Once the wreckage cleared from the Vader/IRS/Taz confrontation, it was time for Goldust (representing Kazuchika Okada) to defend the Title of Excellence against Shawn Michaels (accompanied to the ring by Titan). To start, it looked like a match neither man wanted to be in, with Goldust solemnly following Okada's marching orders and Shawn showing an utter lack of respect to both his opponent and the crowd. Goldust attempted to lock up with Shawn on three separate occasions, only to have Shawn fake him out and taunt the crowd. After the 3rd attempt, Goldust had clearly had enough, and spun the flippant Shawn back to face him before slapping him hard enough to drop him to one knee. Shawn responded in kind, nailing Goldust with an open-handed slap and screaming something about disrespect. It was then on, with Goldust and Shawn laying into each other with hard rights until Shawn got floored and fled to the outside. Without missing a beat, Titan met him on the outside and handed him a bottle of water. Shawn took his sweet time, drinking from the bottle and casually shooting the breeze with Titan. Goldust, angered at Shawn's dismissive attitude began to yell.

"Congrats Shawn! You sure are THE SHOWSTOPPAH! You stopped the damn show! Now get your sparkly ass in here, because you ain't winning anything on the floor."

Shawn shrugged and climbed back into the ring. Goldust met him with a flurry of punches and clotheslines. An Irish whip clothesline attempt was met with a flying forearm from Shawn, sending Goldust to the mat. With the tide turned, Shawn picked up the pace, hitting a number of high flying, high impact maneuvers, culminating in a FALCON ARROW that got 2.5. This served to rile Okada, who started screaming a series of commands in intertwining English and Japanese to Goldust. Whatever he was ranting about, it got through to Goldust, who turned the tide in his favor as he took the fight to Shawn, literally taking Shawn pillar to post and mercilessly beating him down. An attempt at a curtain call met a rake to the eyes, but Goldust was so keyed in that as Shawn pulled himself free of Goldust's grasp, Goldust pulled him right back in by his hair and HIT A CURTAIN CALL ON THE HEARTBREAK KID!

1...2...2.9 Shawn kicks out! If Okada was at all pleased by Goldust's performance he wasn't showing it, as he continued to bark instructions to his thrall. Goldust answered by landing several hard kicks into a prone Michaels and setting up for another Curtain Call! Goldust hoisted Michaels, but Shawn reversed, hitting Goldust with some kind of crazy backflip bulldog. Rather than go for the pin, Michaels grapevined Goldust's arm and SLAPPED ON A CROSSFACE IN THE CENTER OF THE RING! Goldust struggled to reach the ropes as the commentary team speculated on whether Goldust would be worse off if he tapped or just let Shawn break his back. Okada was apoplectic outside the ring as Goldust reached for the ropes... BUT SHAWN ROLLED OUT AND REAPPLIED THE HOLD IN THE CENTER OF THE RING! Shawn then looked for the final touch by going into a full bridge....[b]but that gave Goldust the chance he needed to roll over and cradle Shawn![/b]

1...2...2.9, Shawn barely kicked out, stunned at how close he was to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. In a fit of rage he began pounding on Goldust, but this was a mistake, as the larger and more pugnacious of the two wrestlers turned the tide, literally punching his way back to his feet. After hitting Shawn with approximately a million right hands, Goldust hit the ropes [b]and drilled Shawn with a picture perfect bionic elbow[/b] for 1....2...Shawn got the shoulder up at 2.9.

Shawn staggered to his feet as Goldust hit the ropes, looking to hit another Bionic Elbow [b]but running right into a Sweet Chin Music from the Heartbreak Kid![/b] Shawn went for the cover but Okada, sensing defeat, jumped on the apron to distract the ref. A livid Shawn wasted no time getting in Okada's face about it [b]and Okada broadsided Shawn with the Championship of Excellence[/b] giving Shawn the victory via DQ. An irate Titan made his way over a second too late, and violently threw Okada off the apron into the guardrail. Michaels and Titan stormed off, triumphant but unsatisfied.