As we count down the last few days before WrestleMania 28, NZPWI staff have taken a look back over the years and come up with some of their most memorable WrestleMania matches. Scott Anderson continues with #5:

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania XIX, 2003

"As I was coming up people kept saying to me that I was going to be the next Shawn Michaels, but all I ever wanted to be was the next Chris Jericho"

It's a classic tale, a staple professional wrestling storyline.  The young pretender to the throne challenging the old king for the throne, to prove that he's learned all he can learn from the man he once idolised and is now ready to take on the mantle itself.  The young lion challenging the old king of the pride: one trying to hold his position, the other trying to usurp it.

But when Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels met at WrestleMania XIX, the tale differed slightly as both men had something to prove.  To prove to the WWE, the fans and, perhaps most importantly, to prove something to themselves.

Jericho had been in WWE for four years and, by his own reckoning, still hadn't lived up to the expectations both placed in him, and those he held for himself.  "I'd been very disappointed in all my WrestleMania matches up to this point," he explained, talking about this match with Shawn Michaels on the Breaking the Code: Behind the Walls of Chris Jericho DVD set in 2010. "So I knew that this was my chance to really make a difference."

For his part Shawn Michaels' impact since his return in August 2002 had been patchy, at best.  Often absent for long periods as he allowed his body and mind to adjust to being back in the ring, Michaels' matches since his return were normally highly gimmicked. They also normally involved Triple H, who was doing his best to help his close friend regain the confidence he'd lost as a result of both injury and his awakening from the havoc his ego had wrought in the nineties.  A match at WrestleMania without any gimmicked stipulations, against one of the most capable up and coming wrestlers of the time, was a huge opportunity for Michaels to prove to the WWE, the fans and most importantly to himself that he was still Mr WrestleMania, still The Showstopper.

And that's the true joy that comes from watching this match, even eight years later.  To see over the span of thirty minutes Shawn Michaels rediscover his fire, his heart, to rediscover the Heartbreak Kid.  The nerves were apparent from the moment Michaels entered the arena, when the third then fifth of a series of six confetti cannons he attempted to shoot over the crowd doesn't work, he fumbles and plays, anxious energy feeding into every motion but - ever the professional - he turns that energy into his advantage and plays along, flaunting an over-the-top prayer before the sixth cannon successfully shoots the streamers over the crowd.

Michaels continues to play with the crowd, pretending to be exhausted after his entrance dancing, and skipping, grinning, cheekily goading Jericho as the bout gets underway, the nervous energy preventing him from staying still for a moment, even as he leaps into the air before coming to lounge across the ropes in the corner of the ring in a classic HBK pose.  Jericho, despite being the younger man with arguably more to prove, is the calmer one; the solid centre that allows Michaels to keep grounded and focused on what is at stake for them both - stealing the show at WrestleMania.

Jericho controls the match from the outset, slowing Michaels down as they trade grapples and headlocks in opening tests of strength and strategy, a traditional start to a match that allows both men to ease the tension carried into the match.  The feeling-out process goes on for quite some time until the match spills out of the ring for the first time, with Michaels skinning the cat after Jericho attempted to propel him out of the ring, locking his legs around Jericho's head to send Jericho to the floor.  Michaels then strikes with a classic move, catapulting himself over the ropes onto Jericho, and the fans respond with a chant of "HBK, HBK!"

But Jericho has a plan, and his target is Michael's injury-prone back.  Jericho locks Michaels into the Walls of Jericho outside of the ring, before breaking the hold only to pick Michaels up and slam him back-first twice into the ring post.  Back in the ring, as Jericho continues to work over Michaels' back with backdrops, vertical suplexes and backbreakers, you can hear the fans begin to murmur tensely.  They're getting drawn into the agony and desperation of Michaels, persuaded by the confidence and competence of Jericho into sensing that the match is nearly over for the Heartbreak Kid.

And then it comes.  In a move taken straight from Shawn Michael's playbook, Jericho whips HBK off the ropes and launches himself with a flying forearm, knocking Michaels down.  In a show of sheer arrogance Jericho kips up, and strikes a classic Michaels pose, smirking all the while.  But behind Jericho's back, the real HBK has kipped up, and fire blazes in his eyes as he charges in, responding with a flying forearm of his own.  An inverted atomic drop and a clothesline from Michaels sends Jericho down and then Michaels looks up and around the arena full of screaming fans.  His fists clench, energy causing him to shake, and he momentarily drops his head before raising it to shout at "yeah!" at the top of his lungs.  The nervous energy has gone, replaced by confidence drawn from the fans, the knowledge that he can do this. The Showstopper is back.

