WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has laid to bed speculation that he might return to the ring in the future, with Mr WrestleMania telling Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy that he won’t be chasing the dragon of a satisfying final match.
Michaels would return to the ring in 2018 having retired as a result of his WrestleMania XXVI clash with The Undertaker – something The Deadman would look at with envy during The Last Ride as he struggled to come to terms with his own impending retirement.
“No, no! Like I said, I guess that’s the thing – I can compartmentalise that. I don’t know if it’s fair, but I can. I think that’s one of the reasons I was able to walk away and be at peace, unlike a lot of people who have struggled with that. And I do understand it.”
Undertaker would eventually retire at Survivor Series 2020 following a Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36, with AJ Styles giving The Deadman his curtain call. The Phenomenal One has long been rumoured as the opponent for Michaels if “one more match” happens – but it now looks unlikely.
The Heartbreak Kid would comment on his “comeback” match in Saudi Arabia, which saw Michaels return to the ring for the first time in eight years, as nothing more than a “high school reunion” to have an “experience” with Triple H, Undertaker and Kane.
“Even that second one, it felt like its own entity unto itself. It had nothing to do with, really, to me, “one more match.” It was about going out there and having an experience with my guys.
“I mean, it was sort of like just a… I don’t know. It’s like somebody saying, ‘You graduated high school?’ ‘Yes. But I’m going to go back to my ten-year reunion,’ and I’m still going to do that, but it doesn’t mean I’m going back to high school and I want to go through it again. So, I guess that’s how I looked at it was, it was an experience that I just wanted to have – special – with these guys.”
Michaels went on to say how he looks back at his retirement, and career, with “complete joy and satisfaction” – while acknowledging the struggles many other have with knowing when to hang up their boots.
“As I say, I still look at my retirement and all of it, again, with nothing but complete joy and satisfaction. I have since, all those years, really begun to understand and appreciate how special that was for me, because so many guys have struggled with it in the past.”
You can read Gary Cassidy‘s full interview with Shawn Michaels here.
Thank you so much to Shawn Michaels for taking the time to chat, and to WWE UK and BBC The Social for facilitating the chat.
You can watch WrestleMania live on the WWE Network on April 10th and 11th, as the Show of Shows emanates from the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.