Any match involving Shawn Michaels exposes the business.  You could tip over the Titan-tron on him and he'd kip up five minutes later.

Others have already mentioned his overselling, and I'll elaborate the portion of that category I really hate: His selling of punches (that twisting falling down sell he does). It looks horribly unrealistic. Heck, he even did that at Survivor Series 97 during the initial brawl of that match. God, the more I think about it, the more I feel Michaels really is and was overrated as a worker.

Also, Austin's punches after he does the Thesz press from 1998-present. For some reason, those particular punches looked lame and wouldn't hurt an infant.

i believe foley said that move was so stupid it could have been called the "dick in mouth". i believe i agree with him.

I think no selling can be done without being bad. I think the way Sting did it was acceptable. He would no sell chops, have a flurry of offense and then wear out again. I think that can be believable as an adrenaline rush.

 

The Flair Flop isn't so bad either. There have been some MMA knockouts that have looked similiar to it.

 

Michaels kip up is exposing because he never sells the injuries he had before that moment ever again. It's stupid that his back gets worked over for 20 minutes and he's suddenly at 100% when it's time for his comeback. Also his warming up the band before the finish is business exposing as well. Any experienced wrestler would know what's coming and just roll out of the ring instead of standing up.

 

On the other side. If someone worked over your knee during the first 5 minutes of a match and you're still selling that 20 minutes later it looks stupid. Pain does go away and someone should sell damage less the further they get away from the move.

I almost started a new thread with this question, but I'll leave it in here.

 

"Is anything that pops the crowd/gets a reaction good for the match?"

Short term, yes. Long term, no.

 

During the match itself, getting the crowd to pop is a good thing. However the temptation is to overdo the move/spot/whatever that gets the pop and that ends up with stuff that prompted this thread about exposing the business.

No it didnt.

Yes, it did.

Referees going down at the touch of a feather is bad enough, but the worst is when a wrestler is a special referee and will still go out cold from the lightest of bumps. A guy can take all sorts of punishment in a match but put the striped shirt on and they become as fragile as any other ref, that's one of my bigger "business exposing" pet peeves.

It also bugs me how when wrestlers retire and become managers or announcers they lose their special magic wrestler powers and suddenly can be beaten up with ease.

Nobody mentions Taker and Yokozuna's '94 Casket Match?

Nobody mentions Taker and Yokozuna's '94 Casket Match?

Well the match itself wasn't business exposing (considering how unstoppable Taker was in 94), all the horseshit after the match was. Even then you could make the argument that the post-match hijinx weren't that out of place in the WWF Cartoon Era since it was in line with Taker's gimmick.

Well, the very nature of the Undertaker gimmick is business exposing.

The Flair Flop to me is just like the People's Elbow or Hulking Up that are intrinsic to wrestling and everyone just accepts.

 

And HBK kipping up doesn't fit in with those....why?

 

They're all silly, they're all business exposing, and really, kipping up is basically the same thing as Hulking up, except that he does it right away instead of shaking around for a few minutes.

*bump*

 

So, Shawn Michaels goes over Kane and Big Show in the same match tonight.

Thats not business exposing. The two big guys beat each other and he snuck in, hit a couple of moves and won.

 

The match on the other hand WAS sloppy, and a huge dissapointment considering these "three main event talents" and former WWE Champions.

You know, any one day reign baring immense injuries (or angle of it) exposes the business.

How so?

HBK shouldn't have even lasted a minute in the ring with those two gargantuan bastards.

Oh come one now. You have to suspend your belief just a little bit. If you don't, every small man/big man match can seem completely unrealistic. I know that you think Shawn's style is unrealistic as it is, but to pretty well say he should be squashed automatically because of his size, despite years of fighting big guys and succeeding? I honestly would have a tougher time swallowing that pill.

 

Besides, he did get thrown around like a ragdoll for alot of the match.

Well, that match could have been brilliant in the right hands. I'd *love* to see Eddy Guerrero against Big Show and Kane in a triple threat just because he'd put some thought into his role and manage to credibly squeak out a victory. Michaels just hits his girly flying forearms the same way he worked against Daivari earlier this year.

 

Wrestling fans want ... desperately ... to believe what they're seeing or they wouldn't be fans. Michaels, however, is so content in the fact that he gets pops and gets his ass kissed as being the best worker in the business on a regular basis that he's coasting along on that, and he rarely tries anything original or varied in a match to get over the storyline.