Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H

[4.0] "These two wanted to badly to have an all-time great match, but this was a colossal failure on so many levels. First of all, it's 40 minutes long. Second of all, they tried every gimmick match in the catalogue and still couldn't get the crowd into it. It was so slow-paced and generally heatless. One of the biggest disappointments in wrestling history."

[9.0] "Yes this is a long match, but these two do a lot of great throughout the match. The street fight being close to half the match does add a lot of runtime to the match, but it was a good fall. The flaming barbed wire spot was good from two guys who aren't known for being the most extreme. The steel cage match was also a good fall but the weakest of the three. It was a nice change from the first and the last though. The final fall was probably the 2nd best and the spot through the ladder at the end was great."

[4.0] "When I started watching through the RA era I was pretty surprised to find out there was a 3 stages of hell match between Trips and HBK I'd never heard of but it's for a fair reason. This match is so incredibly colour by numbers and checked out. There is none of the intensity that they had at Summerslam that made the match work. And I mean "it's not that deep" but why are we going street fight - cage - ladder in a blood feud?"

[2.0] "GOOD HEAVENS. What a shit show. This is now the second time I've rewatched a heavy favourite match from my childhood and had my earth shattered. The 20 minute street fight is horrible, they had one spot i think? the rest of it is working the leg. in a street fight? hello? they didnt even play back into the leg work EVER AGAIN. This is the 2nd time in 2002 limb work had been abandoned half way through a match (see HIAC Brock v Taker) but at least that limb work was gruesome and the rest of the match FUCKED. Then the steel cage, 9 minutes? and they did one spot again? one good spot. ric flair comes in while the ref STARES at him drooling from his mouth and shawn fights off both of them and flair blades? are you kidding? guy gets carted off after. also btw flair just sets up a table on top of two other tables for no reason while HHH and shawn just punch on the top of the cell for 5 minutes before going back down completely unprovoked. so fake. anyway, it gets a bit better from here since shawn does a great dive from the cage for the finish. ladder match is just whatever, again, two (? ) ladder spots from shawn that are good and obviously the ending spot they built for the whole match which looked fine if semi botched, then here comes HHH to win, climbs up the ladder no issues when he came into the match with a bum leg. thats the heel btw. wtf is the heel coming in with a hurt leg? guy wins the first fall of a street fight after getting HIT IN THE BALLS BY THE BABYFACE then 30 seconds later HE WINS? CLEAN? I mean its a street fight so its technically not clean, but the actualy finish did not involve anything dirty, and the guy just got low blowed. this really was a reign of terror huh. look i like them both but this is HORRID. *"

[7.0] "Flair getting sent to the back to start the match definitely won't have repercussions later. The street fight alone was absolutely insane even through the injuries, although I really was afraid HHH threw a flaming 2x4 into the crowd. The cage match just feels more tame than a street fight, and I think it would've made more sense to flip those two. I get why the ladder match would have to go last, but you could flip those two. The guys are gassed and the cage match was just less intense. The final spot being set up in the 2nd fall and paid off in the 3rd was sick too."

[4.0] "Above all, this match is incredibly boring. The first fall is a street fight that takes 20 minutes and far too many of those are just Hunter sitting in a figure four endlessly with no heat. Almost nothing happens in this match, and while the few interesting spots/moments are quite cool, it's just not enough to save it. I don't think it's a fundamentally broken or awfully-worked match but there's not much here to like. The crowd is not into it at all and HHH ends off a mostly poor 2002 with a bad match. Definitely lean closer to Dave than Cagematch on this one, forced epic if I've seen one."

[5.0] "I didn't like this when I watched it as a kid and I went into it as objective as I possibly could be, but I just still didn't enjoy it at all. There's specific parts to it that are good and HBK's fall out of the ring through the tables is an iconic moment, but this meandered so much. I still like it way, way more than their HIAC match, but it's disappointing to see such a lame match when the Summerslam '02 match is an all-time great. This just did not need to be as long and uninteresting as it was."

"typical Triple H 'I'm injured but still better at everything than everyone else' slow, walk from spot to spot snoozefest. Flaming 2x4 was cool, Shawn's table bump was cool, Flair's blade job was pretty cool too. Boring."

[4.0] "This match had 5 spots. Only 5 things that stood out. Which is fine foe a 10 minute match. Not a 40 minute match. Like they really REALLY dragged out that Street Fight. They drag out the Cage match. And then do nothing in the Ladder Match until the ending spot. Yeah... I I didn't like this. I thought it sucked."

