WWE From The Vault: Shawn Michaels

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 360 Minutes
Certificate: 18
Number Of Discs: 2
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: August 11 2003

One of the earliest WWE DVDs to provide a career-spanning selection of matches in their entirety, From The Vault provides seven major bouts from Shawn Michaels. While seven is a paltry number, even for a two-disc release that was released early into Shawn's second proper WWE tenure, it is nevertheless a great wrestling compilation due to the fact that the action on display is topnotch throughout. Each bout is preceded by comments from Shawn (which in hindsight look like they were all filmed within around twenty minutes).

An AWA tag team bout pitting The (then-Midnight) Rockers against Buddy Rose and Doug Somers is a typical doubles match for the era with added athleticism (by Shawn and Marty Jannetty) and a surprisingly high amount of blood spillage. We then jump right ahead to the classic WrestleMania X Ladder bout, the match where Shawn truly established himself as a future superstar despite losing to Razor Ramon.

The next three matches are all from 1996, starting with Shawn's Iron Man scrap with Bret Hart from WrestleMania XII. This is one of the most divisive matches in history; fans either love it or hate it. Depending on your point of view, this is either the highlight of the DVD or an entirely skippable 75-80 minute portion of the release. Whatever your opinion, it's hard to argue its inclusion since it officially kicks off Shawn's main event run in the WWF.

Disc two opens with a fantastic No Holds Barred battle against Diesel from In Your House VII (which has alternate commentary from Shawn and Kevin "Diesel" Nash). By WWF standards, the violence on display was ahead of its time, and from a brutality standpoint, this was the first hint of what was to come in the Attitude Era. Then, it's Shawn vs. Mankind from In Your House X, which is slightly overrated in my opinion, but nevertheless is one hell of a brawl.

We then fast-forward to In Your House: Badd Blood from October 1997, and the classic first-ever Hell In A Cell war with The Undertaker (who knew that they would top this effort in the future?). Finally, we see Shawn's comeback match from an injury-enforced retirement against Triple H from SummerSlam 2002, which is simply awesome.

There are no bonus matches, but there are plenty of segments, most of which are linked to the featured bouts (the hype video for HBK vs. HHH from SummerSlam 2002 is an underrated gem), although there are some other angles thrown in, such as the iconic moment when Shawn broke up the Rockers tandem on Brutus Beefcake's Barber Shop set in 1992.

This is a fantastic wrestling DVD. The only downside is that it was released in 2003; a modern-day release comprising three or four discs, including Shawn's top matches from his 2002-2010 run, would be a contender for Best Wrestling Compilation Ever. As it is, though, it remains a superb twin-disc DVD, and this set the tone for many great collections of this nature in the future.

Overall Rating: 9/10 - Outstanding