Judgment Day: Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels

[TheOneBigWill]

As first revealed to WWE Mobile on AT&T subscribers in an exclusive mobile video, Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho will face Shawn Michaels at Judgment Day in a one-on-one contest.

Tensions have been building between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho over the past few weeks, as HBK has had to defend his Backlash victory over Batista to a suspicious Y2J – who was the referee in that match. At Judgment Day, Michaels will have a chance to prove himself even further when he battles the Highlight Reel host in the ring.

Jericho claims that Michaels never injured his knee at Backlash – and that he played possum to get the win – but HBK continues to stand by his claims of legitimate pain. Jericho has gone so far as handing out the “Best Acting Award” to Michaels on an episode of the Highlight Reel.

Michaels has been the recipient of harsh criticism since he retired Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV, but no critic has been more outspoken than Jericho. At Judgment Day, the two will look to settle their dispute in the ring – and whether he is 100 percent or not, Michaels will undoubtedly give it his all to show the type of competitor he is. Y2J, however, is out to prove that HBK is faking his injuries, and the Intercontinental Champion always has a few tricks up his sleeve as well.

Is HBK legitimately injured heading into this encounter with the Intercontinental Champion, or has Chris Jericho been right all along about Michaels feigning the pain? Either way, each man will have the opportunity to prove themselves at Judgment Day.

Personal Opinion: Honestly, if this match were regular and not under the current storyline of Shawn Michaels being "injured" then it'd be amazing and great to see these two go at it again. However, the only thing this match is going to be is a joke.

Its gonna end up just like a year ago, with similar results as Orton v. H.B.K., in which this time Chris Jericho will make short work out of Shawn Michaels, due to the fact that the injury will be played off as being 100% real. (work real, not real real) Furthermore, this I believe 100% is going to be what turns Chris Jericho heel.

I think if anything, they could tie in their Wrestlemania XIX feud and claim that Jericho never truly lived it down that he lost on the biggest stage of them all. I think after this is over, Shawn Michaels will once again randomly take off for a month or two, until roughly Summerslam, while Jericho will more or less enter into a feud with either C.M. Punk (doubtful) or Mr. Kennedy. (most likely)

Again, I wish this were being contested with both guys at their best. But the current storyline calls for Shawn Michaels to play injured and Jericho to bait him into a match, trying to claim he "knows" H.B.K. is faking, only for in the end Jericho to know the injury was real.. but he just wanted Shawn out of the way for a while.

 

[Lil Wes]

I have high hopes for this match. Should I? Probably not as I just can't see either one of these guys going over the other cleanly. Y2J is the IC champion, no way in the holy blue hell HBK will get a run with that belt, or any belt for the matter.

So I can see Jericho getting himself DQd, or a Botchtista run-in. I'm loving tweener Jericho though. Reminds me of the old days

This will continue. Surprised no Triple Threat. Or will it next month? Hmmm.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I have high hopes for this match. Should I?

No. This won't even be a match like it should be. I wish, hope and pray to the wrestling higher powers that it'll be evenly contested, just like Mania XIX was, but it won't be.

Probably not as I just can't see either one of these guys going over the other cleanly. Y2J is the IC champion, no way in the holy blue hell HBK will get a run with that belt, or any belt for the matter.

Jericho won't go over cleanly persay, he'll take Shawn's knee out and likely put him in the Walls of Jericho, to have the official "stop the match" since H.B.K. apparently doesn't understand that tapping on the mat stops the pain.

This is one big set-up for Jericho to turn heel in my opinion. After he reveals after the Pay per view that "Apparently, the injury was real afterall." (said in the cockiest of attitudes by Y.2.J.)

And you nailed it right on the head by saying no way in hell Shawn Michaels will get a run with the MIDCARD Championship. hahahahaha That'd be hilarious and shocking though if he did.

So I can see Jericho getting himself DQd, or a Botchtista run-in. I'm loving tweener Jericho though. Reminds me of the old days

Ask yourself if you truly wanna see H.B.K. v. Batista again? If you answer no, then hope for the squash match with Jericho turning heel by working over the knee, and Shawn having next to no offense.

I mean, honestly, did you see his match on Raw? The guy could barely stand on the ring apron.. now hes being signed into a one-on-one match? LOL (Although, I did find it rather funny that dispite the endless amount of pain he seemed to be in, he still managed to pose both on the ramp, and in the ring.)

This will continue. Surprised no Triple Threat. Or will it? Hmmm.

If this does anything other than turn Jericho heel, and furthermore readds Batista for a Triple Threat at One Night Stand.. I'll be downright shocked and amazed.

 

[Lil Wes]

Yeah dude, my bad.

