Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H

[10.0] "A contender for the greatest RAW match ever. HBK & HHH create such an incredible struggle that even the simplest move carries enormous weight. Old-school - NWA-style structure, hometown hero vs. the champion, classic face vs. heel dynamic, incredible heat, drama and effective minimalism. One of the greatest TV matches of all-time & WWE 2003 Match of the Year. ****3/4"

[7.0] "Interesting finish. The whole match STINKS of Triple H-style from this era, but they do enough to get the crowd properly involved. Would've loved to have seen more Flair shenanigans on the outside. Still, a very good main event title match. I appreciate HBK's selling much more these days"

[8.0] "I think this was better but in a rewatch is a great 8. Very funny that his best match is in a Tv show. The crowd is perfect, during the nearfalls, good chants, Michaels like Jim Ross said is looking for the miracle. Triple H works excellent with cheap tricks and Michaels is a magician, the Eric Bischoff interference is good and a nice way to explain the end. ****/25"

[8.0] "A finish with a winner knocks this up a point, but this match was great and the most you could possible expect from a tv match."

[5.0] "Oh, late 2003 RAW, the show that really tested my fandom. This was a dark period for RAW in terms of both viewership and in-ring quality, which is why I believe so many people rate this match more highly than it might deserve. Triple H and Shawn Michaels run through their greatest hits, which by this point already felt tired. There isn't much of a story here beyond Michael's feeling confident in his hometown, which leads him to dominate early on with his usual offense. Eventually, Triple H takes over with some punches and a trademark knee, but there's no real structure to any of this. They trade stretches of control. Still, for what it is, the match works well enough. The real highlight isn't the wrestling. It's the crowd (and Ric Flair's heel antics). The audience is hanging on to everything, especially during the closing stretch. The intensity ramps up near the end, though some unnecessary overbooking drags things down: there's a ref bump, Bischoff runs in, and the crowd is basically primed for a dusty finish. Sure enough, after Michaels hits a great-looking Sweet Chin Music for what seems like the win, it turns out his shoulders were down as well, ending the match in a draw. While the finish itself makes sense, I'm confused as to why the ref bump was needed in the first place since Bischoff was technically correct. In the end, it's a good match, nothing great. At the time, matches like this were a dime a dozen on SmackDown, but for RAW in late 2003, it stands out as an entertaining if somewhat bloated effort. (**3/4)"

[8.0] "Great bout here. I've always heard great things about this one and they didn't disappoint. In honesty, until Earl goes down, this match is absolutely phenomenal. Not perfect, but so many things are done right up until this point. I felt Michaels could've sold the back maybe a bit more, but that was my complaint. The Flair shenanigans are very entertaining and he stooges around well. It skips the mandatory Triple H control sequences, and instead offers something that doesn't let-up. So psychologically solid, the desperate champion doing whatever it takes to ensure Michaels can't get control because if he does, then it's over. Then.. the ref bumps happen and it loses steam. Not even the decision of the ref bumps happening, but I felt the action was slightly less compelling too. It ends in a double draw, which still, only brings my rating down more. Its such a good moment in a bubble, Michaels wins the big one, one final time. But, the fed had other plans. It's so deflating, it's a pretty easy layup of a moment. Both men here were exceptional, and it sucks that the last portion of this match is what it is. Still, the rest of it is incredible. Makes you feel. So, its still highly rated. [****]"

[9.0] "Pretty damn great match to end off a superb year for WWE, in my opinion. As daft as HHH's reign of terror consistently got throughout the year, he was capable of putting on good matches when he obviously wasn't hurt or wrestling talent that can't work a McDonald's. Impressive performances from both men that felt akin to old Memphis style wrestling. The commentary from J.R was outstanding, and really sold how important the match was. It has a good ending for that matter too, though the post match got a little excessive. Regardless, it is a huge bright spot in the Reign of Terror, and even HBK's second run with the company. Easily a top 3 match for WWE through the 2003 year. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Recently uploaded on the WWE Vault youtube channel. Just an absolute banger. Even the shenanigans at the end are entertaining."

