Professional wrestling is a funny thing, in that it seems no one ever truly stays retired completely. For instance, Terry Funk has had more comebacks than I care to remember. A lot of the wrestlers that competed in the 70's and 80's are actually still wrestling today. There have been countless storylines concerning retirement but those were just for show. I'm talking about wrestlers that retired but still came back periodically for "one more match." Of course, many times one more match led to another, and then another. Mick Foley is another that retired, but then wrestled several times in the years after.
The most glaring retirement story of them all has to be Ric Flair. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2008 and the next night, he lost to Shawn Michaels in his "retirement" match. For all intents and purposes, this was going to actually be Flair's real retirement. What really made it seem like a real retirement was the amazing and emotional send-off he had on Raw the night after. I've gotten over it by now, but I really felt like he crapped on the entire thing when he went to TNA the following year and had a bunch of matches there.
I understand that it's hard to give it up. That's what made "The Wrestler" such an impactful movie. That could have been about any number of wrestlers. It almost seemed to be a mix of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and prominent independent wrestlers to make the lead character. There have been many wrestlers that didn't actually retire when they said they would. There are cases where certain wrestlers haven't wrestled again due to the severity of their injuries, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Taz, Bret Hart, and Edge. However, when it comes to retiring for good, even with the ability to wrestle again, the one man that stuck to his guns regarding retirement is Shawn Michaels.
Shawn Michaels is a Hall of Fame wrestler with a storied career. In a way, he had two storied careers. He started in 1985 in the AWA, later winning the Tag Team Championships with his Rockers partner Marty Jannetty. In 1988, the duo made their way to the WWF. After their breakup in late 1991, Shawn Michaels went solo. He went on to win the Intercontinental Title later that year. He was having classic matches with the likes of Bret Hart and Razor Ramon. At WrestleMania XII in 1996, he won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship. At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels was injured in his Casket Match against the Undertaker. His severe back injury ended his career and he dropped the Title to Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV. Although he showed up on WWF television over the next few years, he didn't wrestle and for all we knew, he never would again.
Four and a half years later, he made an incredible comeback, defeating Triple H in his first match back at SummerSlam 2002. For the next eight years, Shawn Michaels took on all comers and had great matches with everybody, some old opponents and some new as well. I'd argue that Michaels was even better as a performer this time around. He never lost a step! At WrestleMania XXVI in 2010, he wrestled the Undertaker in a "streak vs. career" match and lost, therefore retiring. He also had a great send off much like Flair did and was celebrated for his incredible career.
Here's the thing, though! Shawn Michaels has stayed retired and in the eight years he's been gone, he has not wrestled once. That's not to say there haven't been plenty of offers for him to have "one more match." Through it all, Michaels insists that he will stay retired and doesn't want to break a promise. He doesn't want to be looked at like that, which is commendable. Would matches against the likes of Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles be incredibly wrestled dream matches? Of course they would! However, I have so much respect for Shawn Michaels for staying retired. It's not an easy thing to do! So far, Shawn Michaels is that one guy that stayed retired and while it would be nice to see those matches, I'd rather he went out the way he did, in his prime and on top.
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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