I'm too forgetful and obviously don't pay enough attention to feuds that really don't interest me. I forgot all about HBK's injury. Which means it will be one big yawn with HBK selling throughout the entire match.

As for your theory on a heel turn. I don't know. I think they may just keep going along with the tweener Jericho. I mean, he's obviously about 50x more over than he was when he was suppose to "save us". I think they may just leave it that way. As for my triple threat theory. That's going to happen. I know it, and it'll probably be One Night Stand, like you said. After all, what the fuck else is Batista suppose to do?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It'll be good, but nowhere near the standard of their Mania 19 match. Not that I would expect it to be anyway. That was 5 years ago. I'm unsure why they are having this match so soon. I would have had Batista vs. HBK in a singles match at Backlash, added Jericho as ref for this PPV. Then had the HBK/Jericho match at whatever PPV comes after One Night Stand.

It'll be a good solid match. Probably overhyped by most. Therefore it will probably result in a lot of people bitching about the quality of the match.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Watch them announce Batista as the special guest ref, haha.

I don't know what to really think of this match quite yet. If HBK is supposed to be injured for real, then how is this even going to be a match? He could barely stand. If he isn't injured, are they going to try to make it seem like he's the heel of the situation? If he IS injured, are they turning Jericho heel? I don't really think anybody is turning heel, though.

We'll have to see in what direction they start to twist and turn this. Either Jericho goes over in some sort of heel-like fashion due to the knee being a "legit" injury, or HBK comes out of nowhere with SCM and picks up the win.

 

[8five]

Everyone is saying this is what is turning jericho heel even me but what if it turns Michaels heel? What if shawn plays the injury the whole match only to superkick jericho with that leg, then they reveal that he did in fact politic his way into ending flairs career. That is instant career heat. I know its improbably and jericho is a far better tweener or heel then face but if they turn Michaels into the heel it would be amazing

 

[Slim Pickns]

I too hope this match isn't to get HBK's injury over. I hope its a competetive match that puts Jericho over Michaels. It would really help him as he has struggled in his return and Michaels is always seen as a main eventer even when he isn't. So if Jericho wins, he can quietly drop the IC Title and get back in the Main Event picture.

He's being bashed to hell, but he deserves to go over, he's one of RAW's most entertaining superstars right now.

 

[klunderbunker]

I could see this match being more of angle advancement than a real match. This could set up a big match at ONS or GAB, or God forbid, even Summerslam. I'd like to see this go on for a good while, but I can't imagine that's what happens. Jericho needs the feud to get back into the world title hunt. Can you imagine a real title match with a heel HHH and a face Jericho? That oculd be simply epic. Michaels needs something to do with anyone, as the Batista feud should be over completely. Hope it goes on for awhile, but doubt it'll go past ONS.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Yea, this has disappointment written all over it. People spooge over the WM 19 match, and will be all fired up for this as well. When its 1. 5 years after the original 2. based around an HBK injury angle. somewhat intriuging to see if he will come out of nowere to reveal the injury as fake all along, or sells it all the way through. I hope its the latter, becuase a one legged Micheals beating Jericho would be embarassing. And shit, so much for the renissance of the IC title eh?? How many times has he defended it??? ONCE?? ....well this will probably be about 8/10ths as good as it could be, becuase of the angle. Hopefully we get a crazy triple threat at ONS between Jericho, HBK, and Botchtista, after HBK stops faking, and kicks the shit outta Jericho.

 

[Danmen001]

I expect this match to be average at the most, possible 'good' by the standards they are playing HBK's injury.

Because I assume they are working under the terms of HBK's injury, there is a good chance that Jericho will turn heel in all of this, either that or learn his lesson by hurting HBK and finding out he actually is injured.

I expect this match to end in Wall of Jericho. The chances are there that there will be a heel turn in all of this. Jericho may find out the 'legit' injury.

 

[JakeDHS07]

Well after tonights Raw (5/12) I guess we don't have to worry bout Michaels ''injury'' holding the match back. I think this could be a classic possibly better than their WrestleMania XIX match due to Jericho's two year hiatus and new training/moves.

 

[michaelj817]

These guys can tear the house down on any given night, at any arena in the world, and I have no doubt that they will at Judgement Day. Now that Shawn revealed he faked his injury, he's not going to milk it, and both can go full throttle without the restraints of the original storyline.

However, I must say that I am more than slightly disappointed in their segment on tonight's Raw. To me it had the feeling that there were bigger plans for this angle, and the plug just got pulled. Why go through all of the trouble of working the injury as a possible fake just to do a poor HBK reveal on Raw. Maybe it was just me, but it seems like Shawn should be the one heeling here, and maybe that was indeed the plan. But after watching their segment tonight, whatever he was attempting to do, he was half-assing it, and his heart wasn't in it.