[6.0] "Ehhhhh.... I'm exteremely torn on this match. The structure of this match fucks, I really like how evenly split Michaels and HHH are. However, Michaels is the one that really makes this match work. HHH pulls off some cool heel tactics thanks to Flair tactics and also has some ones blow up in his face like the turn buckle. But this is post quad tear HHH so his ring work leaves alot to be desired when he's exposed like this. Also the ending is cool and all but I'm not that interested in it. Overall, its a pretty in the middle match but one positive about it is that it reassures me that Michaels is actually as good as I remember him being."

[9.0] "A hell of a match awesome fucking match. 30 minutes of drama excellent nearfalls and a crowd that was desperate to see their hometown hero win the title. A solid first half of the match that really really picked up and hit that next level in the final 10-15 minutes an excellent finish that had me and the crowd there biting on every step. The double pin fall finish was excellent and a way to protect both guys and set up their Royal rumble match the next month. One of the best Raw matches of all time 4.25/5"

[10.0] "Hell of a match to finish the year with. Having not had a singles match in more than a year despite the ongoing rivalry, this match had a really fresh feel in my opinion and to be honest I enjoyed this almost as much as their Summerslam classic. It's a long match, but it never feels like it drags and it was really dramatic with fans engaged in every near fall. The ovation Shawn Michaels got in his home town when it looked like he won was a special moment and the dusty finish was really frustrating, but not in a bad way. These two had excellent chemistry together and produced something truly special here. 2003 wasn't a great year for Triple H in terms of match quality at least, but he is one of the best to watch when he's fully motivated like this."

[6.0] "A southern style title match with a Dusty finish in front of the babyface's hometown and there you have a successful NWA cosplay match from HHH. HBK had a good babyface performance and HHH was good selling and bumping around. HHH had a pretty boring control segment, but this an entertaining match for the most part. ***"

[9.0] "This match is sensational, even with the same overbookings as always, HBK and HHH delivered one of the best WHC matches in a RAW in a year that the title took in the hands of Reign Of Terror, until the end with the double pin was sensational and the the fact that Shawn is the hometown boy made the dynamic even more fun (****1/2)"

[8.0] "This match totally rocked, Though I'll admit that the finish was very meh. The crowd was electric and totally behind Shawn Michaels. This is so much better than the other 2003 Monday Night Raw matches I've seen thus far. WWE should talk about this match more when talking about awesome raw moments."

[9.0] "Triple H does his best job of a "Touring NWA Flair" title match and mostly nails it, in front of Shawn's hometown no less. Plenty of smoke and mirrors stuff towards the end, but it ends up enhancing the total package and making up for a few bleak aspects in both wrestlers' performances. A feel-good end to a rough year under the Reign of Terror."

[9.0] "This is a raw classic that isn't really talked about enough when discussing the best TV matches ever, this was every bit as good as their Summerslam clash a year ago. Shawn Michaels was in his hometown, could've won the world title on the last raw of 2003 so the crowd is hot for the whole match. HHH and Shawn both sold well in this one, the match never really felt like it was dragging despite going 30 which is shocking because HHH was involved in this. The pop that Shawn got when the crowd thought he had one the world title was great.****1/2"

[6.0] "This match had good in-ring work and a solid structure, but it spiralled once the typical WWE tropes came out. HBK's joyous and playful arrogance as he outwrestled HHH at the start was very entertaining, and HHH appropriately sold his frustration and resulting apprehension as he paused before engaging with HBK and then struggled through HBK's continued control. HHH showed good aggression once he finally gained control, doing a good job grinding HBK down. HBK's comebacks were pretty generic but still executed with good technique and energy, and I enjoyed the story of him struggling to slowly fight back to equal ground. Both men sold and bumped quite convincingly to put the other's offence over, allowing this to feel like a realistically competitive fight. The usual ref bump and interference tropes definitely derailed the match any time they popped up. The second ref bump and Bischoff running down to act as an impromptu ref was when the match official went into overbooking territory. Bischoff swerving and awarding the win to HHH on incredibly shaky grounds was an even worse booking decision, totally robbing fans of a clean match and instead relying on BS shenanigans to keep storylines going despite the lack of rationale behind them. At least the finish itself with HBK's Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere was pretty cool, plus some of the prior near falls were well set-up and pretty convincing. Another would-be really good WWE match if not for all the "sports entertainment" WWE-isms. ***1/4"

