WWE: 5 feel good wrestling matches to watch on Christmas

Elimination Chamber – Survivor Series 2002

Well, this is a … uh … violent way to start a list of matches that are supposed to make you feel merry.

I already know what you’re thinking. Just how could a match (the first of its kind debuting at the 2002 PPV, might I add) designed and sold as “The Devil’s Playground” within the most gruesome, bloody steel structure since Hell in a Cell be a feel good match?

Well, it’s not so much the contents of the match that make this a feel good match. It is more so the story surrounding the match. That feel good story being the comeback of Shawn Michaels to the wrestling ring.

Three months earlier, The Heartbreak Kid made his comeback to the ring, but it was perceived as a one-off despite his performance at SummerSlam exceeding expectations. But then it came time for him to make a full blown return to the ring at Survivor Series.

Not only in a World Heavyweight Championship match, not only in the first Elimination Chamber match ever, but facing off against five future Hall of Famers in Triple H, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho. For a guy who hadn’t been an active full time competitor in WWE in four years, that’s a lot of pressure to put on one’s shoulders, even for the Showstopper.

But even in old age, Michaels was able to overcome the odds, live up to expectation, and deliver an inspiring performance to win the World Heavyweight Championship. If you were an older fan of HBK, you were thrilled to see him back on top and if you were a new, younger fan, you were in awe at just how spectacular this old timer could go in the ring.

Michaels’ offered that kind of special, once in a lifetime feel good performance that sent the message that no matter how old or outmatched you are, your potential remains limitless.