We had a pretty good wrestling thread awhile back, so I know there’s some fans here. For about 10 years now Wrestlemania is the only wrestling I watch. It looked like a real retirement to me.
In most of his interviews, he’s seemed to be at peace with retiring. He’s also said more than once that he’s at the point in his career where he shows up, does his job, and that’s that. It doesn’t consume his life any more.
He’s at that age, he’s got kids who are at the age where having a dad around is important, and since his “religious awakening,” he’s seemed to put more emphasis on family than on the business. Which is as it should be.
I thought they’d put the title on him one last time before he went, if for no other reason than to elevate the next new champion, but with the title picture seeming pretty static these days, there’s no one new to elevate.
All that said, Shawn’s been taking the summers off recently. Maybe this is just the prelude to a longer hiatus and some swerve will get him back in the ring. I certainly hope so. He’s one of the best that ever was.
If this is goodbye, then thanks for the memories, Shawn. Heck of a last match, even if it was a mirror image of his “retirement” of Flair.
Shawn’s the last wrestler I ever marked out for, and I will admit, even knowing that 'Taker’s contract says he doesn’t lose at WrestleMania, some part of me thought he could do it.
I’m pretty sad right now, I have to say.
I think Shawn Michaels is the last of my childhood heroes to retire. As far as pure wrestling skill, I think he’s the best ever. He could make anyone look good. Just look at the PWI Matches of the Year:
1993 Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
1994 Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels
1995 Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels
1996 Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
2004 Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
2005 Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle
2006 Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon
2007 John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
2008 Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
2009 The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
The only reason there’s a gap there is because of a broken back. Once he was healed, he picked up right where he left off. The Undertaker is a great wrestler to send him out against. It’s shocking to me that the two oldest wrestlers are the only two that can have a great match.
Yeah…
I don’t really have much to add except:
Thanks for all the memories, Shawn.
I didn’t see Wrestlemania tonight, but I was expecting this outcome…
He’s not done guys, trust me. He’ll take off for 6 months or so and then he’ll be back, probably by Survivor Series. This isn’t a real retirement, mark my words. Guys like Shawn don’t retire when they’re still at the top of their game.
This. Remember how Flair retired two years ago? Then here I am, randomly channel surfing, and what embarrassing sight do I see on TNA?
Pro wrestlers never, ever retire at the top of their game. Doubtless they’ll launch some angle in a few months like Robin Williams taking over the WWE–and only HBK can stop him!
Wow i haven’t watched or read anything about wrestling since i was a teenager in 90s and i remember Shawn Michaels being one of my favorites back then, i can’t believe he was still at it and apparently still putting on a great show. I hope he stays retired, everyone else i can think of from back then is probably dead (except apparently the undertaker, another old favorite).
I’ve never been a huge Michaels fan, but he’s one of the last guys with roots back in the territory days. I saw him early in his career working for Watts in Mid South/UWF. Think he may have worked in one of the Texas promotions–WCCW/Texas All Star/Global–or maybe Amarillo. Know he had a run with Verne Gagne’s AWA, teaming with Marty Janetty as The Midnight Rockers. If this turns out to be his final match, he had a great career. I expect he’ll be in the WWE Hall of Fame soon.
I watch RAW on Monday nights sometimes when I’m bored. I like it, but am essentially unwilling to dig much deeper than an hour or two while doing homework. Liked Michaels though.
Also, anybody know what’s up with Mick Foley? He was on Stewart the other night in a TNA shirt.
He made his bones in WCCW with Marty Janetty feuding with Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams. I used to watch WCCW faithfully on ESPN in the afternoon after school, and I remember very vividly Shawn Michaels getting opened up more than once, something you almost never saw on the WWF promotions of the time.
Well, it would fit, given that the WWE has retired the Survivor Series as well.
I watched Raw for the first time in about 10 years. It reminded me why I quit watching. I watched the final ECW awhile back and it was also a disappointment.
Anyways, I liked the speech that HBK gave at the end.
Well, if this was the end it was fitting at least. I especially liked Hunter coming out at the end.
I remain unconvinced though. If Shawn is still retired in a year I’ll eat my words, but I don’t think that will be the case.
The WWE has a lot problems right now, most of which I don’t think they even realize. With a few exceptions the current batch of upper card wrestlers are underwhelming to say the least, but I’m not entirely sure it’s their fault. Guys like Cena, Batista and Orton had serious potential, but it’s been squandered in the currently overly formulaic system. Oakminster alluded to it above, but these days the lack of territories is really telling. People are coming up too soon with too little experience, and have no idea how to work without a script. The fact that they’re expecting us to take the likes of Sheamus as a quasi main event performer is damn tragedy.
