Shawn Michaels retired in 2010 after losing to The Undertaker in a Career vs. Streak match at WrestleMania 26. The Heartbreak Kid came out of retirement in 2018 to reunite with Triple H to take on The Brothers of Destruction at the inaugural Crown Jewel event.
The match did not go down very well with the fans as all four men were past their prime and struggled to deliver a performance worthy of their legacies.
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Shawn Michaels said that he still regards his WrestleMania 26 clash with The Undertaker as his true retirement match.
“It’s that one with Undertaker (at WrestleMania 26). Because the other one, it was a tag match, it was DX, and I feel kind of bad, because I don’t mean it in a negative way, but that was just sort of like, I don’t know.
It was like Kiss going out, and not even with the original members or whatever, and playing a concert at The Troubadour or something. It was like, oh, but they’re not really retired, and I know Kiss never retired, just felt like a special, separate one-off.
HBK and Mr. WrestleMania, The Showstopper, whatever, that ended with Taker at WrestleMania, because I still came back and refereed the match between Hunter and Taker and again, and will always play a role in the WWE. Would it count if I went into the Rumble this year or something? Don’t get me wrong.”
The Showstopper was then asked if he plans to enter next year’s Royal Rumble Match in Saudi Arabia. He immediately shut down the idea.
“Oh, heavens no! Probably shouldn’t have said that. I was just using that as an example. But no, I don’t consider those a match. A single performance by me, by HBK, by that guy. That’s not who that was.
That was a dude hanging out with his buddies and having a match. So one was the artist, the other one was a dude, like I said, hanging out with his buddies.”
Shawn Michaels was reportedly paid $3 million for Crown Jewel 2018.
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