[1.0] "The worst of all Shawn Michaels matches maybe, he has some terrible ones in early 90s but this one **HORRID**, everything about this match falls apart in the second part, Shawn's selling is absolutely horrible here and at point does this work as a wrestling match, the crowd died because these two guys are obsessed with having epics but kill the crowd occasionally trying to do it, they both also seem to work on autopilot here and don't sell this like the blood feud matchup it should be, Triple H in this year and the year after is such a slow plodding worker who insists on being Harley Race when he clearly isn't Harley Race, I can't enjoy any sequence of offense from triple H in this couple year rum, it's actually slow and terrible, Shawn is right off of retirement so I don't think he has completely shaken off the rust and is very conservative with his offense, you match that with bad selling from both guys and you get a match that cant even nail the basics of a wrestling match, don't watch this if you don't want your opinion on HHH/HBK lowered (*)"

[6.0] "how does this match only have 2 stars from WON. I understand its not there best match together but its also not unwatchable or terrible by any means. I did expect to enjoy it a lil more. The first fall just dragged on so so much and didnt need to be that long and honestly not much happened. Second fall was definitely the best fall with the most stuff happening that actually mattered. And the 3rd fall felt so pointless becuase it was legit only like 4 minutes long which sucks i wish we could have actually got something during that fall. 3.25 stars"

[5.0] "It had some smart spots and good ideas, but it was way too long to the point that the crowd didn't make any sound in the final minutes. The first fall was alright and I liked how Michaels' leg gave up in the deciding moment, but the second fall slowly turned the match into the slug. On top of that I have no idea why Flair was setting up these tables as Shawn would have won the fall if he fell through them. And then the third fall was running on fumes at this point and the fans were so visibly worn out that it was painful to watch. Really bad structure, but not an awful work."

[5.0] "Fairly entertaining but a hard pill a lot of fans don't want to swallow is that this and the hell in a cell matches between them were pure self-indulgence. I actually think 40 minutes is an acceptable amount of time for this type of match but Triple H, good as he was, worked so so slowly. He insisted on doing the NWA style for every important match and it just wasn't 1985 anymore."

[5.0] "The way the match is structured just didn't work! It's nowhere near Austin vs HHH where every fall in that match escalated from the previous one. The street fight is the best part of the match but I couldn't help but think that a flaming barbed wire spot should play to the finish of a match! It's a step below their Summerslam classic, but it works well enough. The cage match isn't very good because of the stupid escape stipulation in play and the awkward spot where they are both on top of the cage and Triple H has Ric Flair stack tables up, which is only there to set up the finish. It's also a bit of a mess when Flair enters the cage. They had very little left for the ladder match, but the ending did look brutal. The finish was good, but the match is just too drawn out and cluttered for me and it's a massive disappointment compared to the matches at Summerslam and the Survivor Series!"

[5.0] "Simply just bad booking. Way too long and uninteresting for what was supposed to be the most personal feud going. I get thinking adding the 3 stages adds to the drama as a main event but the first 2 just took away from it. Last fall is the best one but I won't rewatch much of this"

[3.0] "Nearly 40 mins in the middle of a bitter personal feud yet such an uninteresting, auto-pilot affair. Triple H is a wrestling terrorist and HBK wasn't gonna force his buddy to approach it differently, nor did he seem bothered to try and brute force this into something better. I liked the flaming 2x4, Flair getting beat up in the cage, and the finish was a solid big bump, but overall a hell of a downgrade from their SummerSlam match. (*3/4)"

[1.0] "The first fall wasa street fight, and it was pretty underwhelming. It took AWHILE to get going as the first 5-7 minutes were just lame brawling filler. It got slightly interesting as HHH began to work the back, but that was also filler as they both forgot about it. HHH then worked the leg of Shawn after a sweet chin music attempt. His work on the leg was pretty good. I would've liked to see more variety in his work on top though. Shawn's selling was solid. He was still too jumpy in his comebacks. Not an awful fall but it's easily forgettable. Not enough urgency, brutality, memorable spots, etc. The second fall cage match was terrible. Any sense of drama was long gone. Shawn's selling of the leg and back was long gone. HHH's work on top was glacial. Nothing of note happened aside from Flair's same-old-shit blade job. Shawn beats HHH and Flair in a 2v1 situation without much struggle. This match is getting worse the longer it goes. The final fall was a ladder match. This structure is awful. A cage match and a ladder match should not be falls within the same match. This fall was entirely forgettable. No drama, no nothing. The finish with Shawn going through the tables even felt flat. *"