I think my problem with them is that they would rather talk and show limited wrestling skills. In the early 90’s, the mic time was limited and the wrestling skills got people over. I loved watching people like Bret, Owen, Shawn, and people that would bust their ass in the ring. When the attitude era started, skits and “shoots” took time away from the wrestling and it started to drift away. The Undertaker, Foley, and a few others still performed, but it got old watching The Rock and Stone Cold. I then got into ECW and got back to what I was used to, which was wrestling. Super Crazy vs Tajiri and Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka were great matches. They looked brutal every time. Then WWF crushed that too.
I think the talking is as important as the actual wrestling, but I would agree with you so far as the balance has went way too far in one direction.
In this area I think the WWE has been a victim of their own success. 20+ years ago the amount of wrestling that was televised on a weekly basis was limited to one, maybe two hours a week per federation. In the early 90’s the WWE only had Prime Time Wrestling which was a two hour show full of squash matches and maybe one or two matches where the wrestlers were actually expected to work. And those matches were drawn from the house show circuit as full televised shows only happened at PPV’s and special attractions like Saturday Night Main Events.
These days the schedules are much more rigorous with 5 hours of original television to fill each week plus untelevised house shows, and 8 hours when there’s a PPV. Not to mention the fact that the roster is on the road 50 weeks out of the year. Frankly, the current generation of wrestlers are killing themselves compared to the past, but it doesn’t look as impressive because we see everyone week in and week out.
Rock and Stone Cold could both work with the best of them, but they were limited by what the schedule and their physical condition allowed them to do. Steve in particular suffered from chronic knee and neck problems that eventually forced him into an early retirement because he couldn’t take an extended amount of time off to get proper surgery and rest.
ECW was great in the mid to late 90’s, but that was precisely because they weren’t running the same kind of schedules that WWE and WCW were running. There were, essentially, a local territory that over reached, which led to their financial collapse. ECW were running old school tours where the wrestlers might work on a weekly basis for 8 weeks at a time, but then have the next 8 weeks off to recuperate. When they landed a weekly television show and started running occasional PPV’s they began bleeding money hand over fist, and their wrestlers started jumping one after another to the big two. I could be proven wrong on this with the likes of ROH, but an ECW style work rate is not sustainable in the long term without significant periods of downtime to rest and heal up.
AHHH Gino Hernandez… “THe Handsome half-breed”… and “Gentleman Chris Adams”… I watched Chicago wrestling with Dick the Bruiser and Bobo Brazil… watched AWA Verne Gagne with Nick Bockwinkel… and loved WCCW with Shawn… and the Freebirds… When i started to take an honest look at it and got older i stopped enjoying it. Obviously something is wrong when the two guys you mention in this post are dead. Pillman… dead… Guerrero…dead… and my Fav was Benoit. I even have the 2 dvd set on him… and can’t bring myself to watch it now. I’m glad Shawn found religion/family and hopefully he gets out of the business. When i didn’t know as much I think I enjoyed it more…
Clap clap clapclapclap thank you Shawn!
Huh. You’ve accomplished the very rare feat of mentioning an old school wrestling feud I didn’t know about before reading your post. I’m guessing this must have been before the Dynamic Duo/Von Erichs feud with the hair vs hair match?
Michaels none-too-subtle digs at Flair make me wonder if he feels that he has really retired. Unlike Flair, whose money woes are public knowledge among wrestling fans, Michaels supposedly is on solid financial footing. Still, the thrill of entertaining will always be in his blood. How he’ll handle the absence will be telling. Let’s hope he doesn’t go the Terry Funk route. That thrill is why Foley got back into the ring (that and TNA backing a dump truck of money up to his house).
I don’t see Michaels back for at least a year. If I were a betting man*, I’d be betting that the Undertaker, barring his injuries worsening until he can’t compete, will end next Wrestlemania, and that Michaels will be there for the send-off.
Was it only me, or did others feel that we really didn’t need to see Michaels kissing Hunter on the temple at the end?
Regarding the current product, I think that pushing Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, and a few others is precisely what WWE needs to do. Sheamus has handled it very well. Still has a lot to learn, but the seed is there. I think WWE has handled Rhodes and DiBiase very poorly, and the jury is still out on where they are going with Morrison. While I’m not a fan of all the talking, they do need some talking, as the purpose of the shows is to sell PPVs, not give away the product for free. The competition on Monday nights can only help - not that TNA is going to overtake WWE, but Vince and USA don’t want to lose any ratings, and we should start seeing better shows.
- Actually, I am a betting man, but there’s no bookie to take that bet.
I can see the Undertaking wanting to get 20 wins in a row before retiring. I also think he’ll go out with the streak intact. I think HBK is really done.