The stuff that Jericho has been doing as of late is his best work since he returned, and I dare say ever. Not that I didn't enjoy his goofy character, but it's now 2008 and almost 10 years since he debuted that character on WWE tv. Aside from that, he is 10 years older, and it is only natural that his character evolve. The as of late, tweener Jericho is reminiscent of a pre-DX tweener Shawn Michaels, and is what I was missing from him all along. It has given him an edge that makes me really get behind him as a character, and want to see more.

HBK on the other hand, is wandering in perpetual face limbo. Yeah he's over because he's Shawn Michaels and he's still the best performer in the company. However, his character is so stale, boring, and predictable, and I was really hoping that this storyline would do something for it.

So, if you are going to go through all that trouble of building a possibly fake HBK injury, and keep the crowd second guessing who the bad guy in this thing really is, then the reveal should have been done during the match itself at the ppv. Even if the plan was to heel jericho all along, any heat this match had, just got deflated, and since he was right all along, there is no real reason for fans to hate Jericho. And by the looks of it, HBK doesn't want to play heel, so he just walked out, admitted faking it, superkick...and done. By doing the reveal tonight, the angle is dead in the water.

Will they have a good match? Sure they will. But the reason to watch was to follow the inner dynamic between the two, how their characters were evolving, and that they seemed to really be building towards something for both men(from a character and storyline perspective). Now, there is no payoff for the storyline at the ppv, and I don't even care who goes over. Unless, WWE has something big in store for this, and I doubt they do, all has apparently been for nothing.

 

[The great gama]

Wel if you remember batista said he would "Get" shawn if he found out he was faking his injury so we may have the animal making a run in and ruining a greatly entertaining match. I think it would be great if shawn turns heel. Jericho is doing an amazing job in his tweener roll and wether he is face or heel his work rate and performance level is top notch. Expect at least a 4 star match at judgement day.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Fucking sweet. Now that they aren tplaying up this Injury angle, it gives this match a chance to be good. Honestly, in ring at least, Jericho is as good as ever, and HBK, is HBK. Upon HBK being 100% this match just got a ton more interesting, and may have been the tipping point of buying this show. Although I dont think we have any chance of seeing anything other than A Batista run in. Does everyone remember him saying he was gonna make Shawn pay if he figured out the injury was fake??? I can definately see a Batista intervention, and a hardcore triple threat at ONS.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Ah hell, the injury angle apparently went right out the window. So that leaves two possible solutions on what could go down.

1. Batista warned Shawn Michaels that if he found out the injury was fake, H.B.K. would have hell to pay. And I wouldn't put it beyond Batista to not show up during this match and cost Shawn a chance to become Intercontinental Champion again.

2. Shawn Michaels suddenly looked perfect, fine and well on Raw. However, if they are still playing off the injury angle, perhaps they'll say that Shawn used all the energy he had to make it look like he wasn't truly hurt, when infact he still is??

I'm honestly dumb-founded by what to think regarding this, because I'll fully admit to being swerved when Shawn announced that he completely faked the injury, not just for Backlash, but for the couple weeks that followed. Give that man that f*cking award Jericho had a while back.

So if this is a straight up contest between the two, with nothing holding them back, then Judgment Day's undercard just shot straight through the roof with powerpacked entertainment value! I'm still questioning whether or not they don't play on SOME form of an injury angle, in which Shawn Michaels during this match ends up getting "a real injury" and everyone assumes hes "crying wolf" when infact he isn't.

That of course will lead into a One Night Stand showdown/rematch with Batista, in which (tables turn/irony plays a factor) Batista will put H.B.K. on the injured reserve list for a while.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

another match I really just cant figure out. These mini build times dont allow for one to figure out were they are trying to go with this thing. Honestly, it pays Shawn absolutely no benefit to win this, really. But I said that 4 weeks ago, and we had Big Dave flat on his back at Backlash. SO HBK very would COULD win. On the other hand, Jericho has had trouble maintaining momentum since his return, and it would be the best for buisness if Shawn puts him over here. And after Batista's promo friday night, a Big Dave interference is all but assured, so im leaning towards Jeritron.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Due to them having Batista come out and repeat himself about hurting HBK and blah blah blah, Michaels not being injured, and One Night Stand (as well as Night of Champions) coming up in no time, I'd say I'm 90% sure that Batista comes in on this and its a no-contest.

One Night Stand, the three of them have a triple threat no-DQ match.

Night of Champions, its all over and done with by then, and Jericho defends his Intercontinental title against someone...maybe Hardy...maybe Kennedy...maybe both...maybe someone I have no clue about...who knows.