[5.0] "World Heavyweight Championship-8° Match: This promised to be brutal and great, but it remained brutal. At first the street fight seemed exciting with Ric Flair's getting expulse of the match, but it was long and boring in some sections, it had some good moments but the rest felt slow. The steel cage match was ok, they used well the objects and Shawn's splash over Triple H was a very good moment. I think that Flair's inteference was some kind of pointless, the only thing he did was put the tables for the final spot of the match. The ladder match was understandably short, they were tired, nothing more to say about the final stretch. The problem for me was the time given, this was excessively long, the street fight took a long time, they had to distribute the time in a better way. Other problem was Triple H's victory, the first HHH's reign was bad and Shawn was the champion for a month, i don't like these kind of things."

[3.0] "Long and stupid wrestliong match. DIdn't like first fall, and itsactually happen to be best of 3 falls in this match. Slow pace, Triple H worked Michaels leg and they forgot it i nlike 5 mins. Then Michaels target H's back, and they again forgot it in 5 mins. Steel cage fall was stupid and boring. Shawn just casually beat Hunter and Flair in basically 2 vs 1 handicap. 3rd fall is forgotable, only final spot deserves credit"

[7.0] "As with other matches like these, it hurts to judge it just a good match. It hurts to give a "simple" 7 to a 38-minute match which is practically a matryoshka of stipulations, but on balance it is what it is, "just" a good match. I still think it doesn't deserve the scathing rejection it received from so many, but with two entrants and such a varied stipulation, something big is to be expected. I was really tempted to give this match an 8, since there are some really good and memorable moments, in fact, more than a 7, my vote would be 7.5. But throughout the match it seemed to me that Michaels and Triple H were fighting with the handbrake on, lacking the level of intensity that would have served a match with an epic halo like this. However, I remain of the opinion that this match is absolutely a must-watch, due to the aforementioned epic aura and the effective variety of the stipulation"

[7.0] "Fall 1 is billed as a "street fight", but is "straight wrestling peppered with the occasianal weaponry". I don't mind that. Fall 2 is inside a Steel Cage so you know Ric Flair bleeds, wait what? Yup, Ric Flair gets in his "meat grinder" spot and I love it. The match was kind of a mess though. Fall 3, The Ladder match is unfortunately unremarkable aside from "the big 4 table spot" yet even the finish felt flat. Overall a bit underwhelming but they kind of imposed a high benchmark for themselves with their previous encounters, still good but lacking (and somewhat glaringly so). 6.75 rounded up."

[5.0] "The barbed wire 2x4 was on fire again! That didn't stop this match from being average. Little too long."

[1.0] "This match was horrible from the start and never got better throughout that's truly impressive. Anyways in the 1st fall Triple H has fine work on Michaels leg, but Michaels doesnt ever sell so it doesn't even end up matterting, the rest of this fall is them just transitioning from weapon spot to weapon spot dreadful stuff, oh yeah they also juice here that's cool. Steel Cage was more of the same as the 1st fall, but Michaels jumped off the top of the cage through a table so at least there's that. The last fall was another soulless fall but at least we got Michaels jumping off of the ladder, and going through a bunch of tables at the end. Michaels bad selling and Triple H working on top is the formula for a horrible match.1/4*"

[3.0] "This was a very, very dull match that went entirely too long for its own good. The only good part of this was the street fight at the start and even that is plagued by Michaels' lack of selling his leg, which HHH works over well at least. Both the cage match and the ladder match weren't good with both match feeling sluggish and boring, despite the many weapon and table spots. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this match but the street fight that started the match was fine. - **1/4"

[0.0] "These two have fantastic chemistry but something was off about this match. Having the Steel Cage match in the middle was weird, was worse have the ladder at the end, and something just didn't click with this like it does other nights. There were a LOT of high spot moments, but I didn't love it. The worst match of HHH vs HBK rivalry. *"

[6.0] "This was a brutal match between 2 rivals. The build to this match was perfect the wwe did a great job with this storyline. The match was good but not great the street fight was the best of the 3 falls as the other 2 were not that exiting. The cage match and the ladder match were short and not that exiting. This made the match less enjoyable but the match was good."

