retire into the mid-10s but instead went out in a Bunkhouse Brawl for his local fed.
Ya know ? Badd Company was a very underrated duo when tag teams are brought up . They wernt around really long i guess is why . As a kid i loved em ! Orient Express too heh ! Great workers tho . I think they complimented each other very well as a team
Haven't heard jack the jobber narrate in ages, sweet chin music to my ears
Wow. Never heard of this. Outstanding video! Cheers 🍻
Can I just say I love Sundays on Cultaholic...
Ali was born to box. Jordan was born to ball. Michaels was born to wrestle.......... the greatest!
I have heard of this match but I couldn't find any viedo with decent footage.
Wow never new about this great video
Dude thats cool the HBK wrestling academy...Brian Kendrick, Paul London, Daniel Bryant, Lance Cade, Super Mex Hernandez..
another excellent video, top work.
Brilliant, never heard of this, but wow, what a find!!!
Great vid. Never heard of this. It seems like ia match from another reality
Yeah I found this match on TH-cam fan-made of American Dragon Bryan Danielson I found the Texas Wrestling Academy so I checked a lot of that and I like that Shawn Michaels match also he refereed in the fmw two rivals last matches for Hayabusa
Shawn Michaels the Legend
I've seen this match a few times but I didn't know about the 15 yr build up for the match. HBK is the goat!
the match must have been good outside of the "I am the table" bits.
I didnt know shawn Michaels had a forgotten in 2000
Yup this was cool I also watched HBK and Sting teaming up in a Christian wrestling promotion.
When did it happen? Would like to know more
Never knew or seen this,amazing
I'm gna be like most of the people that arnt know it alls and say I genuinely didn't know this match happened that's why I like these videos and podcast u learn something new everyday
I heard somewhere that Max Moon was actually portrayed by a young Konnan......?
Edit: konnan was max moon first, then the gimmick was given to Paul diamond before the match vs HBK, so this video is very much accurate
I was there for this match.
I've seen the match in its hole that you're leading up too but I had no idea of all of hbk,s history with diamond I thought ide pretty much either read or seen it all of his run,s basically any way thank you thank you thank you its so cool to be wrong thank you
This is amazing. My mind is blown.
Brilliant content
I know it's gonna sound like I'm just saying this but I have seen this match before, the one takeaway from this match is that both look slightly out of their depth, prime example the double table spot off the stage, Venom barely makes the distance to those tables
I didn't realise anyone didn't know about this match
@@glencurtis6052 I remember searching Shawn Michael's return on YT and it came up in the results
Thats it, no more doubt in my head. Shawn Mchaels is the GOAT. The creme of the crop. The best wrestler of all time. Better than hogan, Flair, Cena, Balor, Omega, Page, Jericho, Undertaker... He is the best to ever do it.
Balor, omega, and Adam page?????????
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
He’s the best and it isn’t even close
@@fatxbull6259 in your brain maybe.
At 4:39 if you look to the right.. That looks like a super young Bryan Danielson.. 😏😏😁
Jack burned venom with the Nasty boys comment
Wow I'm surprised
It's crazy that it was only slightly more than 3 and a half years from when stone cold Steve Austin would win the title until he last held it. Just crazy!!
I was at this match!
I never knew this match existed.
I gave it a quick search and I don’t think he mentions this match in his book
Man I remember watching TWA on Saturday nights…it came on at either 11pm or midnight…it was awful haha
Informative
That is a cool and awesome
I never heard this
i knew about this match but not that it was paul diamond
I was shocked to find out he was Max Moon
Once WCW closed its doors, he had to come back cuz aint no leverage to keep him getting paid. Cornette was on point with it
The other “missing” HBK appearance that I swear I remember reading about but never saw was the Smackdown before Wrestlemania X7 in 2001.
As I recall, at the taping Vince declared there would be a special enforcer in the Rock v Austin main event, bringing a masked figure tO the ring who was revealed to be HBK. It was staged and filmed at the Smackdown taping on the Tuesday, but cut from the broadcast that Thursday and instead we got Rene Dupree debuting as the ref
Hopefully someone else remembers this and I’m not losing my marbles…
I remember HBK making an appearance in 2001 on Smackdown with Mick Foley and accusing The Rock of running over Steve Austin. But that was it.
I am the table!
I just watched this match.
I was today years old when I found out about this.
good video
I want to say that PWI covered this.