[8.0] "The only match I enjoy from this rivalry. They actually did a really nice throwback southern style main event here and not a falsehood of one. The structure with the shine, control, cut-offs, comeback, interference, nearfalls, and dusty finish were all there and this match did all of those aspects at a very breezy pace. Shawn had a vibrant and fun babyface performance and Triple H was never in a position to do aggressively boring shit. Probably for Triple H, his most successful attempt at NWA cosplay and a pretty great match."

[5.0] "Way too much manufactured sports entertainment 'drama' to try and make the match seem epic when in retrospect all of that really hurt the match big time. The wrestling itself is pretty basic and even kind of slow, only decent at best. And then when you pile on all the sports entertainment sheningans, it just really makes the whole thing feel pretty tacky in the end. I'll give it props for the wrestling itself being decent, but this match is way overrated in retrospect."

[8.0] "Excellent match overall, not an all time classic but the crowd was white hot, and the finish walked the line of not being too cheap while still protecting both men."

[7.0] "I liked this match. This is easily the best match these two have ever had between each other. The crowd is hot, the wrestling doesn? t drag and the story is good. However, the leg work was forgotten about the end, HBK is HBK being way too over dramatic and drama for drama for drama sake and it really takes away. ***1/4"

[9.0] "Holy crap, this match shows that these two didn't need a silly gimmick like three stages of hell in their matches, Michaels and HHH put on a start to finish wrestling classic save from some silly overbooking with Bischoff taking over as the ref near the end of the match. The crowd is very hot for the most part and they make a great match even better. Triple H's selling in this one is phenomenal and Michaels is as great as he usually is, but unlike Armageddon 2002 (their last 1 v 1 match) and more like Summerslam 2002, their chemistry just shines here. You can tell these guys knew each other so well and it made the match even better in my eyes. Seriously, I don't know what it was with most of 2003's best matches happening on free TV, save some of these for your PPVs and it would have made some of those utterly drab shows a bit better. A bit of unneeded overbooking near the end knocks off a bit of score for me but it's still a fantastic end to a rather crap year for WWE. ****1/4"

[9.0] "The last WWE match of 2003 but one of the best and maybe one of the best Raw matches ever. This is testament to how great these characters were and how well built this whole feud was. They didn't have to do much beyond what you'd expect of them, both basically just rolling out their greatest hits, yet the crowd were with them all the way, determined to see the hometown legend win the title from the dastardly champion. The atmosphere made this match. The commentary only compounded that, JR was incredible here, 'Michaels scores the elbow into the black heart of the champion', amazing. There were some good near falls, creative ref bumps, Flair was flopping around on the outside like a man possessed and the final swerve was heartbreaking. All in all, you couldn't get much better from a main event match in WWE around this time."

[10.0] "Well goddamn, this was an absolute classic! An easy candidate for the best WWE TV match of all-time; HBK's early shine absolutely ruled, it was so hype, and then we got an awesome heat segment by HHH, which HBK sold greatly, the drama wasn't overdone & the heat was off the charts. This felt like something straight out of the 80's - easily the best match HBK & HHH have had against each other. ****3/4"

[3.0] "I never really got emotionally invested in the match. Michaels is solid here, although I have to say, that some of his mimic really annoys me. My real problems are with HHH. This encounter is structured really similarly to all his matches after his quad injury - it's slow, overdramatic and has the use of weapons, which are a cheap way to get crowd reaction. This match is also too overdramatic."