[4.0] "The first fall was a good street fight but after that the match was really boring. Nothing happened on the cage and Ladder match."

[0.0] "Street Fight: Fun street fight. Had some nice storytelling with Triple H working on the leg of HBK after he goes for the sweet chin music, the work on the leg was fine, though I would've liked him to use the weapons much more on the leg. Oh well. What did annoy me was that he started to work on the back early on and completely ignored the leg work he did early in the fall. A bit pointless and needless filler (Triple H special). HBK selling of the leg was fine for the most part, but it very bad when making the comebacks. It was good when the work HHH was doing work on it, but he failed to sell when he did his comeback spots and started to run and jump around. Also he tried the kip up and although he did sell the leg which is when I asked myself why try it in the first place. What an idiot. Steel Cage: Why was this a cage match? This stip should always be the last fall, no matter what. Anyway, it was utterly pointless as Flair came in anyway and HBK beat them both on his own, injuries and all. Meh fall. Also, what happened to HBK's selling? Oh, it's gone. Ugh. I'm gradually hating Shawn more and more. Ladder Match: Normal ladder match. Nothing special, very forgettable. The entire stipulation hurt the match badly. It's a ladder match but it didn't feel like one despite them doing ladder match things. Yeah, HBK still not selling the leg. Really frustrating performance by HBK. He should be so much better than this but no. It's up there with one of the worst sells jobs up there (perhaps worse than Okada's New Beginning '17 sell job). Triple H is such a bore on top. This drags and drags beyond no end. Awful main event. DUD."

[2.0] "The opening street fight was actually pretty decent, but things take a huge downturn at the second fall when the cage came down as the pace ground to a halt and never recovered. The pace slowing down would be more forgivable if it was the final fall, but with it being the second fall you know that there's still a lot more to come and really drags the match down. The splash off of the cage was pretty cool at least. The Ladder portion of the match would be even worse if not for two cool spots, those being Michaels' splash off the ladder, and Michaels being pushed off the ladder through two tables. The biggest problem with the match is that they seemingly wanted as many brutal stipulations as they could fit into the match, but as a result, the flow of the match gets messed up big time - both the ladder and the cage should be treated as final falls and never a middle portion of the match as both these stipulations slow things down considerably. I guess they wanted to show just how much these two would go through to beat the other and win the title but it really doesn't work well and ends up hurting the match. The street fight saves what would otherwise be a worthless match. (*)"

[6.0] "Good main event definitely but compared to the previous year's Austin vs HHH at No Way Out, it was absolutely nothing special. The street fight is nothing compared to Summerslam 2002's similar stipulation, just a few weapon spots with no emotion and little storytelling but the callbacks with the backbreakers on the chair were cool, with Michaels giving one to HHH for a change. It's just a shame that they needed to introduce a barbed wire 2x4 on fire to make things interesting. The steel cage was probably the best of the falls but that's only because of the body splash on the table spot, apart from that, just a typical steel cage match. And the ladder match was just a rehash of that with yet another table spot finishing things off. It's still a good match, don't get me wrong, but it feels very boring and samey at times."

[5.0] "It was a very long and boring Main Event. The whole matchit's boring hanging around and a few spots. Artificial extension of time to build "Epic" fight. Nothing special. **3/4"

[7.0] "Really solid contest, each fall brought something new and while not being an all time great match it was good and entertaining."

[1.0] "37 minutes long and hhh cannot walk throughout the whole match, he wanted to do another of his look how tough I am performances but it was completely terrible. They even did not do the blindingly obvious, shawn did not go after hhh's leg, it is a blood fued they should want to kill each other so why would shawn not go after his leg why would he go easy on him. It makes hbk look like a stupid wrestler. The amount of short cuts in this match is absurd they just hit each other with stuff with no semblance of story or flow. The first fall was a nothing match around 2 3/4 stars and when it finished I thought thank God for that, then the cage came down. The cage section was dire, nothing happened and with no drama just flair running in and getting his obligatory blade job in there. The ladder match was a complete joke, it was pointless. The match ends up being around 1 1/2 stars. Skip it. At least the hitc match has some good psychology in it and story but what is bad about it is that it goes 45 minutes this match just is plain awful."

[5.0] "This match was overbooked to hell to make sure it could hit its planned run time, but it honestly didn't matter - none of this added up to the classic match they obviously were looking for. From start to finish, the pace was too plodding to really make it anything special at all."