Shawn Michaels Faces Mysterio on WWE Smackdown: A Great Match Ruined by Run-Ins

Last night on WWE's Friday night show Smackdown, Shawn Michaels faced off one-on-one with Rey Mysterio. 

It was billed as a first-time meeting between the two, even though they had previously faced off shortly after the death of Eddie Guerrero on Raw.  They may have been trying to bill the match as the first time on Smackdown, but if they did, it was too vague.

The match was back and forth and had some great moments for the two high flyers.  Shawn Michaels was one of WWE's pioneering high flyers, along with Marty Jannetty, when they teamed as The Rockers.

Rey Mysterio helped take the cruiserweight division to a whole different level in the United States during the high point of WCW's division.

These two are Hall of Fame contenders for sure, and the two facing off was a great pairing as they proceeded to put on a clinic in the ring.

Mysterio hit his 619 but struggled to follow it up as quickly as he could have, which led to HBK hitting Sweet Chin Music as Mysterio springboarded off the ropes towards him.

The move was pulled off without a hitch, and Matt Striker could even be heard yelling, "That was awesome!"  This reminded me of the meeting between HBK and Shelton Benjamin when Michaels won the same way.

Last night would not be a repeat of those events as Batista stormed the ring, speared Michaels, and laid out Mysterio with a spinebuster.

HHH seized Batista and clotheslined him, sending the two former Evolution members to the ringside area. 

Then a gong played, the lights go out, and the Undertaker appeared in the middle of the ring.  He grabbed both Rey Rey and Shawn by the throats and stared into their faces for before dropping both with a double chokeslam.

The night ended with Taker standing tall and everyone else laid out.  What was supposed to be a PPV caliber main event turned into a Vince Russo-esque run-in show and ruined the match.

I understand that having Rey lose before his title match would not have been the right decision, and having Shawn lose would not have been great for the unified tag team champion, but they could have found a better way to end the match than bring out three other guys to interfere.

The match was great, but the ending was a typical WWE mashup of stars.