Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...Shawn Michaels for throwing Marty Jannety through the Barber Shop window

I like ESPN and I like lists. I'm not going to lie. I also happen to love the show called, "Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...". If you have not seen this show, ESPN takes a look at moments in sports history and comes up with 5 reasons why the people involved should not be blamed for what happened. 

I started thinking about this show again when WWE announced that they were going to start a network around December. I was coming up with show ideas, both good and bad and this one hit me. I thought that this idea would be perfect for pro wrestling.

Think about it. Pro Wrestling has had many situations over the years where people have had opposing opinions. Whether it's the age old question of the fairness of the Montreal Screwjob or thoughts on Vince's 1980's expansion, there has been lots of discussion. Good points have been made and questionable points have been made. In this blog, I'm going to try to cover some of these topics and try to persuade you to take my stance.

One thing I'd like to note before I begin is that I will cover both kayfabe situations and real life situations. This is in order to provide something different and to help get into the mindset of the people involved.

So without further adue...

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...Shawn Michaels for throwing Marty Jannety through the Barber Shop window.

Backstory:
The Rockers became one of the few bright spots of the dying AWA during the late 80's and their matches against Buddy Rose and Doug Sommers became classics. Building on this momentum and attempting to build their bank accounts, they joined the WWF in 1987. They were then fired and then rehired by June 1988.

From the start, the Rockers were a pretty impressive team. They were quick, creative and over. However, the Rockers joined the WWF when the WWF was at its peak for tag teams. Demolition were establishing themselves, The Hart Foundation was still going strong, the Rougeaus were still vastly underappreciated and the WWF had recently acquired both the Brainbusters and The Powers of Pain from the NWA. Suffice to say, The Rockers were not at the top of food chain.

The Rockers started to make a name for themselves with feuds against The Brainbusters, The Twin Towers, The Powers of Pain and then by 1990, The Orient Express.  The Rockers finally reached their peak in 1990 by winning the WWF tag team titles...or did they? A few days later, their title win was erased from history and The Rockers were stuck. The Harts moved onto Demolition and The LOD debuted.

Teams came and went but The Rockers never got their due. In 1991, The Rockers were looking for greener pastures. Supposedly, they were looking at a move to WCW, but it never panned out. Each member accused each other of being the turncoat and The Rockers were headed for splitsville.

Marty Jannety's interference backfired again Shawn Michaels during a match with Ric Flair, and then the turn was evident. Soon after, Jannetty caused Michaels to get pinned at the Surivor Series.

The Rockers met their demise on December 2, 1991. Shawn and Marty had it out at the Barber Shop and the rest is history.

Reason #5 - The Rockers were never going to be the top team in the WWF:
As I alluded to earlier, the Rockers always seemed to have gotten overpassed. Teams came and teams went, but the Rockers stayed the same. Everytime Vince got a new team from rival promotions, they usually became the focus. This happened with The Brainbusters, The Powers of Pain and The LOD. Shawn saw that the Rockers were never going anywhere and took care of buisness.

Reason #4 - The Rockers just weren't compatible:
The Rockers never completely got along throughout their careers. They were friends backstage and then enemies. Alcohol and drugs had alot to do with this, as did being together 24/7. Most tag teams end up hating each other by the end of their run and the Rockers were no different. The Rockers still seemed to have not cleared up their issues as Marty Jannetty sent out some negative tweets about Shawn a month or two ago.

Reason #3 - The right place at the wrong time:
The Rockers were always a few years ahead, especially in the WWF. They were both good workers and both were a little undersized. When you have Andre, Akeem and the other giants around, two sub-200 pound wrestlers are not going to stick out to Vince. Had The Rockers stuck around in 1993 after the steroid trial, they may have had better luck. WWF started to go the lighter route which lead to great matches with the likes of the 1-2-3 Kid, The Harts and actually both Rockers(feuding with each other).

Reason #2 - The freak accident:
In 1990, The Rockers had their usual squash match. However, disaster occured when a botched Rocker Dropper broke Charles Austin's neck. This lead to a lengthy lawsuit and it really hurt his WWF career. I feel that Vince never really forgave Marty for it, and by the time he seemed to have forgotten about it, Marty was in too much legal trouble to resume a career in the now WWE.

Reason #1 - Individual Aspirations and Shawn vs Marty:
One of the big reasons of the Rockers demise was that Shawn wanted to go the singles route. Marty wanted to keep the team alive, but since the WWF is never the type to not turn teammates who aren't teaming, it was over. The Rockers split up. While the debate began over who was the better Rocker, Shawn ended up becoming a main eventer, while Marty got put with Leif Cassidy. Marty never reached the peak that he could have and various legal problems stemming from arrests and the Charles Austin situation held him down. This caused Marty to have a phrase created about him years later when a team splits and the partner with less success becomes known as the "Marty Jannetty" of the team.

Anyway, that about wraps it up. Hope you enjoyed it and if you did, you can expect more in the future!