Michaels and Jericho continue to increase the tempo, but the timbre of the encounter has changed.  It's no longer about good versus bad, young lion against the old, but two talented, complete wrestlers battling to see who is best.  The fans in Seattle are no longer favouring one of man over another; instead they gasp as each man carries out a great move, then cheering as the other kicks out or break free.  Jericho traps Michaels in the Walls of Jericho, and they're cheering Jericho on towards a deserving win just as much as they're begging Michaels to break free to prolong the encounter.

But then Jericho does a cocky shimmy and shuffle into a Sweet Chin Music, turning the cheers into boos.  Michaels responds by attempting a Walls of Jericho, but with his weakened back he can't turn Jericho over so he improvises, sending Jericho flying into the turnbuckle with a slingshot instead.

The battle ends up atop the turnbuckle, and twice Jericho attempts a superplex, only for Michaels to desperately resist each time. The fans hold their breath, dreading what Jericho might do to the weakened Michaels, then it occurs; the final transformation. Michaels finds some inner strength and pushes Jericho off the turnbuckle yet again, and sits for a moment atop the turnbuckle, breathing deep.  He raises his head and looks around the fans, and before your very eyes you can see the years drop away and it's the Heartbreak Kid of tens year prior who leaps off the ropes with a flying elbow drop.

In quick succession Jericho slips under Michael's Sweet Chin Music, locking HBK into the Walls, only for Michaels to gut it out and eventually find the ropes.  Jericho argues with the referee, and this proves his downfall because when he turns around he walks straight into a genuine Sweet Chin Music. But Jericho kicks out of the following cover.

The ending comes a few moments later as Michaels responds to an attempted inverted atomic drop by Jericho by flipping over Jericho's back and landing on his feet, immediately leaping onto Jericho's back to wrench him over into a roll up and the three count.

It's the perfect ending to the match, because as much as the tale of the encounter was about the broad brush strokes of Shawn Michaels rediscovering what it means to be The Showstopper, it was also about the small moments that showed the quality of Chris Jericho.  There are too many to list, and they're wait keeps bringing me back to the match as I find more and more on every viewing.  From Jericho's disgusted condescension as Michaels plays to the fans upon his entrance, from slowing the nervous, jittery Michaels down with traditional mat-based wrestling in the opening going, to keeping one eye on the counting referee as Michaels was locked in the Walls outside of the ring, to watching himself on the big screen as he struck a Shawn Michaels pose. 

Each viewing of the bout reveals something else elegant and smart Jericho did to bring Michaels into the match and allow HBK to shine, proving his own worth as he did so.  And so to end the match not with a big finisher but a clever wrestling move is the ideal summation of the encounter's story.

And, of course, after the bell Jericho turned a tearful embrace with his idol and rival into a despicable low blow.  The perfect coda.

This match gave Chris Jericho his defining WrestleMania moment, and ensured his place amongst the greats of professional wrestling.  And to Shawn Michaels it set the template of the years to come; the man who didn't have to be part of the main event or title scene, but who would go out to the WrestleMania ring year in and year out and put on the best match, no matter his place on the card.  With this match Michaels began to restore the lustre to the legacy he'd left so tarnished by losing his smile and letting ego and drugs get the better of him in the late nineties, with this match he set the path that would lead him eventually to the Hall of Fame in 2011.

This match secured the reputations and careers of two of the wrestling's best.

"To me, one of the peak moments of my career was WrestleMania XIX, Jericho versus Shawn Michaels, stealing the show.  'Cos that's something that everybody wants to do at WrestleMania. And I don't care what anybody says, our match was the best match on the show. 

And that, to me, is one of the biggest honours; it's like winning an Oscar.  It means more to me than winning the title from Austin and Rock, because WrestleMania is the place, and everybody's gunning for that spot, and everyone knows it. And we got it."

- Chris Jericho, speaking in 2010

Continue the journey:
NZPWI's Must-See WrestleMania Matches - #6 (Kirsty Quested)
NZPWI's Must-See WrestleMania Matches - #4 (Dion McCracken)
NZPWI's Must-See WrestleMania Matches - #3 (David Dunn)
NZPWI's Must-See WrestleMania Matches - #2 (Stevie McCleary)
NZPWI's Must-See WrestleMania Matches - #1 (Blake Leitch)